Might have this sorted. RevQuixo and I chatted on their Discord server. Couple things appeared to be at play here:
1. It seems that my card had become corrupted. I ran repair disk and it seems like Windows found something wrong with it. The card (Sandisk) was brand new - I cracked open the packaging just for use with this. I’m guessing when the SHDS3 wiped my card, it had something to do with this.
2. It seems like it mostly just doesn’t like the roms I had, which is funny considering they came from the Redump set that would have been available mid 2019, and they literally came from the card that was in my SSDS3 before I sold it.
I downloaded Forgotten Worlds yesterday, and redownloaded Image Fight II earlier today, and those seem to load fine now. All of the old roms I had are no good though.
Most importantly, Gate of Thunder boots properly, so whatever. I gotta take at least part of the blame on this one. RevQuixo was awesome to work with. Don’t know if he’s with TO in any official capacity, but he didn’t call me a “fagit,” so that’s a win, yeah? Thanks to everybody who helped out here too, btw.