*UPDATED* NeoGeo proto screenshots

Tempest

Ninja Combat Warrior
15 Year Member
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547
I used to but I sold it a couple years ago after realizing I didn't play it for a year and I didn't miss it.
Unfortunately there are very few good game for the Jaguar, and of those most aren't exclusives.
 

neoragex+

n00b
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Fygee

Bewbs! Z'OMG, Teh BEWBS!,
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Do I dare even get remotely excited that these museum pieces will get publicly shared?
 

Johnny16Bit

Galford's Armourer
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May 20, 2015
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474
Do I dare even get remotely excited that these museum pieces will get publicly shared?

I'd love to be wrong, but that topic looks like a trainwreck; none of this makes any sense to me.
For now, it seems the guy will just drop pics & videos then walk away, leaving everyone to their talk about the paramount importance of art and video game preservation for our children and generations to come. :make_fac:
 

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
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Yeah really not counting on him sharing the files. He hasn't really engaged with our Japanese posts except to maybe show off a bit of a particular game we've requested. I told him we can help him preserve and dump stuff and I described how awbacon found a prototype neo geo 64 samurai showdown game, you'd think he'd at least say cool or thanks or acknowledge things in some way but he doesn't. His posts are kinda like self contained blog posts. He's also turned off messaging and mentioned he wants to keep distribution of the stuff he's sharing off popular sites so that also suggests he doesn't want to discuss selling or sharing right now and that he might be very risk averse about broadcasting that he has these games. He also mentioned in one post that his video will expire within 3 months so interested people should check it out now while they can... Again, not really something that a person who is very interested in sharing the games would say...

The Japanese I hung out with years ago when I lived in Japan were really uninterested in piracy and bootlegs and were extremely risk averse related to that kind of stuff. As a stereotype, many Japanese are very follow the rules type of people. Our friend might actually be concerned it will come back to bite him legally if he shares these 30 year old roms.

I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually decides to edit his old posts to delete the videos and images he's shared.
 

Johnny16Bit

Galford's Armourer
Joined
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Posts
474
His posts are kinda like self contained blog posts.

Pretty much, and that seems to be what he says himself.
He's got the dumps, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't need any of us gaijin fucks to use a hard drive or the internet.
It's good to know the stuff is out there, well preserved, and never to be played indeed :uhoh:
 

Fygee

Bewbs! Z'OMG, Teh BEWBS!,
20 Year Member
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Posts
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Yeah really not counting on him sharing the files. He hasn't really engaged with our Japanese posts except to maybe show off a bit of a particular game we've requested. I told him we can help him preserve and dump stuff and I described how awbacon found a prototype neo geo 64 samurai showdown game, you'd think he'd at least say cool or thanks or acknowledge things in some way but he doesn't. His posts are kinda like self contained blog posts. He's also turned off messaging and mentioned he wants to keep distribution of the stuff he's sharing off popular sites so that also suggests he doesn't want to discuss selling or sharing right now and that he might be very risk averse about broadcasting that he has these games. He also mentioned in one post that his video will expire within 3 months so interested people should check it out now while they can... Again, not really something that a person who is very interested in sharing the games would say...

The Japanese I hung out with years ago when I lived in Japan were really uninterested in piracy and bootlegs and were extremely risk averse related to that kind of stuff. As a stereotype, many Japanese are very follow the rules type of people. Our friend might actually be concerned it will come back to bite him legally if he shares these 30 year old roms.

I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually decides to edit his old posts to delete the videos and images he's shared.
Are there any laws in Japan about leaking protos for products that are long dead, and notably, not or never have been for sale?

Also, I don't see how particularly risky it would be to upload them anonymously, e.g. a burner Google Drive account created with a VPN.
 

Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
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There must be a law in Japan to prohibit people from doing bitch ass bitch shit like blatant carrot on a stick ego boosting threads.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
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Mods please network the forum to IP locate all protos then dispatch recovery teams to acquire the targets.
 

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
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There must be a law in Japan to prohibit people from doing bitch ass bitch shit like blatant carrot on a stick ego boosting threads.
Lol isn't that like 90 percent of the Internet these days though? Instagram, Twitter, YouTube reaction videos, being an influencer, look at the wonder of me and boost my ego bullshit?
 

SuperGun

Proto Hunter
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2001
Posts
908
Yeah really not counting on him sharing the files. He hasn't really engaged with our Japanese posts except to maybe show off a bit of a particular game we've requested. I told him we can help him preserve and dump stuff and I described how awbacon found a prototype neo geo 64 samurai showdown game, you'd think he'd at least say cool or thanks or acknowledge things in some way but he doesn't. His posts are kinda like self contained blog posts. He's also turned off messaging and mentioned he wants to keep distribution of the stuff he's sharing off popular sites so that also suggests he doesn't want to discuss selling or sharing right now and that he might be very risk averse about broadcasting that he has these games. He also mentioned in one post that his video will expire within 3 months so interested people should check it out now while they can... Again, not really something that a person who is very interested in sharing the games would say...

