I've taken the time to write a distinct list of rules for each category since a lot of the runs differ in timing. Some runs have the name selection screen pop up, others don't, some are run on different versions of the game, some are run on emulator, etc.

In general, Every run is timed RTA (since some versions have very different in-game timers, most noticeably PAL), every run starts when the difficulty selection screen disappears (bonus mode starts when the background stops moving) and every run will end when either the name selection screen pops up or when the stardust begins to count up after defeating the last enemy.

Let me know if you have any questions/improvements!