MAME Action Replay Page - News

Don't want to play in this tournament? Then you can vote for games in the second tournament right now! You have until AT LEAST October 10th - at most the 24th. You can also talk about any changes the rules might need. The tournament itself will begin on November 1st.

The "Awards Ceremony" for the first tournament will be posted on the message board by October 5th. We will declare winners of the individual games and the tournament as a whole.

There is about a week remaining in our very first MARP Tournament. If you haven't started playing, you still have time to make your mark! The tournament ends September 30th at 2359 GMT.

I just updated the scripts for MAME 0.36 beta 5.

These games are new:

astyanax  "Astyanax, The"
battlntj  "Battlantis (Japan)"
battlnts  "Battlantis"
combascj  "Combat School (Japan trackball)"
cshift    "Chicken Shift"
cybattlr  "Cybattler"
gbusters  "Gang Busters"
gghost    "Goalie Ghost"
gimeabrk  "Gimme A Break"
hachoo    "Hachoo!"
hattrick  "Hat Trick"
indytem4  "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (set 4)"
lordofk   "Lord of King, The (Japan)"
lostwrld  "Lost Worlds (Japan)"
madmotor  "Mad Motor"
minigol2  "Mini Golf (set 2)"
minigolf  "Mini Golf (set 1)"
mrgoemon  "Mr. Goemon (Japan)"
nstocker  "Night Stocker"
otwalls   "Off the Wall (Sente)"
phantasm  "Phantasm (Japan)"
quarth    "Quarth (Japan)"
rescraid  "Rescue Raider"
robocop   "Robocop (World revision 3)"
robocopu  "Robocop (US revision 1)"
robocpu0  "Robocop (US revision 0)"
rodland   "RodLand (World)"
secretag  "Secret Agent (World)"
sentetst  "Sente Diagnostic Cartridge"
sfootbal  "Street Football"
sichuana  "Sichuan II (hack ?) (set 2)"
snakepit  "Snake Pit"
snakjack  "Snacks'n Jaxson"
stdragon  "Saint Dragon"
stocker   "Stocker"
toggle    "Toggle"
triviag1  "Trivial Pursuit (Genus I)"
triviasp  "Trivial Pursuit (All Star Sports Edition)"
trojanr   "Trojan (Romstar)"

these games have had their long names changed:

64street  "64th. Street - A Detective Story (World?)" -> "64th. Street - A Detective Story"
actfancj  "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (Japan?)" -> "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (Japan)"
actfancr  "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (US?)" -> "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (World)"
bouldash  "Boulder Dash / Boulder Dash Part 2" -> "Boulder Dash / Boulder Dash Part 2 (World)"
combasc   "Combat School (joystick version)" -> "Combat School (joystick)"
combasct  "Combat School (trackball version)" -> "Combat School (trackball)"
depthch   "Depth Charge" -> "Depthcharge"
sichuan2  "Sichuan II (hack?)" -> "Sichuan II (hack?) (set 1)"
spectar   "Spectar (revision 3)" -> "Spectar (revision 2)"

this game has had both its short and long names changed:

robocopp -> robocopb   "Robocop (bootleg)" -> "Robocop (World bootleg)"

and these games have had their short names changed:

64streej -> streej64  "64th. Street - A Detective Story (Japan)"
hbarrel -> hbarrelw   "Heavy Barrel (World)"
hbarrelu -> hbarrel   "Heavy Barrel (US)"
invdelux -> invdpt2m  "Space Invaders Part II (Midway)"

Somebody pointed out to me that "Chris Moore" is an anagram of "O Mr. Hi Score" and also of "Heroic Roms". :o)

Thankyou all the people who mailed me to tell me that the part of the script which sends email notifications is broken. It's to do with retrogames.com moving to a new server, apparently, and is beyond my control. It should sort itself out once DNS has had a chance to catch up.

I made a new page. It shows which games are probably being abused - it's a list of all the games where the top 3 scores are all the same: It's here. Skito will be arranging a vote on some/all of these soon... Check the message board for details.

I just updated the scripts for MAME 0.36 beta 4.

These games are new:

2020bbh   "2020 Super Baseball (set 2)"
arkarea   "Ark Area"
arkbloc2  "Block (Game Corporation bootleg)"
blastoff  "Blast Off (Japan)"
blazer    "Blazer (Japan)"
blckgalb  "Block Gal (bootleg)"
bottom9   "Bottom of the Ninth (version T)"
bottom9n  "Bottom of the Ninth (version N)"
cachat    "Cachat (Japan)"
champwr   "Champion Wrestler (World)"
crimfgtj  "Crime Fighters (Japan)"
dangseed  "Dangerous Seed (Japan)"
detatwin  "Detana!! Twin Bee (Japan)"
dspirit   "Dragon Spirit"
fhawk     "Fighting Hawk (Japan)"
galag88j  "Galaga '88 (Japan)"
galaga88  "Galaga '88"
gardiab   "Gardia (bootleg)"
garuka    "Garuka (Japan)"
horshoes  "American Horseshoes (US)"
hotchase  "Hot Chase"
konami88  "Konami '88"
mmaze     "Marchen Maze (Japan)"
pacmania  "Pacmania"
pacmanij  "Pacmania (Japan)"
palamed   "Palamedes (Japan)"
pgoal     "Pleasure Goal / Futsal - 5 on 5 Mini Soccer"
pistoldm  "Pistol Daimyo no Bouken (Japan)"
plotting  "Plotting (World)"
puzznic   "Puzznic (Japan)"
raimais   "Raimais (Japan)"
rollerg   "Rollergames (US)"
rollergj  "Rollergames (Japan)"
rompers   "Rompers (Japan)"
shadowld  "Shadow Land"
soukobdx  "Souko Ban Deluxe (Japan)"
splatter  "Splatter House (Japan)"
surpratk  "Surprise Attack (Japan)"
thnderxj  "Thunder Cross (Japan)"
wecleman  "WEC Le Mans 24"
wldcourt  "World Court (Japan)"
ws90      "World Stadium 90 (Japan)"
youkaidk  "Yokai Douchuuki (Japan)"

this game was deleted:

irobot    "I, Robot"

these games have had their long names changed:

2020bb    "2020 Super Baseball" -> "2020 Super Baseball (set 1)"
crimfght  "Crime Fighters" -> "Crime Fighters (US)"
legofair  "Legend of Air Cavalry, The" -> "Koukuu Kihei Monogatari - The Legend of Air Cavalry"
liberatr  "Liberator" -> "Liberator (set 1)"
parodius  "Parodius (Japan)" -> "Parodius DA! (Japan)"

and this game has had its short name changed:

3wonderj -> wonder3  "Wonder 3 (Japan)"

I removed a feature from the script to reduce the memory it uses. It's no longer possible to choose how search results are sorted. I'll add it back in when I find a cleaner way to implement the sorting quickly and efficiently. Also, to reduce the CPU usage of the script, some parts of the script are run less often than they used to be. Until now, all the pages were up to date all of the time. I've just added some code which will delay processing by up to an hour - so if you upload a recording, and can't find it listed, come back in an hour's time - then it will be there. You'll get your leaderboard points straight away, it's just the search page which will take a while to catch up. I'm sorry to have to do this, but it's a quick and easy way to try to keep the CGI server alive. Let me know whether you notice any difference - do you notice the hour's lag - and do you notice whether the server crashes less now? (see at the bottom of every dynamic page, it says something like "MARP server started; it has made 16 pages" - well, that page count used to get into the thousands before the server restarted, but recently I've not seen it go above 130)

Well - thanks to Cicca I've had a few offers of hosting from other sites, and also retrogames.com have been in touch explaining that the site won't have to close after all. I'm still a little confused, but it's not looking nearly as bad as it was a couple of days ago.

