ANGEL UNDEAD, we would love to hear people's opinion on this, so if you are against the use of this component, could you please elaborate?
You can use this strategy, yes. It is allowed. You will lose time doing so, though.
Main reasons: Plissken runs faster than other characters; and to align these leaderboards with other Contra games in the series (Contra Hard Corps, Operation Galuga).
I regrouped Bill and Lance, they are the same speed. I have not done any testing with BR-W9, but for now it is a different leaderboard.
I hope this is OK for everyone. I took the decision alone, as there is virtually no community for this game.
For previous Contras with different characters (like Rebirth or C4), timer starts when stage 1 begins (not on character select screen). There will also be "in game time" in this game. I'm not totally sure how we will do this. Are there more menuing between stages? We'll have to see what the community wants.
Also, personally I'm not a fan of the dash button. I can totally see people in the future wanting to run this dash-less as a category.
I'm thinking of stuff like what is the starting frame, and what low% would mean here. Would the starting frame be when you gain control of character or when you menu? In arcade mode, you can skip the first animation. Would skipping this be part of the run?
Button remapping is typically not allowed in speedruns, from what I know.
I've been curious about this since the Summoning Salts video.