Everyone here needs to take a few minutes and reflect on what is actually happening. This is unprecedented. The amount of information that we have gotten from this person is beyond incredible. Don't focus on the ROMS themselves and/or wondering if they will be made available. His contribution and cooperation thus far has been at a higher level then anyone before him, including Ukichi and Xacrow. And yes, it is absolutely possible (and most likely) that he will soon disappear into the abyss just as those who came before him did. So in the meantime, my God, only post positive and respectful things in his thread or don't post in there at all. There is so much to be gained and nothing to be lost by allowing him to continue to provide us (and freely I might add) with these pics and videos. After we've seen everything that he's willing to let us see, then yes, by all means, we can open the discussion for what his intentions might be for the ROMS themselves.

Speaking of which, he clearly doesn't need any help preserving anything. The very proof of this is in the fact that because he had already done so over a decade ago, he was able to retrieve it all present day. And he obviously has access to the internet, posting here and uploading videos, etc. so clearly he can and surely has archived again today, and far more thoroughly. And I completely and whole heartedly agree with his apparent request for not reposting his stuff in a more public place. Guys, he came to US. He posted here by his own accord. He CHOSE this place. We are very lucky that this has all happened like this and the sky is the limit if we can just maintain some basic decorum for him. There are hundreds of other threads here that we can toss insults around in, just don't do it in his thread.

Speaking of him, and this needs to be said, while it is true that we still don't know for sure what motivated him to come here and/or what his end game is, there is no harm or foul in allowing him to continue his posts. Quite the opposite in fact as we are gaining so much from it. But my point is this, He literally titled his thread "my last hope". His profile states: "my last hour may come". He began by explaining to us that he lost everything he owned in the terrible 2011 Japan Earthquake-Tsunami. And after covid has lost his job too. Anyone experiencing this would certainly be affected by it. Something compelled him to come forward and share with us. How and why could anyone find fault in that?
 

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
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Speaking of him, and this needs to be said, while it is true that we still don't know for sure what motivated him to come here and/or what his end game is, there is no harm or foul in allowing him to continue his posts. Quite the opposite in fact as we are gaining so much from it. But my point is this, He literally titled his thread "my last hope". His profile states: "my last hour may come". He began by explaining to us that he lost everything he owned in the terrible 2011 Japan Earthquake-Tsunami. And after covid has lost his job too. Anyone experiencing this would certainly be affected by it. Something compelled him to come forward and share with us. How and why could anyone find fault in that?
I was thinking about this too, first the guy loses what he was passionate about, and then loses his job. In Japan, historically the expectation has been that you will be employed at the same company for life. It is much harder to job hop or get a job if you suddenly become unemployed in Japan versus the USA. There's a lot of shame and rejection by your peers around that kind of circumstance and well, you periodically hear stories of salarymen ending themselves over there... so kinda worrisome that he lost the economic support for his life as well as his hobby that would have been fulfilling in his private life (neogeo stuff), so for all his cryptic stuff about being the last hope and all that - I hope he is being facetious and not like this is literally him doing his last bit before literally going out in a blaze of glory.
 

SuperGun

Proto Hunter
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908
I was thinking about this too, first the guy loses what he was passionate about, and then loses his job. In Japan, historically the expectation has been that you will be employed at the same company for life. It is much harder to job hop or get a job if you suddenly become unemployed in Japan versus the USA. There's a lot of shame and rejection by your peers around that kind of circumstance and well, you periodically hear stories of salarymen ending themselves over there... so kinda worrisome that he lost the economic support for his life as well as his hobby that would have been fulfilling in his private life (neogeo stuff), so for all his cryptic stuff about being the last hope and all that - I hope he is being facetious and not like this is literally him doing his last bit before literally going out in a blaze of glory.

While I suppose what your outlining above is a possibility, I was on a different page when I connected the dots myself. My guess was that the last bit of bad news or bad luck that has now struck is that perhaps he or a loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal disease such as cancer. If it's himself, then he might be sharing all of this stuff just to get it out there and have a final act of sharing his passion with other fans in this specific hobby before he passes. If it's a loved one, then he may know the value of the data he has, and thus he came here to purposely show those who would be most interested the proof of what he has with the intention after establishing it, that he intends to sell it in order to generate the funds he needs to support his loved one.