It looks as if the MARP site is going to have to close soon. I'm sorry, but the people hosting the site are no longer willing to allow the CGI scripts to have the memory that they need to run. I'll try to make the scripts smaller, or find an alternative host, but I'm not very hopeful at the moment. I'll post more news here as and when I know what's happening.

I just quickly knocked together a change to the script so that the email notifications will include a URL that will show all the scores for the newly uploaded game. I didn't get a chance to test the code, 'cos I'm at work, and there's schuff to do, but I just know you guys will let me know if it doesn't work... I also updated the page for the new beta, 0.36 beta 3. Click here to see what's changed.

I've noticed from the logs that the CGI script server keeps dying every couple of hours. I've put some debugging in place, but didn't find out what the problem is yet. Hopefully I'll be able to fix the problem soon, but in the mean time you'll occasionally see messages about 'the server isn't responding' and such like. The thing to do in that event is to wait 30 seconds or so and try again.

If anyone ever tells you that there's this great new drink called 'Zider', which is made from a mixture of alcoholic cider and whisky, don't believe them. While it's true that the drink does actually exist, it *isn't* true that it's great. I know, for I was that 'sick, sick man' who was duped into drinking it. Unfortunetly, it appears to have a horrible side effect of making you sing karaoke country and western songs at the top of your voice in weird seaside pubs...

Does anybody happen to have Frode's recording of twotiger where he scores 502,600 points? The zip file would be called 'fg_twotiger_502600_m34b5.zip', by the way. The copy on MARP and in my backup is corrupted and won't unzip.

I just discovered a new sub-game in pang3. Check out my recording for pang3-secret to see me playing in the secret rooms... If anyone can work out how I got to the secret rooms, I'll be very impressed, but I reckon I might have the highest score on this one for a while to come... :o)

Jeremy Petka - if you read this, I just had to change your settings so that the MARP server won't try sending you emails when your scores are beaten. It was getting bounces from the email address you supplied.

GameBoy pointed out that we have finally reached the 7198 recording mark. (234 in the tournament and 6964 in regular MARP). Congratulations to everyone involved.

Oh dear. I came back from a week away to find that the CGI scripts had all stopped working. Thanks for all the email telling me about the problem. It's sorted out now - it was caused by a log file exceeding the recently imposed maximum file size...

I updated the page for the new MAME 0.36 beta release 2. Please use the MAME binary from the official MAME site (here). Thanks are due to Gordons MAME ROM Info Page for the information I used to do the update.

These games were added:

