Sorry to bump an old topic, but with 2 going, I didn't want to start a new one.
So, I discovered a couple of things that might help this run. It's a bit sloppy, so I opted to unleash it as a WIP rather than a submission. Right now, it's at 25:49, but if cleaned up, I think I can get it close to 25:30. That's still a little long for a run, IMO, but I don't think the glitches are fully discovered yet.
Anyway, it takes basically the same route as Cheez's run (despite being able to go anywhere at any time, the game is pretty linear), but there's some new stuff thrown in there.
First, the skipped items:
Disc 1, Aqua-boots, Attack-boots, Cipher plasma
Disc 1 and attack boots are nothing special, but the other two are pretty new.
You sink to the bottom of the water in Egypt, Africa, and Red Dragon without the Aqua-boots, but you can jump out to catch your breath before you die (assuming you don't have enough energy to survive sliding on the bottom). This saves bunches of time in Egypt, as you can go straight to the end.
Second, it occurred to me that you wouldn't be able to finish the game and beat Matic if you overlooked that single room in Japan to get the plasma for your cipher. This didn't make sense to me, since once you get to the Red Dragon, you can't go back. So, I started playing around with the spells nobody ever uses and both spark and sp-ball knock the cipher out of his hand. Unfortunately, I think the plasma takes off a great deal more damage because I couldn't beat him before he picked his weapon back up like you can when you use the cipher plasma to disarm him. Anyway, this saved loads of time in Japan.
Next, the skipped enemies:
Shield guy in China, 2 Spark throwing machines in Africa, First Samuri guy and second whirlwing guy in Red Dragon
The shield guy in China can be skipped by sliding after coming down the pipe. The second whirlwind guy in Red Dragon can be skipped by jumping after coming down the pipe. I read these here.
In Africa, there is a series of three spark rolling machine things. I took a hit on the first, started sliding, and the other two never appeared.
In Red Dragon, I came down the pipe right below the floating cipher guide thingie and did a mid-air jump, then started sliding. This skipped the first Samuri guy I would have run into. It saved a second or two.
There has to be a method to this beyond luck, but it seems pretty random to me. (I know, there's nothing random, but I haven't figured out exactly how it works.) I'm pretty confident these aren't the only enemies that can be skipped because I just stumbled on the two new ones. If we can figure it out, any enemy that doesn't trigger text would be skippable (maybe).
Anyway, the only other difference is that I don't die in Japan because I don't run into enough enemies to kill me fast enough - it's faster to go back to the beginning.
Any help would be appreciated - I think a Strider run is lacking here.
The WIP:
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/2972/strider.fcm