This is a short guide on how to do well in TIme Attack.
This guide assumes all powers are unlocked. I would also say that this is easier with mouse/keyboard because of aim movement accuracy and speed, but feel free to prove me wrong!

These are my strategies and they are far from perfect. In the time it took me to get around to this guide I've been beaten many times over too on Samurai. If we can bring the times lower together by sharing strats that would be amazing :D

General strategy: Shoot things ASAP. Missiles only, no grabbing as it wastes time.

Aim to clear fodders right after they spawn. If you check out the readme you'll see this:
The readme has some other fun stuff as well, but this is MAJOR for Time Attack.

Charge up by jumping, I prefer just holding up.
Clear the enemies as quickly as you can, avoid Golden Fodders if you can. If they are in the way of normal enemies then do destroy them. If you want to save a tiny bit of time, clear out the last group of fodders with your special attack. I like to stay on the RIGHT platform. I have no idea if this influences the speed of the cutscene but it avoids the jumping part
So in order to quickly skip the cutscene here, you want to time your Red Overdrive to hit exactly when the cutscene hits. This may be a bit tricky but both sprsclr and I figure the best way to do this is by not using your special attack at the end. Skipping a Golden Fodder or two might help as well, but in testing I get split results.

Continue clearing Fodders as quickly as possible and aim to have a full charge bar ready for the Wyrm. Once it spawns I like to continue clearing until it is really close, then blast it off with special attacks until it dies. By now you should have full overdrive and there is no need to jump to charge after the Wyrm is dead. This leaves more time for clearing the rest of the trash and the ring of fodders. Aim to clear the ring in the direction it spawns for the best results. To save a tiny bit of time you can time a jump so that you split missile the ring early. End with a full charge and max Overdrive.


Pre-aim upwards and hold shoot(mouse) to not have to wait for the initial attack. Should end in no time due to max Overdrive.

Shoot off your first full charge immediately and recharge by jumping. Should go down in 3 attacks. I normally make sure to have at least 2 hearts here and eat the first Vario hit. This is probably the most difficult thing to execute properly for me, so I obviously recommend practice!

Ending the guide with my 1:32, go out there and beat it!

This is a much shorter but very tight run. Your main goal will be to shoot and hit with your shots at all times. This is not always possible as the missiles will fire off to the sides at their own will. Maximizing damage done to Samurai before the phase where he splits allows you to get as much overdtive as possible with CD7 before the final part of the fight which I would like to call "Spin to Win". Our goal here is to kill him before the second split, or die.

I recommend watching the video to make sense of what is written below.
First of all, start off chargejumping and let go of up in the middle of your third jump to instantly be ready to deal damage. Follow Samurai from as early as possible. Shoot at him until he is about to assault your platform, and use your charge boost to hit him as you move onto the other platform.

edit: sprsclr found more strats!

Originally posted by sprsclr:

Just wanted to say that in the 1st section of Time Attack - Samurai you will deal damage if you use chargeboost instead of missles. Got the current WR like that. =)

Instantly do your jumpcharge and continue shooting, I prefer to keep the boost all the way until the dodge phase is close to done and he descends next to your platform. I chargeshoot him here and recharge while getting ready to get in a hit as he is below my platform. This usually lines up with the jumpcharging. After this I aim down below the right platform and jump right to start preparing for spin to win.
Hitting Samurai with missiles

Using chargeboost right before he does down with the destroyed platform

This is the part that confuses the most people. You can charge/spin on the spot by pressing down, and if this is done in a rythm while constantly holding shoot, you can do insane damage in the short amount of time. Do this until the first split samurai is very close to you (around late 20 seconds), and shoot him with the chargeboost. He should be close enough to hit easily with the wide 5 charge attack. Instantly continue spinning and with enough practice you should see yourself getting a 23, 24 or 25 easily!

If there is a need for this I'll look into a video with keyboard input shown:)

Video of a typical kill: