MAME Action Replay Page - News

The hitbox.com counter that's on this page tells me that over 8% of visitors to this page use a screen resolution of 640x400 (the most popular is 800x600, at 45% of visitors). I checked out what the page looked like at 640x400 and it was pretty bad. So I improved it. I also fixed up a few dead links, and did some general long-overdue maintenance. I also removed some of the graphics from frequently visited pages, since they can take too long to load on a slow link.

I also updated the database for MAME 0.35 beta 7 quite a while ago. I forgot to update this news page with the list of changed games, so here goes... these games are new:

battroad  "Battle-Road, The"
blockbl   "Block Block (bootleg)"
tnzsb     "Newzealand Story, The (bootleg)"

This game was removed (on 15 Mar 1999, Nicola wrote: 'galnamco is not an original. They probably took galap4, split it to get ROMs for a board, and used the graphics from the original version'):

galnamco  "Galaxian (Namco, modified)"

and these games just had their long names changed:

galaxb    "Galaxians (bootleg)" -> "Galaxian (bootleg)"
kuniokub  "Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun (Jap bootleg)" -> "Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun (Japan bootleg)"
scramblb  "Scramble (bootleg)" -> "Scramble (bootleg on Galaxian hardware)"
tnzs      "New Zealand Story, The" -> "Newzealand Story, The"
tnzs2     "New Zealand Story 2, The" -> "Newzealand Story 2, The"
zigzag    "Zig Zag (Galaxian hardware set 1)" -> "Zig Zag (Galaxian hardware, set 1)"
zigzag2   "Zig Zag (Galaxian hardware set 2)" -> "Zig Zag (Galaxian hardware, set 2)"

I think I got the email notifications (the ones that are sent when people beat your scores) working again. Brain (sysadmin of ztnet.com) suggested that I try connecting directly to the mail host's SMTP port, which seems to do the trick. Let me know if you're not getting the notifications that you would expect to get.

There's a new MAME beta available (beta 8). I'll be updating the page soon, so if you have trouble getting in here, that's what's up. Here's what's changed... these games are new:

aerofgtb  "Aero Fighters (Turbo Force hardware)"
aso       "ASO (Armored Scrum Object)"
athena    "Athena"
bermudat  "Bermuda Triangle"
chopper   "Chopper I"
cninja    "Caveman Ninja (World)"
cninjau   "Caveman Ninja (US)"
fitegolf  "Fighting Golf"
joemac    "Joe & Mac (Japan)"
kingbalj  "King & Balloon (Japan)"
legofair  "Legend of Air Cavalry, The"
psychos   "Psycho Soldier (set 1)"
psychosa  "Psycho Soldier (set 2)"
rallyxm   "Rally X (Midway)"
skychut   "Sky Chuter"
spdcoin   "Speed Coin (prototype)"
stoneage  "Stoneage"
tnk3      "TNK3"
todruagb  "Tower of Druaga (set 2)"
tumblep   "Tumble Pop (bootleg set 1)"
tumblep2  "Tumble Pop (bootleg set 2)"
warpwarr  "Warp Warp (Rock-ola set 1)"

These games have had their long names changed:

ckongs    "Crazy Kong (Scramble Hardware)" -> "Crazy Kong (Scramble hardware)"
dogosoke  "Dogosoken" -> "Dogou Souken"
jungler   "Jungler (Konami)" -> "Jungler"
kingball  "King & Balloon" -> "King & Balloon (US)"
lastduel  "Last Duel" -> "Last Duel (US)"
madgear   "Mad Gear" -> "Mad Gear (US)"
pooyan    "Pooyan (Konami)" -> "Pooyan"
stratgyx  "Strategy X" -> "Strategy X (Stern)"
tdfever   "TouchDown Fever (US)" -> "TouchDown Fever"
tdfeverj  "TouchDown Fever (Japan)" -> "TouchDown Fever (Japanese)"
todruaga  "Tower of Druaga" -> "Tower of Druaga (set 1)"
tutankhm  "Tutankham (Konami)" -> "Tutankham"
warpwar2  "Warp Warp (set 2)" -> "Warp Warp (Rock-ola set 2)"
warpwarp  "Warp Warp (set 1)" -> "Warp & Warp"

