05464: stdragon, stdragona: Saint Dragon - 3rd level boss should appear everytime - confirmed against a real PCB

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
05464	Gameplay	Major	Always	Feb 17, 2014, 11:11	Apr 3, 2014, 00:31

Tester	rcoltrane	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To		Resolution	Bugs That Aren't Bugs	OS	Windows Vista/7/8 (64-bit)
Status [?]	Resolved			Driver	jaleco/megasys1.cpp
Version	0.152	Fixed in Version		Build	Normal
		Fixed in Git Commit		Github Pull Request #

Summary	05464: stdragon, stdragona: Saint Dragon - 3rd level boss should appear everytime - confirmed against a real PCB
Description	The 3rd level boss in MAME should appear every time you play the game according to tests on a real PCB (thanks to system11 on Shmups.org for doing the tests for me). Currently in MAME version 0.152, the 3rd level boss only appears if you destroy the last big structure that precedes it. But according to the tests done with the original PCB, even without destroying the last structure, or destroying random structures, the boss should appear to fight against you every time. Bottom line, it is indeed a MAME bug of some sort.
Steps To Reproduce	Play the game to the end of the 3rd level and do not destroy any of the big static structures that comes right before the end of level boss. The boss must emerge from the bottom of the screen.
Additional Information
Github Commit

Flags	Verified with Original
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems	stdragon, stdragona

Attached Files	stdragon.inp (195,687 bytes) Apr 3, 2014, 00:30 Uploaded by rcoltrane

No.10300 Osso Moderator Feb 17, 2014, 11:37	Just to be sure, has system11 checked the roms of his pcb to see if they match one of the sets in MAME?
No.10301 Haze Senior Tester Feb 17, 2014, 12:20	yeah, we now have directly conflicting 'real PCB' reports for this...
No.10303 NekoEd Senior Tester Feb 18, 2014, 00:09	Conflicting reports? I'll mark this "Direction Needed." We'll have to get to the bottom of this one.
No.10306 rcoltrane Tester Feb 18, 2014, 11:38 edited on: Feb 18, 2014, 11:46	According to System11, his board is a JP board with split ROMs. So yes, It may be a different board from the one dumped for MAME but the behavior must be the same. I don't buy the idea that you can just skip an end-of-level boss in a game, I mean, what's the point? I've never seen this before ever, it has to be a bug somewhere. Also, the 1p start screen has a bug too already reported here by me, where the texts should move left and right on the screen while waiting the player to press start. And this one is a regression, it was working on previous MAME versions. Maybe it's something related to the undumped m50747, I don't know.
No.10521 rcoltrane Tester Apr 3, 2014, 00:31	Ok, trying to help identifying the trigger that calls the 3rd level boss, I've recorded an .inp file with my gameplay WITH NO CHEATS OF ANY KIND, that not only shows my superb abilities while playing this game :) but shows the 3rd boss showing up after destroying the last big static structure to kill me and with another life in this same input I do not destroy the structure and went straight to level 4 without fighting the boss. I really hope that by watching this .inp with debug mode activated, you can see what that last structure does when destroyed that 'wakes up' the 3rd boss! I've attached the stdragon.inp file to this item so you guys can download and see if this is somewhat helpful.