Game Mechanics and Glitches

Charge Strike Meter

(That is the name of the HUD item in-game.  Found under "How To Play" in the options menu.)

Shortened as Charge Meter, often referred to by other names such as Rage Meter. The Charge Meter is filled by dealing damage: details below. When filled, Hiryu enters "Charge Mode" for 5 seconds. During this time all attacks are 2X damage and 2x range. This could also be considered as turning all regular Cypher Strikes into Charged Strikes, hence the name the developers gave it. The game slows down on activation, giving Hiryu some Matrix style bullet time for easy damage dealing.

You lose Charge when you take damage, but the amount is variable with different attacks based on the damage caused. Example: walking into an acid glob from an Insect enemy loses about 10% charge, but getting punched by a Heavy Mech loses more like 25%. Avoiding damage in boss fights is thus more key in this game, not only for the usual reasons like hitstun wasting time, but because it delays your Charge Mode. You will lose all Charge after 5 seconds of not dealing damage.

EVERY individual hit always builds 2.5% of Max Charge. All of them. This value is multiplied by the number of enemies hit at once when applicable. This value assumes Charge Mode at 100%.

CYPHER STRIKE:

Standard Cypher Strikes are the best way to build Charge; each hit grants 2.5% which means 40 hits to fill the bar. Your ability to mash directly affects your attack speed which is crucial to running this game. Hitting multiple enemies at once with this (or any) attack multiplies the Charge gain.

CHARGED CYPHER STRIKE:

Although they do double damage, Charged Strikes still build the same amount of Charge Meter. The equipped Plasma type makes no difference in Charge gain.

SLIDE ASSAULT:

Too slow at racking up hits means neglegible Charge gain, use only for movement and getting through enemies.

KUNAI THROW:

The default Kunai throws 3 projectiles. There are a total of 4 Kunai upgrades that increase this by 1, for a total of 7 projectiles. Charge built by multiple projectiles stacks, and shotgunning Kunai is highly effective and recommended. Unfortunately, in a speedrun it is unlikely you will have time to grab tons of Kunai upgrades to actually abuse this fact for Charge gain. Furthermore, each projectile can only hit 1 enemy. The exception is the optional Explosive Kunai upgrade: Each explosion builds the usual Charge but has a small radius that can affect more than one enemy. This upgrade delays the damage, and Charge, until the explosion.

PLASMA CATAPULT

Builds the same amount as a Cypher Strike.

OPTION A "Dipodal Saucer"

The Saucers themselves deal damage and build Charge on contact. Cypher Strikes cause the Saucers to fire projectiles, which also build the same amount of charge additively with Saucer collision damage AND Cypher Strikes themselves. This results in a frenzy of damage at close ranges, and very efficient Charge gain.

OPTION B "Tetrapodal Robo-Panther"

The damage increases with each successive hit, but Charge gain is static. Can hit the same enemy multiple times based on terrain.

OPTION C "Robot Eagle"

This attack often seems like it builds more Charge than normal. It actually hits single enemies twice extremely quickly, and builds additional Charge. This is based on the enemy's life; If it could only survive 1 hit, only 1 hit's worth of Charge is gained.