From i_o_l's run, i assume the timing begins when you go from the opening splash into the menu, and ends once you enter the castle the last time?

Yeah, I'm still working things out, as i'm new to speedrunning, but I am looking at it and trying to figure out how best to do so.

I noticed that i_o_l's run on this was on the 1998 version (which has music, colour, and is non procedural generated, and begins with Ultim 0 displayed on the screen).

Since the Apple II version is procedurally generated using seeds, I thought it'd be worth making a section for each of the versions to be run on, considering the rather dramatic difference between the two.