It seems that most of the dipswitches will default to something with a 1 or a 0 in them, if possible. This is why you get one life in most games, and why it's on difficulty level 1. Load up Nam-1975 in MAME and NeoRAGE and there are quite a few differences:

3 lives start on NeoRAGE, 1 life start on MAME Bonuses at 100,000 and 200,000 on NeoRAGE, Bonuses at 10,000 and 20,000 in MAME Difficulty at Level 5 on NeoRAGE, difficulty at Level 1 on MAME etc.

I've tested out some other roms in MAME today, and these were the results...

Art of Fighting - only 10 seconds per match (real default is 60), and 1 round to win match (real default is 2). Plays fine other than that, save for the graphic glitches, but this affects the score big time. Blue's Journey - you start with 2 (?!?) lives (real default is 3). Other than that it seems ok. Not sure what the difficulty affects. Burning Fight - MAME crashes after the character select screen Cyber-Lip - 1 life (real default 3), no bonus life (real default awards one at 30,000, and 60,000 I *THINK*). No continuation, doesn't even let you enter in your initials. :P (unless you beat the game on that one life, maybe...) Easier difficulty level makes bosses easier to kill, other than that it seems identical. Fatal Fury - other than the graphic glitching between fights, this game seems okay. Last Resort - as mentioned before, one life (it says 95, but that is wrong), no bonuses. Level 1 difficulty makes it easier to get through the game the first time, but when you have to do all the levels again the second time the difficulty is jacked up like it's supposed to be. League Bowling - only 4 seconds to select in menus, and then 4 seconds to make your shot (default is 10). Easier difficulty makes the timing on the power bars slower, this makes a BIG difference. (Attn Zwaxy: like some of the other games, this one has three modes of play, so I think I might need to be broken up into Regulation, Flash, and Strike 90 categories... whenever it works correctly) Mutation Nation - works okay until you die, you get infinite lives. Getting a high score this way is too easy. Ninja Combat - upon starting game, the timer reads 0 (and you only have one life of course), so the game is over immediately. I'd hate to pay money for THAT in an arcade. :) Ninja Commando - same thing as Ninja Combat, except you have infinite lives and have about a second or two before you get killed. Technically you CAN play it, but this (like Mutation Nation) shouldn't be allowed. Puzzle Bobble - works fine (duh), except I think the easier difficulty means that the screen "drops down" a little less often... I'm not totally sure though. Super Spy - some graphic problems but it plays ok. Easier difficulty makes you take less damage from hits I think (not sure)

I have others to try, but you get the idea. Some Neo-Geo games are fine (although some are harder to get a good score on), others shouldn't be allowed until they work properly. But then, how to enforce keeping people from using "easier" settings on one of these early beta versions of 0.34 after they work properly? This is a confusing matter, and I've typed far too much.

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), September 16, 1998

Answers

Clarification on the clarification (ugh)

No line breaks makes that post look rather messy. Oops.

Also, under League Bowling: "I think I might need to be broken up into three categories" was supposed to read "I think *IT* might need to be broken up into three categories". I'd sure hate for someone to break ME up. :) Ugh, I need more sleep.

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), September 16, 1998.