ajax      "Ajax"
alexkidd  "Alex Kidd"
aliens    "Aliens (set 1)"
aliens2   "Aliens (set 2)"
aliensya  "Alien Syndrome (set 2)"
aliensyb  "Alien Syndrome (set 3)"
astorm    "Alien Storm"
auraila   "Aurail (set 2)"
aztarac   "Aztarac"
batman    "Batman"
bayrouta  "Bay Route (set 2)"
bayroute  "Bay Route (set 1)"
bayrtbl1  "Bay Route (bootleg set 1)"
bayrtbl2  "Bay Route (bootleg set 2)"
bjtwin    "Bombjack Twin"
cbuster   "Crude Buster (World FX version)"
cbusterj  "Crude Buster (Japan)"
cbusterw  "Crude Buster (World FU version)"
crimfght  "Crime Fighters"
devstors  "Devastators (version Z)"
fpoint    "Flash Point"
garyoret  "Garyo Retsuden (Japan)"
ginganin  "Ginga NinkyouDen"
goldnabl  "Golden Axe (bootleg)"
goldnaxb  "Golden Axe (Version 2 317-0110)"
goldnaxc  "Golden Axe (Version 2 317-0122)"
gyrodine  "Gyrodine"
hcastle   "Haunted Castle (set 1)"
hcastlea  "Haunted Castle (set 2)"
hydrap    "Hydra (prototype)"
lgtnfght  "Lightning Fighters (US)"
madcrash  "Mad Crasher"
mia       "Missing in Action (version T)"
mia2      "Missing in Action (version S)"
moonwalk  "Moon Walker"
mosyougi  "Syougi No Tatsujin - Master of Syougi"
outrun    "Out Run (set 1)"
outruna   "Out Run (set 2)"
outrunb   "Out Run (set 3)"
passsht   "Passing Shot (2 Player)"
relief    "Relief Pitcher (set 1)"
relief2   "Relief Pitcher (set 2)"
rushcrsh  "Rush & Crash (Japan)"
shangon   "Super Hang-On"
shangonb  "Super Hang-On (bootleg)"
sharrier  "Space Harrier"
shdancbl  "Shadow Dancer (bootleg)"
shinobia  "Shinobi (set 1)"
simpsn2p  "Simpsons, The (2 Players)"
simpsons  "Simpsons, The (4 Players)"
sonofphx  "Son of Phoenix"
srdmissn  "S.R.D. Mission"
ssridera  "Sunset Riders (Asia)"
ssriders  "Sunset Riders (World)"
ssrideru  "Sunset Riders (US)"
stadhero  "Stadium Hero (Japan)"
stfight   "Street Fight (Germany)"
tetris    "Tetris (Sega)"
thunderj  "ThunderJaws"
tmht      "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (4 Players UK)"
tmnt2     "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (4 Players US)"
tmnt22p   "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (2 Players US)"
tmnt2a    "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (4 Players Asia)"
trigon    "Trigon (Japan)"
twocrude  "Two Crude (US)"
vangrd2   "Vanguard II"
wb3       "Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair (set 1)"
xmen      "X-Men (4 Players)"
xmen6p    "X-Men (6 Players)"

these games had their short names changed:

alexkidd -> alexkdbl  "Alex Kidd (bootleg)"
gryzorb -> contrajb   "Contra (Japan bootleg)"

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

devstors -> devstor2  "Devastators" -> "Devastators (version X)"
wb3 -> wb3a           "Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair" -> "Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair (set 2)"

these games had their long names changed:

aliensyn  "Alien Syndrome" -> "Alien Syndrome (set 1)"
aurail    "Aurail (bootleg)" -> "Aurail (set 1)"
kikstart  "Kick Start" -> "Kick Start Wheelie King"
kuhga     "Kuhga - Operation Code "Vapor Trail" (Japan revision 3)" -> "Kuhga - Operation Code 'Vapor Trail' (Japan revision 3)"
passshtb  "Passing Shot (bootleg)" -> "Passing Shot (2 Player) (bootleg)"
shdancer  "Shadow Dancer" -> "Shadow Dancer (US)"
shinobi   "Shinobi" -> "Shinobi (set 2)"
shinobl   "Shinobi (Bootleg)" -> "Shinobi (bootleg)"
tmht2p    "TMHT (2 Players UK)" -> "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (2 Players UK)"
tmnt      "TMNT (4 Players US)" -> "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4 Players US)"
tmnt2pj   "TMNT (2 Players Japan)" -> "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2 Players Japan)"
tmntj     "TMNT (4 Players Japan)" -> "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4 Players Japan)"
toobinp   "Toobin' (prototype)" -> "Toobin' (Prototype)"

I'm away on holiday for a week, so I'll not be maintaining this page, answering email or backing up the site.

You may upload a recording up to three days after you recorded it - otherwise it is disqualified. For example, if you recorded a game on July 3rd, you cannot upload the game after July 6th. Unfortunatly, we've already had to disqualify one recording because of this rule...

