The new WIP looks really good :) I know you put a lot of work into it, but I discovered a new technique. A VERY useful one that'll shorten the run considerably.
Yes, you can now hover anywhere!! It technically makes all bubble powers but Strong skippable. But I imagine it will still be faster to use Bounce in some instances, especially in 100%. It'll speed up all sections in the game to some extent and especially something like Rock Bottom.
It's a little hard to describe, but I'll try to do my best. So, while standing still, start pressing up every other frame. As soon as you start doing that, wait until the 9th frame then press and hold A. Then every 9th frame after that let go of A for 1 frame then press and hold it again and repeat. This makes Spongebob continuously jump upwards! You can even jump out of it similar to the bubble hovering technique from earlier.
Just press direction and downwards like last time and make sure to jump just before his crouching animation begins. Also, you can shoot bubbles upwards while doing this hovering technique. As long as you hold A and keep pressing up, Spongebob will not fall while hovering and you can press B to shoot bubbles.
I also discovered a method to simply double jump but it seems to be a bit useless now.
All you do is look up, then jump one frame and press B the next. Spongebob will jump and blow a bubble upwards at the same time. Then as soon as the bubble blowing animation ends, press A to gain another jump.