v1.32 by MarlonH8

Kills are allowed, but generally slower with lethal strategies being rare exceptions on all routes below.

• It is preferable to play on a PAL release as noted here, but this guide also includes additional info and strategies for NTSC whenever necessary (Silo Complex)
• If you wish to change any options such as your aiming sensitivity or controls, do so before creating your New Game save file
• One line of Non-Codec text/dialogue needs to be skipped before you can hold Triangle to fast forward through the rest of it
• If you don't receive a Spy Report that is necessary to advance the game after using your Waits, deploy to any location and abort the mission to progress time further
• If you desperately need to heal up or refill your Stamina, you can use Waits to recover all characters' Health & Stamina Gauges by around 33.33…%
• Holding the Movement Stick in any direction while loading into a stage will make your character face that direction - Keep it in a neutral position to avoid this from occuring
  • In rare cases, pointing towards a specific direction can help save some frames (e.g., Silo Entrance I., II. & III.)

• Advance Point (AP): The “exit” of a level, which either takes you to the next area or back to the Briefing Menu
• CQC Hold Up: Perform a CQC slam and (auto-)aim your weapon at the enemy to immobilize them
• Box-Bump (BB): Run & bump into a soldier, then quick-equip your C Box to give yourself just enough time to run out of the now confused guard's cone of vision
• 180°-Bump-Grab (180-BG): Run & bump into a soldier from the front, then once you’re behind him, perform a 180° turn and grab him - This also works while having the C Box equipped
• Push-Drop: With a person in your chokehold, aim the stick in a direction and press Square to push them to the ground - This gives you an opening to escape out of their sight
• Roll-Knockdown (RKD): Bump into or run just next to a guard and perform a roll in the direction you want to continue in - This pushes them just out of range to spot you once they've recovered

While the main route presented in this guide is based on the NORMAL Difficulty, most of these strategies and routes work identically on their EASY counterparts.
If there are preferable alternatives available to the EASY Difficulty speedrun, they will be marked by the [EASY] & [EASY-only] tags respectively.
All of these occurences are also listed below:

All bosses deal less damage, but otherwise behave in the exact same manner on EASY. The other important difference lies in the amount of health & stamina that you can drain per hit.
This is usually¹⁾ increased by 50% on EASY. All in all, the faster boss fights are the main factor that enables EASY speedruns to finish over a minute earlier than a NORMAL run would.
The fastest boss strategies for EASY are listed below:

• Skip (Start) Cutscene
• Attempt to open the cell door - ideally with the Double Handle Grab
• Fast forward (Triangle) Text
• Skip Text
• Enter the crawl space below the bed and follow it to the right
• Get up as you exit the space beneath the bed (don't hold X, tap it) and pick up the Mk22
• Skip Text
• Skip Cutscene
• Fast forward Text
• Head to the door on your left
• Fast forward Text
• Go inside the main building and roll into prone position to pass the gate
• Knock out the guard in front of you with a Roll-Knockdown (RKD) towards the right
• Run straight, roll uphill, follow the left path and roll into the Advance Point (AP)

You can skip one of the cell door handle grab animations here. In order to do that, you need to run towards the door's handle in a way that places yourself just out of range to normally initiate the door opening animation when pressing the action button.
If properly executed, this precise trick makes one handle grab count as two or more and therefore advances Snake straight to the text box. The skip was discovered by Pythonicus during his first full speedrun!

• Fast forward Text
• Head right and roll past the gap behind the iron fence
• Enter the main building through the eastern red door in front of you
• Open the next door and step into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

• Skip Cutscene
• Take a few steps towards the west
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Roll right through the Text Trigger north of you
• Skip Text
• Head northwest and roll down to the lower area
• Ascend the northern staircase and continue further towards the next lower area
• Roll diagonally over the gap onto the path next to the building
• Head inside and perform a RKD past the officer and into the Secret Document
• Fast forward Codec Call

Cutscene or Text Triggers like the one here temporarily block you from moving. If you enter the trigger area with a roll, your animation will carry you a bit further.
Depending on your pace, this can be crucial in getting you inside of the building before the outside guard can spot you.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• In front of you, climb up one box and roll onto the concrete
• Walk alongside the building, towards the soldier guarding the entrance (Jonathan)
• Perform a quick CQC slam before he calls in an Alert
• Pick up the TNT next to the ramp, inside
• Pick up and drag Jonathan to the stacked boxes and enter First Person View mode (FPV)
• Turn towards the southwest and drop him
• Drop down yourself and continue dragging Jonathan to the back of the truck
• Skip Cutscene

If you find yourself accidentally picking up unnecessary items such as the 9mm T Ammo dropped by Jonathan here, make sure to drop (Inventory, Drop [L]) or replace it at the next opportunity.
Inventory bloat can lead to additional timeloss later on so it's best to proactively prevent it from happening.

Make sure to not drag soldiers too close to the truck's rear. Snake will always go towards a fixed spot, which is a certain distance behind the truck.
If you entered the trigger zone from an unfavorable position, you could lose valuable seconds due to longer animations.

