I still haven't seen anyone answer why it is that top mame players always put up an arcade score to show they are the real deal, but arcade players don't feel the need to play mame. Why do you think that is, if it isn't for the reasons I've been saying?
Perhaps because of people like you or Richie who don't think of MAME players as "the real deal" when they quite clearly are. Also, it could be that they just like the retro feel of arcade gaming; after all, this is a retro game, played mostly by 30- and 40-somethings who grew up when these games were new.
Actually, now that I think about it: I can't think of any MAME players who played arcade to "prove themselves" rather than just because they preferred it. Dean and Jeff learned to play on a cab in order to prepare for Kong Off II. Robbie did it because he wouldn't get a dedicated cabinet at Kong Off III unless he did; that's the reason Phil is going to do the same. It really doesn't make sense to have to play arcade to "prove yourself"; you're playing the exact same game with a slightly different control scheme. While I'm not that great of a player, my arcade performance is nearly exactly the same as my MAME performance. I don't think that it makes a big difference until you're at the skill level of Dean or Jeff, a level which most people in the top 12 haven't reached yet.
And you can always say MAME adds a certain % to your game that technically a 1,020M arcade can be greater than a 1,030 MAME, but that's very subjective. The stuff I've been dealing with on the control panel issues, button response/spring back of Mario, has really been killing my game lately that I actually have to change the way I play to accomodate for these occurances. When I switch back to a keyboard, hardly none of that happens. (Occasionally I'll see Dean get a no response button jump) but not near the amount I get on arcade.
Having played Donkey Kong on a cab and on MAME for the past few months now, I will say that I experience more lag issues on MAME than on a cabinet, likely because of Windows. In fact, I have never experienced lag or unresponsiveness while playing on a cabinet. Unless there is something wrong with your cabinet hardware, your button and joystick should respond perfectly 100% of the time. This isn't an issue with cabinets; it's an issue with your cabinet.
It's the old school mentality. It's not just about getting a high score, it's about doing it live in front of everyone at an arcade, at a big event. Deliver the goods when the pressure is on. Is this really so hard to understand?
So in your opinion, should only scores set live in front of everyone at an arcade, at a big event be accepted for Kong Off qualification? That currently is not a requirement.
It is clearly the opinion of the wider dk community that a score on a real arcade game is what will get you on a dedicated machine in the kong off.
I don't know where you are coming from with this. The majority of people I have heard from think that Richie has made the wrong decision, and wouldn't have done the same in his position. If it is the opinion of the "wider DK community", they haven't made it clear.
I don't have time to respond to some of the others posts I'd like to; I'll get to that later.