You can only use MAME 35 FINAL on your recordings - or you assume a risk of having a disqualified recording (because we can't play it back on the said version)

I've been asked to put some notes on this news page to clarify a couple of things:

Thanks for your underwhelming response to my request for Noodle guestbook signing. :o)

I've started adding a feature to the page which will allow you to supply a range of dates when viewing the leaderboard - then you can find out things like "who did the best if we only consider scores from last February", and things like that. So far, the leaderboard page has date entry on its form, but the other pages don't.

Please visit a brand new page, "The Secret of Successful Noodle Cookery" and sign the guestbook at the end of the page. Thank you.

I updated the page for the new MAME 0.36 beta release 1. Please use the MAME binary from the official MAME site (here), not the dodgy Eckel version, or Dave's uncompressed version, just in case these unofficial binaries have any incompatabilities in their recording formats.

These games are new:

altbeas2  "Altered Beast (Version 2)"
atomicp   "Atomic Point"
bloodbro  "Blood Bros."
bodyslam  "Body Slam"
bootcamp  "Boot Camp"
btlfield  "Battlefield (Japan)"
cchasm    "Cosmic Chasm (set 1)"
cchasm1   "Cosmic Chasm (set 2)"
combasct  "Combat School (trackball version)"
csk227it  "Champion Skill (with Ability)"
csk234it  "Champion Skill (Ability, Poker & Symbols)"
cyberbal  "Cyberball"
cyberbt   "Tournament Cyberball 2072"
gangwarb  "Gang Wars (bootleg)"
gangwars  "Gang Wars"
goldmedl  "Gold Medalist"
goldnaxa  "Golden Axe (Version 2)"
hangon    "Hang-On"
hopprobo  "Hopper Robo"
hwrace    "High Way Race"
hydra     "Hydra"
ikari3    "Ikari III - The Rescue"
kikstart  "Kick Start"
kuhga     "Kuhga - Operation Code "Vapor Trail" (Japan revision 3)"
kuniokun  "Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (Japan)"
mariojp   "Mario Bros. (Japan)"
marvins   "Marvin's Maze"
meteor    "Meteoroids"
midresj   "Midnight Resistance (Japan)"
mnchmobl  "Munch Mobile"
moonwlkb  "Moon Walker (bootleg)"
pitfigh3  "Pit Fighter (version 3)"
pitfight  "Pit Fighter (version 4)"
pompingw  "Pomping World (Japan)"
psurge    "Power Surge"
quartet   "Quartet"
raiden    "Raiden"
razmataz  "Razzmatazz"
riotcity  "Riot City"
sbasebal  "Super Champion Baseball"
sf2rb     "Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Rainbow)"
shdancer  "Shadow Dancer"
shdancrj  "Shadow Dancer (Japan)"
shinobl   "Shinobi (Bootleg)"
skyadvnt  "Sky Adventure"
skysoldr  "Sky Soldiers"
timesol2  "Time Soldiers (Rev 1)"
timesold  "Time Soldiers (Rev 3)"
toobin2   "Toobin' (version 2)"
toobinp   "Toobin' (prototype)"
tturf     "Tough Turf"
vaportra  "Vapor Trail - Hyper Offence Formation (US)"
wb3       "Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair"
wbmlj     "Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Japan set 1)"
wbmlj2    "Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Japan set 2)"
wbmlju    "Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Japan not encrypted)"
weststry  "West Story"
wwester1  "Wild Western (set 2)"

these games have had their long names changed:

altbeast  "Altered Beast" -> "Altered Beast (Version 1)"
combasc   "Combat School" -> "Combat School (joystick version)"
goldnaxe  "Golden Axe" -> "Golden Axe (Version 1)"
mario     "Mario Bros." -> "Mario Bros. (US)"
srumbler  "Speed Rumbler (set 1)" -> "Speed Rumbler, The (set 1)"
srumblr2  "Speed Rumbler (set 2)" -> "Speed Rumbler, The (set 2)"
toobin    "Toobin'" -> "Toobin' (version 3)"
tophuntr  "Top Hunter" -> "Top Hunter - Roddy & Cathy"
wwestern  "Wild Western" -> "Wild Western (set 1)"

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

hbarrel -> hbarrelu   "Heavy Barrel (US)" -> "Heavy Barrel (US)"
hbarrelj -> hbarrel  "Heavy Barrel (Japan)" -> "Heavy Barrel (World)"

Octavian has updated his Arcade Game Playing Guide Site and links to MARP all over the place to show the high scores for the games which he describes.

