Capcom Naming Conventions - Street Fighter Zero vs. Street Fighter Alpha, etc. and What is Acceptable
Hi all,
This question has been bugging me for a while, and hopefully we can get some good discussion out of it, and even a firm answer. This question pertains to arcade submissions only. MAME names a specific rom set that must be used for submissions. Arcade sometimes qualifies specifics of game play that are required (example: Donkey Kong must be "US SET 1" code, a.k.a no ladder trick allowed), but at least for Capcom games, does not specify a particular release of a title that is required for arcade submissions...and often there are multiple releases.
This question is specifically to some titles that I would like to submit on, but I'm sure it encompasses a greater range of games, even non-Capcom games.
In the various iterations of the Street Fighter series of games, you have instances of the American version of the game having a different name than the Japanese version of the game. Some examples (American name first, Japanese name second):
-Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting vs. Street Fighter 2 Turbo Hyper Fighting
-Street Fighter Alpha vs. Street Fighter Zero (true for the entire series)
-Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo vs. Super Street Fighter 2 X: Grand Master Challenge (that's a mouthful)
America and Japan are not the only regions, and the other various regions got one of these names associated with their releases, but I won't dig into it for every last region.
In some cases, there is only one release of the game, and they are identical for all regions, such as Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting/Turbo Hyper Fighting). In other instances, there are multiple releases of the game, under their respective regional names. This is true in all regions, not just America and Japan, and the releases are essentially identical. I say essentially because in some instances one region would get a release that others didn't.
To use Street Fighter Zero 2/Alpha 2 as an, example the below date codes are the releases available in MAME:
US - Alpha 2 - 960306, 960430
Japan - Zero 2 - 960227, 960430
Now, Twin Galaxies lists the track names using the American naming convention. My question - is it acceptable to submit a score earned on a Japanese, or other region, version of the game board?
Please also consider that these boards are getting more rare as time goes on. Without going too deep into this discussion, CPS-2 games in particular had what is known as a "suicide battery". Once the battery fails, the board is bricked. Yes there have been recent developments that allows reviving these boards, however, this is just as of 2016. The point of this is that a title like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is all but impossible to acquire. The last time one came up on ebay, it was $400. SSF2T cabinets do not exist in the US, outside of private collectors, that I am aware of. So, essentially, if American boards only are going to be required, then the track for this title (in particular) has been locked to all but those who either already own the game, or have enough spare coin to wrestle one away from a collector, for the right price.
Let's discuss!