I mentioned in my comments that where you end up at the end of the level doesn't effect the times. Well that is wrong and I figured out why by reviewing some videos.

I'll break down two different 2-2 levels with one in which I finish mid-left and another that finished far-left edge.

Time from final enemy hit to character animation reaching center: Mid-left = 62 frames Far-left = 114 frames

Time from character reaching center to when music stops (when I split): Mid-left = 216 frames Far-left = 164 frames This means both are now at 278 frames total (hence why I thought they are the same) but then afterwards the mid-left will transition into level 2-3 faster.

Time from music ending to the end of the level (black screen): Mid-left = 106 Far -left = 158 That's 52 frames quicker. If I was at the center then is would be even faster.

TLDR: Get to the center at the end of the levels if possible in order to not lose time. It is up to a 2 second time loss finishing from far edge vs the center. This only applies in levels if all scenery is removed. Light scenery takes 1.5 seconds to fall giving you time to get back to the center.

Congrats on the 18:11! I hope you can push it even lower.

Ah, interesting about the timing. When I saw your comment on that, I swore that I knew there was time loss. Splitting at the music makes sense of the discrepancy. I always split at the black screen.

You almost got the super RNG at the truck boss, so close. Have you found any sort of method for consistently getting the second-best cycle? I never did figure out anything solid for it, it was all guesswork and superstition.

One thing I tried, but not scientifically or even carefully, was to finish off each turret with a grenade, hoping the full hits would register in addition to the gun shots, sort of overkilling each target. It did not seem to work, but I can't say that with confidence.

As you seemed to hint there are also some weird anomalies at the final boss - sometimes it seems to die sooner, though it's way less of an issue than the truck boss.

Thanks. I should have looked further into the timing stuff but I felt warmed up and just went into attempts. The only good thing now is i have a free 4 seconds to save for both level 3-2 and 5-3.

The bosses are interesting. 1-4 Boss - At first I thought it had some RNG for the damage credit but I can consistently quick kill it now with tight timing and precision. 2-4 Boss - If I have enough grenades (at least 35) it can be killed without dying consistently, but requires some dodging, and a good angle to unload the grenades quickly. I use a musical cue to get the timing on when to start spamming grenades. Before I used to throw grenades a little later and constantly got the dreaded die with one credit left of damage. 3-4 Boss - I still treat this Boss as pure luck and just hope for the best. If I'm low on grenades I'll try to throw less. 6 Cycle is the best I ever had which is like 5 or 6 seconds faster than what I got in my PB. On avg. I get 8, 9 or 10 cycle which is a reset except for the 8 cycle which is barely passable. 4-4 Boss - I admittedly really need to work on this one still but I think it can be consistently killed without dying like the 1-4 Boss. 5-4 Boss - Yes this boss has a little RNG. I got what I usually get, sometimes I can get 1 turret less (which i mistakenly thought i had for a second) or 1 more. Only a few second variance so not terrible like 3-4. I stand at the far right and without delay throw 3 grenades at the two turrets to the right to prevent them from shooting at me. If done quick enough you don't have to worry about getting hit or dodging bullets. I also have to be careful not to drift to the left at all.

The biggest setback I'm facing now besides 3-4 Boss is the grenade count. I usually don't always have enough grenades to do all the strats I practice for. This run was an exception because I always had enough.

I have a suspicion the grenade/weapon drops are based on the frame they are hit on a global timer. I have tried mashing through the intro and hitting at a precise time the first enemy at left which can drop the red gun icon. Some of my save states for practice seem to also have consistent drops for an enemy hit right at the beginning and when I re-do the save state the drop consistency will change. Unfortunately this means getting drops will still come down to luck and of course not leaving stars on the screen when killing enemies and projectiles. The 3-4 Boss might work in this way, in that the frame a turret is destroyed on, will count as a credit of damage or not. Also another anomaly I've come across is when I kill an enemy and another enemy dies as well even though it was somewhere else on screen. This happens in 1-2 and 4-2 with the enemy that comes in from the bottom left dying sometimes when I kill an enemy towards the center. They still give me credit for the kill which is good because a lot of times I'll get screwed because of despawns, dud grenade throws, and phantom hit boxes.