Attached is a video showing how to skip the first boss. I’m not yet to the level where this could give me a world record or anything , but I definitely think the community should know about it so that a record can use it. A few addendums to the video:

• This IS possible in all versions; I bit the bullet and bought the NES version to make it slightly easier to record and to test the glitch. On that note, imho I think the platforms should still be in the same category, as the differences between versions seem purely aesthetic. Totally cool if you don’t, I’ll probably run all versions but I think maybe putting it so that new platform runs don’t obsolete old platform runs for individual players instead.
• The glitch is consistent when done correctly, I just wasn’t consistent enough to make it work well yet.
• The glitch works elsewhere, but so far this was the only real practical use I could find. The little prologue part can use it to skip the room with the large door, but the first room scrolls longer as a result so I believe any time saved is less than half a second if any time at all. More testing needed to be sure, of course.

Enjoy! Hope to have an okay run submitted soon.

Also, funny enough if you let the final part scroll all of the way but try to exit through the left, the boss fight starts as normal!