I have the world record in Thunder Force AC...
Who confirmed it in Asia? For all I know, you may have the western record, not the world record.
On topic:
Save states are a catalyst. If you play a game just to finish it, you don't need them. If you play for score, you will. Playing for score, the highest possible score, is a sadomasochistic torment and you want it to be as short as possible. Playing for score is
not enjoying the game, it's letting oneself burnout for this particular game. Once done, once you have your score, once you documented it, you don't want to see this game again for a long time.
That said,
every record done before save states existed is worth a thousand times more, than one done with their help. This goes deeper though:
every record achieved before the comfort of playing your particular arcade game at home via port, a home-arcade console or emulation, a record done exclusively by going to the arcades and investing your own blood, sweat and tears earned money for every single credit -- is worth infinitely more, than one done any other way than that.
Use save states, superplay videos, memory cards or address the comfort of your own four walls. It's all legit. But see respect ebbing away with each assisted level setting you are willing to embrace. There's save states, easy, normal, hard and arcade. And there's only that particular order.