Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my tutorial for running MGS2 on the Normal difficulty! This guide will outline much of the route and tricks that will get you started with your early runs and assist with transitioning into top times. I've separated the game into six distinct segments, and each segment is its own video/notes section for easy digestion and practice. At the end of the guide is a miscellaneous information section with a few boss strategy timing comparisons and other useful tidbits. With all that said, I hope you find the information helpful as you start learning!

The entrance on the west side of the Tanker as you gain control of Snake is open, but it is faster to go to the east side and either take the damage boost or wait for the guard to pass on Normal.

Olga loop is much more difficult and inconsistent to set up on Normal, so it is greatly advised that you get used to learning her pathing and improvising. One tip to try and make it more consistent is to take a shot on the rack as she passes by it, so long as you can bring the laser sight up to where her head will be when she gets there.

The double-tap on Deck-A is performed by using 'tactical reload'. The inputs to do this are as follows: L1 (to aim while running), fire button, weapon equip button twice, fire button again.

The last guard in the Engine Room as you enter the sensor room leading into Deck-2 can be run through, but this will guarantee at least one alert, thus making it an invalid strategy for Bat/Doberman runs.

Ambush/Guard Rush is done faster by killing enemies, but also invalidates Bat/Dobmerman. The reason this is faster is because the guards despawn much faster, which causes the replacement guard to spawn sooner.

For the Ladder Glitch, I would advise that you take a look at Stealth_Edge's roundup of variants or ScoutPwnage's guide, as the explanations on those guides are much clearer and more concise than what I was able to say during the video.

On Hold 2, domino strats are usable, but fairly inconsistent. The hold-up strat is fairly consistent as long as you don't stop moving and take a steep enough angle to hold the last guard up. Using run-'n'-gun (L1/LB) is necessary. Another way of doing the hold-up method is to do all three hold-ups with the M9, taking a shot at the guards before unequipping and re-equipping.

For RAY photos, there is a 2-spot strategy for getting all four photos in only two stops (shown below). This method is roughly a second faster than what is shown in the video.

Upon entering Hold 3, equip the camera and point here for the Marine's Logo. This can be taken second.

Adjust slightly to take the Left shot.

This is where you should stand for the second pair of photos.

Front shot is here, it is pretty forgiving.

And finally, adjust to take the Right shot. From here, just go to the PC and you should be finished with the Tanker.

Thanks to RaichuMGS for providing the still images for the above demonstration!

Other variants for the elevator room in the docks exist. Use the one that works for you, or use the one displayed in the video. Entering into Caution saves a second over taking the guards out before it is called.

A more concise explanation of coolant rising: Hit your equip button to equip the spray, then press the crouch button and the equip button at the same time to instantly rise and regain the ability to run.

Try your hardest not to hug the right wall on the first trip across EF bridge, as this can cause Raiden to bounce off of the corner and straight into the first Claymore on the bridge.

There is an upper-path Strut D route, found and tested by Azu to be faster.

A clockwise route through the Big Shell exists, routed by Tyler2022, Plywood, and dlimes13, which can be faster than counter-clockwise. This route is a fair bit riskier if you're not confident/practiced. (Guide will be updated to show this route in the future.)

Pick up Chaff grenades before entering Strut C.

Strut D - Warning shot at top of stairs, raildrop here. Version without alert OR Version with alert
DE Bridge - Warning shot at bottom of stairs, or climb other set of stairs in Caution

Taking an alert after Strut E Helipad means you will die in Strut A pipe room

Strut F - Throw chaff when you enter

FA Bridge - Throw chaff when you enter, stick to the rail to avoid getting shot

Strut A - Hold up pipe room guard, he may call in a caution after being held up. Fast Version OR Caution Version. You can also kill him, be careful not to shoot too close to the door and Alert the cubical guard

AB Bridge - Hold Select on entry if no caution for Rose call, warning shot as you exit outside

AB Bridge - Take upper route if on caution, run into guard to delay radio

Strut B - Kill guard as you approach the bomb

BC Bridge - If you received Caution for AB Bridge, Rose will now call

BC Bridge - Evasion avoids slowdown on this bridge

Insert video here

Cartwheel when the area text fades away, or when you only see Raiden's legs

The cardboard box prevents Raiden from bouncing off of corners, so using it on EF bridge on the second and subsequent trips across is useful for consistency's sake.

Fatman takes four SOCOM shots to fall over on Normal. This is upped to six shots on European Extreme.

Wait for the laser reticle to show up on Fatman's head before taking your first shot, otherwise you run the risk of missing the first shot entirely and having only one per cycle.

Killing Fatman is technically faster due to the chip damage he receives from the shots it takes to knock him over. This will, of course, invalidate Doberman. Alternatively, there is a strategy to take three shots for every knockdown cycle which can save between 4-10 seconds over lethal, however it is incredibly difficult to pull off reliably.

The FPV method of using the retinal scanner just requires you to choke the guard, and while continuing to hold him, press R1/RB and spin to the scanner, then let go of R1/RB.

Re-equipping the SOCOM before the harrier saves time menuing during the fight, and is useful for abusing iframes during the missile attacks. An even further optimization is to take care of the sniper sensors first before taking the rest out with the SOCOM, removing one menu which saves about half a second.

Stinger missiles have a shorter range if fired before a lock-on solution is met. Try to make sure you get a lock on the Harrier before firing, since it's constantly moving around and there's a high chance of it outdistancing the missile.

For SOL PS2, you need to pick up the M9 on the way toward Fatman in setup for Tengu 2 skip. An option exists to pick up the PSG1-T instead, but requires testing.

You can avoid the small cutscene after the bridge jump by watching for the discolored tiles on the walkway and cartwheeling accordingly. The timing is a little more strict than it would seem. It's necessary to cartwheel roughly around halfway through the preceeding tile on the first set, and again when you land for the next two.

