Hang-On scoring system

[J..]

Hi everyone and, since it is not too late, happy new year to all of you!

I have a few questions about the scoring system of Hang-On (Rev A, hangon.zip, i.e. the parent rom).

I do not understand the correlation between times (splits or total) and score.
The last time I played, I performed a total time of 5'01"26 (splits : 58"18 / 58"96 / 1'01"46 / 1'03"28 / 59"38) and got a score of 16 724 930.
The strange thing is that during my previous run, I had performed a 5'00"59 (split : 59"16 / 58"06 / 59"46 / 1'05"45 / 58"46), i.e. a better time... for a lower score of 16 034 780.
I know the score also depends on the number of opponents you overtake, but I am not sure this can explain a 700K gap, considering a faster run should also mean a greater time bonus at the end of the run. So what are the other factors the scoring depends of?

Another thing I wonder is how the "time extension" works. I noticed that the sum of your total time plus your remaining time is often different.
For instance, you can perform a 4'58"00 and have 5"00 left (sum:5'03"00) and the next time perform a 4'59"00 and still have 5"00 left (sum:5'04"00), which means that the total amount of time you have to complete your run is not always the same. Do you know why? Do the time extensions vary from one run to another?

Thanks for sharing knowledge

P.S.: of course, the different runs I mention were performed with the same dip switches (in this case, the default dip switches)

[RAX]

Hi.
There is a certain inconsistence between score and total time & split times.
Anyway they could not be always completely matched, because the way you run matters: it does not only depend on the opponents you overtake, but also on the speed you run and on the offroad parts you go.
But the point is that official chronometer is almost untrustworthy.
If you take a look at the remain time counter, that we could say is always correct, you'll see that the lap times are often strange, they do not match the value you could expect. It's unconfortable that remain time does not show decimals, but you can guess them according to its decrements.You can even exactly calculate them looking at your inp later (in frame -by-frame mode), but while playing it's not possible.
Anyway the point is this, and I always played looking at the remain time only, because final score most depends to it. If you want to race with official time, you'll always have inconsistencies like those you reported.

This problem affects also other SEGA games of that period, like OutRun and SuperHangOn.
I studied this thing with savestates, inps and frame-by-frame replays, and my opinion is that OutRun and HangOn, although having the problem, are still acceptable in the final result (but score is the real only comparable thing). But I can say that, if you don't like this thing, you should NEVER-NEVER-NEVER play SuperHangOn . It's terrible, the time discordance is sometimes absurd, and finally it adds a random corrector to the time-bonus, so that you could get a bonus (or malus ) of many hundred thousands.

[J..]

Thanks for your answer, RAX!