My flippers keep disappearing in Vs. Pinball! (MAME)

[jasonbar]

I've been playing wacky video pinball games these days & spent a little time w/ Nintendo Vs. Pinball tonight.  I would've spent more time w/ ithad my flippers not kept disappearing!

When I complete the left bank of drop targets on the upper playfield, my flippers disappear.

When I complete the left bank of drop targets on the lower playfield, my flippers disappear!

When I complete the row of dots around the top left of the upper playfield, my flippers disappear temporarily.


I played on MAME 115 & tried also on 133 (using the same 115 ROM file).

This video of NES pinball shows the player completing the left bank of drop targets at around 4:20 & his flippers don't disappeaer, so I'm thinking that this isn't normal behavior:


Any ideas?  Can anybody verify this or demonstrate a version of MAME that doesn't have this problem?

Per MAWS, the last change to ROMs for vspinbal were in .137u3, but the only change in emulation after .72u2 was a ROM rename in .133u1.  http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/romset/vspinbal


Thanks,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Anyone?  Anyone?

Bueller?  Bueller?

[Tafoid]

What was your score when the flippers disappeared?  According to a NES Pinball FAQ file, in the NES Pinball, they disappear at certain score levels and the Vs. Pinball version is substantially different (read: harder) than the original NES version.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563449-pinball/faqs/23069

I'm more inclined to think that emulation is not an issue here and that the game purposely does these things to add to the challenge.

[jasonbar]

Thank you for that link--interesting read.

As shown in my 1st post, the flippers disappear when certain targets are hit, not at certain point achievements.

Based on the fact that the NES version has flippers that disappear intentionally, & based on the fact that the Vs version is different & harder, I'd wager that this is being emulated correctly.

Can't anybody fire their Vs Pinball up to corroborate?

Do I have to win the biweekly competition & then select Vs. Pinball to force people to play it? 


Thanks,
-Jason