I've noticed the JP version being used recently in Will and yels' recent runs and new sauna category (All are amazing runs BTW). I thought I heard Yels or maybe it was someone else mention that the JP version is actually faster for menus and Roxy speech. If that is truly the case should JP have its own category? If it's faster by definition it's an advantage over all US runs using original hardware. If not and I'm wrong let me know. If there is a built in time save just by the version it doesn't seem like an apples to apples comparison for them to be on the same leaderboard. It doesn't seem to effect any times now, but if two times are close and on different versions your place on the board shouldn't be punished by the version you run should it?

Hey there! At a high level, the JP and US versions have two minor differences.
- the JP text is about 2 seconds faster using the current route (talking to roxy and the stone hands shop menu)
- the US money routing is easier and therefore potentially faster (but not really quantifiable) because of the potential to have a run survive with more favorable gang spawns. because of the way the JP version rounds DOWN your yen on a deathwarp, there are fewer gang combinations that add up to the funds required for Stone Hands in the JP version.

In my personal opinion, neither of these differences is material enough to separate it into two different leaderboards.

It looks like what you're saying is the JP version is 2 seconds faster, which makes it an uneven playing field does it not? To keep it all on the same board why not just do something like a 2 second hadicap added to JP runs then it seems fair and square regardless of version? I guess what bothers me is if/as this board grows more runners there will be cases where where less than 2 seconds separates people and it won't at that point give a true ranking it will be a relative ranking unless everyone switches to JP version which essentially kills people who still use OG hardware and carts like myself. Maybe I'm in the minority on this but it does seem clear that the JP and US are not purely cosmetic differences with a clear advantage running JP version.

I see three options:
1. Split the leaderboards between US and JP
2. Adjust times on all JP runs for the number of frames of text time save
3. Take no action and encourage folks to run the faster version of the game

From my experiences on other leaderboards, the third option is often the case. I want to present these options in the NES Runners Discord to continue the discussion with more folks to see if there are any standards that are consistent across the NES community.

I agree I see the same options. I posted here to see and get other RCR runners feedback. I'll check out what gets put on NES runners discord too as I'm ok with either (I'd lean towards a time adjust and keep it one board if it were up to me) but wanted to bring it up to be addressed/talked about with the RCR runners too since this seems to be a relatively new find...

Just to close the loop on this:

I posed the question to the NES Runners Discord. The overwhelming majority recommended option 3 (Take no action and encourage folks to run the faster version of the game) on the grounds that the time save is not material enough to warrant a board split, so that is what my conclusion is on the request.

This thread still provides excellent value to new runners that may not have otherwise been aware of this difference. Thank you so much for the question!