INTRODUCTION

My name is Michael "4n6" Martini and the current game I'm running is TMNT Shredders Revenge. I only play on Gnarly and here is a link to my YouTube channel if you wanna see individual levels as well as other runs and content for this game.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVsdvg5qdHoX726A739ACDw

SPEEDRUN TECHNIQUES

Here is the list of the various Mechanics and Speedrun tricks to look for when watching. In this speedrun there are various speed tricks that may go unseen if you don't have knowledge of them. So I will explain in detail so you can better understand the game.

ENEMY/SCREEN SCROLL UNLOCK

One of the most obscure speed techniques in the game is Enemy/Screen Scroll Unlock. So the game will proceed when an enemy is dead to spawn out certain enemies in the room or the last enemy in the room to unlock the Screen Scroll. Now normally when an enemy dies it enters a falling state but, if you hit a dead enemy or kill an enemy while it is airborne it will register its dead immediately allowing the next wave to spawn sooner or unlock the scroll to the next room.

Another technique some might not know of being new to the game is called the Instant Charge Attack which can be done in 2 different ways. I will copy it from Wavuvi Guide which explains it very well. Here is the link which is a little out of date as it hasn't been updated in a while but, still contains a lot of great information. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2825154271

INSTANT CHARGE ATTACK
All characters can get a full charge instantly after a full X X X X combo or a backflip attack (B+A). In both cases the button must be held on the last attack input. Doing so correctly your character will enter the charge state and immediately 'DING' for a full charge. Easy for backflip (only 1 button press), but requires a little more finesse on the 4 hit string.

The hit before charging MUST connect with an enemy or object to get the instant charge.

Raph can't do this to standard enemies, as his backflip hit has huge knockback. But he does get 1 extra damage on the move.

One other very useful technique to know is how cancelling works in this game. There are may ways to cancel your moves. Dashing, Rising Attack and Front and Back Flip all have there uses. The most useful are Dashing and Rising Attack because it allows you to move sooner or deal more damage quickly while also cancelling the animation of your final attack. Here is more detail from Wavuvi guide which also will help explain the last technique I will go over.

DASH & RISING ATTACK CANCELS

The lag from final hit of the 4 hit combo can be interrupted by doing a dash attack or a rising attack.

Rising attack (jump + attack) cancelling is useful on Bebop, Rocksteady, Groundchuck & Dirtbag, Tempestra, Leatherhead, and Krang to avoid their melee attacks. It has situational use to escape incoming attacks from regular enemies as well without giving up damage output entirely.

Dash cancelling is the key to maximizing damage out and really shines on 10 HP enemies, Chromedome, and the final 2 bosses. This is how to do it:

X, X, X, X, dash, X, repeat

The lag of the final hit of the standard combo will be interrupted by the dash attack. As a bonus, it speeds up the next standard combo after the dash attack. On Chill/Okay difficulty starting with a dive special and going into this combo loop allows every character to 2 cycle Chromedome and 4 cycle the final boss. The first boss on the final level is often -just- out of reach of dash attacks, so it only works based on character and boss position.

ATTACK SPEED UP

The last technique I want to go over is Attack Speed Up which has various applications used throughout the course of the speedrun. So in a nutshell there are various ways to speed up your attacks. The basic property that causes this is the recovery animation in certain moves. The fastest speed combo is done of Dive Super which has about 20 or so recovery frames if you go into full combo right after you will speed your combo up significantly. Normal standing combo for Raph is about 56 frames. After Dive Super it can be done in 35 frames. Another speed up though not as drastic can also be done off dash attack which lowers it to 49 frames. Now there is one other technique that is called slash cancelling when you are next to a wall you can get faster combos off without dash attacking and dashing into a wall to stop your momentum which will lead to more damage per second this technique is only really used on the Statue of Tyranny Boss Fight.

CONCLUSION

Now the run itself after watching it back was very solid overall though can definitely be improved. I think my sum of best splits after the only 8 runs I've completed was 56 minutes flat. I personally practice much more than I attempt runs. Its more fun to practice for me and not have to deal with the pressures of speedrunning. I usually go on runs when I'm tired sometimes or don't wanna reset because I might try to be too much of a perfectionist and not get runs done. Its not really the case for me now but, its happened in that past for other games and its possible I might lose motivation to play because of it. I was a little more fresh than usual which is why this time was actually pretty good despite the rust of not playing Arcade Mode in 2 Months because of the DLC. The only Boss Fights that weren't good was the Ep07 Bopsteady Fight which is very difficult to be fast on as you have to adapt to them and they weren't giving me charge patterns at all which is kind of unlucky. Ep08 Wingnut wasn't too bad despite the fact he swooped twice. Ep09 Leatherhead I messed up the beginning of the fight and even died which was a mess overall for a relatively easy fight normally. Ep14 Slash didn't go exactly as planned as I messed up the Opening Strategy which was founded by Snuffit86 even messing that up it wasn't too bad. As far as the stages go they were overall very good just weird mess ups that costs me some time in Ep03,Ep06, Ep09 and Ep12. I think Ep03 and Ep12 cost me the most time out of all of them. Overall the run was very solid as its a very difficult game especially for the Beat Em Up Genre.

THANKS

A few big Thank You mentions are in order.

Special Thanks to Snuffit86 and Crunan for all the finds and ideas that progressed the game to its current state!!!

Special Thanks to my protege and fellow Raph player Lovins33 its great seeing you progress so much and helping to progress this Character even more on your journey into speedrunning!!!