While the game recommends you to go to the Soviet Patrol Base, you can actually visit any of the available stages to complete this recruitment mission.
We're simply recruiting this soldier on this stage, because he is closer to our truck and therefore faster to drag there than anyone else. The TNT pickup is an added bonus.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Run straight into the central building via the western red door
• Go through the next two doors to your front, left and into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Approach the gap of the wall in front of you with a roll into prone position
• Pass the gap and follow along the right, around the central building
• Perform a 180°-Bump-Grab (180-BG) and choke the approaching guard unconscious
• Pause close to the left wall and change your active member to Snake
• Get to this spot as Snake, then drag & drop the future Recruit within Jonathan's box' range
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Keep going and enter the northwestern building
• Roll up the staircase and finish off by entering the AP inside the second, rightmost room
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

If you find yourself accidentally picking up an item dropped by the Recruit here, make sure to drop (Inventory, Drop [L]) or replace it at the next opportunity.
Inventory bloat can lead to additional timeloss later on so it's best to proactively prevent it from happening.

While performing a slam to knock out guards like this once can theoretically be faster, it comes with other drawbacks and risks. There's a very high chance that the soldier will have enough stamina to take one CQC slam without falling unconscious.
This chance is drastically lower, but still present on EASY difficulty. Additionally, you will be out of range to instantly pause and perform a Member Change without repositioning here, thus losing further time.

While it is technically possible to finish the run without any additional recruitments, the impact it would have on Spy Report RNG is huge. The chance of saving time by skipping this Recruit and relying on amazing Spy Report luck seemingly lingers in the one digit range (x%).

The soldier obtained after Jonathan (Recruit) will always have the Deliveryman skill.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Follow along the path until you reach the upward slope with the guard next to it
  • Ascend the ramp from the very bottom - stepping onto it from the side will alert the guard
• Start walking up and once you're out of the guard's close hearing range, roll up twice to reach the top
• From here, head north and then continue eastward onto the next slope
• Perform another two rolls to the top, turn around and roll into the AP
• Skip Cutscene
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Roll straight down to the door to enter the building
• Take a right and roll into the final AP
• Skip Cutscene

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Climb up the boxes, onto the concrete (can use a roll at Night), then head through the small building
• Perform a RKD on the guard while heading inside of the main building
• Run towards the back and roll onto the crates in the corner to obtain the Secret Document
• Fast forward Codec Call

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Go east and roll into the AP in front of the Rail Bridge
• Skip Cutscene
• Fast forward Codec Call

If you find yourself in the uncommon situation that you already have two of the three necessary Spy Reports before launching into your first Diversionary Mission, you can expand on your luck even further.
In order to do that, assign both Jonathan and the Recruit to the leftover Spy Report location to boost its Report acquisition rate.

For the TNT-blowup missions (9-A, 9-B, 9-C [& 9-D]) the order in which you read and complete the Spy Reports can help you save around a second by skipping some pre-deployment dialogue.
If you receive more than one TNT Report during a Briefing session, make sure to read the canonically later one first. Then, read the other one(s) and complete the last Report, which you've read.
The canon timeline looks like this: [Town >] SPB > RL > SD
Examples: If you get both RL & SD Reports, read RL first, then read and complete SD. If you receive Reports for SPB & RL, read SPB before reading and completing RL.
After finishing three of these missions, you can move on to [10] Rail Bridge II.!

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your Mk22 and run south towards the target truck
• Once the patrol is close to the wall, quickly enter FPV to land a shot right of him
• With the guard distracted, continue running towards the truck's back in a straight line
• Plant the TNT behind the truck and immediately blow it up, killing the guard in the process
• Fast forward Codec Call

If you find yourself in the uncommon situation that you already have two of the three necessary Spy Reports before launching into your second Diversionary Mission, you can expand on your luck even further.
In order to do that, assign both Jonathan and the Recruit to the leftover Spy Report location to boost its Report acquisition rate.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Follow along the route and ascend the slopes without any rolls (up to 3 rolls at night)
• Enter the main building through the southern entrance
• Inside, bump into the guard blocking the path and quickly enter the room on your right
• Plant the TNT closely in front of the generator and trigger the detonation
• Fast forward Codec Call

If you find yourself in the uncommon situation that you already have two of the three necessary Spy Reports before launching into your second Diversionary Mission, you can expand on your luck even further.
In order to do that, assign both Jonathan and the Recruit to the leftover Spy Report location to boost its Report acquisition rate.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head south and cross the lower level by rolling onto the strapped container and staircase
• Continue southeast and let yourself be noticed by the soldier guarding the armoury to lure him away
• Pass the red containers from the opposite side and head into the armoury
  • Make sure not to run too close to the moving soldier behind the container
• Plant and detonate the TNT

If you find yourself in the uncommon situation that you already have two of the three necessary Spy Reports before launching into your second Diversionary Mission, you can expand on your luck even further.
In order to do that, assign both Jonathan and the Recruit to the leftover Spy Report location to boost its Report acquisition rate.