The BDU acts as active camouflage for the exterior sections of this section, which is what allows you to pass by the two bridge guards unnoticed.

If you don't remove the BDU before entering Shell 2 Core, the cutscenes will take between 5-10 seconds longer in total to load on HDC. On PC the loads are slightly better, but still affected.

Again, a more concise description of the swim glitch can be found in Stealth_Edge's guide.

The standard route through the swimming section is: First right, second left, first left, right, left, right, and into the wreckage room.

You can pick up an extra pack of Stinger missiles in the wreckage room directly underneath the air pocket on the floor of the right side of the room. This makes the lethal Vamp strategy a little safer, but is not required.

Punch Vamp with a weapon equipped; this does more stamina damage than punching without. You can get in 6-8 punches before Vamp swipes again, dependent on your spacing after evading.

You ALWAYS want to be inside Vamp's hitbox before he finishes a swipe, or he'll jump back in the water.

Move swiftly on the return trip to the first floor, or the second guard (in the alcove to the left) will turn and spot you.

There's a recent discovery for teleporting Emma into the President's room by dropping her off near one of the walls separating the hallway and the room. This saves 1-2 seconds over the strategy shown in the video above. (Video to be posted soon)

It is absolutely vital that you take the first call upon entering the Jejunum as soon as possible, achievable by just holding Select/Back as soon as you walk through the door leading in. This causes the cycles to be more favorable, allowing you to cartwheel in front of the first Tengu without being spotted.

An alternative, safer route through the Jejunum is to wait until the first Tengu turns around, then running straight through the middle-right side. This avoids the first two patrolling Tengu. The third can be avoided by moving to the left toward the staircase. Do not cartwheel if using this method.

During the second torture sequence, on PS2/PC, looking toward Snake fills Raiden with determination and subsequently causes the torture to be slightly easier. Useful if you're having trouble with the ~20 second mash.

The other method for looping Solidus can be seen in action in Slade's European Extreme run. A slight variation on that is to punch three times (pausing after the second punch so you don't knock Solidus down), swipe upward to make Solidus block after you see his blades cross, and then blocking his attack (generally a kick, but he can surprise you sometimes). Rinse and repeat until phase two, then continue the loop.

For Normal, the second-fastest method for defeating Solidus is to fight him more or less normally, but trying to loop him into firing missiles in phase one, or dashing straight toward you in phase two.

On the PS3 HD Collection version of the game, if your system is online when you open the game, there is a patch that will be downloaded that includes Transfarring capabilities to move files between the PS3/Vita versions. However, this also affects loads throughout the game, making them slower than if the patch wasn't there. The patch (1.03) also affects enemy vision in a few specific places–more noticeable in European Extreme–which can cause issues in the run aside from just the longer loading times.

In order to downpatch the game again, go into your game data folder and find the 1.03 game data patch. Once there, delete the file, and before you boot the game again, make sure to take your system offline so that it doesn't immediately repatch the game.

As I state in the videos, in Normal, barely anything – if anything at all – changes. An NG+ save will serve for speedrunning Normal difficulty, but if you plan on learning EuEX on Substance or subsequent releases, you'll want the NG++ save due to bomb location changes on NG+ in Strut D. You can tell if your save is NG++ due to the fact that Snake and Raiden will both be wearing sunglasses (unless your save is Plant IL twice, in which case Snake won't have the DG. Camera or the sunglasses, but Raiden will. This saves frames on Tanker due to one less menu to get to the Camera).

On the HD Collection version of the game, if you play all the way up to the sniping section with Emma, you can game over and quit to retain the cached information of the loaded levels you've played through (note that soft-resetting with the shoulder buttons, start and select will clear the cache and disable LT). LT loses its effectiveness as the run progresses, but it still has the ability to save 2-5 minutes (dependent on console model) over a run without it. For multi-segment runs, LT is invaluable and can save upwards of 7 minutes over the course of the run. The Loading Trick is possible on PS3/Xbox 360 versions of the game, but the timesave is far less on Xbox 360 than on PS3. Load times are on a per-load basis, depending on what is being loaded, but generally, LT on the 360 saves roughly .6 seconds per codec, and ~.5 second for loading zones, whereas on PS3 it can save whole seconds.

This video was made in preparation for the Winter 2017 tournament and provides some no-reset strategies and a Q+A session for best practices for use when beginning to learn the run. Featuring commentary from RaichuMGS, Tyler2022, Plywood, Schnapples, and ScoutPwnage.

Getting at least one 3-shot cycle with the M9 on Fatman speeds up the fight immensely, but is recommended for advanced players only as the timing is incredibly strict. Fastest method possible is two 3-shot nonlethal cycles plus one extra shot to finish.
- 1 3-shot cycle: 32 seconds
- 0 3-shot cycles: 37 seconds
- Lethal: 36 seconds

The Harrier fight speeds up considerably with each extra shot you're able to land before he flies off for his first strafing run. 4-shot can be done with a little practice, but 5-shot will require more time to get consistently. None of the example fights are perfect fights, but serve as a good baseline.
- 3-shot start: 1 minute, 35 seconds
- 4-shot start: 1 minute, 9 seconds
- 5-shot start: 58 seconds

Vamp is sped up monumentally by doing lethal Stinger strategies over the European Extreme punch out strategies, but takes some time to get used to. For PC, the audio cue is when Vamp shouts after being hit, while on the HDC, the cue is to watch for his health bar to begin draining.
- Lethal PC: 7.5 seconds (RTA)
- Lethal HDC: 17 seconds (RTA)
- Non-Lethal PC: ~33 seconds
- Non-Lethal HDC: ~33 seconds