I am a big fan of this game, and have been looking at the "top score" speedrun for a little while now.

If you were to complete Phase 01, immediately reset, and select Phase 02 I think this is slightly faster than waiting for the screen to transition. However, your score counter is reset to 0. Regardless, you can end up with a score over 26,000 even with the reset in Phase 01 (and maybe phase 02 and phase 03).

While I realize this defeats the point of starting on Phase 01, if Phase 01 is completed, I see no reason why it can't be a valid tactic. I'm still not 100% sure if it would result in a faster time.

EDIT: I'm completely fine with this not being allowed. I was mostly just trying to find a route improvement, but I guess I'll have to settle for the current strategies.