There is one more location in which you could perform a diversionary operation: Town! However, since it has by far the slowest route it is in no way viable for the run.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Run onto the bridge and distract the shield-guard with a quick auto-aimed Mk22 shot
• Stick to the left while crossing the bridge, then perform a RKD on the patrol and into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call

At this point of the run, you have to decide between one of two different paths to stick to for the remainder of the run.
Either you pick up your trusty Cardboard Box in the next mission (Harbor), therefore embarking upon the Box Route or you skip it altogether, thus following the Naked Route.
The Naked Route is generally the faster option of the two, while the Box Route has some wacky strategies and easier backup options. You can find examples of what originally set these routes apart in this legacy document.
The document & Boxless/Naked Route was first assembled in June 2020 by MarlonH8!

In most cases faster and more straightforward over the course of a run

Less backup options when things don't go as planned
Generally more difficult and precise strategies

Mostly easier and more lenient, but also has some (optional) frame-perfect tricks

The C Box can provide additional cover and help conceal yourself if things go wrong
Can be up to 1s faster than the ideal Naked Route when executing every frame-perfect Glitched Box Equip without fail

Continue with [II-NR] if you are attempting the Naked Route!
Skip ahead to [II-BR] if you are starting out with the Box Route!

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head south, then west and pass the guard with a RKD
• Approach and roll up the left side of the bridge, then equip your Mk22 and aim
• Land your first shot straight into the wall left of the patrol behind the bridge
• Use your second shot to tranquilize the guard patrolling on the bridge
• Go past the bridge, then turn left to roll into the ship
• Roll over the railing to drop onto the cutscene trigger below
• Skip Cutscene
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Climb and roll past the crates towards the east into the text trigger
• Fast forward Text
• Roll further eastwards onto the floor and into the call trigger in front of the tarped crate
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call

Unlike on PAL, the cutscene trigger won’t save you from taking fall damage in the NTSC releases.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your Mk22 and head east until you reach a gap
• From here, auto-aim onto and shoot the patrol to make him notice and go investigate your position
• Roll past the gap while the guard is distracted and enter the main building through the door in front of you
• Perform a RKD on the FOX soldier while heading towards the staircase around the left corner
• Stick to the right while running up the first flight of stairs and shoot at the wall to spook the nearby guard
• Run up the next flight and RKD past the guard towards the sliding door on your left
• Pick up the Secret Document inside of the room with a roll
• Skip Codec Call

A completely useless route variation.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Enter into the corridor behind the door and follow along while sticking to the right half
• Pass through the next door from as much left as possible to get into the big hall undetected
• Fast forward Text
• Once inside, head left and roll into prone in front of the sensors by the officer
• Crawl below the lasers, stand up and get the Mosin Nagant at the passage’s end
• Enter the nearby door and stick to the western wall around the first slope
• Knock until the female officer reacts three times, then run down the next slope and wait
• Once the officer arrives, run towards her until she notices you (!) for the second time
• With her approaching you, head back and wait at the southern wall until she starts walking down the second slope
• Head west, out of sight and stick to the wall next to the corner she's about to pass, central of the ramp
• Grab her and drag her close to the nearby door to unlock it
• Once open, push-drop her to the ground and head into the AP with your TNT equipped
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Try to plant the TNT
• Skip Cutscene

The infrared sensors present throughout the whole facility always run north/southwards!
If you aim your roll into the sensors well enough, you can stand right up without having to crawl any further to pass them.

• Equip your Mosin Nagant and quickly land a no-scoped shot at Python as he charges at you
• After landing a shot, look straight down at the ground with your Mosin equipped/in FPV to dodge Python’s retaliatory burst-fire
• Once his invincibility-frames from your last hit have worn off, land another shot
• Repeat the last two steps until his Stamina Gauge is fully drained (Easy: 1 headshot + 2 body shots, Normal: 2 headshots + 2 body shots)
• Skip Cutscene

Looking down while in FPV mode prevents most enemies' incoming fire from hitting you, This works, because looking down in FPV seems to turn your plane of a hurtbox parallel to the ground. Since this strategy was discovered in 2017 by MarlonH8 it fundamentally made the game much easier than it was before - from both a speedrun and casual perspective.

Python will react differently to incoming damage. Ideally, you'd want to see his long recovery animation that barely leaves any room for him to retaliate, but this is rarely the case.

If you get on top of one of the metal cages you'll have a much safer, but also much slower time taking out Python.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Enter the terminal area through the door in front of you
• Roll behind the desk and pause the game to perform two Member Changes
• OPTIONAL: If you're low on Life and want to heal up before Null, pick up and use Medical Kit S x 3
• Assign Snake to “Point 1” (behind the wall) and swap to Jonathan
• Pause the game once more to swap right back to Snake
• Equip your Mk22, approach the ramp in front of you and roll upwards twice
• While running, shoot slightly left into the western wall at the ramp's summit to spook the guard above
• Head across the room and once again perform two rolls to ascend into the control room
• Approach the politician in the northwest corner while starting to sneak 3 floor patterns behind him
• Grab him and start the interrogation
• Fast forward Codec Call

Depending on when and where you shoot to spook the upper soldier he may switch his position to either next to the terminals or the northern, eastern or southern side of the pillar to call for backup. A quick hold up while passing by helps elminate the possibility of him spotting you.

