Alright, I finally watched this. I'm glad I was able to inspire this run. (In fact, I removed mention of the run from my sig because it got done!) However, I'm not yet sure what to vote.
First of all, there are definitely some very nice parts:
- Not taking damage is very tricky to do in this game, given how the enemy layout tends to require tricky movements. Some boss fights look especially good, such as King Breager and Goza. I also liked the dual creature fight in Mt. Imaus.
- You jumped off of spikes sometimes (a couple times in Mt. Imaus by the pillars, and once in the last stage). That was cool.
- Fighting bosses right in front of their faces is impressive, given that Firebrand moves too slowly to do effective dodging in many cases.
Things that I'm not really sure with:
- By avoiding damage, you noticeably slow down in the forest stage to dodge obstacles. I probably would've taken damage to boost through, but you're welcome to your stylistic choice.
- With the Mt. Imaus boss, I'm curious whether it would be faster to get in one creature's face first and fire very quickly. The other can then be made to fly at you and be close up for more shots.
And now, the parts that I'm pretty sure can be done better:
- As Derakon mentions, Tornado is pretty under-utilized. It would definitely make the big vertical shaft in Mt. Imaus faster (you just ride a levitating platform during that part), and I'm pretty sure it would speed up Naga's Path at the end.
- I've gotten Doppleganger to stay his true self two turns in a row and avoid firing a fireball. That would speed up that fight tremendously.
- Can the Desert Sittem boss be manipulated to avoid creating the little mini-things? I'm pretty sure he's invincible for less time when he does his dash.
- When rising up big shafts with Tornado or Claw, you tend to use a maximum-height jump and zip up to the top of the platform you created. Since you decelerate to a slow speed at the top, wouldn't it be faster to make more shorter jumps?
In any case, you've taken a fairly clunky game and made it look pretty good. I'm not sure if it's improvable enough to vote Meh at this point. I will say, though, that if you attempt an improvement of any of this, I'd be thrilled to offer support and observations (I didn't know you were making this run until today... :-( ).