22:05?! You're Kiddin' Me!

I'm running a pretty efficient game at this point, but my best time is 58:11. I could maybe shave a few minutes off of that if I really worked at it, or did with a few less missiles or something, but I don't see how guys are coming in with times that are half, and sometimes close to 1/3 of mine.

I've tried to lay things out, especially when collecting stars, in such a way as to avoid backtracking as much as possible. I've done without unnecessary weapons upgrades like the beam and superbeam. What am I missing?

Ideas? How do you speed up your games?

Zacha Pedro released this guide, it may be helpful. Generally you have to find the shortest route for finding all stars and completing the game and you should try to complete the challenges, like star ones or bosses, as fast as possible.