I'd want to post times for every character myself! A lot of boards have subcategories for every category, e.g. Super Mario Odyssey has 1p and 2p for any% and I think that would help a lot with streamlining the leaderboards; every category could have a subcategory for each character and a general coop one

Hey I've picked this game for the 12 hour challenge this weekend and I was wondering if Hawk and Draco were ok to use for the standard run (Beat The Game)? They've both got pretty big potential for gofast but I can see people not being happy if they do end up being optimal, being paid dlc and all that (maybe they need their own categories?).

For quite a few of the upgrades it kinda depends on where you are and what else you have. These are my general thoughts with speed in mind:

Candle: I'll take this over literally anything else. Candle turns every mistake into an opportunity to go really fast. You can even tank through entire boss phases with this.

Gem Sick: This is good pretty much whenever, but especially at the start when enemy density is a bit low and it's a bit harder to keep up Gem High. I wouldn't pick it for the boss though; even with this you'll lose gem high during the phase transitions

Gem Attractor: This synergises really well with a couple of other upgrades but it's not good on its own, for speedrunning you don't really care about gems for shopping.

Gem Powered: if you have this you don't need Jetpack at all; combined with Gem Attractor you'll never run out of ammo

Popping Gems: This is really good from Aquifer onward, it really helps to deal with the boss' minion spawns as well. pretty garbo early though

Blast Module: This can really help with big clusters of enemies. It's a solid pick basically anywhere, but I don't really like it for the boss

Apple: Whether or not you should take this depends entirely on your health situation. If I'm missing need 3 or 4 hp I'll take it. I'll also take it if it will increase my max HP but bear in mind you don't really need more than 6 and you REALLY don't need more than 7

Youth: Gives you more options later on which is nice, but it does cost you an upgrade. Only get this early, or if you -really- need the health

Safety Jetpack: This is only really useful in the first few stages, where you're actually likely to run out of ammo. I'd only think about getting this for the Caverns and maybe early catacombs

Knife and Fork: This really shines in Aquifer because it's so easy to get to corpses there, it's actually better than trying to get combos. It's basically of no use anywhere else so don't get it unless you're around late catacombs/early aquifer

Gem Attractor: This synergises really well with a couple of other upgrades but it's not good on its own, for speedrunning you don't really care about gems for shopping.

Gem Powered: if you have this you don't need Jetpack at all; combined with Gem Attractor you'll never run out of ammo

Popping Gems: This is really good from Aquifer onward, it really helps to deal with the boss' minion spawns as well. pretty garbo early though

Gunpowder Blocks: the upwards shots are ok, what you want it for is the block clearing. Does nothing in limbo but could save you a couple of seconds clearing the corridor before the boss fight

Drone: Again, having damage above you is really useful later on. This can make Burst, Noppy and Machine Gun pretty viable for the boss. Don't get it in Catacombs, you'll be way more likely to set off the flying skulls

Hot Casing: More damage above is always good for later, this one's hard to use deliberately. It can save you some trouble during the boss but it depends on the weapon you have. It's nice to have but it's not a high priority

Laser Sight: This isn't going to make or break your run but it does make most of the weapons a little safer to use against the boss.

Heart Balloon: This slows you down and it's only good for one hit above you. Not really worth picking up in most cases but I will take it if I need some defense against the boss minions.

Timeout: Anything that touches the bubble dies but it's not really onscreen long enough to be useful. -Maybe- ok for the boss fight??

Reverse Engineering: The last time I took this it turned a laser in the Boss fight into a triple. I can see why people might take it but it's a Big No for me

Rocket Jump: I have never found this to be useful at all. If anything the explosion obscures where you are at the start of the jump.

Rest in Pieces: I've never even taken this one, the only time I can keep track of corpses I'd rather eat them

Member's Card: At most you wanna go to one shop in a run if you think you'll need it. Never take this