Games who might deserve a split

[RAX]

Hi.
I would suggest to split those romsets that present different ways to play. i.e. a Normal route ad an Easy route.
This does not concern to difficulty settings. I'm thinking for example to Phelios, Marvel Land, Rabbit Punch (suggestion by Marocco)
Maybe many danmaku shoot'em ups would need this action, due to the differences from ship to ship.
It would be nice to split WonderBoy2 in MonsterLand too: score or gold

[Marco Marocco]

It'd be nice, this time, to see something CONCRETE

[tar]

present different ways to play. i.e. a Normal route ad an Easy route.
This does not concern to difficulty settings

megatech-columns / easy , normal , hard
not dip switch settings, but in game options.

[RAX]

Any feedback?

[Chad]

PL ping. PL will be the moderator to offer a decision on game splits.

[Zerstorung]

I've mentioned this to a couple people, but Battle Garegga uses a dip switch setting to control region. The natural version of the game is Japan, but it defaults to Europe (as with a lot of other games, likely due to the personal origin of mame devs).

The European version has very reduced difficulty and takes away the extends (which are a necessary tool of skillful score play). Therefore, players who specialize in shmups generally consider it unacceptable for competition. The two are different enough that they may as well be different romsets, but are combined into one due to the way the original hardware operates (the region on the PCB is controlled by a jumper-based dip switch bank).

A split may be a viable solution, allowing players who are accustomed to the Japanese version to participate without having to put up with what they consider a watered-down version.

(References)
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=28714 - Battle Garegga scoreboard on a Western forum dedicated to shmups, note the bolded text
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_3J2w8cAg - PCB lineout of Japanese WR holder scoring within a million of his best, note settings/extends every million

[Phil Lamat]

I'm rather sure Pat won't split anything based on difficulty.
It has been discussed before somewhere on the forum, I don't remember where

[***PL***]

Guys, I think Phil as regulation coordinator and I should discuss all potential splits.

Can someone put together a detailed list? I would consider splits based on different courses, but NOT based on difficulty alone.

[sikraiken]

The rules for garegga should be changed entirely, forget a split. You aren't able to really play the game how it should be played.

[Kale]

(as with a lot of other games, likely due to the personal origin of mame devs).

You know, I really don't know why we have this stupid policy. Perhaps it roots back in 1997, because uhm, Nicola is from Italy so he thought that it was a good idea to not break the "sales, export and operational" law ... like he didn't already broke a shitload of patents on the same exact games.

[kranser]

Guys, I think Phil as regulation coordinator and I should discuss all potential splits.

Can someone put together a detailed list? I would consider splits based on different courses, but NOT based on difficulty alone.

Hi Pat,

Does that mean you're willing to discuss possibly splitting the Puzzle Bubble / Pop 'n' Pop games based on course? There's different routes that can be taken between A-Z or A-M - so if you decide to split based on routes, I suggest starting with 2 different routes for starters and seeing how they go (this will give players a little more variety when playing).

However, regarding Pop 'n' Pop, I feel the difficulty does have an impact here, as it is a Puzzle Game, and the game boards are quite different between Normal and Hard modes - simular layout, but more balloons to pop and different layouts of balloons on the Hard level.

Kranser.

[mahlemiut]

Splitting based on different courses could get very ugly, very quickly... I don't really want to think how many splits would be made for every possible route in Puzzle Bobble 2...

[***PL***]

Splitting based on different courses could get very ugly, very quickly... I don't really want to think how many splits would be made for every possible route in Puzzle Bobble 2...

Very true. I will not split a game for courses where the difficulty is the same. That is up to the players to find the best route to maximize scoring possibilities.

What I mean is this: if both the courses themselves and the difficulty for those courses are markedly different, that may warrant a split.

[Marco Marocco]

Ok, let's begin with Phelios and Rabbit Punch

[RAX]

Marvel Land (Japan version only) has "Easy" and "Normal" mode. Us version has only one mode.
Rabio Lepus/Rabbit Punch have Normal and Expert mode
Phelios has Easy and Hard mode