Specifically talking about after the final boss. After you beat him, the death cutscene starts and the character is forced to not move afterwards. Would the timer technically stop once that cutscene starts instead of imprecisely stopping it once the fade starts or ends for more accurate times? Most other games do it like this for either the final hit, or like Mario 64 and the game-ending item is collected, so it would only make sense if the same could apply here.

I have an interest in speedrunning this game at some point with a manageable PC, but I noticed we need not only LiveSplit, but a Load Remover script as well. As someone who doesn't like messing with the UI and has had problems with LiveSplit before, would it still be allowed to use a simple timer and time it in RTA fashion? Or is the Load Remover that important even though there are still loading screens present in the run?

What is title? Is it a score loop or a level loop? How would one know when the loop happens if it's a level loop?

I'm gonna try implementing it in my practice runs and next speedruns, but I'm curious if anyone has ever had this hilarious glitch during their lifetime. I also believe the best place to see this in action is the Menace Court level. Below I will explain what it is and how it is.

So, first off, you grab a Fist powerup (forget what they are all called) and you get the ball. But it's kinda precise, so it's best to get a multi-ball going from the upper doorways to make it more likely to happen. What you need to do is to calculate where the ball will be when it comes back down. Using the upper doorways for multi-ball makes this easy, as they will always land smack in the middle. With the Fist powerup in hand, put your paddle to the middle, then go a bit to the right so the ball will touch the left side. Activate it before they hit (to ensure the speed they get regardless of the location of the ball) and if done right, the ball will get stuck, act like it gets hit...multiple times in a row, and once the punch animation finishes quickly, the ball will say goodbye to the world and whisk off somewhere.

This can be done without multi-ball, and in various locations. Flock Frenzy seems to be the go-to place because with a good, straight, and lucky angle, you can keep the ball in play for a little while longer and get the sheep that much faster. This has been tested with the metal ball in Crate Escape, the brown balls in any other level, the Cat(?) in Flock Frenzy, but the Dragon Ball (fiery) doesn't seem to be affected by the glitch. Do note that the incredible speed gain makes it nearly unpractical for a normal human to keep in play. Most I've gained from it is Flock Frenzy (with insane luck), Menace Court and Serf Stack for quick multi-ball and a brick or two in a whole second, and me nearly passing out from laughter because of how insane it was. (not counting that i somehow got 2 powerups to drop at the exact same time due to multi-ball. seriously, this game is too fun when everything is so chaotic xD )

I call it the Reverse Fastball because I have the mental image of a baseball bat's handle catching a fastball while it swings, ball building up momentum, and when the bat swings a second time, sends that ball back many-fold. Hope that's a good mental image to work with? I'm down for any other names if they fit.