It was brought to my attention that emulator runs might be different in this speedrun than console in some ways. I have no way to test this theory, and I cannot say for sure, but I wanted to ask everyone here. Is there anyone that will vouch for (or vote against) doing this?

This is an attempt at being transparent and open for the community to decide. I won't split the board if there's any opposition, unless there can be proof of a difference.

I don't have access to an atari or the game to test it myself, but comparing the videos of a few of the runs I wasn't able to detect any difference between the two in terms of speed or lag. If the suspected difference is something else then it certainly warrants taking a look at and splitting the boards if proof can be found. Otherwise the 5000 point leaderboard is currently the only one with non emulator entries and dividing it nearly in half without proof of differences in the runs seems moot. I'm interested to see what others have to say on the prospect of it.

Yeah I've got to agree with Jay. There needs to be proof of differences before a change is made. I've reached out to Omnigamer to hear what he has to say about Atari emulators. I'll let everyone know if he responds.