The shortcut win's 0:00

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.12 on 28 October 2026.

The shortcut doors above the title screen start a game at level 5, 9 or 13, and a win from one counts. But it keeps no time: the time record stays as it was, which before any other win is 0. The high scores show the time whenever there's a win, so a player whose wins all came from shortcuts sees 0:00.

After a game won from the level 13 shortcut, the credits fade out to the high scores room. The win is counted, WINS: 1, but the room shows TIME: 0:00, and the only trophy is the money's ^[1].

A shortcut door sets global.usedShortcut for the whole game, and the start and tutorial doors clear it ^{[2] [3]}. At the end of a win, scrUpdateHighscores(1) writes the win's time only when the game wasn't a shortcut's:

if (argument0 == 1 and (global.time < tTime or tTime == 0) and not global.usedShortcut)
{
    highscore_add("TIME", global.time + 8000000);
    global.newTime = true;
}
else highscore_add("TIME", tTime + 8000000);

So a shortcut win writes back the time that was there: 0, until a win from the start or the tutorial. It still adds 1 to WINS ^[4]. The high scores room draws the time row whenever WINS is above 0, with the comment "only display time if won", and 0 seconds reads 0:00 ^[5]. The time's trophy is made only for a time above 0 ^[6], and the Moon Room's panel shows its goal only for one ^[7], so neither shows: no trophy, no door, and the panel reads LOCKED. ^[8]

Pay the Tunnel Man for a shortcut, start a game from its door, and win it, with no win from the start door before. Any player whose wins all come from a shortcut door sees it. The replay of the clip wins a game from the level 13 shortcut, so usedShortcut is 1 from frame 738 to the end. At the high scores room, frame 8393, the time record is 0, and the only trophy is the money's, with no Moon Room door ^[9]. A later win from the start door keeps its time, and the row shows it from then on. Speedrunning basics has the rest of how a run is timed.

The spelunky.ai port reproduces it exactly: it's in docs/quirks.md's list of the 1.1 source's bugs ^[8], and the oracle's fingerprint of the replay pins the time record and the trophies. No option turns it off.