Many of us seen it coming down the line when there would have to be a split in categories if runs that skipped cutscenes were submitted. Now is the time for that.
Besides this, the ruling on when time start begins was set to on character control. When Faust4712 and myself began speedrunning this game, the only run on the board we had to go off of was r3dninjajosh's, which began timer on pressing start on the title screen to begin the game. We opted to do the same since we both have speedrun experience in other Shinobi titles and that method of timing was used as well.
A new runner has appeared and it's exciting that this game is getting attention again but the moderation team now has to make a decision on how splitting categories will be handled, setting proper rules for timing and anything else that will help keep runs on a fair playing field.
I've been in contact with Faust4712 (as of writing, a verifier for this board) but none of the other moderation team yet. Hoping this forum post reaches them so we can work this all out but if not I'll step in and do what I can with mod position powers. I messaged Jesse_Lee earlier today about taking over super mod for the game since they don't have any runs submitted and haven't, as far as I know, had contact with any of the current runners of this game.
Until changes are made, don't expect any runs to be verified. I'm going to wait a couple days and if I don't hear back I'll get things moving myself. Until then, I'm open for suggestions on how to approach all of this. Thanks!