Either way, one other key concern I have had (and yet another reason why it's best to keep his thread low profile and not post his content again and/or outside this place) is that it is very likely that he was a member of the "Japanese underground rom group". It's the most logical explanation for him having the files that he has in the first place, and seeing as how similar they are in content to the others. Long story short, in their eyes, if they were to get wind of what he's doing and/or about to do, they would consider him as having "gone rogue" and immediately contact him to try and get him to stop leaking this stuff.
 

sirlynxalot

Genjuro's Frog
Fagit of the Year
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The terminal disease thing has been a motivator for other prototype releases in the past. For example, Geist Force the sega dreamcast prototype was released because the individual who had the prototype burned to a disc that he had saved from his days as a sega employee 12 years earlier, had a terminal illness and died not long after the disc was sold to the assemblergames forum community.

Still pretty amazing that Rou has turned up here, has any other Japanese fan ever shown up on this forum and posted before in the 20+ year run of this place, let alone one that has a bunch of rare unseen prototypes? Its also interesting he has decided to post only in Japanese in the international forum rather than try some pidgen english or google translate and have a higher profile topic in the main forum. I will say that google has already indexed his topic here and it is easily findable if you are googling his name (no other websites seemed to have hits for it) or the subject matter he's posting in the thread, so if there were people doing periodic searches to police this sort of thing, it could readily come up, especially if they are searching in Japanese.


I was wondering to myself if he chose to come here simply because it seems to be one of the last areas that people who are fans of the neogeo congregate at. The actual neogeo mvs/aes stuff is pretty old at this point, many fans are like 40+ years old, and video games forums that used to be highly active are now ghost towns, or defunct. This is happening all across the old video game fanbase, where there seems to be less and less interest in forums such as this one each year, and more interest in shallow content and places where it is hard to have a meaningful conversions, such as on youtube videos or facebook groups. I wonder if as a result in the dwindling retro game forum universe, there were no suitable Japanese places to post this stuff where he could a large volume of Japanese neogeo fans to wow and amaze... or maybe as you said, he wants to try and keep off the radar of the Japanese underground rom group, who are much more likely to notice posts on Japanese websites.
 
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SuperGun

Proto Hunter
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2001
Posts
908
I was wondering to myself if he chose to come here simply because it seems to be one of the last areas that people who are fans of the neogeo congregate at. The actual neogeo mvs/aes stuff is pretty old at this point, many fans are like 40+ years old, and video games forums that used to be highly active are now ghost towns, or defunct. This is happening all across the old video game fanbase, where there seems to be less and less interest in forums such as this one each year, and more interest in shallow content and places where it is hard to have a meaningful conversions, such as on youtube videos or facebook groups. I wonder if as a result in the dwindling retro game forum universe, there were no suitable Japanese places to post this stuff where he could a large volume of Japanese neogeo fans to wow and amaze... or maybe as you said, he wants to try and keep off the radar of the Japanese underground rom group, who are much more likely to notice posts on Japanese websites.

I do agree that the NEOGEO has finally reached a point where it has become so old that the vast majority of modern day gamers have either never heard of it and/or have no interest in it. And yes, the gaming communities have changed quite a bit over the past few years. Even this place doesn't generate the traffic that it once did. But truthfully, there wouldn't be anyone at all to wow at any Japanese site regardless. Reason being, they've seen all of these games already. Most of the games that he has in his neorage menu match what has been seen several times before in the distant past from other Japanese originating neorage screen captures. So nobody there would be wowed or amazed by it.
 

basic

back to basics
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Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
4,557
Everyone here needs to take a few minutes and reflect on what is actually happening. This is unprecedented. The amount of information that we have gotten from this person is beyond incredible. Don't focus on the ROMS themselves and/or wondering if they will be made available. His contribution and cooperation thus far has been at a higher level then anyone before him, including Ukichi and Xacrow. And yes, it is absolutely possible (and most likely) that he will soon disappear into the abyss just as those who came before him did. So in the meantime, my God, only post positive and respectful things in his thread or don't post in there at all. There is so much to be gained and nothing to be lost by allowing him to continue to provide us (and freely I might add) with these pics and videos. After we've seen everything that he's willing to let us see, then yes, by all means, we can open the discussion for what his intentions might be for the ROMS themselves.
lol fuck him. why would you have such little respect for yourself that you'd be willing to suck someone's dick to appeal to their vanity in the hopes they give you crumbs off the table? it's a fucking video game. i am certain it is not the greatest game nor the greatest piece of art. the sooner he knows he is irrelevant and that his self worth won't be boosted by the happenstance of possessing the work of another, the better. if he doesn't wanna share and be buried with his retarded protos, so be it. i'll grab the shovel.

the terminal condition and him wanting to make a "difference" in the video game world would only make sense if he actually wanted to release it for the world to experience it. i doubt his story and think it's a cock tease. i know if i was heading into my final days i wouldn't waste it fucking with video game spergs...well...maybe i would.

tl;dr - you are pathetic
 

Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
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I’m not going to be shitting the thread any further for those that want to see more shots for it but yeah, everything Basic said with geese’s theme playing in the background
 

yori2004

n00b
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Posts
39
I don't believe his lost collection story, as well as his job loss. He was more talkative about his life than about the history of acquiring the games. At the same time, he insists a lot on remaining discreet in his approach.

