Blame the mame team. here is the email I got from a few WEEKS ago when I tried to send them the rom. I was being honest in saying I was planning on inserting some markers in the null space of the rom to make sure it would not be credited to someone else. Nothing that would show up in the actual game. Their loss.
From: Brian A. Troha
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 4:10 PM
To: cray@♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Subject: The Last Odyssey
Hello,
BrianT of the Dumping Union here...
We have had an email forwarded to us regarding the NeoGeo proto Last Odyssey.
We, the Dumping Union and MAMEdev would be interested in 100% original non modified dump of the cart. If you can supply a clean 100% original dump of the cart please do so.
Neither group is interested in a hacked version that would contain “NGF” inserted anywhere as mentioned in the email. If this is your wish just release the rom set to the public and it will be included in other emulators. The dump might eventually end up in MAME but it’d be listed as a hack and not a true proto. Both groups are interested in preserving the actual arcade game as it was produced or sold. The Dumping Union and MAMEdev is not interested in drama from a release where a small group can say “We have the real data and you have our hacked up roms.” There was some controversy about the KOF99 proto when it was dumped and release with hacked credit initials. Now no one is 100% sure that that set is unmodified. This is not something we want to relive.
I can tell you though, that MAMEdev does indeed credit the dumper. If you were to supply a non modified rom set to MAMEdev (through me or otherwise) we would credit any name you wish. This is the standard practice. We have had thousands of games released and added all unmodified and each credited to the dumper.
So I would respectfully request you send a “clean” dump of the proto, if you so desire, so it can be preserved for the future and enjoyed by everyone.
Thank you for your time,
Brian