There have been some changes made to when the timer should start for this category. Previously time started at console power on but this has been changed to starting the timer when choosing new game. The change was made to allow for emulators to be submitted into this category without being at an advantage because they don't have an issue with the battle speed showing as 0 as it sometimes happens on consoles after a reset.

Additionally, the timer should then stop after defeating Chaos when his battle message clears the screen. I don't believe that this is a change however it is not always the stopping point that runners had submitted their times with.

I have reviewed all runs posted that have video available and adjusted their times based on these two issues. When doing this if the time I came up with for the run fell within about one tenth of a second from the submitted time I made no adjustment. Most runs did not need to be adjusted but those that were will see improvements in their time. If you have questions regarding how your time was adjusted or how I went about assessing what runs needed to be adjusted feel free to post something here or contact me on discord.

If you have questions or concerns about the changes to the start time please start a new thread for that conversation. My intent here is not to debate the current timer rules but to ensure that everyone has their run assessed properly by the current system.

It is my goal that all runs are evaluated equally and fairly, and it is something that I will always strive to achieve.