Pluto is really stupidd. So stupid that it needs its own guide...

Despite it being the first chapter in the game, it is easily the hardest one to play optimally. This chapter serves as the backbone to the entire run, and playing it sub-optimally will result in you starting the run over. A lot. However with that out the way, optimal is more lenient than you would think. You can be on a good pace as long as you either: Finish the chapter really fast or get enough good RNG that the time lost can be made up for in later chapters with the help of better powerups.

But that's only the end of the chapter. What about the rest of it?

The hard part about Pluto is that you need to get a lot done in a short amount of time. Since it's the start of the game you start on the lowest firepower with no food collected. Before wave 4 you have to AT LEAST collect enough food (50) for a missile and collect two ion blaster/powerup drops. The missile is by far the most important thing to collect, since skipping wave 4 with the missile saves a crazy amount of time.

Now that wave 4 is skipped you should be somewhere around the 50 second mark and the next challenge of Pluto arises. Skipping wave 7.

Depending on how much chicken you collect getting the next missile can range anywhere from easy to very difficult. Not to mention you're trying to do this fast so collecting chicken isn't the only thing to worry about. Depending on your luck you might run into another powerup that will give you the spread shot that will make finishing waves 5 and 6 easier, but chicken collection a bit harder. If done correctly you should be able to get to and missile skip wave 7 by about 1:17.

The rest of the chapter is straightforward from there. Shoot the asteroid and defeat the boss and you should be done with this chapter at in about 1:40 on the higher end which 100% could be record pace if you have enough firepower to save time in later chapters. However with really good RNG and execution this split can be done in 1:30.