Strange controller/input issues with lr-mame2003

[BingoLittle]

RetroPie version 4.1
Raspberry Pi 3
X-Arcade Dual Controller configured as a keyboard (not using the driver)

I am getting strange and inconsistent issues with lr-mame2003 all of a sudden and I can’t explain it. Basically for some games some inputs do not work: most common is that I cannot input ‘right’ and can only move up, down and left. Strangely if I enter the MAME menu and temporarily disable the control (setting it to None) and re-enable it, it works fine again until reloading the game.

I’ve remapped every control in the MAME menu (via Tab) for ‘Input (all games)’ for players one and two. I used Street Fighter II as my reference game for testing the buttons as 6 buttons need to be configured and it therefore has quite a large overlap with just about any game.

Anyway, the problem persists that with some games some buttons do nothing. Just as an example Tinkle Pit - all buttons work except ‘right’. Up, down, and left and the A and B input buttons work fine. But not ‘right’.

I’ve checked that i have no config files in the roms directory. The retroarch.cfg file in /opt/ is unchanged/default. I’ve reinstalled lr-mame2003. I’ve checked through these forums and didn’t find anyone with the same issue and similar issue answers did not seem to work.

Also, all other libretro emulators work fine.

Any ideas? I’m at a loss!

Thanks for any help that can be suggested!