This never got properly answered, sorry! The fastest way to unlock Gamma would be going through Knux's story, as Gamma is unlocked before Knuckles boards the Egg Carrier. If you're running on console and constantly having to reset, your best bet is removing your memory card or playing without saving to prevent having to re-unlock characters for attempts.
As for the run in question, please let us know which run you're referring to with only Sonic and Gamma unlocked and we'd be happy to investigate further. I've checked the current WR ( 9m 33s 070ms - Niczur ) and he has every character unlocked at the start.
Revisiting this old thread with only two comments lol, I'm not too sure! Any% is the significantly more interesting category in this game compared to NG+, so I'm not too sure why there's no interest or runs. Crackdown 2 is already a pretty obscure game in a fairly obscure series, so I can imagine without any marathons or anyone actively keeping the game alive no one who WOULD be interested really wants to get into it.
Lack of interest I think. Personally I find it a much more fun category than any% ng+ but I understand why that's the main category
Your best bet for recording off of a TV would be with a capture card, these are used so that people can record or stream gameplay footage from a television with a console. Currently, I use the Elgato HD60s Capture Card for all of my runs that aren't done on PC games, and I would highly recommend it as well. You can find cheaper alternatives for AV cables if needed, and that's probably what you'll want to use if you plan on running off of dreamcast