I think there should be separate categories for with banktoad and without. The reason I believe this is because getting Star bits for each run it can get really annoying and it makes run the category less fun. I know there is a way with downloading and that but a lot of people can’t do that so that’s why I believe there should be a category split for this. Odyssey did something kinda similar with splitting categories so it has been done before. Hopefully the moderators read this and respond on there opinions on this topic.

You don't have to download anything, you can just save a file with a full Banktoad and copy it from a memory card inserted to your Wii/Wii U before every run. Takes approximately 30-60 seconds each time.

The variables are already separate. You can easily filter the leaderboard by region, platform or any other added variables on the upper right corner of the board.

Variables are meant to separate play styles when they do not differ enough to create completely separate categories. Using Banktoad or not is comparable to playing on different regions. It is still Any%, but with a minor difference that could sometimes be of importance to separate. But they are not important enough to separate into different leaderboards.

With that being said, you are always allowed to speedrun whatever category you see fit. A leaderboard is just meant to compare times more easily.