This leaderboard recently got its first run on console. Since the Switch is known for having slower load times than PC I did a sample test to compare the load times of the console run to my own PB on PC. I compared the load times of the Prologue and of Levels 1 and 2. The timing goes as follows: the first frame the selected translation of "No!" starts spinning and shrinking to the last frame that text is spinning and growing after the level transition. Here are the results:

SWITCH:
Prologue: 4.866 seconds
Level 1: 4.733 seconds
Llevel 2: 5.400 seconds
Total: 14.999 seconds

PC:
Prologue: 4.567 seconds
Level 1: 3.633 seconds
Level 2: 4.233 seconds
Total: 12.433 seconds

That is a difference of 2.5 seconds on the first three levels alone. This will add up over the course of the run. Therefore, I see no other way to ensure fairness for all runners than to switch (pun not intended) the leaderboard to loadless time. If you have a better idea to time out loads than the timing described above please let me know. I'll wait a bit for feedback and then re-time the current runs and adjust the rules.

Do you know how to remove loads efficiently? I can tell you how if you don’t know

No, I don't. For all games I have to do it, I do it manually: add all load times together and then subtract that from the whole run time.

This is really good to know. I've noticed that Switch seems laggier than PC, too. Depending on what happens, I might have to switch over to PC to be competitive. Let me know what you find out, Laika.

I think she might do it since I told her how and she said that it's better than the other, slower method

I'm currently re-timing all runs. Once I'm done I'll update the times and change the leaderboard to loadless.

Done with the Beat the Game category, will do Low% another time. The change to time without loads caused a change in the leaderboard positions: I'm back on 1st place while CaptNinja6 dropped to 2nd.