The Launch Base over-the-top trick only works on a rather obscure version of the game, and is both predated and postdated by versions of the game which behave similarly and don't allow that path. Think along the lines of "Why can't I use S1GBA to submit to S1 charts?"
The problem with "don't use unlimited ring tricks, mmmkay?" is it's rather vague what that actually means. Is any use of anything that can provide endless rings prohibited (in other words, "If you're not taking unorthodox paths for Lost World S, you don't even get to compete on that chart" among other things)? Is it limited to the default 1 repetition? What's a repetition? Currently you can use Speed Highway bells to get 5 hits:15 rings. Would "1 repetition" mean you would only be able to get 1:5?
In E-102 Hot Shelter, the variable cap on minutes is different across systems. Just as you can have 100 or more lives and only have it display as 99, so too (on Dreamcast) can you rack up a timer of 100 or more minutes, at which point it says 99:59.99. The limit on minutes is an unsigned byte, or 127. This would just be a simple version difference, except that if you complete the level with 100 or more minutes, there's nowhere at all where the full time is displayed. Either the initial 1 is truncated, the whole time is sent down to 99:59.99 for display, or the minutes go down to 99 with the seconds unchanged depending on where you look. But because one of the displays simply truncates the 1, it's clear that the time is read internally as 100+.
At this point, my inclination for Hot Shelter is to scrap the chart entirely, much like Casinopolis S doesn't have score or ring charts.
The obscurity is probably the only thing that would count. The newest version of SADX
took out glitches, didn't it? (I don't know if it removed shortcuts, though.) But fair enough.
I didn't mean to remove the individual ring rules. They'd stay along with the general rule, to support it
and, of course, lessen or eliminate vagueness. If there's no rule, you can expect me to abuse
any new trick I can find, and temporarily get into an easy first place. But then, it gets harder to find good
glitches of any kind, and it's possible that there aren't anymore new ways of getting unlimited rings.
I knew about all that weirdness and the different displays of the time from what you said before,
but unless I'm missing something, there's no way to get GCN-level times on a Dreamcast, besides
waiting until the time is around 100 minutes before attempting to beat Zeta. Is that what you did?
The only other way to get a lower-than-max time (not counting the case in which the 1 is cut off
to make the record look worse than it is) is to use the time which uses the correct number of seconds
(the level clear screen, I think), and that one can be manipulated. (Wait until it's about to
show a "59" before destroying the final cannon, and you've got a 99'58"-- or 99'59"--.)
It looks as if the best options are (in order):
- Allow both versions, and Dreamcast players can add 100 minutes to what's shown on the stage select.
- Use the 3 consecutive hits rule.
Did I forget one option? I feel like I did, but I can't think of what it is. Maybe those are the only options.
Anyway, a chart only needs to be deleted completely if there's no competition.
There's nothing wrong with Hot Shelter, besides that it's broken, but so's just about every stage.
I don't see several players tying for first (anything easily maxable), or competing simply to
see who has the most patience (like in Casinopolis-Sonic).
Or is the problem something about proof? This isn't Cyberscore. The records can be proven
with a recording or screenshot taken at the stage clear screen, which is no different from playing
the original StH on a real Genesis. And I have records that aren't saved on my file, for different reasons.
