Wow, I play this game way too much, yeah, I have a set strategy when making my upgrade chain, let's just start this.
-Kick: Why, exactly? Because it's REALLY useful in Bronze up until Gold, when MK1 robots (Which cannot get up fast) are still common, it's still kind of useful in the late-game since it allows you to knock enemies down and take a breather.
-Block Arrows: It was, is, and will always be one of the most useful upgrades in the game, since it allows you to dodge arrows with less fear of being shot to death, yeah, DODGE arrows, in my opinion, Block Arrows can become a crutch if you overuse it.
-Clone: Simple, you're getting in Silver, MK2 robots and Spidertron 5000s are going to show up.
-Get up!: Get it as soon as you enter Silver, Spidertron bombs can be really punishing if your enemies get up faster than you do.
-Fire Sword: From this point on, robots will start dodging much more (Or, in case of the Hammer Enforcers, will be bigger), fire increases the PTK of a non-lethal blow, making it really good, also makes it so all arrows you block become fire arrows.
-Jetpack: It can really help getting you out of a sticky situation, or, if you're like me, you can get to the elevator much quicker, also, it basically removes the penalty of having one leg, since you can still speed around.
-Fire Sword II: REALLY useful, the same reasons above, but this time, it burns way faster.
-Kick Power: May seem useless, but, enemies are basically getting up before you can reach them, so let's just make sure they're far from ya. Also helps you on kicking Spidertrons, the single most satisfying thing to do in this game is to kick a Spidertron 6000 into lava, and watch it die in slowmotion using Photo Mode.
-Jetpack II: More speed, sounds good.
-All other upgrades: I don't really care about the next upgrades I pick, I absolutely despise the Bow, and the Hammer... meh, good for taking out MK3 Sword Fighters, and bash Spidertrons into oblivion. Energy Capacity and Recharge aren't really important, I don't use the Bow, as I said, and I basically just burst the Jetpack to get away from something.
Another main part of this strategy is to always have a Clone with you, unless you can't buy anymore, so you can return to action immediately, except on the first Bronze levels, where, at least for me, it's not too essential.