OK - to be frank with you - this was a ridiculously difficult decision to make - but this is how I'm going to rule it.

Pole Position - I wouldn't throw it out because of the controls - we had to deal with that in marble madness. I will throw it out because of speed issues - which as Jason pointed out, we have a problem with it. So Pole Position is out. Add the fact that a TG MAME 36 won't probably be released by the time the tournament starts...

Street Fighter II - I was afraid that one person would find themselves to have four MAME 35 votes instead of three with the MAME 36 vote for this game - but it seems that the players don't mind - so it's in.

Green Beret - Although a lot of people are afraid of leeching and the like - I can't throw it out for that reason.

Sega Ninja - I'm going to have to agree with Pat to throw it out on this one. Plus if I accepted this, it would be three general fighters.(sf2, green beret)

1943 KAI - is out because of Gaplus.

Gunsmoke - out to gaplus

Bubble Bobble - We'll have to figure out what rules to use for this - I say no powerups at all. Keeps the playing field even.

Ghosts N' Goblins - This is a platform fighter similar to green beret, add the fact we had to deal with it's sequel last tournament...

Galaxian - out to Gaplus

Karate Champ - out due to Street Fighter II

Magic Sword - Unfortunatly that's out due to green beret.

Rally X - This has no collaboration to Solar Fox - I consider Solar Fox miscellaneous(mix of shoot em up and maze) - and Rally X, a simple maze.

I know I'll get some flames for this decision, but I'm going to have to go with:

Pnickies(puzzle), Street Fighter II(one-on-one fighter), Arkanoid 2(breakout), Green Beret(platform fighter), Gaplus(vertical shooter), Solar Fox(miscellaneous), Bubble Bobble(one screen platform, action), Rally X(maze)

-- Gameboy9 (goldengameboy@yahoo.com), May 11, 2000

Answers

Okay, gb, something isn't quite right. One, how is Sega Ninja in the same catagory as SFII? Two, how can you use a speed issue with Pole Position, and not with SFII? Three, Gunsmoke and Galplus are not the same kind of game. Other than that, I do agree with your answer in theory.

-- Chris Parsley (cparsley1@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000.

One question (i4m new to this tournament an the voting..) What happend to Wonderboy and Moon Patrol? Wonderboy 3?

Are those the game we4re gonna play?(Pnickles etc..)

Regards

QRS

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), May 11, 2000.

What in the HELL?

First Pat wrongly calls Sega Ninja a "platform fighter", and now the game is declared out due to similiarites to Green Beret and *choke* Street Fighter II?!?

Green Beret and SF2 are horizontal games. In Green Beret you can climb up platforms and end up stabbing most of your enemies, a close-range attack. We all know how SF2 plays, it's a fighter.

Sega Ninja is a vertically scrolling game, WITH NO PLATFORMS IN SIGHT, and there are no close-range attacks in the game (except for the enemies' swords), you have to kill all of your enemies by shooting. But the game is fundamentally different and requires different strategies than Gaplus, which is the closest thing to compare to the game. Green Beret and SF2 are MUCH different games as well. If you think someone that's good at SF2 can just pick up Sega Ninja and then rule the game with little effort (and vice versa), you're crazy.

Now do you see why I was so "paranoid", Jason?

-- BBH (lordbbh@aol.com), May 11, 2000.

Sorry GB9, but I have to agree with BBH. Even though I don't like the game, Sega Ninja bears absolutely NO resemblance to the other two games you mentioned. It should be in, and Rally X should be out.

Play the games. There is absolutely no question about the difference.

Sincerely, Q.T.Quazar

p.s. I can't believe we're going with Green Beret over Magic Sword. Although I can't REALLY protest that they're different games, this decision is going to come back to haunt the tourney, mark my words.

-- Q.T.Quazar (qan@home.com), May 11, 2000.

Alright! Alright! sega ninja is in and rally X is out! sheesh! :)

-- Gameboy9 (goldengameboy@yahoo.com), May 11, 2000.

So Gameboy it's so easy to make you change your mind. You took one decision and if only two guys don't agree with you, you immediately change it. So if I say I don't agree with you now, are you going to change your decision once again ? In fact, I really think that the opinion of the two first ( no angry against them :-) ) in the leaderboard is much more important than the opinion of others. This system of selection of games really sucks. ( And not only because we had a quite good game with Rallyx and now one shooting game more again. I'm fed up with always shooting... ).

-- lagavulin (darre@club-internet.fr), May 11, 2000.

OK - I've figured it out. If I go one way - I get a bunch of critisism for going one way - then I get a bunch more for going another way. Let's say this: why don't we do another ten days of debate and then I'll decide? I should go back to the original decision frankly - based on the unbiased opinion of Pat Laffaye(who is our judging coordinator and doesn't participate as a player in the tournament) - minus the rally x deletion - which is what I had in the first place.

-- Gameboy9 (goldengameboy@yahoo.com), May 11, 2000.

Your comments are not fair to gameboy9, lagavulin. Whether or not Pat is impartial (and I'm quite sure that he is) he made a mistake. Most of us here at MAPP make mistakes as well, and just because the top two players on the leaderboard happened to be around to point it out means nothing. BBH is likely going to win Sega Ninja in the tourney; I will be happy just to finish in the top 50% on this particular game. And yes, I hate shooting games too, but if you check out the ratio of shooting games to non-shooting games at MARP, you'd come to the realization that people in the 1980s were a prety boring group at the arcade-it's all they ever damn well played.

Simply put, Pat and gb9 made a mistake, and ANYONE else who has played Sega Ninja will agree with both BBH's and my assessments. As a final point, you yuorslef called Sega Ninja a "shooting game" and not a "fighting game," as gb9 thought it was. So your argument really doesn't have any logistical grounds: you've already agreed with what BBH and I are arguing.

Sincerely, Q.T.Quazar

-- Q.T.Quazar (qan@home.com), May 11, 2000.

QT, My point was not to agree with you and BBH or not. I have no opinion on this subject ( Ijust don't like fighting and shooting games ). I just made some critics on the way Gameboy took his decision and immediately changed it. You agree with me that he made a mistake, and everyone can make mistakes ( As a professor of mathematics, I know that ! )...But if there's another debate, then all is clear ... hmm...I hope.

-- lagavulin (darre@club-internet.fr), May 12, 2000.