It is possible to not do any city blocks and skip straight to the HQ by having one save already at the HQ start a session, then have the new save join in, and have the host save leave, allowing the new save to do the HQ boss without doing any other city block. Would this be allowed in Any% or not?

I'm gonna test to see if something like that is possible, but I would not allow that for the speedrun since you would be using an existing character to bring a new one further, defeating the purpose of the run.

The goal is to complete the 6 missions the game gives you as a new character, since the bosses are always the same on them and they have cutscenes. Even if the cutscenes still happen, the rules of Any% is to create a new character for the run. Bringing in an old character with a good setup to bypass the "this is a new game" rule wouldn't be fair.

For when co-op runs are added (there are no runs of it but I assume there will be eventually), I personally would still only permit new characters to partake on the run, not existing ones.

that sounds more like a NG+, maybe we can add it but we need a run first

Did a run where I only do the boss HQs:

It looks interesting enough, but it wouldn't be a main category. I'd add that as a miscellanious category since it does beat the game, but it isn't exactly what many would call a "real speedrun". At the very least, it's a different category from the current "Any%".

Edit : Created the category and added the run.