These games have had their short names changed:

scobra -> scobras    "Super Cobra (Stern)"
scramble -> scrambls  "Scramble (Stern)"

and these games have had both their short and long names changed:

amidar -> amidaru    "Amidar (US)" -> "Amidar (Stern)"
amidarjp -> amidar  "Amidar (Japan)" -> "Amidar"
scobrak -> scobra   "Super Cobra (Konami)" -> "Super Cobra"
scramblk -> scramble  "Scramble (Konami)" -> "Scramble"
vulgus -> vulgusj    "Vulgus (set 1)" -> "Vulgus (Japan?)"
vulgus2 -> vulgus   "Vulgus (set 2)" -> "Vulgus (US?)"

Updated the page with the new games for MAME 0.35 beta 6. Since there's no official binary, let's use the one that's available on retrogames.com and emuviews.com. Here's what's changed... these games are new:

armora    "Armor Attack"
barrier   "Barrier"
boxingb   "Boxing Bugs"
darksea1  "Dark Seal (revision 1)"
demon     "Demon"
elim2a    "Eliminator (2 Players, set 2)"
inferno   "Inferno"
joust2    "Joust2 Survival of the Fittest"
mysticm   "Mystic Marathon"
nprincsu  "Ninja Princess (not encrypted)"
pcktgal2  "Pocket Gal 2"
pontoon   "Pontoon"
ripoff    "Rip Off"
rthundr2  "Rolling Thunder (set 2)"
sbbros    "Super Buster Bros (US)"
scramblb  "Scramble (bootleg)"
scramblk  "Scramble (Konami)"
solarq    "Solar Quest"
spacewar  "Space Wars"
speedfrk  "Speed Freak"
spool3    "Super Pool III"
spool3i   "Super Pool III (I-Vics)"
starcas   "Star Castle"
starhawk  "Star Hawk"
sundance  "Sundance"
tailg     "Tailgunner"
tazmani2  "Tazz-Mania (Strategy X hardware)"
tshoot    "Turkey Shoot"
warrior   "Warrior"
wotw      "War of the Worlds"
yiear2    "Yie Ar Kung-Fu (set 2)"

These games just had their long names changed:

billiard  "The Billiards" -> "Billiards, The"
darkseal  "Dark Seal" -> "Dark Seal (revision 3)"
elecyoy2  "The Electric Yo-Yo (set 2)" -> "Electric Yo-Yo, The (set 2)"
elecyoyo  "The Electric Yo-Yo (set 1)" -> "Electric Yo-Yo, The (set 1)"
elim2     "Eliminator (2 Players)" -> "Eliminator (2 Players, set 1)"
empire    "The Empire Strikes Back" -> "Empire Strikes Back, The"
ghostb    "The Real Ghostbusters (2 Players)" -> "Real Ghostbusters, The (2 Players)"
ghostb3   "The Real Ghostbusters (3 Players)" -> "Real Ghostbusters, The (3 Players)"
kod       "The King of Dragons (World)" -> "King of Dragons, The (World)"
kodb      "The King of Dragons (bootleg)" -> "King of Dragons, The (bootleg)"
kodj      "The King of Dragons (Japan)" -> "King of Dragons, The (Japan)"
kof94     "The King of Fighters '94" -> "King of Fighters '94, The"
kof95     "The King of Fighters '95" -> "King of Fighters '95, The"
kof96     "The King of Fighters '96" -> "King of Fighters '96, The"
kof97     "The King of Fighters '97" -> "King of Fighters '97, The"
kof98     "The King of Fighters '98" -> "King of Fighters '98, The"
mainevt   "The Main Event (version Y)" -> "Main Event, The (version Y)"
mainevt2  "The Main Event (version F)" -> "Main Event, The (version F)"
rthunder  "Rolling Thunder" -> "Rolling Thunder (set 1)"
scramble  "Scramble" -> "Scramble (Stern)"
tazmania  "Tazz-Mania" -> "Tazz-Mania (Scramble hardware)"
theend    "The End" -> "End, The"
theglob   "The Glob (Pac Man hardware)" -> "Glob, The (Pac Man hardware)"
thepit    "The Pit" -> "Pit, The"
tinstar   "The Tin Star" -> "Tin Star, The"
tnzs      "The New Zealand Story" -> "New Zealand Story, The"
tnzs2     "The New Zealand Story 2" -> "New Zealand Story 2, The"
yankeedo  "Yankee DO! (Two Bit Score)" -> "Yankee DO!"
yiear     "Yie Ar Kung Fu" -> "Yie Ar Kung-Fu (set 1)"

