• Start the timer from Stage 1 after picking any character.
• Defeat Shiva in Stage 1 and hold the Attack button (normally the B button) until Stage 2 starts.
• The player loses lives without hurting enemies until it's time to continue, then selects Shiva with the timer still active.
• The run continues until Stage 7 is cleared like normal.

I think the run should just start from Stage 1 as it would for the other characters, but you have to switch to Shiva without hurting any enemies in Stage 2. By not hurting any enemies at that point, the player is forced to change as soon as possible, not being able to play the game any further with the initial character.

If anything, this could even be a miscellaneous category if not a regular one. However, with the case of misc categories, I wonder if hacking/cheat devices should be allowed as long as there's proof of only having only the code for Shiva or Ash.

Hopefully with these rules, we can at least have Shiva's category added either as regular or misc.

I understand Roo is a hidden playable character, but you can select him from the start of the game using the Title Screen code (Hold [Up]+[Attack] and press [Start]). I can understand not having Shiva and Ash because you can't play as them from the start of the game by normal means, but I feel that Roo should be an exception due to being on the character select screen via an in-game code. I hope I'm asking this question in the right place.