Gifts to the community: Proto releases
- Thread starter NeoTurfMasta
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First post updated with two home cart protos.
BigDeadFreak
Rugal's Thug
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Thank you so much, this is a great gift to anyone with an interest in Neo Geo games. Very generous of you.
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Protos are now playable on MAME 0.143u8. Enjoy!
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Note that if you downloaded the roms from the megaupload links, you will need to rename them - bfightp.zip becomes burningfp.zip, asoiip.zip becomes alpham2p.zip.
I decided to make a list of everything I noticed about the Burning Fight prototype. Some of these are mentioned in the youtube vid but I'm including those anyway. There's probably some more stuff I'm still missing.
* Billy replaced by "Bully", different character design with different moves. The collision detection on his moves do not feel very polished.
* Barebones attract mode, does not show character profiles like in the final version (which made for a long demo cycle)
* Slightly different character select screen - order from left to right is Ryu-Duke-Bully, whereas in final version it's Duke-Ryu-Billy. It doesn't show their profile artwork until you actually select them. Ryu's selection quote is not subtitled into English. Artwork for Duke looks different but Ryu looks the same. Timer on character select seems to run really fast too.
* Different button layout - A punches, B kicks, C jumps. In the final version, A punches, B jumps, C kicks.
* Enemy layout is changed (annoying chain guys start appearing right off the bat).
* Scoring system is more lenient, most everything seems to be worth more points (with the exception of close-range throws, which are only worth 10 points for some bizarre reason)
* Any kicks (B button) that connect take off a small amount of your life, WTF?? Glad that didn't stick...
* Duke's jump kick animation is different.
* Enemy names are different, a lot of thugs share the same "Tony Anderson" name that the Hulk Hogan midboss on stage 2 has.
* Some destructible objects have different names too and are often more engrish-y ("SIGNBORD", "MANNEQINE". The carts in stage 2 are labeled "SLOT MACHINE", ummmm...)
* Seems like there are hardly any life-up items to be found from destructible objects, they're almost always points instead.
* Optional side rooms do not have any enemies in them. Destructible objects in these rooms always give gold bars, no life-up items are in any of them. Also the timer is longer so you don't really run any risk of not being able to destroy everything before the timer kicks you back out to the main stage.
* No enemy carrying a gun is present.
* Random store owner (?) guy in the first stage never dies even after his lifebar is depleted. He doesn't seem to try to latch on to you until the "TRACK" appears at the end of stage 1. Very confusing.
* They should have clipped the edge of that truck a little better, lol. You also don't get any points for each hit on the truck.
* First stage boss's pre-fight and deeath quotes aren't subtitled. Also I think he has less health but his punches are much faster.
* "Hulk Hogan" ripoff mid-boss on stage 2 does not walk towards the screen for his entrance, he just sorta walks off to the side then comes back on. He doesn't do his raised arm pre-fight pose although the voice quote is still there. He doesn't "bounce" off the ground after doing his knee drop.
* Life does not refill between scenes on Stage 2.
* No business suit enemies or female knife-wielding mid-boss in the subway.
* No helicopter shooting at you atop the train. No boss at the end of stage 2 either, stage just kinda ends when the last regular enemy is killed.
* Game ends after the 2nd stage. (hey, it's a prototype...)
* When losing all your lives, the game does not immediately prompt for your initials if your score was good enough for the top 5. Instead you have to let the continue timer run out to be able to enter initials. This makes no sense since continuing completely resets your score anyway.
* SD characters on Continue screen look slightly different.
* In the soft dips, the first two lines say "BONUS" and "EVERY" and have timer values attached to them, which default to 3m00s and 2m30s. The timer doesn't seem to anything, it seems like it's a carryover value from another game (Baseball Stars?). There is a separate entry for rewarding extra lives based on score, but it doesn't seem to actually work so no extra lives are ever rewarded.
In its prototype form this game was even more of a quarter eater, with almost no life-ups to be found and infuriating chain enemies everywhere, and player kicks actually reducing life by a small amount. Sure the final version is still a pretty cheap game, but it's not as ridiculous as it was in this state.
