So I'm considering routing/running 100% because I just got the Any% WR and I can't think of anything better to do with my life. Before I do that, though, I want to get something clarified. There are some codes you can enter to unlock the stuff in the Cheats section - here's the full list, just for reference:

Unlimited Level Skip: beldam Unlimited Health: beets Unlimited Fireflies: garden Free Hall Passes: well Button Eye Coraline: cheese

So here's the thing: The rules for 100% say that all cheats, extras, etc. have to be ¤unlocked¤, but not necessarily ¤bought¤. In order to buy all of these in-game, it comes whopping total of 5300 buttons. To buy ¤everything¤, which is obviously required for 100%, you need a grand total of 9850 buttons. That means buying the cheats is 53.807% of the total buttons you'll need.

And sure, this doesn't sound all that bad, but even by waiting an extra ten minutes for the end of the credits, you only get 1000 buttons. Assuming the route would involve collecting those, that means you'd have to earn 8850 buttons yourself - 59.887% of which is the 5300 buttons required for buying the cheats.

So here's the dilemma: are the cheat codes allowed, or not? Because if we ¤can¤ use the cheat codes, the required number of buttons drops down to 4550, which is much more reasonable - considering how 100% needs to do every activity anyway, there's almost ¤certainly¤ enough buttons such that we'd only have to grind minigames for a few extra minutes at most.

Meanwhile, let's only consider the 5300 for a moment. The fastest way to earn buttons in the game, assuming you're good at it, is to play the painting-guessing minigame in the Other World over and over. Once you get good at instinctively recognizing which pieces correspond to which paintings, you can earn 30 buttons a pop, and each play takes about 5-10 seconds (game time plus loading in and out). Assuming 5 seconds a play, it'd take ¤15 minutes¤ to earn that 5300 buttons - and chances are good that we'd have to earn even ¤more¤ buttons, since we only play each minigame once (besides stopping to grind this one).

So the way I see it, there are three different 100% categories that could exist, which I have suggested names for:

1. Unrestricted / Anything Goes (AG): You can use the codes, and can enter them whenever you wish
2. No Codes (NC): You can't use the codes, but you still have to buy the cheats
3. 99%: You can't use the codes, but you don't have to buy the cheats

Of all of these, I personally think that AG would be the most interesting run by far, as it opens up a lot of possibilities for skips (as Free Hall Passes could potentially allow you to skip ¤all¤ of the required minigames - which would make it an astronomically different category from Any%). 99% isn't nearly as interesting as AG, but it'd still be a thousand times more practical than NC - as I for one don't want to spend a thousand years playing the painting game over and over, regardless of the fact that I'm good at it.

Assuming we decide to go with AG, the question arises as for when to start the timer. As it stands, it's most practical to enter the cheats right at the very beginning of the game, immediately after naming the file. However, the current 100% rules say that timing starts when selecting New Game. The question becomes whether or not entering the cheat codes should be counted on the clock. I personally don't think so, just because it doesn't sound like a good idea, but I'm open to anything.

So yeah, I've been writing this post for over an hour now. This is mostly directed at Marshy to see what their opinion is on all of this and to get things figured out. However, this might potentially serve as a good reference if anyone else is interested in running 100% (though I'll probably make a guide with a route at some point, assuming we decide on a good rule-set - because I sure as hell am not running NC).