The only problem with going 'levels' is they aren't really discretely defined, and you sometimes go back and forth through them. The only alternative I can think of is 'number of bosses killed.' (Which would mean Hisa's recording didn't get max because he actually skips a section, but I'm sure he could manage the extra quest.)(posted 9164 days ago)But Hisa's recording brings up another issue -- leeching. He spends a great deal of time -- something like 15 minutes of it -- sitting around whomping enemies to build up experience. (So under the current scoring system he gets the 'max score' only halfway through the game, so it definitely should be different from xp.) The only thing is, since this is rpg-like, what counts as leeching in this game? Most rpgs do feature some amount of level-building.
(BTW, I do think Hisa does clear-cut leeching in his King of Dragons recording and that one should be removed. He keeps killing enemies in one room and running out of time but he gets enough points to get extra lives at the same time.)