Since the current Knuckles record is an All Emeralds run, I think it would be a good idea to split the categories into All/No Emeralds. Since the two runs use different routes and strats, it would make sense to separate them, and it might help ease newer players into the community, as they will be able to run the game without having to master the jumping physics on the special stages. What do you think?

I would prefer to have them in seperate categories aswell. The current wr for tails and knux all emeralds are both faster than the any% and I don't really see that changing.

i think, because the times are so close that seperating already low competition categories would hurt it rather than help, however i would opt for an option on submission saying Emeralds? Yes/No and then anyone can sort the leaderboard times based on whether they got Emeralds or not

I do like that idea quite a lot actually.

I'd prefer they be separate, but you make a good point that the categories aren't competitive enough to split them further.