I can't comment much more without any movie, but I do recommend you check out the WR speedrun, if you haven't already. He beats it in 22:33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8bw1l0jeDo
I've actually beaten that time. Here's a link to the newest record.
I'd love to see a tas of this, so if you(or anyone else for that matter) are still interested in doing this, I'll help in any way I can. For starters, here's some info on the US version(Game Master difficulty):
HP RAM addresses
Rick: 00FF00B2
Enemy 1: 00FF5EC4
Enemy 2: 00FF5EC6
Enemy 3: 00FF5EC8
Normal Rick Moves Damage Notes
Punch 8
Throw 16
Jump Kick 16
Headbutt 24
Throw Down 48
Spin Kick 80 64 versus "Big Enemies/Bosses" (marked by asterisk)
Mutant Rick Moves
Punch 8
2nd Punch 16
3rd Punch 40
Choke 32
Throw 32
Jump Kick 32
Ab Jab 120 Down+Attack while Grappling
Power Move 120 Back, Forward, Back, Attack; does 248 verus "Small Enemies"
Megaton Driver 120 Down+Jump while Grappling
Weapons Locations
Bat 32 3-4
2X4 32 1-15
Brick 32 1-9, 2-6, 3-11, 4-3, 5-9
Pipe 32 5-17
Knife 48 4-9
Sword 48 2-11
HP by enemy color
Rick – 256
Headless Zombie
Flesh – 48
Grey – 96
Screaming Mimi
Flesh – 144
Grey – 144
Purple – 192
Red – 192
Top Heavy
Flesh – 192
Green (Stage 2) – 288
Purple – 288
Green (Stage 3) – 384
Grey – 384
Red – 480
Bellyache*
Flesh – 192
Grey – 192
Green – 384
Red – 768
Birdo
Flesh – 96
Grey – 144
Red – 192
Zombie Dog*
Flesh – 192
Red – 384
Grey -768
Bag Head* – 336
Foul Beast*
Flesh – 288
Red – 480
Brown – 576
Bosses
Foul Beast – 768
Giant Boreworm – 768
Teddy Bear – 576
Fetus – 960
Evil One – 1056
Terror Mask – 1344
Other useful information follows:
Only bosses can block. Foul Beasts are just palette swaps of the first boss, so they keep the ability to block as well, unfortunately.
Bag Heads don't block, but can go "through" attacks. They can still be grabbed, though, which makes this optimal barring amazing luck.
Red versions of enemies are generally much faster and like to go in for the kill.
Top Heavys will come toward you if you attack. Otherwise, they're usually extremely slow and just stand around.
The Birdo's tongue attack is an auto knock down, as is their slide attack (telegraphed by biting quickly beforehand), making them very annoying.
The Red Mimis also get a slide attack, telegraphed by standing still.
Bellyaches and Bag Heads can two shot you. All other damage is negligible, so I never bothered to track how much damage any of the monsters do.
The Megaton Driver is around half a second slower than the Ab Jab, so it's always avoided. The only use I've found for it is in the final boss fight it can be used to avoid the Shadow Mask attack, but it's faster to just get hit.
Weapons all cause an auto knock down, making them too slow to use.
Getting knocked down wastes around 2-3 seconds. Getting killed wastes almost 8 seconds.
You have some invulnerability frames when doing an attack while grabbing an enemy and when transforming/reverting.
I've fooled around with the J-version, which is almost identical stage-wise(the exception being a few rooms in Stage 3), but has a few differences in damage output. They are as follows:
Normal Rick:
Punch U - All punches do 8 damage.
Punch J - The first three punches of the four punch combo do 8 damage, but the last does 40.
Spinkick U - 80 damage. 64 on "big" enemies.
Spinkick J - While faster, it only does 8 damage. Only really useful for crowd control and the invulnerability.
Mutant Rick:
Punch U - 3 punch combo does 8, 16, 40 in that order.
Punch J - 3 punch combo does 16, 40, 80 in that order.
Breadsticks U - 248 damage. 120 on "big" enemies.
Breadsticks J - 80 damage and it consumes POW. Only worth it when you're about to revert back to Normal Rick or if it will kill everything before your POW runs out. Otherwise, stick with punches for multiple enemies.
And here are the HP RAM addresses for the J-version:
Rick: 00FF00B2
Enemy 1: 00FF5E80
Enemy 2: 00FF5E82
Enemy 3: 00FF5E84