You can lure the topmost guard outside - opening the ID-locked door for you. It's a minimum of 18s slower than the “swap-strat”.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your Mk22 and follow the alternating path to the top with two rolls
• Shoot the containers while heading west, past the now distracted guard
• Quickly roll over the rails to reach the bottom
• Roll up the building’s ramp in the front and then over the wall, right behind the patrol
• Perform a RKD past the soldier's right and rush between the crates & building, around the corner
• Climb up the ladder to this building’s roof and pick up the Stun G & RPG-7 before advancing to the bridge
• Stay far away from the soldier and roll down over the left side
• While sticking below the bridge, roll into the AP
• Skip Cutscene

After getting your desired weapons and rolling off of the bridge, make sure to stick close below it before rolling into the AP. On good pace, the guard above is checking the northern area right as you are below him.

• Equip your AK-47 and go into the prone position to face Null
• Zoom in, aim at Null's feet and start firing
• After landing a hit, wait for the i-frames to wear off and fire once again
  • When you have to reload, never do so by manually reloading as this can cause Null to land a lethal charge on you
• Repeat the last step until his Life Gauge is fully drained (Easy: 5 shots, Normal: 10 shots)
• Skip Cutscene

27+s are saved by using weapons like the M63, AK-47 or M16A1 over the RPG-7 for both Null fights.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Ascend the alternating ramps without any rolls
• Approach the soldier, perform a 180-BG and choke him out
• Swing yourself over the railing and drop to the pipe below
• Move left and drop onto the crates leading into the tunnel
• Follow the path and start stalking once you get to the big crate
• Sneak towards the officer, then grab and interrogate him (don't let go!)
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

If you opted for a simple roll or slam into the FOX soldier to deal with him more quickly, he will report to HQ after you drop down. This causes a unique problem.
While you'd be interrogating the officer, the ongoing dialogue between the FOX soldier and HQ would prevent most interrogations from going through.

• RECOMMENDED: While loading into the level, point the Movement Stick up-left to start running in the correct direction
• Run straight into the western building and pass through the room to your right
• RKD past the officer and into the Secret Doc
• Skip Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

Here, we are performing a sequence break - accidentally discovered by miniomegaking. While watching one of mini's Rail Bridge route videos, MarlonH8 noticed that the guard patterns were different. Originally assumed to be either regional differences, the oddity was shortly thereafter explained by the fact that mini forgot to place spies in the area to notify him of the report and therefore skipped one step ahead.
Immediately afterwards, we tried to find similar spy report skips, but didn't have much luck. MarlonH8 did find another one for the Town Diversionary Op., which unfortunately is the slowest of the “TNT-missions” and therefore not part of the run.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Go down and follow along the alleyway to your northwest
• Turn left and stick to the building's wall until you reach the metal door
• Enter the door and follow the path downwards
• Roll into the AP around the right corner
• Skip Cutscene

Snake will be fully healed after being rescued.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your Mk22 and head southwest between the two buildings
• Position yourself in front of the door, right where the floor plates meet in a +-pattern and enter FPV
• While the patrol is noticing you, land a shot onto the ground next to him and immediately start running along the left wall
• Pass the temporarily distracted soldier and shoot the wall before continuing around the corner
• Follow along the hangar wall until you can roll into the AP
• Skip Cutscene

Right after you land a distracting shot, the guards will start running towards the nearest form of cover to report to their HQ. During this run, they are not able to see anything, which gives you perfect opportunity to perform strategies like the ones used here. They also won't hear you during that time.

• Equip your RPG-7, and launch some well-aimed missiles on the shadow between RAXAs four legs for maximum splash damage
  • Make sure to use quick reloads in between firing missiles
• Repeat until RAXA's legs are completely broken (Easy: 2 hits, Normal: 4 hits)
• After the transformation cutscene, RAXA will be in Phase 2
• Here, aim your shots precisely at the outside corners of the central, diamond-shaped missile bay on each arm
• Repeat until each arm is destroyed to end the fight (Easy: 1 hit each, Normal: 2 hits each)
• Skip Cutscene

There is an RPG-7 with 10 loaded rockets found towards the northeast and an additional box of Ammo (HEAT) x20 found in the southern end of the hall.

Originally, we also used to damage RAXA's legs with TNT. At that time, we were still using the RPG-7 vs. Null and therefore entered this fight with little to no ammo.

Jonathan’s items do NOT get lost after his sacrifice. You will be able to reequip them if so desired.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head south and roll over the rail before it bends to the right
• Once recovered, pass through the tunnel in the south
• To safely get past the boulder here, make sure to roll against it as opposed to alongside of it, over the crevice
• If executed correctly, you can pull yourself back up and head further south to roll into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call

At the cost of a few seconds, the fall damage of the Standard Route can be mitigated by rolling over the railing earlier.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head east and ascend the ramp with three rolls
• Go north and roll off of this level towards the ladder
• Climb the ladder to the very top and head further north
• OPTIONAL: Drop your RPG-7 and pick up the Medical Kit S (unless needed for alternative strategies)
• Roll onto the main building and head to the northwestern opening
• Roll off the edge and enter the building through the sliding door
• Run eastwards past another door and onto the yellow-striped hallway
• Take two lefts and pass the door to get into the AP inside, on your left
• Fast forward Codec Call

