I was wondering if there was any possibility to have USBLoader leagl for runs? Or would that me classified here as emulation?

USB loader uses game iso and run it on a native console right ? So it's technically not emulation, it uses real GCN hardware. But it has faster loads I guess compared to CD ? This means it would give an advantage compared to a regular game. So it would need its own category I guess, unless the loads remain the same. I'm not a mod for this game but I don't think it would fit into both cateories on the leaderboards.

I shot this thread over to NickRPGreen who runs almost everything Metal Gear, and he said it counts for emulation.

He also reminded me that it was actually slower than the retail copies of the game.

Oh it's slower ? Good to know