This game just had its short name changed:

gatedoma -> gatedoom  "Gate Of Doom (revision 4)"

and these games had both long and short names changed:

gatedoom -> gatedom1  "Gate Of Doom (set 1)" -> "Gate Of Doom (revision 1)"
nprinceb -> nprincsb  "Ninja Princess (bootleg)" -> "Ninja Princess (bootleg?)"

I split 'bowler' into 2 sub-games, and 'lbowling' into 3.

I changed the alternative leaderboard script again. Now it divides your score by the number of recordings you have on the page, giving your 'average percentage of the top score'. This really changes things around.

The MARP server is currently unable to send email, so you'll not receive any notification when your scores are beaten. This is beyond my control, but the ztnet administrators are looking into the problem. Hopefully my scripts will be spamming your mailboxes soon... :o)

Oh - I came back earlier than I thought I would. I've made a new mode for the leaderboard, where all scores count, not just the top 3, and where you get 100 points for top place, and less, in proportion to your score compared to the top score for the other places. This makes JoustGod the new leader - it must be all those 3rd place scores he has, right? I've also done extremely well from the new calculation, moving from 17th to 7th - again, I reckon it's because I have lots of low quality recordings. I'm wondering whether this new calculation rewards quantity rather than quality.

To see the new table, go to the leaderboard, tick the 'use experimental percentage scoring' box at the bottom of the page and click 'do it'. You might also want to click 'treat new entries normally', or you'll see all the people who don't have any top 3 scores. Since you don't qualify for the old-style leaderboard unless you have a top 3 score, everyone without one is now considered a 'new entry' and is shown... I wonder if BBH is still so keen on the new method of scoring? :o)

It's good to see that lots of people are uploading lots of new recordings, and that the server seems to be really stable since the reorganisation last weekend. The MARP server has actually generated over 500 pages and nearly been up for 24 hours, which is probably a record... I'll be away from the world for the next 5 days or so, so I'll not be able to maintain the site, read the board, fix any problems, or any of that other stuff I do, but I'll be back on Monday.

And I made the text in the top frame smaller since it didn't fit in my browser very well, and I use quite a high resolution.

Only joking. (o: There are many good ideas there. I'm in agreement with most of the suggestions. I'll wait and see what else happens with the discussion. I think it would be quite a chore keeping the list of available games up to date, having to know what's a clone of what, and what clones are different enough to qualify for awarding points, but I'm sure we'll come up with a workable solution in the end...

There's been quite a lot of discussion on the MARP Message Board recently about new ways of scoring the leaderboard. Well. I'd just like to ask everyone to stop all this discussion. It's *my* page and it's staying like it is, OK???

I've noticed a couple of people recently have been leeching the whole site. If you try to do this by pointing your downloader at the top of the site and letting it wander all over it will take a very long time. I've just made a new URL, this one, in fact, which you can point your downloader at. It has links to all the recordings on the site, with the most recently uploaded ones first. The list itself is over 350k of HTML, so don't expect a quick download if you're wanting to leech all the recordings...

