08170: plusalph: [possible] Issues with initial game start / player spawn

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
08170	Gameplay	Major	Always	Jan 2, 2022, 18:30	Jan 7, 2022, 21:39

Tester	Hammy	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To		Resolution	Open	OS	Windows Vista/7/8 (64-bit)
Status [?]	Acknowledged			Driver	jaleco/megasys1.cpp
Version	0.239	Fixed in Version		Build	64-bit
		Fixed in Git Commit		Github Pull Request #

Summary	08170: plusalph: [possible] Issues with initial game start / player spawn
Description	Game should begin with a plane / pea shooter. HOWEVER after a few games / demo cycles the player with spawn with the higher power ship from the attract mode.
Steps To Reproduce	Run the game , play a few credits and run for a few demo loops. Credit up as normal when a HIGH POWER ship is on the DEMO screen. You will start with this ship. NB. It it SEMI-RARE to trigger but will happen.
Additional Information
Github Commit

Flags	Possible
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems	plusalph

Attached Files	0000.png (15,500 bytes) Jan 2, 2022, 18:30 Uploaded by Hammy
	0001.png (15,535 bytes) Jan 2, 2022, 18:31 Uploaded by Hammy Incorrect
	0002.png (15,581 bytes) Jan 2, 2022, 18:53 Uploaded by Hammy Incorrect 2

No.19611 Haze Senior Tester Jan 2, 2022, 18:35 edited on: Jan 2, 2022, 18:36	are you sure this isn't some weird "incentive to play" type mechanic, much like some games lower rank if left in attract mode.
No.19612 Hammy Tester Jan 2, 2022, 18:55	Not sure, seems to be kinda random. Maybe MCU related or a "feature". Happens on patched version on hardware too , awaiting tests on real romboard. FWIW the patch: <nop @12a0 = 580C9E88 714E714E C851F6FF FC440000>
No.19629 Tafoid Administrator Jan 5, 2022, 02:54	The demonstration seems to look like your recording, at least showing the different ships each cycle of the demonstration. It isn't unreasonable to believe there is something to starting with the ship in demonstration. You could attempt to verify if the same happens on your multi-board setup?
No.19657 Hammy Tester Jan 7, 2022, 21:18 edited on: Jan 7, 2022, 21:19	The demo is correct on both , it's the initial spawn of the player upon game start. It's very rare to trigger, and i attempted many times a savestate on mame and the fault was not duplicated when reloading a state that had the glitch. I think this so rare it must be a bug / cheat / feature in the original game but honestly cannot be sure! We are awaiting tests on a genuine romboard the multiboard can't be trusted ;)
No.19659 Haze Senior Tester Jan 7, 2022, 21:39 edited on: Jan 7, 2022, 21:40	I'm inclined to think it's a hidden feature. We tend to see arcades as 'mechanical' and following a fixed pattern, but sometimes they didn't.