There are people who consistently refuse to share their unique materials, while taking full advantage of what others share for free. They choose to keep it to themselves. Many people operate this way.

There was the guy who promised to release the Super Volley Ball 94 rom, but finally changed his mind to do his own release and collect the money. He also never made his release. The guy who bought the Block Paradise prototype earlier this year could have opened the cartridge, taken pictures of the PCBs, and made a video of the game to show it off. He preferred to keep it to himself. Still, that wouldn't have lowered the value of its cartridge. The same goes for whoever bought the NGPC game bundle last year. There were at least two prototypes, including a version of Magician Lord 2. He provided no information.

I would also like the roms to be available, but I understood from his first message that this would not be the case. I am nevertheless very satisfied with the sharing of videos which are very well done. The information contained is substantial.

After the first videos of Block Paradise in March 2020 by Kduck, it took almost two years before he posted any news. He then posted dozens of unique videos on his Youtube channel, as well as documentation of NGPC prototypes and about MOTW2. A few days ago, he posted two strange messages on Twitter saying that the pics he posted are probably fan art and not SNK documents. He also asked not to link these documents with SNK. Maybe he was pressured by SNK in some way.

So, it's best to appreciate what's sharing for what it is and not ask too much of these people. I find 2022 to be the most prolific year for Neo-Geo game documentation and I hope that will continue.
 

basic

back to basics
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So, it's best to appreciate what's sharing for what it is and not ask too much of these people. I find 2022 to be the most prolific year for Neo-Geo game documentation and I hope that will continue.
it's a "tree falling in the woods" situation. if you have rare protos but no one knows about it...can you be cool and adored?
 

SuperGun

Proto Hunter
20 Year Member
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Posts
908
I don't believe his lost collection story, as well as his job loss. He was more talkative about his life than about the history of acquiring the games. At the same time, he insists a lot on remaining discreet in his approach.

These matters are trivial. Because whether or not his story is true and regardless of his desire to be discreet, he chose of his own free will to come here and share things. There is no need to question what he has done based solely on not yet understanding why he has done it.

There are people who consistently refuse to share their unique materials, while taking full advantage of what others share for free. They choose to keep it to themselves. Many people operate this way.

This certainly does not apply to our guest.

There was the guy who promised to release the Super Volley Ball 94 rom, but finally changed his mind to do his own release and collect the money. He also never made his release. The guy who bought the Block Paradise prototype earlier this year could have opened the cartridge, taken pictures of the PCBs, and made a video of the game to show it off. He preferred to keep it to himself. Still, that wouldn't have lowered the value of its cartridge. The same goes for whoever bought the NGPC game bundle last year. There were at least two prototypes, including a version of Magician Lord 2. He provided no information.

This is a common misconception and misunderstanding by gaming communities regarding the subject of unique and rare games. At what point in time, exactly who is the one to be blamed for not sharing? The buyer of an expensive proto for not giving it away immediately and for free? Or perhaps the seller of the proto for not having shared it before he sold it? Why not the previous owner before them for not having done so either? How about the company that made the game for not having given it away? Where does this sense of entitlement come from? And where does the criticism stem from? It's easy for those who have no time or money invested in these rarities to point fingers and make demands of those who do.

While it is generally true that the rare item continues to snowball in it's value with each additional exchange of hands, whereby making it that much more expensive and that much more complicated to obtain, it is neither the fault of the previous owners nor certainly not the fault of the current one. And then, what's even worse, is that it is a no win scenario for the current owners of these items anyways. If they don't share pics and info, they are vilified for not doing so. And if they do share pics and info, they are vilified for not sharing the rom data.

I would also like the roms to be available, but I understood from his first message that this would not be the case. I am nevertheless very satisfied with the sharing of videos which are very well done. The information contained is substantial.

After the first videos of Block Paradise in March 2020 by Kduck, it took almost two years before he posted any news. He then posted dozens of unique videos on his Youtube channel, as well as documentation of NGPC prototypes and about MOTW2. A few days ago, he posted two strange messages on Twitter saying that the pics he posted are probably fan art and not SNK documents. He also asked not to link these documents with SNK. Maybe he was pressured by SNK in some way.

The Mark of the Wolves / SNK thing is a different animal all together. We can all chalk this one up to just bad timing and bad luck. Who could have predicted that the finding of these old Garou 2 assets just happened to have occurred right when SNK was resurrecting the IP again.
 
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