I completed a 13:08 run of Kid Niki: Radical Ninja back in January of 2007, and the run spent months in verification purgatory. By the time enough verifiers were found, some faster strategies were discovered, and I decided not to submit the run. Now, two years later, I finally decided to speedrun this game again and completed a run that is about a minute and a half faster than my initial 13:08 run.
I've liked this game since I was a kid. It contains some kooky stuff, such as a karate-chopping cat; a mountain that gives you the finger; and Mad Monk, who calls Kid Niki a fool and drops F-bombs. Mad Monk doesn't get to show off any of his attacks in this run, though, because I kill him quickly (this boss fight is probably the highlight of the run).
I use shortcuts in stages two, three, and seven. The shortcut in stage two leads to a bonus room if you climb to the very top of the tree. I drop off the tree before reaching the bonus room to save time. The shortcut in stage three takes you to a bonus area, but I immediately drop off the cloud to exit the bonus area and save time. The shortcut in stage seven shows the aforementioned karate-chopping cat.
I take a secret route in stage four. By taking this route, I can obtain the white uniform, which allows Kid Niki to get hit once without dying. Taking this route usually saves a couple of seconds by the end of the level because if I'm wearing the white uniform, I can proceed through the bubble section without wasting as much time trying to dodge the bubbles.
This game has horrible collision detection. One example occurs at the beginning of stage three: I clearly touch the second cat-on-boulder, but the game doesn't register this fact.
During boss fights, your sword will fly out of your hands when you hit the boss, and you have to take time to retrieve your weapon. Every once in a while, however, you will hit a boss and not lose your sword. This happens once during the stage-four boss fight and saves a bit of time because I am able to hit the boss twice in one cycle.
