In spite of being a very respectable emu for casual play, the reason it's not allowed on the leaderboards is very similar to why other emulators have been rejected, namely shorter load times, and less lag in certain areas as opposed to Bizhawk or Mednafen.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough interest in speedrunning this version to add Android to the main leaderboards (it would probably be only you on it). You could try asking on the category extensions, which is where most of the lesser known/puzzle-y speedruns are: https://www.speedrun.com/sotnce

you're very welcome to come up with any categories you want to see and to speedrun the game however you'd like to

as far as I know, the only categories that are tracked for the mobile version of the game are Richter Any% and All Bosses, which belongs to the category extensions for lesser-known or less popular runs of the game (https://www.speedrun.com/sotnce#Richter) if you want to run Glitchless Any%, you need to play the PSX or Xbox version of the game

I don't personally use a controller, so I have no say in that regard, but I found this from a quick google search: < graph with mean input lag variation among controllers and connections https://gamingsection.net/news/does-plugging-in-xbox-controller-reduce-input-lag/ < not sure if this is a reputable source, but it all points at wired being better than wireless, which makes sense

As for Death skip, keeping your equipment through a big toss requires you to start in Luck mode. This greatly reduces your stats and makes the rest of the run slower than it would normally be due to lower MP and stats together with all the menuing to unequip Alucard's gear and the fact that you would follow a different XP route. With this being said, if you play on Xbox, you should be able to get sub-8 clock rushes pretty consistently, so even if you did the big toss strat, you wouldn't save any time as you'd still be locked behind the statue waiting to move.

Yes, there are, and quite a few. I suggest you read this post for more info: https://www.speedrun.com/sotn/guide/4yliu You should also watch one or two Any% NSC runs side to side to get a feel of how different the versions are and how different skips are performed. For instance, Death skip is performed by backdashing out of the room where he steals your stuff instead of using the neutron bomb; there is no shop glitch, which means no dupe and infinite mana prisms; and the relic skip at the end of the room is different too as you don't need a heart refresh to cause the camera to shift you one screen length.

Seeing as there are very few active verifiers (i.e. Mouse and only Mouse) for this game and its ever growing player base, I think there is a shortage of verifiers for runs, some of which take a really long time to get on the leaderboards. This very issue has been brought up in The Long Library repeatedly, but to no avail. Several users who happen to be fairly knowledgeable about and experienced with the game, such as Diagon, MrRazzio and myself, have previously shown interest in becoming verifiers. Personally, I am still interested in this and MrRazzio is too, not sure about Diagon. Is there a chance that more people could be granted the role? Thanks in advance.

Edit: just in case, I'm not calling the current verifiers out or anything, I simply think there are too few and this shouldn't be something only one person should be burdened with.