Hi everybody,
Today I discovered a new "glitch" (if you can call it that) that allowed me to get 20,312,160 points on a standard TKG4-14, US SET 1 roms. The basic results of the glitch involve finishing a board between 2000 and 1000 on the bonus timer (which awards 800k points), and barrel jumps award 180 instead of 100. Other bonus timings (such as 0000) award 8000 points. Additionally, some fireball behavior is different. An example of this is that fireballs don't freeze when you are on the same level as them (but still do when you are below them).
The cause of this is quite strange, but it seems to be that if you use 2 or more ground wires (coming from a single point, the same length) connected to the edge connector, it causes this glitch to occur. It can essentially be turned on and off during a game by just disconnecting the wire. This is about all that I can determine from my short tests. The wires were both under a half an ohm, so that was not the issue. My guess: Ground loops cause the glitch, but further testing will be needed.
This glitch is obviously significant because it could be used in a less obvious way to cheat, specifically with partial games. In my opinion, partial games may have to be re-evaluated for acceptance on the leaderboard, given that this is public knowledge.
Glitch discovery stream:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/469199132
