I start my runs like everyone else (I start my timer and hit continue at the same time) but while everyone I see loads up at the 23 to the 27-second mark, for me it's 33 seconds. Almost every loading screen my switch seems to be 3-10 seconds slower, making me lose several minutes over the course of a run.

Has anyone else had this happening to them where their Switch seems to load slower than any speedrun you've seen online?

Maybe my Switch is a dud that just loads for crap? No idea, but I know this, I will never have a decent time because my load times seem longer than any others I see. I have actually done side-by-side comparisons on transition screens and mine are always several seconds slower on the screens I have tested... The first loading screen being the biggest time loss of upwards of 10 seconds over others I have seen, depending on who's video's I compare to)

If you play the game on a physical support (cartridge) you have slower load times, about 4 minutes for a any% NMG run.
If you play on the digital version, make sure your save files are stores on the memory storage, not on a SD card. I've remove my SD card entirely to make sure this doesn't happen.

That explains it then. I own a physical copy of the game. Sucks that I am losing 4 minutes on my run due to slow load times because I bought a physical copy at release. (I never had any plans on speedrunning this game, but I took to it so that I decided to at least learn the route if nothing else)

I wouldn't be able to submit it if played on an emulator, so that's why I've been sticking to playing it on the Switch. I'll never have a true-time on the switch though... so why bother submitting it in the first place... knowing my 1:44:30 should be a 1:40:30 is kind of gutting. (Not great times I know, but I am not a speedrunner. I've only ever attempted to run two games before this in Mega Man Rock N Roll and Superliminal)

I did the stupid thing and bought the digital version tonight and tried it. My initial load time went from 33 seconds to just under 24 seconds. I hate that I had to pay another $92 for this time save though... Now I own 2 copies of dread... May need to look into selling the physical copy, just to make a little of my money back.

There are plenty of runners close or under 1:30:00 with Physical Versions. It really does suck having to spend the extra money on another copy of the game, but you usually can sell it to a GameStop or something. I gave my physical copy away to someone who wanted to play the game on their own switch as well. It sucks to have to buy twice, but now it’ll be something you remember for next time a game comes out you may want to speedrun, and it’s a lesson that won’t have to be repeated