If memory serves, the lion's share of treasures are locked off to you until post-game because they're behind the harder silver blocks you need the hardest drill bit to get through and that drill bit doesn't unlock until you beat Croog. Since you essentially need to play through the game twice with the current ruleset, consider this:

Start on a save with the game completed and all extra maps/drill bits bought, you can open your treasure menu to show you only have the Red Diamond in your treasure list, time starts when you select a stage and confirm, time ends when you finish the stage of the last treasure you needed.

While this does remove the chip collection aspect of the first run, it might make it less daunting to anyone looking to run this category. As soon as I hunt down the right version of VBA allowed for speedruns I could probably do a playthrough to make a save for this if there's interest.

Edit: Also, should I just get all of the health upgrades or leave it at default? I would assume i'd get them all but I don't know.

I thought you can get all drill bits through the shop, before beating croog. I think the challenge of 100% is how long it is. You'll find that many 100% categories on this site aren't very competitive, due to the nature of that type of run.

You're right that the rules may need to be tweaked, since an optimized strategy might look something like beating the game, then collecting the final treasure somewhere in the middle of a level. The timer should end on collecting the final treasure, rather than on beating Croog.

Personally, I think that the Dozer board would be better served with the addition of a full NG+ Any%. This would allow for the use of all drills, full health upgrades, the full gearbox unlocked, skipping cutscenes, and using the shortcuts found throughout the game. The shortcuts alone would distinguish NG+ from the other categories.

Also, just to note, you should use mGBA, instead of VBA. VBA is unstable, particularly when using save states.

As for health upgrades, I think that would be a requirement only if All Treasures was a true 100%. In that sense, 100% would be overkill. At the moment, health management seems better left as a strategic element, rather than a completion element. The current rules state "all treasures", so there isn't room for misinterpretation there.

Oh! :D While we're at it, I'm not sure if Silent_Excalibr realized that there is a Hard Mode that can be unlocked. Hard Mode Any% should be considered for the future, as well.

I wasn't going to bring these things up until I got an actual any% going, but Tom beat me to the punch (punching Croog pun intended).

I don't remember if I checked the shop after the Drill Missile but since that stage actually uses the silver blocks as a puzzle element (for those bombs hidden in blocks) the earliest the game would give it to you is right before the final stage. I'd have to play through again to find out but FAQs i've looked at seem to say it's only after Croog, but you can get the purple drill bit to go through the curved grey metal blocks before then.

Having a NG+ 100% category makes sense for the normal run and we could argue about it for Treasures but the overall length seems like it might dissuade people from running it and I think it'd make it tiring to watch. Someone more well versed on the treasure locations can correct me if i'm wrong but I believe you can only find 3 or 4 of them without replaying stages, thanks to the first upgrade only becoming available after most of the treasures that require it have been passed in the story progression. I agree with you on the health upgrades though and since there's no way to waste chips (unless i'm forgetting something?) starting on a fresh file is the only realistic way to keep that aspect intact. There's probably a way to just cheat chips in but I don't know how and why bother if that's not the route being taken anyway?

I don't remember either, so you could be right. Either way, I think All Treasures is fine as-is, besides changing the Croog rule. Every person that might play the game doesn't need to play All Treasures. If a player is dissuaded from one category, then there are other categories to run. It's like that for every game on the site. Some people don't like glitches, so there are glitchless categories. Some people don't enjoy long runs, so they don't play 100% categories. In the case of Drill Dozer, a NG+ Any% could be a welcome addition for players who want a shorter run.

And yes, you need to re-play stages to complete All Treasures (my uncertainty was whether the game needs to be beaten). That's the role that the treasures play in the game: for re-play-ability--and that's the challenge of the category: to achieve that element of the game as a speedrun. Some categories are meant to be daunting.

NG+ 100% doesn't seem like it needs to be a thing. It makes no sense, because part of the percentage will have already been completed.

I'm having a difficult time focusing at the moment, so I'm going to try to make my thoughts concise here:

All treasures looks good, besides the wording of the rules NG+ Any% would make a good addition, especially for players who would prefer a shorter run¤ NG+ 100% doesn't make sense, as the percentage would already be partially complete Hard Mode Any% can be considered, once we're competent enough with the game

¤Besides the shortcuts, I'm pretty sure the bulk of the game is cutscenes. I intend to time them, when I start recording.

I'm gone 2 weeks and all this was thought up? Wow guys, I personally only know about the Any% but the other categories are a nice idea. I'll add them in for anyone wanting to run them. I'll also fix the All Treasures rules. It's nice being back!