Regarding the timing of the debut of the Neo Geo, does anyone know when the system was released in hotels? Did it appear there first, or in arcades and home version first? I notice that my copy of Magician Lord seems to have instructions more suited to hotels than later game releases were, so it got me to wondering.
Here some info:
The AES system has been released for rental (end user) since 20 April '90. I somehow doubt AES (home) was used in Hotels, for many practical reasons, but if it was the case, only one-type of instruction set was anyway available (no rental AES two version manual, except from minor changes, like life bar, tied to ROM revision rather than use)
The Hotel Unit (Deck or RAS, Room Amusement System) was a MVS-derived, basically a coin-operated one-slot, with joysticks and RGB/RF/S-Video+ stereo outputs.
Mini marquees where the only instructions given in the room (you needed to ask the staff for a game change).
Considering the data I collected about Deck units (BIOS copyright, maintenance stamps etc..), it is safe to date it around '92/93.
As a note, the "kidney" joystick made it's first appearance in such device, before NGCD debut, hence the original NGCD Joystick molding derives actually from Deck units.
Anyway, please post the details you see more suited for hotels, it would be interesting to dig!