Had some hiccups with the script fighting with the server, but it's all sorted out now.

Somebody (I forget who) asked for a new feature quite a while back. They wanted to be able to specify the URL of the main frame from the frames URL. I've added this feature now, so you can set your MARP bookmark to be something like this (change the 'prefix=' and 'passwd=' bits to reflect your login and password):

  http://marp.retrogames.com/index.cgi?mode=frames&mode2=search&prefix=yourprefix&passwd=yourpasswd&per_game=1&sort=date_rev&tourn=1

Note, use 'mode=frames' to make the frames appear, and 'mode2=...' to tell the script what page to put in the main frame. All the other values are used in the main frame as well. The example above will show the tournament-mode banner in the top frame, and the highest score for each game in the lower frame, with the most recent uploads shown first.

I added a new link to the tournament page. It's labelled 'download' and allows you to download a single zip file which contains the 12 tournament recordings which currently hold first place. The download is just under 1 megabyte at the moment, mainly to due the Gyruss and Galaga recordings being so long, so if you just want to watch BBH's 5k Combat School recording I would suggest that it's best to download it on its own.

I put up all the old DOS MAME executables which are capable of recording on the diffs page.

Oh happy day! I finally got the MAME 0.35 games in the database, along with the updated clone definitions. I guess now we're ready for 0.36 beta 1, right? Please tell me about any problems with the stuff I've put in the database, or any games which need splitting up into sub-games... Cheers!

I've been playing far too much thing. Maybe I'll see you there!

I'll probably finish off the update tonight when I get back from the pub. Please excuse any speeling mistakes caused by the lack of sobriety.

I've been writing new features in the script so that it will be much easier to update for new versions in future.

I still didn't finish getting the new MAME 0.35 games updated properly. All the new games are there, but none of the renaming (short or long names) has been done yet. I have 2 excuses for this:

Added a link to Alan Kwan's Psychic 5 Strategy Guide on the MARP Links Page. Well - it's only fair, 'cos he has a couple of links back here...

Updated for MAME 0.35 final release (the fixed version - forget the first 'final' broken version).

These games are new:

actfancj  "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (Japan?)"
arkangc   "Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg)"
arknoidj  "Arkanoid (Japan)"
atlants2  "Battle of Atlantis (set 2)"
cottong   "Cotocoto Cottong"
klaxj     "Klax (Japan)"
machomou  "Macho Mouse"
mbomberj  "Muscle Bomber (Japan)"
ponpoko   "Ponpoko"
sctionza  "Section Z (set 2)"
sf2jb     "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Japan 910214)"
sfzch     "Street Fighter ZERO (Japan CPS Changer)"
smooncrs  "Super Moon Cresta"
starcas   "Star Castle (version 3)"
vulgus2   "Vulgus (set 2)"
zaxxonb   "Jackson"

these two games were deleted:

gcastle   "Golden Castle"

these games have had their long names changed:

