I was wondering about this.

Recently, i managed to install Time Crisis 2 in my PS2 through a USB with mcfree boot thingy, so my question is, can be categorized as an unfair advantage if i played this way? i've been trying to get a physical copy of the game but they are extremly rare in this part of the world.

yes, i usually speedrun the game with a downloaded copy of the game, if you have a CD Copy fo the game, good too. **