There's a new MAME beta, 0.35 beta 5, with a few new games added. I've updated the script to accept the new game. Here's what's changed... these games are new:

bosco2    "Bosconian (Midway, set 2)"
bouldash  "Boulderdash / Boulderdash Part 2"
cracksht  "Crackshot (version 2.0)"
crush2    "Crush Roller (set 2)"
galaxb    "Galaxians (bootleg)"
rampage2  "Rampage (revision 2)"
shollow2  "Satan's Hollow (set 2)"
vimana    "Vimana (set 1)"
vimana2   "Vimana (set 2)"

These games just had their long names changed:

berzerk   "Berzerk" -> "Berzerk (set 1)"
berzerk1  "Berzerk (version 1)" -> "Berzerk (set 2)"
bosco     "Bosconian (Midway)" -> "Bosconian (Midway, set 1)"
ghostb    "The Real Ghostbusters (2 player)" -> "The Real Ghostbusters (2 Players)"
ghostb3   "The Real Ghostbusters (3 player)" -> "The Real Ghostbusters (3 Players)"
mk2       "MK 2 (rev L3.1)" -> "Mortal Kombat II (rev L3.1)"
mk2r14    "MK 2 (rev L1.4)" -> "Mortal Kombat II (rev L1.4)"
mk2r32    "MK 2 (rev L3.2 (European))" -> "Mortal Kombat II (rev L3.2 (European))"
rampage   "Rampage" -> "Rampage (revision 3)"
shollow   "Satan's Hollow" -> "Satan's Hollow (set 1)"
tmnt      "TMNT (4 Players USA)" -> "TMNT (4 Players US)"
tmnt2pj   "TMNT (2 Players Japanese)" -> "TMNT (2 Players Japan)"
tmntj     "TMNT (4 Players Japanese)" -> "TMNT (4 Players Japan)"

and this game was removed (on 21 Feb 1999, Zsolt wrote 'Removed frenzy1. It was identical to frenzy, but with different ROM sizes'):

frenzy1   "Frenzy (version 1)"

Go for it, then. Uploading might be working now...

Hmmm... So I can connect to the server again, but I'm no longer allowed to run a shell on it. I don't know what this means for the scripts - I'll try to get them working soon, but I'll be away for the weekend, so I don't think they'll be working before Monday.

Work is currently in progress on the page. If you get any strange errors, please just reload - the page ought to only be unavailable for up to 30 seconds at a time.

This is what's changed... these games are new:

64street  "64th Street"
bbros     "Buster Bros (US)"
block     "Block Block (World)"
cheyenne  "Cheyenne (version 1.0)"
chiller   "Chiller (version 3.0)"
claypign  "Clay Pigeon (version 2.0)"
combat    "Combat (version 3.0)"
crossbow  "Crossbow (version 2.0)"
digger    "Digger"
gwar      "Guerrilla War"
hellfire  "Hellfire"
hitnmiss  "Hit 'n Miss (version 2.0)"
lomakaj   "Legend of Makaj"
mk2r14    "MK 2 (rev L1.4)"
mk2r32    "MK 2 (rev L3.2 (European))"
mkla1     "Mortal Kombat (rev 1.0 08/08/92)"
mkla2     "Mortal Kombat (rev 2.0 08/18/92)"
p47       "P-47 (USA / Export)"
p47j      "P-47 (Japan)"
pangb     "Pang (bootleg)"
pspikes   "Power Spikes (Korea)"
showdown  "Showdown (version 5.0)"
smashtv4  "Smash TV (rev 4.00)"
smashtv6  "Smash TV (rev 6.00)"
spang     "Super Pang (World)"
tdfever   "TouchDown Fever (US)"
tdfeverj  "TouchDown Fever (Japan)"
topsecex  "Top Secret (Exidy) (version 1.0)"
whodunit  "Who Dunit (version 8.0)"
zerowing  "Zero Wing"

