T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Discussion about MARP's Tournaments

Moderator: giro-X

User avatar
Zhorik
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 788
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:16 pm

T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by Zhorik »

I regret to inform everyone that the MARP editors and administrators have discovered that PAC has recently been cheating in his submissions to MARP. We’ve used internal tools developed for the MARP editors to analyze and check all of his submissions for the current MARP Tournament 14 (T14), and they all show that they were manipulated and are not legitimate replays.

Since at least September 2015, almost all of PAC’s MARP submissions have cheated. Effective immediately he is disqualified from T14.

-Zhorik

MARP Administrator and Election Coordinator
User avatar
BBH
Editor
Posts: 1582
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2002 7:06 am
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by BBH »

To further clarify - yes, we are 100% sure that he was using an outside means to cheat on recordings. No, we are not going to disclose the exact method he used to do this cheating, although we are well aware of what it is. I also would like to mention that we asked some other players (who can come forward if they want) for their opinions on this matter after we explained the situation, and they were in complete agreement that something was up with these recordings.

WolfMAME does effectively stop the basic cheats such as pausing, but it's unfortunately not 100% at stopping everything. Considering we're playing these games for fun because we all love classic arcade games and love the feeling of competing for high scores, it's very disappointing when someone goes above and beyond to actually cheat on their scores.

And yes, this does include PAC's recent 20,000,000 on 3 lives in Galaga. If that score seemed unbelievable... that's because it actually was unbelievable.
The_Pro
MARPaltunnel Wrists
MARPaltunnel Wrists
Posts: 460
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:10 pm

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by The_Pro »

I chimed in on Twin Cobra. Taking the recording entirely on its own, in many instances the game is played as if he has never played the game before with no preparation for incoming enemies or situations, only reacting to what appears on screen. I could cite many examples but suffice to say many decisions don't make sense for someone experienced enough to deliver such a score.

I also had an experienced Pandora's Palace player watch that inp and he also cited many decisions as not making any sense.
Aurcade - Find the coin-op games you want to play!
User avatar
PAC-MAN
MARP Serf
MARP Serf
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 6:31 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by PAC-MAN »

The pro this is not true.
I love arcades. My scores are not cheated.
The Galaga World Récord is in Twin Galaxies too, and it were analized with the staff and they aprove the score. I can repeat this score in an original arcade.
User avatar
Marco Marocco
MARPaltunnel Wrists
MARPaltunnel Wrists
Posts: 427
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:35 am
Location: Trieste - Italy

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by Marco Marocco »

It's very very very sad.
User avatar
Phil Lamat
Regulation Coordinator
Posts: 2076
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by Phil Lamat »

PAC-MAN wrote:The pro this is not true.
I love arcades. My scores are not cheated.
The Galaga World Récord is in Twin Galaxies too, and it were analized with the staff and they aprove the score. I can repeat this score in an original arcade.
They've missed something in the analyze, and we don't.
And stop telling you haven't cheat, this is the biggest cheat ever on Marp, and you know it
User avatar
PAC-MAN
MARP Serf
MARP Serf
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 6:31 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by PAC-MAN »

Phil Lamat wrote:
PAC-MAN wrote:The pro this is not true.
I love arcades. My scores are not cheated.
The Galaga World Récord is in Twin Galaxies too, and it were analized with the staff and they aprove the score. I can repeat this score in an original arcade.
They've missed something in the analyze, and we don't.
And stop telling you haven't cheat, this is the biggest cheat ever on Marp, and you know it
I dont know how can I cheat , I play with a keyboard in a Laptop, I cant cheat anyway!!!!!!! If you think that I cheat is only your opinion. I do not want to argue, I have a clear conscience and that's what matters to me.
User avatar
GHEMANT
MARP Seer
MARP Seer
Posts: 647
Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2002 7:11 am
Location: Italy

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by GHEMANT »

:evil: :evil: :evil:

I want know if Psichic 5, Hammering Harry, Secret Agent and Combact School are cheated also. Please marp's staff check them.
User avatar
xelnia
MARP Serf
MARP Serf
Posts: 136
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 5:42 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by xelnia »

I am in agreement with the MARP editors/admins. I am not an editor and don't have access to their tools, but using tools available to anyone it's easy to see there is some heavy INP manipulation going on here.
OMG Kreygasm
Button Masher
Button Masher
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:17 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by OMG Kreygasm »

I don't know much about the MAME inner workings but when BBH, The_Pro and gstrain speak, I listen and trust their wealth of knowledge on such matters.
edusword
Button Masher
Button Masher
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:40 pm
Location: Spain

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by edusword »

I know PAC's arcade abilities, so he is cheating is very difficult to believe for me. I know and understand MARP editors don't want to explain the supposed exact cheating method, but I wonder if to provide a clearer evidence is possible. Thank you!
Zerstorung
Button Masher
Button Masher
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 4:15 pm

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by Zerstorung »

You don't even need tools to see that something is really off with the play.

