Hey skyhawks.
So this game is pretty straightforward, with Any% being the most realistic option for a run (What would 100% include? And there are no known skips or glitches that would require distinguishing between them and Glitchless, etc.). However, considering that there is a high score board at the end, getting the top score is an additional realistic goal. In my head I've been calling getting this high score challenge "BeatBrendan%" since Brendan sits at the top of the scoreboard, laughing at you during name entry; typically, at the end of the run your score is 2nd place at best (or at least that's been true of the runs I've seen, and the ones I've submitted). Getting 500,000 or above is actually a challenge since it requires you to go out of your way to defeat more enemies, which is obviously risky, and it requires you to not use continues, which reset your score to 0.
My suggestion is to make a "Brendan%" category which would offer another challenge on top of the straightforward Any%. A further thought would be to track not only the time but the high score achieved. I figure it could be a fun challenge.
What do you folks think?
I think everything is OK as is with the Any% category.
Beating Brendan's score might be a fun challenge but I don't see it having much place on speedrun.com leaderboards. At minimum it would need to be a separate category extension board.
Word. Yeah, I think you're right. Well, it can still just be a personal goal I set for myself ^_^
Definitely highlight when you do beat Brendan; it will be cool to see!
I just checked and highscore.com tracks it. Only one score up there that beat Brendan.
