Do speed kills work in A Hat in Time?

While there is a quick kill method for the mafia boss, it requires additional tools. As such, it is only possible to quick kill the mafia boss on the PC version of "A Hat in Time".

To answer your question, I went over to the "A Hat in Time" page at speedrun.com; speedrun.com is an excellent source for anything speed-running related. I was able to find a video by ShinyPokies that details the mafia boss. For comparison, ShinyPokies comes in at about tenth place on the leader boards for the regular run, all time pieces run and no major glitches run.

ShinyPokies notes that you need to use two clipping exploits to quick kill the mafia boss:

• The "Boop Clip", where using the boop emote in conjunction with a wall grab can allow the player to enter a state where they can easily clip through walls.
• The "HatLag Clip", where you use an additional program to deliberately add lag to the game, which in turn allows you to clip through walls.

Using both of these clipping exploits, you are able to clip through the stage in order to reach the mafia boss when he jumps off. Rather then go into further detail, I have provided the detailed video, below.

Both appear to require a computer; "HatLag Clip" specifically requires an additional program, where as "Boop Clip" appears to have been patched out and requires a custom patch to restore. Both are available from the speedrun.com "A Hat in Time" resources page.

The following video shows you how to quick kill the mafia boss; I have skipped ahead to the actual boss fight - you can watch the full video for tips in killing the mafia boss quickly, for when you are unable to use the required clipping exploits.

The following video shows you how to "Boop Clip" in greater detail.