These games just had their long names changed:

alieninv  "Alien Invaders 2" -> "Alien Invasion Part II"
area88    "Area 88" -> "Area 88 (Japan)"
cawing    "Carrier Air Wing / U.S. Navy (World)" -> "Carrier Air Wing (World)"
cawingj   "Carrier Air Wing / U.S. Navy (Japan)" -> "U.S. Navy (Japan)"
chikij    "Mega Twins / Chiki Chiki Boys (Japan)" -> "Chiki Chiki Boys (Japan)"
dogosoke  "Dogo Soken" -> "Dogosoken"
dwj       "Tenchi o Kurau (Japan)" -> "Tenchi o Kurau"
ghouls    "Ghouls'n Ghosts" -> "Ghouls'n Ghosts (World?)"
ghoulsj   "Dai Makai-Mura" -> "Dai Makai-Mura (Japan)"
mekyosen  "Mekyo Sensi" -> "Makyou Senshi"
mtwins    "Mega Twins / Chiki Chiki Boys (World)" -> "Mega Twins (World)"
pang      "Pang" -> "Pang (World)"
sf2cej    "Street Fighter II - Champion Edition (Japan)" -> "Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Japan)"
si_cv     "Space Invaders Colour  (CV Version)" -> "Space Invaders Colour (CV Version)"
unsquad   "UN Squadron" -> "UN Squadron (US)"

and this game just had its short name changed:

snowbro2 -> snowbroa  "Snow Bros (set 2)"

I've updated the page for 0.35 beta 4.

Hey, look... It's another MAME high score site, using .inp file recordings, just like this one. Does anyone have a phrase book handy...

Well, I've put the new scripts in place. You probably ran them to read this, so I guess they're working. Either that or you're not reading this. If not, why not?

Please email me with any problems with the scripts - I'm still not all that confident that they work properly.

I've re-thought the way the scripts work. The new design should be quite a lot faster than the old one - hopefully you won't get those annoying time-out errors that happen so often. I don't think the new scripts are ready for prime-time, but please check them out (you can find a test database HERE). Be careful, it looks just like the regular database, but it's not for keeps. Anything uploaded there will be lost, it's just for testing. But... please tell me how you find the new /test/ scripts - are they faster for you?

No news is good news, or so they say.

What there is to see in beta 3... these games are new:

ambush    "Ambush"
amidaro   "Amidar (Olympia)"
astdelu1  "Asteroids Deluxe (rev 1)"
breakers  "Breakers"
breywood  "Breywood"
canbprot  "Canyon Bomber (prototype)"
csilver   "Captain Silver"
cworld2j  "Capcom World 2 (Japan)"
devilfsh  "Devil Fish"
devzone   "Devil Zone"
dino      "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (World)"
fireone   "Fire One"
fitter    "Fitter"
gondo     "Gondomania"
lastmiss  "Last Mission (Rev 6)"
lastmss2  "Last Mission (Rev 5)"
magspot2  "Magical Spot II"
marukodq  "Maruko Deluxe Quiz"
mbomber   "Muscle Bomber Duo (World)"
mbomberj  "Muscle Bomber Duo (Japan)"
mbrush    "Magic Brush"
mekyosen  "Mekyo Sensi"
punisher  "Punisher (World)"
punishrj  "Punisher (Japan)"
qad       "Quiz & Dragons (US)"
qadj      "Quiz & Dragons (Japan)"
qixa      "Qix (set 2)"
sf1       "Street Fighter (World)"
sf1jp     "Street Fighter (Japan)"
sf1us     "Street Fighter (US)"
shackled  "Shackled"
slammast  "Slam Masters (World)"
spacbatt  "Space Battle"
spaceint  "Space Intruder"
stakwin2  "Stakes Winner 2"
troangel  "Tropical Angel"
turbofrc  "Turbo Force"
vsyard    "10 Yard Fight (Vs. version 11/05/84)"
wof       "Warriors of Fate (World)"
wofj      "Tenchi o Kurau 2 (Japan)"
zookeep2  "Zoo Keeper (set 2)"

