Rules for MAME high score submissions ------------------------------------- Please include your full name, hometown and country. Submissions with partial names or alias' will not be considered. The top 10 scores for all sanctioned MAME games will be published in next year's edition of the Twin Galaxies Video and Pinball Book of World Records. Your best score submitted is always included at http://cubeman.org/mame.txt Please note that tournament settings must be used for all games. The newest version of the Twin Galaxies Tournament Standard settings is kept at http://cubeman.org/tgts.txt If you have questions about settings for a particular game please email me at zero1@look.ca (Not all games have official settings). Screen shots showing the final score AND screen number are greatly preferred. INP files are regarded as the highest level of proof, especially if you sign your initials at the end of your game. In the case of #1 ranked scores, an INP file is required. Generally for a much lower ranked score a screenshot is sufficient, however a score proven with only a screenshot may not always be accepted, and further proof may be required. In the case of the inp file not playing back correctly, the score will not be accepted. It is the responsibility of the player to provide a working INP file. Note that for most Williams games you can keep hitting '6' to advance to the difficulty settings screen for the earlier versions of mame. In later versions it is the F2 key. Defender is a special case: You must hit F1+F2 at the same time, then scroll through the options with the F2 key and adjust the option with the 7 key (unless the defaults have been changed of course). The following games must be proven by INP file: Defender Frogger Joust Missile Command Nibbler Robotron Star Gate Beginning with MAME version 30, it is possible to record the entire game to an INP file, for example: mame mspacman -record sammy This records the players mspacman game to the file sammy.inp in the MS DOS version of MAME. The player can then send in the file for verification to zero1@look.ca via email. Please ZIP these files! They are highly compressible. Always document which version of MAME you used to generate the INP file, e.g. computer system type, operating system, sound on/off, samples yes/no, mame version. In general it is recommended to NOT USE SAMPLES as this makes the timing of the INP file machine-specific, i.e. the inp file will only playback properly on your own machine! Avoid using old versions like mame30, mame30 does not read the dip switches correctly. Generally, it's better to use the newest version of mame possible. Technical Issues ---------------- The only version of mame which records inp files for the vic dual boardset (e.g. carnival, invinco, etc) is m33b4.exe *** Update *** This problem has finally been fixed. Carnival works correctly in MAME 70. Be sure to use the proper romset where different versions exist. Using the newest version of roms provides the best gameplay and the least bugs. In general it is best to use the new version and avoid the old version. Game Old Romset(s) New Romset Bubbles bubblesr bubbles Centipede centipd2 centiped Joust joustwr, joustr joust Robotron robotryo robotron The game Scramble is a special case. In different versions of MAME different romset names were used to mean "scramble". Since the Stern version of Scramble is harder than the Komani version, only scores achieved on the Stern version are accepted. Note that at the start of the game the copyright message (c) Stern 1981 should be seen. Acceptability Issues -------------------- Earlier versions of MAME did not handle the dip switch settings correctly in Missile Command. Always use the newest version of MAME. Using a FINAL version of MAME, rather than a beta version is *greatly* preferred. In the case of games that roll fairly easily, e.g. Space Invaders, Galaga or Centipede we need multiple screen shots depicting each roll over, or better yet, the INP file. It is possible to use the 2nd player on Galaga to show scores over 1 million, and even 10 million! Tricks which violate the "spirit of the game" are greatly discouraged since they make the game too easy to play for extended periods of time. The game philosophy of Twin Galaxies is to make SKILL more important than ENDURANCE. Some examples of games which have back doors or tricks include: - Pausing the game - Using a speed up cheat on any game - Using the rack advance feature on any game - Making the bugs on Galaga stop firing - Using a fast fire rom set for Galaga (unofficially these scores are recorded for historical reasons) - Setting extra men to 255 - Using turbo buttons on games like Track N Field, Hyper Sports (however using joysticks/tracballs without turbo buttons is fine) - Using power-up tricks in Bubble Bobble - Using programmable joysticks or other controllers - Using slo-mo type programs to slow the game down - Using a slow computer to slow the game down We are now recognizing 2 rom sets for the games Galaga (original and fast fire) and Berzerk (original and fast fire). For Joust you must use the "Green" romset. There is also 2 rom sets for Blockout (original and fast) but so far only the fast rom set is available for MAME. Therefore scores on the arcade version I have played are not comparable to the MAME version and are treated separately. In some games the American and Japanese versions are significantly different, e.g. Black Tiger (American version) and Black Dragon (Japanese version). Black Tiger is actually a cut down version of Black Dragon with less screens and therefore scores lower. Another example of this is Amidar, which has different dip switch settings for the American and Japanese versions. Where scoring and/or game play differences exist in American and Japanese games they will be treated separately. "Scabbing" for points is generally discouraged. Scabbing is tolerated in Williams games with limited men, and also games which have set endings beyond which you can not continue. In these cases it is the only way to increase your score. Due to the step-ladder bonus feature of games like Tempest and Millipede, all games are required to start on the first screen. Once a player has started on the first screen, warping to a higher screen is permissible. Continuing your game with an additional credit is not permitted. Playing a game at a low frame rate, e.g. less than 90% also violates the "spirit of the game". Try to avoid playing games at low frame rates by using the frame skip feature in MAME. People using banned tactics or non-tournament difficulty settings will be disqualified. It is permissible to use a mouse or a tracball. In the case of exceptional scores (i.e. scores that put the previous Guinness scores and everyone else to shame) without submitting an INP file, you can expect me to email you to clarify the exact details like: How many screens did you clear? How long was your game? Which difficulty settings were used? As a general rule, the more evidence you can provide to document your scores, the more likely it will be considered for world record status. INP files in particular offer the greatest level of verfication! That's about all for now. Keep sending in your scores! I am getting better at handling macintosh & unix file formats so now ALL mame lovers can participate... Mark Longridge Twin Galaxies Emulator Judge email: zero1@look.ca