3wonderj  "Three Wonders (Japan)" -> "Wonder 3 (Japan)"
actfancr  "Act Fancer" -> "Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (US?)"
arkanoi2  "Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH (World?)" -> "Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH (World)"
arknoidu  "Arkanoid (USA)" -> "Arkanoid (US)"
atlantis  "Battle of Atlantis" -> "Battle of Atlantis (set 1)"
dwj       "Tenchi o Kurau" -> "Tenchi wo Kurau"
indytemp  "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" -> "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (set 1)"
insectx   "Insector X (World?)" -> "Insector X (World)"
maglord   "Magician Lord" -> "Magician Lord (set 1)"
maglordh  "Magician Lord (Home version)" -> "Magician Lord (set 2)"
pacmanbl  "Pac Man (bootleg on Pisces hardware)" -> "Pac-Man (bootleg on Pisces hardware)"
sectionz  "Section Z" -> "Section Z (set 1)"
sf2       "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (World rev B)" -> "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (World 910214)"
sf2a      "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US rev A)" -> "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US 910206)"
sf2b      "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US rev B)" -> "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US 910214)"
sf2e      "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US rev E)" -> "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (US 910228)"
sf2j      "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Japan)" -> "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Japan 911210)"
slapbtjp  "Slap Fight (Japanese bootleg)" -> "Slap Fight (Japan bootleg)"
striderj  "Strider (Japan)" -> "Strider Hiryu (Japan)"
terracre  "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 2)" -> "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 1)"
tnzs2     "Newzealand Story 2, The (World?)" -> "Newzealand Story 2, The (World)"
tnzsb     "Newzealand Story, The (World? bootleg)" -> "Newzealand Story, The (World, bootleg)"
uniwars   "Uniwars" -> "UniWar S"
vulgus    "Vulgus (US?)" -> "Vulgus (set 1)"
wofj      "Tenchi o Kurau 2 (Japan)" -> "Tenchi wo Kurau II - Sekiheki no Tatakai (Japan)"

these games have had their short names changed:

btime -> btimem     "Burger Time (Midway)"
btimed -> btime    "Burger Time (Data East set 1)"
btimed2 -> btime2    "Burger Time (Data East set 2)"
empire -> esb        "Empire Strikes Back, The"
mbomber -> mbombrd   "Muscle Bomber Duo (World)"
mbomberj -> mbombrdj  "Muscle Bomber Duo (Japan)"
midres -> midresu    "Midnight Resistance (US)"
strhoops -> strhoop  "Street Hoop / Street Slam / Dunk Dream"

and these games had both long and short names changed:

billiard -> hustlerb  "Billiards, The" -> "Video Hustler (bootleg)"
midresj -> midres    "Midnight Resistance (Japan)" -> "Midnight Resistance (World)"
ponpoko -> ponpokov  "Ponpoko" -> "Ponpoko (Venture Line)"
pool -> billiard      "Pool" -> "Billiards, The"
starcas -> starcas1  "Star Castle" -> "Star Castle (older)"

I didn't update for MAME 0.35 yet, so you'll not be able to upload recordings of the new games yet. I'll try to do it soon...

Welcome to all the new visitors who followed Gridle's link on the MAME page to this site. Over the weekend we were getting around 3 times more visitors than we usually do. Thanks for the hits, and the uploads, people! :o)

I keep getting email bounces when the script tries to email Arron Wendl. Do you have a good email address, Arron?

There are 10 games in the tournament, and you can upload recordings for as many or as few of these games as you like. The scoring works by counting how many different players have entered the tournament all together, and awarding that number of points for the winning score for each game, one less to 2nd place, one less to 3rd place, and so on. These are all totalled up and shown on the tournament leaderboard. Check out the link to GameBoy's page (which you'll see once you go to tournament mode) for detailed rules and stuff.

The first MARP tournament is now underway. The voting is (nearly) over, and scores have started to trickle in. This site now has 2 modes - 'tournament' and 'regular'. If you see a 'tournament' link in the top left corner of the screen, click on it to get in to 'tournament mode', and enjoy! Otherwise, you're already in 'tournament mode', and can click the 'MARP' link in the top left corner to get to 'regular' mode.

I've been writing some extensions to the script to allow the tournament to happen next month. Nothing like leaving it until the last moment, eh? You'll see there's a new link at the top left of the banner frame once you've logged in now. If you click it, the top frame changes into 'tournament mode', and all the links there relate to the tournament. The top left link will then become 'MARP', which you can click to get back to the regular MARP site. It's only there for testing at the moment - please have a play with it and let me know if you can break it...