These games just had their short names changed:

artfight -> aof       "Art of Fighting / Ryuu Ko No Ken"
ararmy -> roboarmy    "Robo Army"
karnov_r -> karnovr   "Karnov's Revenge / Fighter's History Dynamite"
kingofm -> kotm       "King of the Monsters"
nam_1975 -> nam1975   "NAM 1975"
realbou2 -> rbff2     "Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 - The Newcomers"
sidkicks -> ssideki   "Super Sidekicks"
sskick3 -> ssideki3   "Super Sidekicks 3 - The Next Glory"
wheroes -> wh1        "World Heroes"
worlhe2j -> wh2j      "World Heroes 2 Jet"
worlher2 -> wh2       "World Heroes 2"

these games just had their long names changed:

3wonderj  "Wonder 3 (Japan)" -> "Three Wonders (Japan)"
elecyoy2  "Electric Yo-Yo (set 2)" -> "The Electric Yo-Yo (set 2)"
elecyoyo  "Electric Yo-Yo (set 1)" -> "The Electric Yo-Yo (set 1)"
ghostb    "The Real Ghostbusters (2 players)" -> "The Real Ghostbusters (2 player)"
ghostb3   "The Real Ghostbusters (3 players)" -> "The Real Ghostbusters (3 player)"
grescue   "Galaxy Rescue (bootleg?)" -> "Galaxy Rescue"
ldrun3    "Lode Runner III - Magin No Fukkatsu" -> "Lode Runner III - Majin No Fukkatsu"
mercsu    "Senjo no Ookami II (US)" -> "Mercs (US)"
qix       "Qix" -> "Qix (set 1)"

and these games had both their long and short names changed:

vsyard -> vsyard2     "10 Yard Fight (Vs. version)" -> "10 Yard Fight (Vs. version, set 2)"
zookeepa -> zookeep3  "Zoo Keeper (set 2)" -> "Zoo Keeper (set 3)"

I've updated the page for 0.35 beta 3.

I'm back. Just in case you were worried about me... :o)

I updated the script for the windows port of beta 2. I also added entries for DOS and windows versions of beta 3, in case they're released in the next week.

I'm off on holiday for a week from tomorrow, so I'll not be updating this page or answering any email for a while.

For your comfort and convenience, I've tidied up the message board quite a lot, by filing all the old messages away. So now, you'll see the newest messages first, and not have to wade through piles of old stuff.

One email I did discover was from Alan Bryant, he who had a broken Food Fight recording on MARP for about a year (until I rudely deleted it yesterday). He'll soon be working on making another massive Food Fight recording. Until then, enjoy his Food Fight web page. If you want to, that is.

My PC has crashed. Again. I'm hoping to get it working again, but for the mean time I'll not be very email-responsive. I can read it directly off the server, but that's no fun when it's full of MIME attachments and uuencoded porno spam, as I'm sure you'll agree.

I just discovered that MARP is for old people! Apparently, MARP is a ministry of/for persons 50 years of age and older. I knew we were mostly getting on a bit, but I had no idea!

Here's what's new in beta 2 (hey - I'm a poet and don't know it!):

