Full Run - a normal run previously the only category before Speedrun Mode was released.
Psychotherapy - same as All Stages, but fight the secret boss afterwards.
Golden Ending - choose "life" in Chinatown requires Action Only to be disabled.
All Stages - complete all 11 stages, skip cutscenes, action only.
There are currently several categories of Katana Zero speedruns. The Katana Zero speedrunning community is a thriving community supported by the developer, askiisoft. Speedrun Mode also comes with Hard Mode, a more difficult version of the game with more enemies, traps, and new enemy types.
Starting Level - allows the player to select which level they will start at.
Note that they must be unlocked before they can be used in Speedrun Mode.
Weapon - allows the player to select between the different swords.
No Slomo: "This challenge option will remove the player's ability to use slowmo.
Show Death Count: "Displays the player's death count for the run and the death count for the current level.".
Show Timer: "Displays the total time of the run and the time played on the current level.".
Secret Boss: "The player will encounter the secret boss fight regardless of their behavior." - The Psychiatrist boss fight will always occur at the end of the game.
Dragon Dash Max: "Starts The Dragon's dash ability at maximum distance.
Skip Replay: "Removes all level replays except during scripted cutscenes." - removes all level replays except the one in Mansion.
Action Only: "Skips major cutscenes and ambient rooms." - it also skips all the cutscenes skipped by the option above.
Enabling this option disables the secret boss fight (except if "Secret Boss" is enabled below).
Skip Cutscenes: "Skips all apartment, therapy and nightmare cutscenes" - does not skip all sequences (see "Action Only" below).
Stable Seed: "All enemies and bosses have consistent behavior between runs" - all runs have the same optimized cycle, even between resets.
Hard Mode: "For those who desire a real challenge" - toggles Hard Mode (see "Hard Mode" below).
Speedrun mode gives the player several options to optimize a speedrun of the game: