This idea come up to my mind yesterday.

1. farm 2.5m or even 5m halos with Rosa repeating playing prologue. 2.buy out climax brace 1(which gives you infinite magic) and climax brace 2(which boost your umbran climax damage). each costs 2.5m halos. 3.beat the rest chapters with these bracelets equipped on.

Of course, this could be controversial, since it is not the normal way to get these bracelets. However, this mechanism is provided by platinumgames itself, so I think it is still a valid way to get these items. Here is the link: https://www.platinumgames.co.jp/dev-bayonetta2/article/1483

And, since you need touch the screen to activate this mechanism, so if you are running a NS version, you should switch it to portable mode first, which will make the video temporarily go black.(And wiiu is ok, since you can touch the gamepad)

I did several tests, in prologue verse1, you can farm up to 1.3 m per time. So it wont cost you much time to farm 5m halos. And with climax brace1 and climax brace 2, I dont think you need to go to shop in the rest run, which will save much time.

Since I would do a Jeanne run first, which may take some months, I am glad to share with you this strats with anyone that will do a Rosa run in the near future.

And, can any MOD come in and confirm this strats is valid or not?

By the way, I think this strats also works for 2nd or 3rd climax difficulty, but I highly doubt that it will beat current strats.

If you can farm up to 1.3 million halos in the Prologue Chapter in a New Game per level run please post a video of doing so ASAP as the community would love to see it.

At this current time I would have to say that it would not be allowed because with current strats used for multiple characters it would take too long to farm the halos. The second reason why is that because while it is in the game you still have to input a cheat code to get the items, Platinum even calls it the "Platinum Code."

I have known about this method of unlocking items in the game since Platinum told everyone about it but it was not feasible to do in a speedrun and since it requires a cheat code it would not be accepted.

If things change however we will be sure to alert the community both here in the forum and on the discord.

Thank you for the reply.

You have listed two reasons that shows us why this strats cant be allowed. However, reason 1 can not stand as a REASON. You can only using Rosa to farm halos at this speed. That's Rosa's internal trait, and is not realised by ANY controversial methods. What is controversial here is the acquisition of the two bracelet, but farming halos using Rosa does not involve this.So either Rosa farm halo way faster than other characters or other strats for other characters take too long to farm halos can not stand as a reason to prove this strats should be disallowed. Let's just say, I did a Rosa run, I didn't continue my run until I farm 500k halos from prologue because I just want these amount of halos, that would make my run invalid? It takes time to farm halos and I am willing to spend such time in the run, how could that be not allowed? This is ridiculous. All these halos are acquired legitimatly from in game, and there is no rule that forbid replaying former chapters, right?

reason 2 could stand as a reason. But I have my own thoughts. Yeah, sure, for the sake of argument let's just say it is a cheat code. But this is not simply a cheat code, you cant get get these two bracelets by simply input these code. You need time to farm the required amount of halos, and it would probable take 20-30 minutes, which is a HUGE time loss. (And please keep in mind that when play prologue, 1 hit would make you dead. You can't change difficulty, since if the halos are acquired from lower difficulty, your infinite climax run would became invalid, since there are things that are acquired from another difficulty.) Ok I am not a typical speedruner, I start speedruning game from last year. To me, it is interesting that people could using every glitch to save time or gain extra benefits. If using glitch is allowed, why "cheat code" can't? And this is not a cheap "cheat code".

Well, I must say I am quite sympathy with your second reason. But my rationale are different: This strats involve something abnormal, and is somehow quite CHEAP. Since with climax brace 1 you can always keep umbran climax state on, and characters will never die when umbran climax activated, and this will make a run become CHEAP. Honestly speaking, it could set a new category for this strats, but since there are few people running this game, it is unwise to make category too separated. In this sense, if someone did a Rosa run at infinite climax difficulty normally(which require awesome skills, since 1 hit would make Rosa dead), I am hesitating to beat his record using this cheap strat(which doesn't require much skills)——assume this strat is better. In this sense, I think I am OK with the decision that this strats is not allowed now. But your reason didn't convince me :)

Glitches are bugs in the programming that can be exploited for a run, a cheat code is something that the developers intentionally added in themselves to be used either internally or by others to have "fun".

For the majority of games that are speedrun any type of cheat code inputs are not allowed. While it was intentionally programmed into the game Platinum had to tell everyone almost two years after the game had been out that it was there to begin with and give people the code.

As stated before, if you have a method to get 1.3 million halos in a New Game per completion of the Prologue level please post a video of doing so as this could potentially change how the entire game is run. The idea of a speedrun is to beat the game as quick as possible, of course, if this method ends up taking a ton of time and makes it super slow to the point where it's more of a novelty then that could be the case, but if it's possible to do it and save time it's still worth looking at.

By no means is this discussion closed or decided upon, you brought this up for discussion and asked for a mod to come in and give their opinion on the matter and I have done that, now I ask of you to show us how you are doing this as not only myself but others are curious to what you are exactly doing and we would love to see it in action.

if you do need a video, you can check Of course, in this video the uploader equipped climax brace 2, and we dont have that with the new game file. So we could only get up to 1.3million halos (with climax brace 2 and full updated bar of magic orb, you can easily farm 3m halos per run.) Since the capture card is not available for me now, so I can't upload my own video right now. But after watch this, I doubt you will need to see my own video.

