As far as I'm concerned, with the versions being effectively identical, you can use the official re-release cartridge or the ROM of either version.

I did all my runs on the 2017 cart.

Felicidades por tu récord. Lamento que no hayas disfrutado el juego. Sé que puede ser bastante engorroso usar el lápiz UDraw.

One thing I've wondered- why is the other character a variable field on Any% and not just split into its own category?

I feel like starting time when you hit start on the Player 1 selection is still the way to go- especially when you consider putting a negative offset on your splits may not be accurate because it could vary on how fast you mash to skip the opening scenes. Personally, I think that's enough player interaction to warrent the start being where it is at currently. Or- as an alternative to make it easier for mod approval, we could start time on the initial fade to black after selecting Player 1 since that would still be before the need to mash to skip the opening scenes. As far as stopping time when the bar dissappears at the end- I am neutral on this one and could go either way. The combination of the alternate start time and the proposed end time would offset for the most part as well, minimally affecting existing times. Regardless, I'll be respectful and receptive to everyone else's opinions on the matter, as well as the final judgement.

I'm wondering if someone can clear this up for me: Is timing officially based on in-game time or play time. It seems the 2 runs here are using conflicting methods. I looked up Omnigamer's SGDQ17 run and he went off a timer for that run, but in his WR runs for both categories he uses the in-game time. I feel like it should be expressed somewhere as to what the standard is. Any clarity would be great. Thanks!