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Once again, run eastwards and ascend the ramp with three rolls
• Head north and roll off of this level towards the left of the ladder
• Climb the ladder to the very top and head further north
• Try to make the officer notice and start investigating you before you roll across the gap
  • If this fails (likely at Night), wait a second before you roll over onto the roof
• Continue north and perform a RKD past the officer
• Enter the building with the sliding door around the corner
• Descend the nearby staircase and exit through the door
• Take another left and head inside the room with the AP once again
• Equip and plant the Time Bomb next to the panel
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

• Same as before, equip your AK-47 and go into the prone position to face Null
• Zoom in, aim at Null's feet and start firing
• After landing a hit, wait for the i-frames to wear off and fire once again
  • When you have to reload, never do so by manually reloading as this can cause Null to land a lethal charge on you
• Repeat the last step until his Life Gauge is fully drained (Easy: 6 shots, Normal: 10 shots)
• Skip Cutscene

• Fast forward Codec Call
• As usual with Snake, ascend the alternating path with two rolls and head west
• Perform a RKD into the soldier behind the containers and run down the ramps
• Next, roll up the building’s ramp and RKD towards the left to knock the guard off of the building “non-lethally”
• Roll northwards over the wall and head west after a RKD past the soldier
• Around the corner, climb up the ladder and pick up the Stun G set on the roof
• Roll over the bridge’s left side to drop down and head east towards the officer
• Once he notices you for the second time, run past the container on the side opposite to him
• Head into the tunnel and roll into the AP area

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Open your Codec to call Ghost and fast forward if necessary
• Tune to and call 145.75 to open one of the doors en route through the stage, then close the Codec
• Pause the game and perform a Member Change from your Recruit to Snake

• Bump into the guard between the walls on the left and head straight through the door next to him
• Continue through the formerly frequency-locked door and ascend the staircase behind the left door with two rolls
• Enter the room behind the right door and stick close to the right wall
• Run into the shielded guard, perform a 180-BG and drag him to the nearby door
• Once you have access, push-drop him down and rush past the bridge into the next building
• Turn left, then roll and climb up the crates in front of you
• Go prone and crawl into the tight space to pick up the Chaff G
• Equip, then throw one of them and make sure to drop them out of your inventory soon thereafter
• Exit the prone spot, stand up, drop down and equip your Mk22
• While heading west around the corner, shoot a nearby wall to distract the next soldier
• Follow closely behind him and perform a grab once it's possible to do so
• Drag him over to the ID-locked door and once you're in, push-drop him down as usual
• Run up the first and roll up the following ramp, then cross the bridge into the control room
• While the jamming is still active, pick up Key E below the gun camera
• Exit the room, drop down a level with a roll over the northern railing and unlock the door
• OPTIONAL: Head back southeast and pick up three of Medical Kit S x 3 along the way before returning
• Enter the next room and roll onto the AP located in the southwestern corner of the lowest level
• Fast forward Codec Call

Arguably the biggest version difference of the run is right here. On NTSC versions you can not drag any soldier in front of the 1F door to open it.

Opening your contact list and calling Ghost saves time compared to manually tuning to 145.75 from 140.85. Ghost's frequency (144.78) lets you skip closer to 145.75.

145.75 is used on all routes to get you through the locked 1F door in the room behind the “wall guard”.
147.42 is used on Easy to get past the 2F door leading onto the bridge without having to drag a guard all the way over there.
148.51 is not used at all, as it's always faster to open the according door with the guard standing right next to it.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene
• Equip a Stun G, wait for Cunningham to move left or right and throw it close to him on your platform's edge
• Repeat these throws a few times to make short work of this fight (Easy: 5 hits, Normal: 6 hits)
• Skip Cutscene

A box of ammo drops at the very beginning of the fight. The type of ammo is based on whichever weapon you have equipped before it falls to the ground.
This can come in handy if you are running low on AK-47 ammo (7.62x39mm) for the upcoming fight against Gene.

There is an extremely slim chance of Cunningham reverting to his original position after his first move to the left or right.
If you're playing on EASY and this causes you to run out of Stun Grenades, the best recovery is to quickly restart the fight from the Pause Menu.

You can cancel most reload animations and still have your ammo refilled. You do this by moving close enough to any kind of barrier for it to block you from aiming your weapon.
This works especially well in FPV-mode, but even here in TPV the railings make this strategy work like a charm with the MK22 and auto-aim!

As with most weapons, firing while crouched significantly increases the player's accuracy. This is especially useful for the classic M63 strategies here.
On August 5 2018, three hours before a #MGSR MPO race stream between Pythonicus and MarlonH8, the latter “rediscovered” this detail, which lead to both runners defeating Cunningham a whopping minute earlier than what was expected at the time.

5 x Stun G + M63 + 7 x MK22 (24+s timeloss throughout the run) - Part of the 1 Stun G pack Route.
M63 + 40 x MK22 (53+s timeloss throughout the run) - Variation of the original, outdated go-to strategy.
9 x RPG-7 + 40 x MK22 (44s+ timeloss throughout the run) - The original, outdated go-to strategy.