3wonderj  "Wonder 3 (Japan)"
3wonders  "Three Wonders (US)"
abaseb    "Atari Baseball (set 1)"
abaseb2   "Atari Baseball (set 2)"
aerofgt   "Aero Fighters"
alieninv  "Alien Invaders 2"
bakatono  "Baka Tonosama Maajan Manyuuki"
brkthruj  "Kyohkoh-Toppa"
canyon    "Canyon Bomber"
capbowl2  "Capcom Bowling (set 2)"
captcomj  "Captain Commando (Japan)"
captcomu  "Captain Commando (US)"
centipdb  "Centipede (bootleg)"
circuscc  "Circus Charlie (Centuri)"
cosmicg   "Cosmic Guerilla"
defendg   "Defender (Green label)"
dogosoke  "Dogo Soken"
ffightu   "Final Fight (US)"
galpanic  "Gals Panic"
ghostb3   "The Real Ghostbusters (3 players)"
gravitr2  "Gravitar (version 2)"
headon2   "Head On 2"
ikari     "Ikari Warriors (US)"
ikarijp   "Ikari Warriors (Japan)"
ikarijpb  "Ikari Warriors (Japan bootleg)"
jack      "Jack the Giantkiller (set 1)"
knightsj  "Knights of the Round (Japan)"
kodj      "The King of Dragons (Japan)"
kof98     "The King of Fighters '98"
ldrun2    "Lode Runner II - The Bungeling Strikes Back"
ldrun3    "Lode Runner III - Magin No Fukkatsu"
lotlot    "Lot Lot"
maglordh  "Magician Lord (Home version)"
mainevt2  "The Main Event (version F)"
minasan   "Mina Sanno Okagesama Desu! Dai Sugoroku Taikai"
pignewt   "Pig Newton (Revision C)"
pignewta  "Pig Newton (Revision A)"
popeye2   "Popeye (set 2)"
puzzldpr  "Puzzle de Pon R"
radrad    "Radical Radial"
sf2a      "Street Fighter II (US rev A)"
sf2b      "Street Fighter II (US rev B)"
sf2ce     "Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (World)"
sf2cej    "Street Fighter II - Champion Edition (Japan)"
sf2e      "Street Fighter II (US rev E)"
sf2t      "Street Fighter II' - Hyper Fighting (US)"
sf2tj     "Street Fighter II Turbo (Japan)"
si_cv     "Space Invaders Colour  (CV Version)"
si_sv     "Space Invaders (SV Version)"
si_tv     "Space Invaders (TV Version)"
skydiver  "Sky Diver"
solfight  "Solar Fight"
spacebrd  "Space Bird (bootleg)"
spacedem  "Space Demon"
spacefbg  "Space Firebird (Gremlin)"
srdarwin  "Super Real Darwin"
ssideki4  "Super Sidekicks 4 - Ultimate 11"
topsecrt  "Top Secret (Japan)"
varthj    "Varth (Japan)"
victroad  "Victory Road"

These games have had both their short and long names changed:

jack -> jack2       "Jack the Giantkiller (set 1)" -> "Jack the Giantkiller (set 2)"
jacka -> jack3      "Jack the Giantkiller (set 2)" -> "Jack the Giantkiller (set 3)"

This game just had its short name changed:

ldrun2p -> ldrun4   "Lode Runner IV - Teikoku Karano Dasshutsu" -> "Lode Runner IV - Teikoku Karano Dasshutsu"

and these games just had their long names changed:

bionicc   "Bionic Commando (set 1)" -> "Bionic Commando (US set 1)"
bionicc2  "Bionic Commando (set 2)" -> "Bionic Commando (US set 2)"
capbowl   "Capcom Bowling" -> "Capcom Bowling (set 1)"
circusc2  "Circus Charlie (level select)" -> "Circus Charlie (no level select)"
defender  "Defender" -> "Defender (Red label)"
gatedoma  "Gate Of Doom (set 2)" -> "Gate Of Doom (revision 4)"
ghostb    "The Real Ghostbusters" -> "The Real Ghostbusters (2 players)"
gravitar  "Gravitar" -> "Gravitar (version 3)"
kod       "King Of Dragons (World)" -> "The King of Dragons (World)"
kodb      "King Of Dragons (bootleg)" -> "The King of Dragons (bootleg)"
mainevt   "The Main Event" -> "The Main Event (version Y)"
mazeh     "Maze Hunter (Japan)" -> "Maze Hunter"
mk2       "MK 2" -> "MK 2 (rev L3.1)"
popeye    "Popeye" -> "Popeye (set 1)"
sf2       "Street Fighter 2 (World)" -> "Street Fighter II (World rev B)"
sf2j      "Street Fighter 2 (Japan)" -> "Street Fighter II (Japan)"
slyspy    "Sly Spy (set 1)" -> "Sly Spy (revision 3)"
slyspy2   "Sly Spy (set 2)" -> "Sly Spy (revision 2)"
spacefb   "Space Firebird" -> "Space Firebird (Nintendo)"
ssideki2  "Super Sidekicks 2" -> "Super Sidekicks 2 - The World Championship"
wc90b     "World Cup 90 (bootleg)" -> "Euro League"

OK - it should be possible to upload scores for m35b2 now. Go for it. I didn't update the changed long names for the games, but everything else is done...

