My guess is that "US, Unknown Rev" in MAME is actually the last rev 'G.' My widebody at home has rev 'E.' I discussed ROM set revisions with Perry once and if memory serves we couldn't determine what the actual differences were from one revision to the next, just that 'F' has this bug that causes extra lives every 20k and a kill screen once your score reaches 980k. I think gstrain knows more about this; I seem to remember a thread somewhere discussing this bug and what is actually happening, something to do with initialization at bootup.
You know, I wonder which version of roms I have in my Mario Bros. cabinet.
I'm guessing it will be on the stickers over the roms? It does run just fine and correctly and has NO kill screen but there has to be a reason for the continued rom variations. I just wonder if I have "
G" or "
E".
One of the worst things I've noticed is the slow down when two players play IF to many coins get on the screen and when to many critters get on the screen. The game can slow down to a snail's pace until someone can actually pick up a coin or two. It's like watching the game in slow motion. It happens in MAME as well as the arcade.
One last thing I've thought about but have no clue if it would work or not was getting the equipment to burn my own roms. It might help me fix my PCB one day if needed. Also, I'm not sure if I could burn the roms to convert it to the Japan version and of course be able to swap it back to the American version but it would be a nice toy to play with.
Wow, so it was something added to the game. Even if it's on accident, that makes it a great version for beginners, I guess.
The Japan version has every 30,000 for lives, right? Does it "kill screen" like this too?
As far as I know the Japan version doesn't have a kill screen. It is, to a point, different though. It has a extra Turtle stage in the beginning and it plays on, I think, HARD but it also plays a little differently in how the green fireballs start out. You do get a extra life at every 30K or so and that stops around 980K but the game continues on. So you need to stay alive and build your men up and marathon the game as long as you can.
Japan Mario Bros. 3,143,320UPDATE: I've now broken 2 million on Mario Bros. 7 different times and my high score is still the first time I broke 2 million. Each time afterwards has been lower than my posted score. I can't seem to have that bust out game of 2.5 million or even 3 million. The sad thing is my games are ending because of my own mistakes. Yep, about 2 or 3 men lost are from my own mistakes, so I know I can do better.