• Skip Cutscene
• Skip Cutscene
• Head up the northern ramp and back around the railing to the left to position yourself in front of the drop
  • Make sure to not leave this area if you want to stop Gene from approaching you
• Equip your AK-47 and try to land a hit at the very top of his head to immediately stop his Psychic Phase
• Continue landing hits on his beret whenever Gene is not recovering from i-frames
  • To avoid his full auto knives, either crouch and turn left/right or run away for a moment
• Gene will continually increase the pace at which he will be doing most actions over the course of the battle
• Keep sending hatshots his way until he is defeated (Easy: 7 headshots, Normal: 10 headshots)
• Skip Cutscene
• Watch Credits
• Check Result

Should you find yourself running low on ammo, an additional ammo pickup will spawn in the northwestern corner of the room.

On PPSSPP versions prior to 1.4 Gene dashing towards the northern & southern terminals would cause the emulator to crash!

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head south, then west and pass the guard with a RKD
• Approach and roll up the left side of the bridge, then equip your Mk22 and aim
• Land your first shot straight into the wall left of the patrol behind the bridge
• Use your second shot to tranquilize the guard patrolling on the bridge
• Go past the bridge, then turn left to roll into the ship
• Follow the outer path and ascend the ramp leading up to the deck with three rolls
• Roll and climb onto the metal crates, then roll over to the next set to pick up the C Box
• Roll off southeast and follow downwards until you can roll over the railing to drop onto the cutscene trigger below
• Skip Cutscene
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Climb and roll past the crates towards the east into the text trigger
• Fast forward Text
• Roll further eastwards onto the floor and into the call trigger in front of the tarped crate
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call

Unlike on PAL, the cutscene trigger won’t save you from taking fall damage in the NTSC releases.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head east, cross the gap with a roll and equip your C Box to perform your first Box Bump (BB)
• With your Box re-equipped, head into the main building through the door in front of you
• Perform another BB on the FOX soldier while going towards the staircase around the left corner
• Unequip your Box before running up the stairs, then quick-equip it again at the top
• Box-walk past the guard and through the sliding door on your left and finally into the Secret Document
• Skip Codec Call

A completely useless route variation.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Enter into the corridor behind the door and follow along while sticking to the right half
• Pass through the next door from as much left as possible to get into the big hall undetected
• Fast forward Text
• Once inside, head left and go prone in front of the sensors by the officer
• Crawl below the lasers, stand up and get the Mosin Nagant at the passage’s end
• Return to the lasers, but stay close to the wall on your left before going prone once again
• Crawl past the lasers while the female officer walks past you, then stand up
• Head into the shuttered room south of you and get close to the vent on the left wall
• Perform a Glitched Box Equip and clip into the vent
• Once you're out of bounds, swap your C Box for some TNT and follow along the level geometry to head further down
• While running into the supposed dead end, go into FPV to clip through the wall and head into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Try to plant the TNT
• Skip Cutscene

The infrared sensors present throughout the whole facility always run north/southwards!
If you aim your roll into the sensors well enough, you can stand right up without having to crawl any further to pass them.

• Equip your Mosin Nagant and quickly land a no-scoped shot at Python as he charges at you
• After landing a shot, look straight down at the ground with your Mosin equipped/in FPV to dodge Python’s retaliatory burst-fire
• Once his invincibility-frames from your last hit have worn off, land another shot
• Repeat the last two steps until his Stamina Gauge is fully drained (2 headshots + 2 body shots)
• Skip Cutscene

Looking down while in FPV mode prevents most enemies' incoming fire from hitting you, This works, because looking down in FPV seems to turn your plane of a hurtbox parallel to the ground. Since this strategy was discovered in 2017 by MarlonH8 it fundamentally made the game much easier than it was before - from both a speedrun and casual perspective.

Python will react differently to incoming damage. Ideally, you'd want to see his long recovery animation that barely leaves any room for him to retaliate, but this is rarely the case.

If you get on top of one of the metal cages you'll have a much safer, but also much slower time taking out Python.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Enter the terminal area through the door in front of you
• Roll behind the desk and pause the game to perform two Member Changes
• OPTIONAL: If you're low on Life and want to heal up before Null, pick up and use Medical Kit S x 3
• Assign Snake to “Point 1” (behind the wall) and swap to Jonathan
• Pause the game once more to swap right back to Snake
• Equip your C Box, approach the ramp in front of you and bo-walk upwards
• Head across the room and box-walk up the ramp leading to the control room
• At the top, stick close to the railing before heading towards the politician in the northwest corner
• Unequip your C Box and start to sneak around 3 floor patterns behind him
• Grab the official and start the interrogation
• Fast forward Codec Call

If you happen to be a bit behind on time, the guard might spot your box. In that case, make use of the pillar as cover and/or take him out.