I don't know Alpha Mission II all that well so I haven't made a list for that. Right off the bat I notice that the demo play is different and the gameplay part has no sounds. The high score list is different and top score is 10 million, lowest score 1 million (final version top score is 150k, lowest score 60k). In gameplay there doesn't seem be any real sort of scoring system yet, as everything you can destroy is worth 10 points... thereby making it impossible to even get on the high scores?
Like I said before though, this is cool stuff, getting to see how the games were in their early state. Can't wait to see the rest!
I decided to make a list of everything I noticed about the Burning Fight prototype. Some of these are mentioned in the youtube vid but I'm including those anyway. There's probably some more stuff I'm still missing.
* Billy replaced by "Bully", different character design with different moves. The collision detection on his moves do not feel very polished.
* Barebones attract mode, does not show character profiles like in the final version (which made for a long demo cycle)
* Slightly different character select screen - order from left to right is Ryu-Duke-Bully, whereas in final version it's Duke-Ryu-Billy. It doesn't show their profile artwork until you actually select them. Ryu's selection quote is not subtitled into English. Artwork for Duke looks different but Ryu looks the same. Timer on character select seems to run really fast too.
* Different button layout - A punches, B kicks, C jumps. In the final version, A punches, B jumps, C kicks.
* Enemy layout is changed (annoying chain guys start appearing right off the bat).
* Scoring system is more lenient, most everything seems to be worth more points (with the exception of close-range throws, which are only worth 10 points for some bizarre reason)
* Any kicks (B button) that connect take off a small amount of your life, WTF?? Glad that didn't stick...
* Duke's jump kick animation is different.
* Enemy names are different, a lot of thugs share the same "Tony Anderson" name that the Hulk Hogan midboss on stage 2 has.
* Some destructible objects have different names too and are often more engrish-y ("SIGNBORD", "MANNEQINE". The carts in stage 2 are labeled "SLOT MACHINE", ummmm...)
* Seems like there are hardly any life-up items to be found from destructible objects, they're almost always points instead.
* Optional side rooms do not have any enemies in them. Destructible objects in these rooms always give gold bars, no life-up items are in any of them. Also the timer is longer so you don't really run any risk of not being able to destroy everything before the timer kicks you back out to the main stage.
* No enemy carrying a gun is present.
* Random store owner (?) guy in the first stage never dies even after his lifebar is depleted. He doesn't seem to try to latch on to you until the "TRACK" appears at the end of stage 1. Very confusing.
* They should have clipped the edge of that truck a little better, lol. You also don't get any points for each hit on the truck.
* First stage boss's pre-fight and deeath quotes aren't subtitled. Also I think he has less health but his punches are much faster.
* "Hulk Hogan" ripoff mid-boss on stage 2 does not walk towards the screen for his entrance, he just sorta walks off to the side then comes back on. He doesn't do his raised arm pre-fight pose although the voice quote is still there. He doesn't "bounce" off the ground after doing his knee drop.
* Life does not refill between scenes on Stage 2.
* No business suit enemies or female knife-wielding mid-boss in the subway.
* No helicopter shooting at you atop the train. No boss at the end of stage 2 either, stage just kinda ends when the last regular enemy is killed.
* Game ends after the 2nd stage. (hey, it's a prototype...)
* When losing all your lives, the game does not immediately prompt for your initials if your score was good enough for the top 5. Instead you have to let the continue timer run out to be able to enter initials. This makes no sense since continuing completely resets your score anyway.
* SD characters on Continue screen look slightly different.
* In the soft dips, the first two lines say "BONUS" and "EVERY" and have timer values attached to them, which default to 3m00s and 2m30s. The timer doesn't seem to anything, it seems like it's a carryover value from another game (Baseball Stars?). There is a separate entry for rewarding extra lives based on score, but it doesn't seem to actually work so no extra lives are ever rewarded.
In its prototype form this game was even more of a quarter eater, with almost no life-ups to be found and infuriating chain enemies everywhere, and player kicks actually reducing life by a small amount. Sure the final version is still a pretty cheap game, but it's not as ridiculous as it was in this state.
