DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
Pinball Fantasia is an action packed pinball simulation game for the NEOGEO system.
It holds the distinction of being the most unique & completely different game among
both the protos and even among the released games as well. It is arguably the most
wanted & hunted of all the lost proto games, mostly because of it's variety.
The only other NEOGEO games manufactured by the licencee Monolith are two of the
Japanese Mahjong games, released in 1990 & 1991. This is significant because Monolith
never released another game for the NEOGEO, and the resurgence of video pinball
simulations occurred during the same earlier 1990's time period. Perhaps this had a
hand into why it was ultimately cancled. In the 1995 home market, a video pinball game
would have been out of place, and in the 1995 arcade environment, surrounded by real
pinball machines, it would have been completely passed by.
INFORMATION TIMELINE:
-- June 1995 -- the Japan magazine NEOGEO FREAK publishes a 2 page spread on the game with a huge write up & dozens of screen shots.
-- July 1995 -- a French video game magazine publishes a short article with screenshots of Last Odyssey.
-- October 2001 -- an internal SNK game staff video surfaces which shows the dev cart is a fully playable & complete game.
-- January 2002 -- emulated screen shots are provided and shown which proves the games' rom data has been dumped and is functional on an emulator.
-- January 2005 -- emulated screen shots are provided and shown which proves the games' rom data has been dumped and is functional on an emulator.
CURRENT STATUS: SAFEGUARDED
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