You can lure the topmost guard outside - opening the ID-locked door for you. It's a minimum of 18s slower than the “swap-strat”.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your C Box and follow the alternating path to the top, then right
• BB into the FOX soldier, then follow up with a RKD and another roll over the western railing
• Box-walk up the next building’s ramp and then roll over the wall to land right behind the patrol
• Perform a RKD past the soldier's right and box-walk between the crates & building
• Around the corner, climb up the ladder to the western building’s roof and pick up the Stun G & RPG-7
• Advance to the bridge, stay far away from the soldier and roll down over the left railings
• While sticking below the bridge, roll into the AP ahead
• Skip Cutscene

• Equip your AK-47 and go into the prone position to face Null
• Zoom in, aim at Null's feet and start firing
• After landing a hit, wait for the i-frames to wear off and fire once again
  • When you have to reload, never do so by manually reloading as this can cause Null to land a lethal charge on you
• Repeat the last step until his Life Gauge is fully drained (Easy: 5 shots, Normal: 10 shots)
• Skip Cutscene

27+s are saved by using weapons like the M63, AK-47 or M16A1 over the RPG-7 for both Null fights.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Ascend the alternating ramps without any rolls
• Approach the soldier, perform a 180-BG and choke him out
• Swing yourself over the railing and drop to the pipe below
• Move left and drop onto the crates leading into the tunnel
• Follow the path and start stalking once you get to the big crate
• Sneak towards the officer, then grab and interrogate him (don't let go!)
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

If you opted for a simple roll or slam into the FOX soldier to deal with him more quickly, he will report to HQ after you drop down. This causes a unique problem.
While you'd be interrogating the officer, the ongoing dialogue between the FOX soldier and HQ would prevent most interrogations from going through.

• RECOMMENDED: While loading into the level, point the Movement Stick up-left to start running in the correct direction
• Run straight into the western building and pass through the room to your right
• RKD past the officer and into the Secret Doc
• Skip Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

Here, we are performing a sequence break - accidentally discovered by miniomegaking. While watching one of mini's Rail Bridge route videos, MarlonH8 noticed that the guard patterns were different. Originally assumed to be either regional differences, the oddity was shortly thereafter explained by the fact that mini forgot to place spies in the area to notify him of the report and therefore skipped one step ahead.
Immediately afterwards, we tried to find similar spy report skips, but didn't have much luck. MarlonH8 did find another one for the Town Diversionary Op., which unfortunately is the slowest of the “TNT-missions” and therefore not part of the run.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Go down and follow along the alleyway to your northwest
• Turn left and stick to the building's wall until you reach the metal door
• Enter the door and follow the path downwards
• Roll into the AP around the right corner
• Skip Cutscene

Snake will be fully healed after being rescued.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Equip your Mk22 and head southwest between the two buildings
• Position yourself in front of the door, right where the floor plates meet in a +-pattern and enter FPV
• While the patrol is noticing you, land a shot onto the ground next to him and immediately start running along the left wall
• Pass the temporarily distracted soldier and shoot the wall before continuing around the corner
• Follow along the hangar wall until you can roll into the AP
• Skip Cutscene

Right after you land a distracting shot, the guards will start running towards the nearest form of cover to report to their HQ. During this run, they are not able to see anything, which gives you perfect opportunity to perform strategies like the ones used here. They also won't hear you during that time.

• Equip your RPG-7, and launch some well-aimed missiles on the shadow between RAXAs four legs for maximum splash damage
  • Make sure to use quick reloads in between firing missiles
• Repeat until RAXA's legs are completely broken (Easy: 2 hits, Normal: 4 hits)
• After the transformation cutscene, RAXA will be in Phase 2
• Here, aim your shots precisely at the outside corners of the central, diamond-shaped missile bay on each arm
• Repeat until each arm is destroyed to end the fight (Easy: 1 hit each, Normal: 2 hits each)
• Skip Cutscene

There is an RPG-7 with 10 loaded rockets found towards the northeast and an additional box of Ammo (HEAT) x20 found in the southern end of the hall.

Originally, we also used to damage RAXA's legs with TNT. At that time, we were still using the RPG-7 vs. Null and therefore entered this fight with little to no ammo.

Jonathan’s items do NOT get lost after his sacrifice. You will be able to reequip them if so desired.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head south and roll over the rail before it bends to the right
• Once recovered, pass through the tunnel in the south
• To safely get past the boulder here, make sure to roll against it as opposed to alongside of it, over the crevice
• If executed correctly, you can pull yourself back up and head further south to roll into the AP
• Fast forward Codec Call

At the cost of a few seconds, the fall damage of the Standard Route can be mitigated by rolling over the railing earlier.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Head east and ascend the ramp with three rolls
• Go north and roll off of this level towards the ladder
• Climb the ladder to the very top and head further north
• OPTIONAL: Drop your RPG-7 and pick up the Medical Kit S (unless needed for alternative strategies)
• Roll onto the main building and head to the northwestern opening
• Roll off the edge and enter the building through the sliding door
• Run eastwards past another door and onto the yellow-striped hallway
• Take two lefts and pass the door to get into the AP inside, on your left
• Fast forward Codec Call

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Once again, run eastwards, but this time box-walk up the ramp instead
• Head north and roll down towards the left of the ladder to avoid alerting the guard
• Climb the ladder to the very top and head further north
• Try to make the officer notice and start investigating you before you roll across the gap
  • If this fails (likely at Night), wait a second before you roll over onto the roof
• Enter the building with the sliding door around the corner
• Descend the nearby staircase and exit through the door
• Take another left and head inside the room with the AP once again
• Equip and plant the Time Bomb next to the panel
• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene

• Same as before, equip your AK-47 and go into the prone position to face Null
• Zoom in, aim at Null's feet and start firing
• After landing a hit, wait for the i-frames to wear off and fire once again
  • When you have to reload, never do so by manually reloading as this can cause Null to land a lethal charge on you
• Repeat the last step until his Life Gauge is fully drained (Easy: 6 shots, Normal: 10 shots)
• Skip Cutscene

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Ascend the alternating path with your C Box and swap in your Mk22 upon reaching the top
• While running west, shoot the nearby container asap and pass the soldier
• Roll over the railing to skip the path and equip your C Box once more
• Box-walk up the next building’s ramp, unequip it and RKD the guard, aimed at the wall to knock him down “non-lethally”
• Roll northwest over the wall and head further west to reach the ladder on the building's backside
• Climb up the ladder, pick up the Stun G set on the roof and roll over the bridge’s left side to drop down
• Box-walk east towards the officer and execute a BB and RKD on him
• Head further down the tunnel and roll into the AP area

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Open your Codec to call Ghost and fast forward if necessary
• Tune to and call 145.75 to open one of the doors en route through the stage, then close the Codec
• Pause the game and perform a Member Change from your Recruit to Snake

• Turn left, then roll and climb up the crates in front of you
• Go prone and crawl into the tight space to pick up the Chaff G
• Equip, then throw one of them and make sure to drop them out of your inventory soon thereafter
• Exit the prone spot, stand up, drop down and equip your Mk22
• While heading west around the corner, shoot a nearby wall to distract the next soldier
• Follow closely behind him and perform a grab once it's possible to do so
• Drag him over to the ID-locked door and once you're in, push-drop him down as usual
• Run up the first and roll up the following ramp, then cross the bridge into the control room
• While the jamming is still active, pick up Key E below the gun camera
• Exit the room, drop down a level with a roll over the northern railing and unlock the door
• OPTIONAL: Head back southeast and pick up three of Medical Kit S x 3 along the way before returning
• Enter the next room and roll onto the AP located in the southwestern corner of the lowest level
• Fast forward Codec Call

Arguably the biggest version difference of the run is right here. On NTSC versions you can not drag any soldier in front of the 1F door to open it.

Opening your contact list and calling Ghost saves time compared to manually tuning to 145.75 from 140.85. Ghost's frequency (144.78) lets you skip closer to 145.75.

145.75 is used on all routes to get you through the locked 1F door in the room behind the “wall guard”.
147.42 is used on Easy to get past the 2F door leading onto the bridge without having to drag a guard all the way over there.
148.51 is not used at all, as it's always faster to open the according door with the guard standing right next to it.

• Fast forward Codec Call
• Skip Cutscene
• Equip a Stun G, wait for Cunningham to move left or right and throw it close to him on your platform's edge
• Repeat these throws a few times to make short work of this fight (Easy: 5 hits, Normal: 6 hits)
• Skip Cutscene

A box of ammo drops at the very beginning of the fight. The type of ammo is based on whichever weapon you have equipped before it falls to the ground.
This can come in handy if you are running low on AK-47 ammo (7.62x39mm) for the upcoming fight against Gene.

There is an extremely slim chance of Cunningham reverting to his original position after his first move to the left or right.
If you're playing on EASY and this causes you to run out of Stun Grenades, the best recovery is to quickly restart the fight from the Pause Menu.

You can cancel most reload animations and still have your ammo refilled. You do this by moving close enough to any kind of barrier for it to block you from aiming your weapon.
This works especially well in FPV-mode, but even here in TPV the railings make this strategy work like a charm with the MK22 and auto-aim!

As with most weapons, firing while crouched significantly increases the player's accuracy. This is especially useful for the classic M63 strategies here.
On August 5 2018, three hours before a #MGSR MPO race stream between Pythonicus and MarlonH8, the latter “rediscovered” this detail, which lead to both runners defeating Cunningham a whopping minute earlier than what was expected at the time.

5 x Stun G + M63 + 7 x MK22 (24+s timeloss throughout the run) - Part of the 1 Stun G pack Route.
M63 + 40 x MK22 (53+s timeloss throughout the run) - Variation of the original, outdated go-to strategy.
9 x RPG-7 + 40 x MK22 (44s+ timeloss throughout the run) - The original, outdated go-to strategy.

• Skip Cutscene
• Skip Cutscene
• Head up the northern ramp and back around the railing to the left to position yourself in front of the drop
  • Make sure to not leave this area if you want to stop Gene from approaching you
• Equip your AK-47 and try to land a hit at the very top of his head to immediately stop his Psychic Phase
• Continue landing hits on his beret whenever Gene is not recovering from i-frames
  • Only move away if you're planning to avoid his full auto knives
• Gene will continually increase the pace at which he will be doing most actions over the course of the battle
• Keep sending hatshots his way until he is defeated (Easy: 7 headshots, Normal: 10 headshots)
• Skip Cutscene
• Watch Credits
• Check Result

Should you find yourself running low on ammo, an additional ammo pickup will spawn in the northwestern corner of the room.

On PPSSPP versions prior to 1.4 Gene dashing towards the northern & southern terminals would cause the emulator to crash!

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