I know that spam pausing to save time is banned, but am I allowed to pause once or twice during a speedrun to select an item or do I have to have to use a to select items? Edit: I just saw a run that pauses to select an item.

Previous reply was deleted, so replying again for completeness: "For individual level attempts, excessive pausing is not allowed due to an error that prevents the timer from updating properly upon unpausing. Pausing to select gadgets and watch grapple are allowed, as well as one free pause per run. Any pause that, in the judgment of the moderators, is primarily intended to exploit the timer may be subject to time penalties or disqualification of the run."