Please watch the violent storm inp. I could not fully watch it as it desynced at the second boss for me, but the claimed score is 4 million points which is probably a looping run or at least double my best score. If you watch, he spends almost all of the first stage doing what looks like learning the controls. He almost legitimately dies to the first boss, missing punches and getting hit by easy attacks. And after this display he is able to loop the game with one of the tougher characters to use?

If you watch his punching it looks like he has multiple autofire speed buttons. Especially when he misses enemies you can clearly see he attacks at a perfectly even rate (though not always the same rate). Additionally you see that he'll frequently uppercut the air after hitting an enemy which would never happen if you just pushed the button but would be expected to happen if you were using autofire and just held the button down too long.


Also of significant note is his two gradius 3 runs. Gradius 3 is a game that requires following a pattern through stages to remain safe and play with consistency.

In his first INP the first thing he does is max out his speed up, which any gradius player could tell you is generally suicide. Then he proceeds to follow risky strategies throughout the run. He spends the whole game getting extremely close to enemies and bullets for no reason, putting himself in dangerous positions during generally easy parts of stages.

In stage 3 I nearly did a spittake when he flew in between the rocks in the volcano section. (It is NEVER EVER safe to go ANYWHERE near them. They are fast and random and WILL kill you. But if you wait on the left side of the screen they stop for a moment to let you through. This happens every time and there is no reason to do otherwise.)

He dodges the entire cube rush without sealing himself in. Not even the world record holder does this, no less on the first try. People who loop the game cannot do this and top players almost never pass this section on one life.

But the biggest red flag is when he played it again on the Japanese version. In 24 hours he went from this extremely dangerous play to somewhat learning the strategies. This time he followed common strategy in most places and sealed himself in during the cube rush.

Even if we ignore the fact that it is not humanly possible that he looped one of the more difficult shmups without knowing basic strategy and playing risky, how come when he does it again a day later he knows what to do?
KIG666
Button Masher
Button Masher
Posts: 41
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:24 am
Location: Germany

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by KIG666 »

PAC a cheater damn that's really sad :(

There's No excuse for cheating it's simply LAME and that it includes his Galaga inp as well damn I'm extremely disappointed :(
I must admit the no autofire no cheats no pause description on his Galaga topic was fishy like he would try to hide something but still..

His average ship scores were also way too consistent for a 11 hours+game.

The problem is that we as gamers here have not the tools to check so if a score is verified it's automatically legit for us :roll:
The_Pro wrote:I chimed in on Twin Cobra. Taking the recording entirely on its own, in many instances the game is played as if he has never played the game before with no preparation for incoming enemies or situations, only reacting to what appears on screen. I could cite many examples but suffice to say many decisions don't make sense for someone experienced enough to deliver such a score.

I also had an experienced Pandora's Palace player watch that inp and he also cited many decisions as not making any sense.
That's THE trademark of tool assisted crap and the main reason why I believe the editors/staff members here.

Zerstorung wrote: Even if we ignore the fact that it is not humanly possible that he looped one of the more difficult shmups without knowing basic strategy and playing risky, how come when he does it again a day later he knows what to do?
If he can repeat his 20M Galaga score with only 3 lives on a arcade machine I would be willing to believe in super abilities but for now I believe the editors sorry PAC :wink:
User avatar
PAC-MAN
MARP Serf
MARP Serf
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 6:31 am

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by PAC-MAN »

Dont worry kig666. I'm advocating that I do not cheat .In fact, right now instead of keyboard , I will use the original arcade machine GALAGA to show and get over 20,000,000
User avatar
Marco Marocco
MARPaltunnel Wrists
MARPaltunnel Wrists
Posts: 427
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:35 am
Location: Trieste - Italy

Re: T14 - PAC has been disqualified

Post by Marco Marocco »

Not bad you show us also Pengo
Post Reply