Some of the strats might proof useful for casual playthroughs also.
Most of these strats are suboptimal for speedruns as the focus lies on being easily replicable.
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(Note that "Time" is a fictive measurement to ensure that the fastest run doesn't automatically rank at the top as is usually the case on the speedrunning website. The primary factor for the rank is the amount of "Hits", the secondary factor for the case of a tie is the "RTA Time".)
Please be aware that watching and trying to replicate successful runs is still the best way to improve. This post is intended to help to elaborate on specific strats.
All strats I cover are based on the PlayStation version of the game which has been by far the most popular version of No Hit Running so far. If you play another version, please keep in mind that certain things will be different.
Bongo Hills - Save chocolate ball ride on fifth screen:
As soon as you spawn on the fifth screen, hold right. When landing on the chocolate balls, walk to the head on the left exactly five times and stay there. This way, you are save from hitting the static wrong notes and the antitoon.
Allegro Presto - Consistent tiny platforms:
Really just do any strat Shoteru recommends here at 6:28.
Twilight Gulch - Consistent damageless strat for the many lava balls at the end of the chase scene:
The main thing to avoid here is a lava ball being popped too low. Coming from the left, hang on the ledge before charging your fist. That way, you can ensure you hit the lava balls when they're up high. As soon as you hit one, go down and crouch. Just repeat over and over again.
Hard Rocks - Hitting the last cage without causing a catastrophe:
While fallling down, stay left at first and punch. Just make sure to not hit one of the gendoors that can spawn stone men. You can take a closer look at the gendoor's locations here.
Mr Sax's Hullaballoo - Ground clip to skip some platforming:
At the long slippery platform around the fourth cage, do a ground clip on the eighth possible spot or later, counting from the bottom. Simply hold down right after having held left and run as soon as you get to the point where an arch goes the towards you the most. If you do it earlier, you can still clip though the ground but you risk getting hit by the static wrong notes.
Pencil Pentathlon - Avoiding the falling pencils:
Again, there are gendoors you don't want to hit. They spawn pencils that fall down. However, you can simlpy fly above them with the super helicopter you get for this level. Check out the location of the gendoors in the image below.
Pencil Pentathlon - Never hit the spikes again:
It's the easiest strat you can imagine. After passing the photographer, just walk (don't run) right. After bouncing for the fourth time, let go off all inputs. Hovering at the end in order to save some time really doesn't seem to be worth it if your main interest is achieving a No Hit Run.
Space Mama's Crater - Never overshoot the rightmost platform before the fourth cage again:
Stand on the left of the left downslope of the funnel on Stormer Screen, charge your fist. After letting go, do a late jump and hover to grab the ledge. This way, you should never hit the spikes by overshooting the rightmost platform on the path towards the fourth cage in the level.
Space Mama's Crater - Save Space Mama First Hit:
In the beginning of the battle, Space Mama sometimes steps forward. If she does that too often, she will walk into you, resulting in an avoidable hit. The video down below aims to teach how to easily prevent her from moving towards you upon exiting the washing machine.
Eat at Joe's - Ground clip on the second screen:
As soon as you're able to see (not break open) the second cage, there is a jump leading down to the right. You might want to skip it. Luckilly, you absolutely can! Simply pull off a ground clip to the left of the spikes where the horizontal platform meets the descending platform. It is pixel perfect so it might take a few tries.
Eat at Joe's - Screen manip on the fifth screen to streamline the bottom right saucer section:
This is almost too straightforward to be considered a strat or manip. But I've seen people move around on the saucer before. You don't have to. You can simply stay at the center while crouching and facing right. 999 times out of 1000 times you will manage to avoid the traps regardless but you don't want to see the exception happen while on zero hits.
Mr. Skops' Stalactites - Consistent cycles for the first two blue prickly balls:
Usually, you need to observe the position of the vertically moving blue prickly balls and react accordingly. But you can ensure that they're always on the same cycle, making quick reactions irrelevant. The idea behind the strat is to deload the prickly balls by turning left at the leftmost part of the level. As soon as you cross a certain point while running towards the right, they will load back in. If you maintain running speed while approaching the prickly balls, they will always be on the exact same cycle when you get there. To maintain running speed mid-air, you can copy the particular set of inputs seen on the Input Display in the bottom left corner.
Mr. Skops' Stalactites - Jumping behind Mr. Skops
The hitbox of Mr. Skops is much smaller than it looks. If you jump into him in the particular way shown in the video when only two hitpoints remain, you can avoid taking damage for the rest of the fight, simply by crouching in the bottom right corner. This is helpful as Mr. Skops will creep further to left later, making it more difficult to avoid a hit when going in for the KO punch. On another note: Should you struggle severely with this fight: Note that the blue energy balls emitted by Skops' stinger follows your fist.
Mr. Dark's Dare - Despawning Bad Rayman:
On the second screen, Bad Rayman chases you as soon as you hit a gendoor just to the right of where you spawn. You can see its location on the image down below.
However, standing as far to the left as you can, running towards the right, jumping immediately after and then using a helicopter at the peak of the jump allows you to avoid hitting the trigger. That way, you can take your time with the screen, making things easier.
