If you're following the standards of other PS1 games that allow for emulation, then allow mednafen and maybe some other emulators like BizHawk and XEBRA. See for yourself: https://www.speedrun.com/games?platform=wxeod9rn. They're just as good as DuckStation, especially when running this game. I didn't have any frame drops or anything when I was playing compared to DuckStation, so I'm not sure what minor issues you're referring to.

I didn't know the PSP had official emulation for PS1 games, although games being ported to that unofficially is basically homebrew, so it probably shouldn't be allowed in a speedrun.

I played through the Sega Saturn version and yeah, there isn't much of a difference. Some music is missing, some assets are different, but nothing that would be too different from something like the PAL PlayStation release. I don't know what you mean by "We don't do Sega Saturn emulation," plenty of games do, just have the option available if that's how someone wants to play the game.

It may be easy to start manually that way, but not everyone will use a LiveSplit display and thus it's difficult to re-time. The "NEW GAME" text fades from dark to light in a cycle and if you start the game while the text is dark then there's no visual cue to pinpoint when someone starts a run. The audio cue for selecting the option is delayed, the disc that pops up in the corner is almost on time but still slightly delayed and probably very variable. It's also sort of difficult to tell when the ending cutscene starts, so maybe timing could begin on the first frame of gameplay and end when the last Dreamflight container is broken after beating the Swagman. And no, the time for the Pumpkin Boss category does not end on the final blow of the boss, you're not being consistent with your rules.

I've been using a lot of save states for practice, so hopping between levels was routine for me and I didn't consider the fact of not actually being able to save legitimately before any given section (or at least the ones that are listed in the splits). I was suggesting IL leaderboards because the Pumpkin Boss Any% could fit into that sort of thing along with other areas of the game, but it's not possible so leave it as is. Also, that level select code is perpetuated by the same people who claim an "Infinite Swags" code is in the game, so they're just making it up. The pause code is the only "cheat" I've found to work.

My demands were a bit unreasonable and misguided. I'm glad you added the distinction between pause code runs. Still, do consider allowing other emulators, if you will.

Is there any reason why "Duckstation is the only emulator that is allowed on the Playstation (Emulator) board."? PPSSPP is also mentioned in the rules despite this game not having been released for the PSP, so I suppose the text was copied from elsewhere and doesn't necessarily pertain to this game. I think mednafen should be allowed, as it is a competent emulator for both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn (the console for which this game initially released) and is allowed on the leaderboards of other PlayStation/Sega Saturn games. Aside from that, the way this leaderboard is structured as a whole should be reconsidered. I could explain my reasoning, but I'd rather layout my ideal leaderboard and see what people think of it. Here it is:

• Timing starts when the first loading screen appears (i.e., Zack's House Upstairs). Runs on the leaderboard already split at other loading screens and timing ends when the final cutscene plays, so why not base the start time on this?
• Make IL (individual level) leaderboards. 6 categories for each main segment of the game, from the first loading screen to the loading screen after talking to the Dreamflight in Limbo. 4 more categories for the bosses.
• Cheats are disallowed for the main Any% and IL leaderboards and existing runs with cheats are moved to other categories.
• NTSC/PAL runs are given distinction using tags (if anyone completes a PAL run).