Changed the leaderboard scoring back to treat clones and original games separately, in the face of several complaints. Wasn't there some kind of vote on what to do with clones some time ago? Did anyone ever count the votes? It seems now that most people want clones and original games treated the same, although a few people argue for clones to be given less importance, or removed altogether.

Updated for release candidate 2.

These games are new:

demonwld  "Demon's World / Horror Story"
fightfev  "Fight Fever / Crystal Legacy"
fshark    "Flying Shark (World)"
fsharkbt  "Flying Shark (bootleg)"
hishouza  "Hishou Zame (Japan)"
indytem3  "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (set 3)"
irrmaze   "Irritating Maze / Ultra Denryu Iraira Bou, The"
liquidku  "Liquid Kids (US)"
makaimuc  "Makai-Mura (Revision C)"
makaimug  "Makai-Mura (Revision G)"
mizubaku  "Mizubaku Daibouken (Japan)"
pyros     "Pyros (US)"
rallybik  "Rally Bike / Dash Yarou"
searchar  "SAR - Search And Rescue (US)"
shocktr2  "Shock Troopers - 2nd Squad"
skyshark  "Sky Shark (US)"
streets2  "Street Smart (US version 2)"
streetsj  "Street Smart (Japan version 1)"
streetsm  "Street Smart (US version 1)"
terracrb  "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 2)"
wardner   "Wardner (World)"
wardnerj  "Wardner no Mori (Japan)"

these games have had their long names changed:

gladiatr  "Gladiator" -> "Gladiator (US)"
gng       "Ghosts'n Goblins (World?)" -> "Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 1)"
growl     "Growl" -> "Growl (World)"
jungleh   "Jungle Hunt" -> "Jungle Hunt (US)"
junglek   "Jungle King" -> "Jungle King (Japan?)"
ktiger    "Kyukyoku Tiger" -> "Kyukyoku Tiger (Japan)"
liquidk   "Liquid Kids" -> "Liquid Kids (World)"
majest12  "Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV" -> "Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV (Japan)"
ogonsiro  "Ohgon no Siro" -> "Ohgon no Siro (Japan)"
powj      "P.O.W. - Prisoners of War (Japan)" -> "Datsugoku - Prisoners of War (Japan)"
rastan    "Rastan (World?)" -> "Rastan (World)"
rygarj    "Rygar (Japan)" -> "Argus no Senshi (Japan)"
ssi       "Super Space Invaders '91" -> "Super Space Invaders '91 (World)"
terracre  "Terra Cresta (YM3526)" -> "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 2)"
twincobr  "Twin Cobra (Taito)" -> "Twin Cobra (World)"
twincobu  "Twin Cobra (Romstar)" -> "Twin Cobra (US)"

these games have had their short names changed:

1943jap -> 1943j      "1943 - The Battle of Midway (Japan)"
ccjap -> cclimbrj     "Crazy Climber (Japan)"
digdug -> digdugat    "Dig Dug (Atari)"
gngjap -> makaimur    "Makai-Mura"
japirem -> gteikoku   "Gingateikoku No Gyakushu"
mazeh -> meikyuh      "Meikyuu Hunter G (Japan)"
mekyosen -> makyosen  "Makyou Senshi (Japan)"

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

gngcross -> gnga      "Ghosts'n Goblins (Cross)" -> "Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 2)"

Had a whole bunch of emails from people about various bugs I'd added to the script. They're all fixed now, so I'm ready for the next bunch of problems when you discover them. :o)

Got in to work this morning to find that I'd left the page broken all last night. So I fixed it.

The search page doesn't check all the clones - so if the game you've played has a clone which has a higher high score than the game you've played, your actual leaderboard points will be lower than the number which the search page reports. This will probably be fixed in time.