I've actually done a test speedrun of this as well. Unfortunately, the gmv is on another hard drive, but I can offer some of my experiences.
By and far away the most powerful move in the game is Mutant Rick's tentacle attack; it covers the entire screen, does serious damage + knockdown, and keeps most bosses pinned down if used with proper timing (great for level 3's teddy bear). Your entire run should focus around proper use of Eldritch orbs and abusing that move, since most of the enemies in the later stages get extremely tedious to kill using standard Rick attacks. The animation where Rick powers down into standard form can be skipped by being in a doorway when it opens.
I was hoping for more than 3 minutes on the clock (I think that might be the cutoff for Jennifer's infection). I got 2:56 on the clock at the end, and I know that it IS possible to have 3 minutes left on the clock. However, I think that it would be more interesting to see the actual second level and fight the Great Boreworm, rather than fight a bunch of really tough enemies and not have the variety the game was created with... Still, it'd be quicker. Two possible categories? Iunno, that'll get banged out later, I guess.
The cutoff point (when the end-of-level theme plays) for the first level is indeed 3 minutes. However the game cheats and makes you waste 12 seconds on the first boss's wake up and 4 seconds on its death, so you need a big margin of time going into that boss room.
I would skip the Great Boreworm fight, I always felt that letting Jennifer get infected was a sort of failure.
I did take damage, yes, but some of it was unavoidable
I took no damage on my run thanks to the spin kick and another random fact: Rick is invulnerable when picking up something.
The only rooms in the game where taking damage saves time are the possessed bookcase room on Level 3 (only near the end, the rest can be jumped over or otherwise avoided), the giant hand room on Level 4, and the souls-in-the-floor room on Level 5. All other situations can be resolved by Rick twirling towards freedom.
Stage X after that is always the same 1 room place with powerup goodies and usually fatty monsters. I've done the Stage 2 skip many times, but I've never skipped anything else, so I don't believe it's possible.
This is incorrect. There is another version of Stage X that will warp you back to Level 2; I stumbled across it when I froze the clock using cheats. It's been a while since I played, so I forgot the level that has this trap stage...
Wolf gets 40 HP per medpack as compared to Ishii's 20, while retaining Iishi's marksman skills. If you're aiming for fastest time, then you're going to have to take damage, which is why Wolf's more efficient medpacks are more useful.
Good run, a bit sloppy in places though. I'm curious to know why you didn't manipulate the enemies to propel you forward with their gunfire more often? It seems like unused potential. Also, any particular reason you chose Ishii instead of Wolf?
I'm also not sure why you passed up the bulletproof vest just before greenhouse 1.