"Timer starts when you gain control of the character, and ends when control is lost right after the final boss"

When the boss is dying, the player is still under control and should actually move around a bit until the game is forced the character to stop moving. The 18m 17s 660ms run by cohen77 is more like an 18m 24s XXXms with proper timing.

Do full game runs from reset, not by savestate as the jungle bridge boss, for example, is one of the few luck based fights in the game along with the orb robot(s) later on..

Agreed 100% , i started running that category with fang first and based on musician's run the timer was stopped at the time that the boss was killed, i didn't even notice that on browny's segment i needed to wait the loss of control. Maybe i'll try running this game if i get hyped again. Cheers :D