Thread by @KitaruTC

@six_forty_five I'll try to rundown the considerations for each game:

TGM1 has an operators menu setting for Versus or Dual play. Use Dual if you want races with separate seeds.

Use Versus if you want battles. Both P1+P2 Start must be held at the start of the match if you want to set No Item.

@six_forty_five 2+ and 3 are a bit tricky to run main mode races on one cab because of menus (other player gets Please Wait while one is selecting mode) — can't start at the exact same time which is awkward. They have shared seed race modes in Versus play, with some caveats.

@six_forty_five 2+ has something called "Cement Mode" which disables both Items and Attacks: both players hold B+C+Start before match iirc. (No Item Versus code is same as TGM1.)

3 has a more straightforward mode selection menu — Clear Rule is the race mode. (TGM3 doesn't have No Item Versus.)

@six_forty_five The drawbacks of Cement/Clear is that if someone dies then they lose even if they had a level lead the other person still needed to make up. They also don't have any scoring/grades (or in TGM3, no dynamic speed), they're pure races.

@six_forty_five All the games have a level limit setting in operators menu iirc. Default is 100 (very short), max is 999 like main game. (200~300 is a good limit for TGM3 Versus if you don't want potentially long round times; 999 sets the max time limit to 12min _per round_.)

@six_forty_five Back to original question: generally serious players would want to race, yes. Versus with/without items is also cool but not generally seen as the main category. TGM1 is easiest to set up races on one cabinet, 2+ and 3 are a little tricky unless you have access two setups.

@six_forty_five 3 is most accessible because it offers both Classic (Sega/TGM) and World (modern console etc.) rotation rules. (They're generally separate categories for leaderboards but nbd for an open event probably; World is easier but Classic is more intuitive for high-level time attack.)

@six_forty_five 3 Classic is also more lenient in some ways than 1/2+. So if you have a wide audience, in some ways it can be a good pick.

@six_forty_five idk what the community consensus would be on 2+ vs. 3 beyond that. 3 is fun at first because you get to go fast, but kind of annoying at high-level play because you can screw yourself out of unlocking invisible by going too fast to early on to meet consistency checks.

@six_forty_five The stuff that makes 3 bothersome mostly affects Master level players so might not be a big concern. 2+ is more "pure" and I do think it's the better tuned game in some respects, but worth considering enjoyment/accessibility in choosing a game.

@six_forty_five On that point though: 3 Master gets really fast early with dynamic speed, can be tough for new players. 1/2+ Master ramp up in a more approachable fashion (stricter rotation notwithstanding).

@six_forty_five Last caveat: technically TGM3 Master behaves differently without a login, it is basically TGM2+ Master speeds just with the new features (same speed seen in Clear Rule). We've never run something on "no login" but that could be middle ground if you need it.