I have now been passed a dump of the P rom of the joystick version that's been freely available for a while (I had never heard of this version myself) and it matches the version I was sent and asked to fix from these guys.
I don't know who created this free version but maybe they will come forward, the down side to this is it appears NGF totally scammed Stefano and Co if what they told me is true when I was asked to fix it.
Raz
Interesting. So they are the same after all, which is pretty sad indeed.
A friend of mine just reminded me of a "review" I wrote of this "joystick modified" rom a while back. Here it is for those who may be curious how it plays compared to playing it with the Uni-Bios method.
On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 10:04 AM,
Well, as you know, I finally got the chance to play this game on real hardware late last night.
And all I can say is wow, this rom hack is borderline unplayable.
Here is my initial review & assessment of the rom hack
Yes, the game is "playable" with the regular joystick on a regular unmodded NEOGEO home console.
This is 100% factual and true. However, calling it "minimally" playable would be more accurate.
There is an overall "lack of control" feeling throughout the entire game from start to finish.
Some of which could have easily been improved upon with some minor adjustments.
For example, you can press start at anytime during attract mode to begin the game. Once you do however, you do not have control again until you are asked to select between the two characters for the game. (the player cannot press a button to skip the instructions / how to play sequence) Something which every NEOGEO game allows you to do. A simple implementation of mapping the games action button to one of the controllers buttons would have corrected this.
Once you do reach the character selection screen (where you can choose from the Man or the Lady by moving the joystick left or right), you are unable to "confirm" your selection of the character because, again, there is no button mapped to that function. In addition, once the selection is made automatically because the timer runs out, the lack of control resumes during the additional instructional screens as you are not allowed to skip them either.
As a side note here, the how to play text instructions are unchanged. They didn't bother to go the extra mile by changing the text displayed such as "move trackball" on screen to properly explain the implemented joystick control functions. But I will get to that in just a minute here.
Now, in the MVS version of the game, just after you select your character for the game, you are allowed to make a second selection. You are given the opportunity to choose from among the 4 stages to start your game: (Practice, Normal, Hard, Expert) However, in the home version, they briefly display the normal stage on this screen, and it is selected automatically. So you cannot choose where to start. In addition, as you progress and pass the stages, you will eventually reach and see the higher levels, but you will never be able to see or play the practice level since the starting stage is "normal".
CONTROLS
Well, here is where things really shine. Yes, I am being sarcastic of course.
START BUTTON -- does nothing.
(it should have been implemented as the "confirm" / "skip" button for selection / how to play screens)
SELECT BUTTON -- pauses the game at almost anytime. a welcomed feature.
JOYSTICK -- "controls" the on screen character's electric rod in all directions.
The default speed it is set at however is far too quick for most of the game play areas.
I use it only at the very end of a section or a level to reach the checkpoint or goal quickly to save time.
A BUTTON -- as far as I can tell, does nothing. (see my comments on start button and apply here)
B BUTTON
moving the joystick while holding down this button causes the rod to move at CRAWLING speed.
(the second most useful speed available and much needed in many tight areas of the play field)
D BUTTON
moving the joystick while holding down this button causes the rod to move at WALKING speed.
(the most useful speed available and much needed in most of the areas and levels of the game)
C BUTTON
moving the joystick while holding down this button causes the rod to move at JOGGING speed.
(the least useful speed available and hardly ever safe to use. I never use it)
A BUTTON
moving the joystick while holding down this button causes the rod to move at RUNNING speed.
(this speed is totally useless, and feels the same as that of holding down no button at all)
Truthfully, I am not even sure it really does anything, it may very well be the same as the joystick.
CONTINUE
One great thing about the home mode is that you have unlimited continues. The screen always displays CREDIT 03 but no matter how many times you continue, it always remains with 3 credits so you basically have unlimited continues. In addition, when you use a continue, you are allowed to resume play not just from the last level that you reached, but from the last checkpoint within the level as well. So it is very generous in this regard.
MEMORY CARD
Sadly, this is one of the 7 NEOGEO games out of the 148 that does not have memory card support. So you can play and continue a game session as much as you like, but once you turn off your console, it is back to the beginning the next time you want to play. Maybe someday someone will figure out how to implement memory card support for the 7 games; whether through hacking one of the roms, or through the uni-bios.
UNI-BIOS VERSION
Playing the regular unmodified rom through the use of the uni-bios cheat has always been heralded as being superior. I plan to test it out and do a comparison.
The main reason the hacked rom version appealed to me the most was because I like the idea of being able to simply bring the cartridge to anyone's house and plug it into anyone's console and have it work as a plug and play game cart, no different then any other. But after seeing how this rom plays, I am kind of disenchanted now. I have the dedicated cabinet out on the route, and I always play a game or two when I am at that location because it is enjoyable. But this version of the game is far more frustrating and thus much less fun to play and that kinda defeats the purpose I guess.
Thanks,
Billy