It can take up to 15 seconds for the game to start, or respond in any fashion, whenever it accesses highscores.
This includes, but probably isn't limited to: Starting up the program; going to highscores in the main menu and when you die.

I tried moving the HISCORE file so the game would generate a new one and that did fix the issue, but it's... suboptimal at best, what with my sole victory being in here.

EDIT: i attached the HISCORE file, had to rename it to have the extention .err for the board to accept it though.