As for the "cheat code thing", I would rather consider it as an alternative way to get these bracelets. It definitely not a simple cheat code like we see in AOE or Warcraft3: We type "bigdaddy" in AOE, we instantly get a armed car which can launch rocket. And you input your so called cheat code into Bayonetta 2, you get NOTHING. The platinum set a mechanism to prevent you from get these things cheaply. As they describe themselves: the price for these items is "striking" (衝撃のボッタクリ価格)

But like I said, I am OK with the decision, since this strats is quite "heretic", I would somehow embarrassed that I hold the 1st place with this strats, while someone play normally and only get a 2nd place.

This farming strats work for Rosa doing infinite climax run, since you can buy out all the witch heart and moon pearl. With all the witch heart purchased from shop, you can have 1 full HP bar, which could make you withstand 1 hit in some scenes(of course, you can still be 1 hit dead in other scenes). Otherwise, since you cant stack red lollipop and purple lollipop, this starts cant beat current strats. ie, in my Bayo run or my Jeanne run later, I wont buy any witch heart, so this strats is useless for me.

Alright, so I just did a practice run with Rosa on infinite climax. Grinding on this chapter is absolutely not viable. Almost everything kills you in one hit, Accolades don't always get stunned and will just get a hit off, resulting in your death. If you die, you will start at the point right after when you get your guns, and you will not have received any halos.

Also, I only managed to hit about 75000 halos when exiting the level, so you would either: Have to go into chapter 2, then buy the hornet and items (unless you're lucky and got 100000/ 130000 halos), and then go back into the prologue. Or, you take another trip to the prologue, get more halos, then go into chapter 2, buy the stuff you need, and then go back again. And both of those things are just not worth it. Especially when the prologue is probably one of the hardest parts of the game on New Game infinite climax.

So all I can say about grinding for the bracelets is: Love yourself, don't do it, and just play through New Game infinite climax normally with Rosa.

Thanks for the replying, Ace.

I wrote 4 paragraphs of text to show you why I am right, but finally I choose to delete them all.

Action speak louder than words, maybe I do should record some videos and share them with you. I think after watch these video, you wont consider this bracelets strat so unfeasible. Sure you need time to farm required halos and that's not a small number, but it can still beat some normal run that are not quite decent(ie. visit shop too often or died too many times.)

For me, it not the bracelet strat that is ludicrous, the problem here is that for mods, they think they have reason to forbid it, and I somehow agree with them, though my reasons are quite different with theirs.

Yes, as stated it would be best for you to make a video and post it here with your exact strat as has been previously requested.

Maybe something is not being conveyed correctly or is getting lost in translation so to speak, a video will clearly demonstrate what you are trying to communicate and would be greatly appreciated.

After having tried a route that involves farming 2.5 million halos in the prologue as Jeanne in a New Game to buy the Climax Brace from the hidden shop in the first chapter and seeing that this route’s time is able to compete (video link see below) with the traditional New Game route I would like to voice my opinion on the matter brought up by Arismaotle.

One of the central questions that was discussed is whether the use of the hidden shops is considered using a “cheat code” since those are disallowed by the General Gameplay Rules of this website. Defining a cheat code as “a code […] that activates a hidden feature or capability in a computer or video game” (Merriam Webster) the use of the hidden shops is to be considered a cheat code since the required Platinum Code activates various hidden shops. The shops are a feature, they are hidden, and they are activated by said code. After giving this a good deal of thought I have come to agree with this interpretation.

Furthermore moderation has already stated unambiguously on the Discord that the use of hidden shops will not be permitted in New Game or New Game+ runs. Therefore the matter can indeed be considered closed in my opinion. Whether this route should be formed into a separate category is to be decided by the interest of runners. My goal was to contribute to this matter and the community by showing that the route is feasible.

However, I would also like to show some appreciation to Arismaotle’s counterarguments and overall thought process which in my opinion have not been valued enough. I agree that the Platinum Code is not a cheat code in the traditional sense. Definitions of cheat codes while usually being vague and general and therefore applicable to many variations including the Platinum Code were in my opinion formulated with the traditional concept of a cheat code in mind. These concepts originated from games that are 20 or more years old. Input of an intentionally programmed code would grant an immediate benefit bypassing the general gameplay rules. The Platinum Code if anything is an evolution of that concept since the thing that the codes grants is not immediate but rather, in case of the Climax Brace, locked behind 2.5 million halos. This is the significant difference between traditional cheat codes and the Platinum Code.

In a true New Game it is impossible to easily get that many halos since Bayonetta if anything can only reasonably farm halos in later chapters. Farming 2.5 million halos in the prologue in a, for a speedrun, reasonable amount of time is only possible as either Jeanne or Rosa. In fact, Jeanne and Rosa themselves need to be unlocked by meeting certain requirements in a New Game. Consequently, runs as Jeanne or Rosa should not be considered New Game runs since they require the existence of a save file (next to the empty New Game file) where they are already unlocked. Nevertheless they are listed in the New Game categories. It could therefore be considered a kind of a double standard where in one case the rules are interpreted more liberal (considering a run as Jeanne or Rosa a New Game run) and in the other case the interpretation is stricter (applying the definition of a traditional cheat code to the Platinum Code, an evolution of said traditional code).

It is not my intention to stir up the debate on this matter since I accept the legitimate decision of the moderation. But I believe that progressive thinking deserves recognition.

Thanks for reading.

Video: Speedrun, NG, Jeanne, Hard, Hidden Shop route in 1:41:37