Choosing which version of ROM to play/keep in your cab

[snatex]

When there are multiple versions of the same ROM how do you guys choose which version to play/keep in your cab?  Is it a fair assumption that the latest US revision would be best? 

[mrtuesday42]

i have still yet to go through all of mine, but my plan is to keep it if it works mame does a good job of telling you if something isnt 100% so thats a good indicator as well. if english is your language then lean towards the us versions im not sure about original vs bootleg though...someone with more experience???

[Turnarcades]

I hand-filtered all my sets down by hand, keeping the best one using the following priorities:

1) Working?
2) In English?
3) Is it a parent rom? (kept even if not working as needed to support a working clone)
3) If the game has a unique quality (ie. a 'fast hack', variations of SF2, different characters etc.)

There are other considerations I made such as if there was no English release, or if I remember a game by a certain name but the parent rom was different (eg. Ninja Gaiden was a parent, but I remember playing it as 'Shadow Warriors' as a kid).

Once done, I unzipped and re-compressed all my sets, cutting the space they need on the hard drive by over 100Gb fro my initial sets.

[nitz]

Yeah, pretty much what Turnarcades said. Unless you're picky about having a specific region for some reason, the parent rom is gonna be the only one you'll want/need probably 95% of the time. The other 5% is when you want a special hack or "same game different title" version to match what you remember.

[RayB]

I tend to use "US" or "World" so it's in english. THe only downside is the occasional game has content changed or censored compared to the Japanese version, but that's rare enough not to matter.

[JustMichael]

I keep all versions BUT only some are on the "playlist".  Usually world or us versions.  Some games like Black Tiger and Black Dragon are both on the playlist even though they are almost the same game.  It all depends upon what you want to play.  As for what to keep, the huge size of hard drives makes space a non-issue.

[mrtuesday42]

whats the most efficient way of checking and removing the ones that dont work? is there a particular method you guys use? other than firing up every single game in mame and then writing down the name and going back and deleting them...lmao

[XtraSmiley]

whats the most efficient way of checking and removing the ones that dont work? is there a particular method you guys use? other than firing up every single game in mame and then writing down the name and going back and deleting them...lmao

I just want to ask, why are you laughing your ass off?

[mrtuesday42]

because that was the best idea i could come up with as how to check if a game worked in mame, and if it didnt delete it.

was writing it down and then going back and finding it, which is insanely tedious in my opinion, thus laughing at my own inefficiency.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I do what JustMichael said.  I keep them all and then add the ones that I like in a favs list.  The advantage of doing this is because you can always go back and add or delete games.  For example, I have played the latest version of NBA Jam TE (v4? Can't remember).  But then a buddy of mine told me to switch to v2 since it allowed you to play as the Mortal Kombat characters.  Had I deleted them I would not have been able to choose another version.

D

[mrtuesday42]

thats a good point to make. i dont think i would delete a game just because i personally dont play it. you always might have friends that do. and if you only keep the games you play how do you know you arent missing out!

[jahya]

You can make custom sets using CLRmame and filter expressions.  I do this for my friends who dont need the international games : )