I don't know Alpha Mission II all that well so I haven't made a list for that. Right off the bat I notice that the demo play is different and the gameplay part has no sounds. The high score list is different and top score is 10 million, lowest score 1 million (final version top score is 150k, lowest score 60k). In gameplay there doesn't seem be any real sort of scoring system yet, as everything you can destroy is worth 10 points... thereby making it impossible to even get on the high scores?
Like I said before though, this is cool stuff, getting to see how the games were in their early state. Can't wait to see the rest!
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2002
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- 8,250
Serious question, how did you come across these? It sounds like it'd make for a cool story.
Also, I told rarehero to buy you a beer or something on my behalf for this, next time you two hang out. I'll totally reimburse him for whatever you drink so go nuts
Also, I told rarehero to buy you a beer or something on my behalf for this, next time you two hang out. I'll totally reimburse him for whatever you drink so go nuts
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- Feb 27, 2004
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- 3,226
Kudos Brian!
Please keep it coming!!
Thanks a lot!
Massi
Please keep it coming!!
Thanks a lot!
Massi
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2004
- Posts
- 3,747
Really cool to see these get released. Thanks, NTM.
El Capitan
Mai's Apprentice
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- May 19, 2004
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Wouldn't mind a few more pictures of the proto carts themselves too.
And thanks!
And thanks!
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- Sep 11, 2000
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- 2,542
Played some ASOII proto, the differences from memory:
Different effect at intro to show the game logo
Highscore list show higher scores and stage number up to 12 (2nd game run)
Game mechanics and programming are close to the finished version, all enemy ships have their corresponding behavior, enemy pattern is pretty close to the final version, the K item effect sticks after you die and it´s collected among ship powerups, much more powerup items.
Ship firing rate is much slower and ship hit block is bigger.
100% of the sprites where retouched in the finished game, this game is a lot brighter, some enemy sprites are different, more simpler looking, end stage shop screen is 100% different.
First stage, 2nd stage, boss fight have different, more upbeat soundtrack.
Game ends after 3rd stage boss.
Different effect at intro to show the game logo
Highscore list show higher scores and stage number up to 12 (2nd game run)
Game mechanics and programming are close to the finished version, all enemy ships have their corresponding behavior, enemy pattern is pretty close to the final version, the K item effect sticks after you die and it´s collected among ship powerups, much more powerup items.
Ship firing rate is much slower and ship hit block is bigger.
100% of the sprites where retouched in the finished game, this game is a lot brighter, some enemy sprites are different, more simpler looking, end stage shop screen is 100% different.
First stage, 2nd stage, boss fight have different, more upbeat soundtrack.
Game ends after 3rd stage boss.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2000
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using a memory card, you can access stage 3 in Burning Fight, which is almost complete.
stage 4 only has 2 Walter enemies unarmed.
stage 5, stops at the first door.
no memory card trick for ASOII, the MC system is unimplemented.
Would be great if someone with programming knowledge could remove the current end points in both games, so they play along all the unfinished content.
stage 4 only has 2 Walter enemies unarmed.
stage 5, stops at the first door.
no memory card trick for ASOII, the MC system is unimplemented.
Would be great if someone with programming knowledge could remove the current end points in both games, so they play along all the unfinished content.
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2001
- Posts
- 4,229
Nice find! Never tried to do that before, I'll definitely try it out on the cart.
King of the Monsters 2 - The Next Thing (prototype)
// fairly late prototype release...
It will be surely added to next mame release (dump not from me but confirmed as valid dump)
[Arcade] King of the Monsters 2 - The Next Thing (Prototype) (1992)(SNK).zip (7.30MB)
Best,
JacKc.
// fairly late prototype release...
It will be surely added to next mame release (dump not from me but confirmed as valid dump)
[Arcade] King of the Monsters 2 - The Next Thing (Prototype) (1992)(SNK).zip (7.30MB)
Best,
JacKc.
Last edited:
playboycougar
Reese. ,
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2001
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- 2,637
This is so exciting. Thank you so much! Your generosity truly benefits everyone in our community!
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2000
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- 2,542
w00t, thanks for making these available.
KOTM2P doesn´t work with NeoRageX, crosshatches.
/waits for new mame release
KOTM2P doesn´t work with NeoRageX, crosshatches.
/waits for new mame release