Fast loads times are possible on 1.8.8 if you delete the info and assets folders and don't use playlists (this includes "Load Recent"). You'll need to manually load cores and ROMs but most games should load in 2-3 seconds. Some menu drivers are also faster than others.Thanks Chief, that answers all my questions.
Just sold my xbox one x which had quick loading for retroarch, now only have a Wii U and an ancient laptop that cannot run anything without overheating, so think I will give RA a miss for now.
I think part of the holdup with these longstanding issues is that the Wii U port hasn't been updated to build with a current devkitpro version in some time. There was a recent thread with some work being done toward that.