Is there any interest here on doing an individual level time boards, for timing the fastest Level 0 clear, the fastest Level 1 clear, and so forth?
Does the NES Classic version not count for this game/category?
As a person who has run the Level 0 category, I also disagree with the removal of the Level 0 start category. Especially 5 days after a tournament was played under this category rule that may of brought new runners to the game.
And what makes this worse is that this was done without any attempt to reach out to the people who run this category, it seems.
Think of Level 0 as a beginner friendly category. One that anybody can pick up, but mastering it to the level that rcdrone has is difficult. Then consider Any Start as a intermediate category, something that you graduate from the Level 0 category into. One where execution matters and strategy alters because you're starting in a level that has a faster drop rate.
Was this to make the game seem more popular? Or was this an attempt to make the accomplishments of the Any Level Start appear even stronger? I don't think you succeeded in either of these by doing this. This game only has three categories, there's no need to condense categories to clean up the leaderboard.
So, in short, consider me one who would love it if we reinstated the Level 0 Start category, separate from the Any Level start. The two categories are different animals. If you're able to Level 18 your way to a sub-4, congratulations, but it shouldn't come at the price of my Level 0 accomplishments.