I'm updating the script and database for the new 0.35 beta 2 DOS release, so please don't worry if things don't work right for a second or 3600. Thanks. (Not long now, JoustGod!) :o)

Second, when you're logged into MARP, any recordings you have uploaded yourself will show up with an 'edit' link next to them, allowing you to edit the description and other details associated with the recording.

First, when you receive email from the script telling you about a new recording, the subject will contain the name of the game, the player and the score.

Made a couple of changes to the script, as requested by BeeJay:

OK, I deleted all the old recordings: where the same player submitted two or more recordings for the same game, I've deleted all but the highest score. I still have the old recordings stored locally, but they're no longer taking up space on the server. Someone else on the server seems to be using the the space as quickly as I can free it, so maybe it will be full again soon. Try uploading if you like - I have the site backup up, so do your worst... :o)

retrogames.com is running very low on disk space. I think I'll have to take some of the old recordings off-line. For the time being, please don't upload any recordings...

I received email from lagavulin complaining that Maxwel's recording of City Connection starts with 5 lives, but Maxwel claims in the description of his recording that he used Twin Galaxies settings. Could it really be that the TG settings are to use 5 lives? I can't connect to their site at the moment.

I moved some of the Magical Drop scores between categories. It looks like I guess wrong on Friday about where they belonged. There are other recordings for these games now - are they in the right section?

I just fixed a problem which I introduced to the page last night. I was tidying up the MARP directory on the server and accidentally deleted a critical file. This prevented any uploads or searches happening for the last 11 hours or so. Everything should be back to normal now though, and I'll try not to let it happen again. Honest I will.

I split the two Magical Drop games up into 3 categories each to reflect the fact that these games have 3 games within each of them. I don't personally own any Magical Drop boards, so I don't have a copy of the ROMs to run in MAME and consequentially I've had to guess at the categories that are available. Please tell me if I've got them wrong - Steve 'the Krog' Krogman told me which categories are available in version 3 of the game, and I guessed that version 2 uses the same, but that's likely to be wrong. Also, I had to move the existing 3 recordings into one of the categories, so I guessed. Did I guess right? Anyway - I have to go now - I'll fix things up on Monday if anyone mails me over the weekend...

I've changed the layout of the little 'search engine' thing at the top of this page a bit. I looked in the logs and found that lots of people were typing 'kof98' into the box. Maybe now it will be a little bit clearer. If anyone who reads this knows how to use words and that to communicate, I'd appreciate any tips as to how I could make the page easier to understand.

So much for retiring, huh?

Today, I'm writing: Made a few little changes to the script. Nothing major, but I may well have still broken something - please email me if you find that something's stopped working. The changes were to make the 'recent uploads' page clearer by showing whose recording has been edited by me. I noticed earlier that there were things like "Zwaxy changed score for robotron from 320800 to 372800" showing up, but it doesn't tell you whose recording I changed the score for. Now it does. Thanks to lagavulin for happening to upload a recording which needed the score editing (due to other shortcomings of the script...) just as I'd finished changing the script, so that I could test that it kind of worked. :o)

6 months ago, I wrote: Dicked around with the stats script a little more. The aim eventually is that you will be able to upload to the main pages automatically and I will be able to retire, but it's still not quite there yet.

Split the black and white version of Space Fever into 3 categories, since Fritzy was just gagging to upload into each of the 3, and score 30 juicy points.