I just finished a KICK ASS recording of the Neo Geo game "Over Top"... The Neo Geo game plays back perfectly for me, and I'm sure glad, because I blew out the old record by 18 seconds (exact time of 4 minutes and 3/4 of a second) AND got 1st place, while the current "top recording" only finished third... Now, here's my dilemma: All of Zwaxy's games are programmed so that more is more...INCLUDING racing games that do not have other points systems or stage numbers...and I can't submit the recording without: A. Settling for second place OR B. Lying about my "score"... What should I do? Be honest about my "score" and get second, or lie and get the place I deserve? Or should I just wait for Zwaxy to come back so he can change the scripts so it recognizes "less is 'more'" games? (You know, Zwaxy should've known this was coming...LOL...we ARE starting to emulate racing games...he should've prepared for this...(it's no Y2K bug, but it's still annoying nonetheless)) P.S. In all honesty, this is just a shameless way to get 10 points...BUT the recording IS true...if it's posted by the time you read this, check it out...(BTW, I broked the 40 second barrier on all of them except the last one, where I broke the minute barrier...all stages had "record times")

-- James Reisdorf (shyboy820@aol.com), May 23, 1999

Answers

We have a similar problem with golf games James. Recently, I set a high score of -15 in Neo Turf Masters, beating the previous high of minus 12. Yet I get only second place - they count the high scores in the number of holes completed. I can see why they would count the number of holes... I would think that the webpage doesn't do negative scores, and even if it did, as you've said James, it would use the 'more is more' philosiphy, which would mean that -12 would beat - 15. This has a hopefully easy solution however. All I think you would need to do is to chop off the minus sign. Therefore, I would get first place with a new listing of `15`, beating a new listing of `12`. I'm not saying this just to get ten points, I'm saying this because it's common sense to evaluate a person's golf performance by actual score, not by the number of holes completed.

Thanks for reading my opinions on these matters...

-- Gameboy9 (goldengameboy@geocities.com), May 23, 1999.

Ah, I knew this was coming. In fact, in the past I've asked what should be done about scoring games in which the only scoring system is time. No one seemed to care or have an answer.

Since I'm not Zwaxy, I'm not sure what can be done with the script... my guess is that perhaps certain games can be set up to recognize lower scores as being better for certain romsets. But I don't know if the script can handle this automatically. Neo Drift Out is another Neo racer that only uses a scoring system of time, and there has to be some other, older games in MAME that rely on a time system. You better figure something out, Zwaxy. ;)

And for what it's worth, I've gotten some sub-4 minute times on Over Top. :) Haven't recorded anything yet, although I will if this whole matter is solved. It's all about the Dominator baybee! (and the default 40-second stage record is pretty easy to break with most of the vehicles on every stage)

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), May 23, 1999.

Well, you may notice I posted my Over Top .inp with a fake score...I'm only doing this for ten points...=)...hopefully Zwaxy can fix this when he gets back... Hey BBH, how fast can you finish Over Top? I probably bet I can get it under 3'50"...I kinda lost seconds in my last recording when I messed up finding some of the secret routes... Speaking of which, I wonder if there's an Over Top FAQ with all the secrets...hmm... Oh, BBH, one more thing...unless you BLISTER the course, if Zwaxy fixes this, we may have a battle...LOL (That is if you want to post your Over Top recordings...)

-- James Reisdorf (shyboy820@aol.com), May 23, 1999.

Hee, ok, I'll UL mine under a fake score for the time being. And yes, I got it under 3'50... I forget what my fastest time is, MAME kept deleting the high scores before memory card support was added to the newest beta. ;(

-BBH

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), May 23, 1999.

Found some secret routes for Over Top you'll want to check out! How's that for helping the competition?

PL

-- Pat Laffaye (laffaye@ibm.net), May 24, 1999.