I test to make sure the game will record/playback with the sound & frameskip settings I'm going to use, but I don't usually play back the recording afterward anymore.(posted 9617 days ago)I've noticed a tendency to leave scores up forever too, whether the recording works or not or if something important changed between MAME versions. Almighty point grab I guess...
Anyway, if the game won't playback in any version my advice is to follow the "rule" for the ones that won't - get a screenshot. And yep, the ones that just will not record probably should be DQed for tournaments.
Aqua