Would anyone be interested in helping research absolute low scores per individual level? I have a save file on my snes cartridge with all the low scores from over the years. Of course, you can't overwrite with a lower score, so it was kind of a baseline, not completing a level until I was sure I had the worst possible score.

However, I'm going back and trying some levels again years later. For instance, 6-2 was stuck at 25, but I found out today that I can get a 9 by back-tracking, getting a 0 on the counter, and then quickly grabbing the Super Mario Star. During the baby run, the timer doesn't increase. So I was able to get down to 1 red coin + 8 on the final timer (there's some time increase during bonus spin & baby hand-off).

Minimum score per level seems to be 5, although for castles, it can depend on the victory animation. If you have zero timer, some bosses clear out quickly, and you can get the 5. Others take longer, like the Koopa Boss on 4-8. If you kill the boss while the flying shy guys are on-screen taking baby away, you still get stuck with a 10 because of the extra time for Koopa to fall off.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone has ever tried to make a leaderboard for IL Low%, but I think it could make for a very interesting future category if we can establish generally accepted low scores for every level, and then piece together a full run that somehow minimize time & score.

I could start with some screenshots of my low scores, and see if anyone wants to add to it...