Might beat this time yet but throwing this decent run up. Goal is 31:3X.
Played on original hardware.
Performed live on / aquas on 1/14/24
Notes about this run:
This is basically your Any% style run. Since you use the Energy Shot primarily, which is the prime weapon for dealing damage in Any%.
There are a few notable things that slow you down in this run versus being able to use all of your weaponry freely:
1. Stage 1 (Base): In any% you can save about 8 seconds on the 2nd midboss (Ceiling Weaponry) because you can gather extra Hit Rate against the boss by destroying its parts with the Diver Mine. Because those bits are only destructable via Diver Mine. Here I have to shoot 2 extra turrets on the Ceiling Midboss to get the necessary hitrate for A rank.
2. Stage 6 (Boss rush): The Egg or Cell boss has a nasty counterattack splash attack it uses when you fire Energy Shots at it - which are the only weaponry you have in Wire Whip only to deal damage to it. Dealing with the boss' counter can be very dangerous to the speedrun. The splash randomly angles so high that it is an un-avoidable death. You also have to contend with the random "Puffs" that the boss shoots out. The number of them and frequency varies a bit, as well as the timing of their release - this meant I couldn't come up with some type of que to anticipate them with Energy Shots. As it stands in my strategy, I'm somewhat lucky if an Energy Shot dispatches a full swarm of puffs as they spawn. If that happens, it is somewhat likely I'll defeat the Cell at the top of the screen before it bobs down - which is optimal. Considering that when it starts dropping down you have no safe angle of attack during that time, and once it's at the bottom of the screeen, you can't get damage as fast as when it's at the top. Resulting in large time loss if this occurs.
3. Stage 6 (Boss rush): The Heart boss at the very end takes approx. 26 seconds to kill versus about 6 seconds with Diver Mines (Big difference for some reason.) You also have to contend with the boss' homing sperm attack coming at you, forcing you to deter your damage from the Heart itself. Usually you can kill it without having to stop attacking the heart. But there is a bit of randomness here.