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When a new game is nearing completion and enters the "beta" stage of development, it requires extensive play testing. The rom data is burned onto eproms and installed onto an MVS test or proto cartridge so the "quality assurance" staff or company play testers can check for bugs and glitches. Shortly afterwards, a game might also go through a "location test". This is where the game is actually placed on site at a video arcade where it can be further tested and give feedback to the design team by way of it's revenues or lack thereof.

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The NEOGEO MVS hardware has a battery backed save function which not only saves the coin and game settings of the games, but it also keeps a very detailed record of the games revenues. It takes detailed accounting for which games were played, when they were played, for how long they were played, how many times they were played, etc. And the system does this for each and every game cartridge that is installed on the machine. In fact, it holds this data for up to 8 titles. After a 9th cartridge is installed, it then automatically overwrites the data for the oldest one. And the system is able to do all of this through the use of the product number. Each game MUST have a unique number or the hardwares bookeeping will be inaccurate and unuseable.

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And so, from 1990 through 1991, any neogeo game which was location tested, was by definition installed in a multi-slot cabinet, and was therefore subsequently REQUIRED to be assigned a unique number. Product numbers that encompass this initial time period are the early numbers from 001 through about 038. This was one of the key factors which led to several unused early product numbers accumulating on the list. Because the games which failed testing and were subsequently shelved, maintained and held onto those numbers which retired with them. About a year later, when games could be run at locations on the new single slot boards, this led to less strict guidelines with regards to the use of these numbers. Basically, when a game performed well and was approved and ready for release and mass production, if the games number was no longer available, SNK would then simply replace it with a new and unused number.

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So while no software product number was EVER assigned by SNK more than once to any officially released NEOGEO game, the managing of these numbers with regards to the earlier games was quite different than those of the later games. Therefore most circa 1990/1991 abandoned NEOGEO games which never saw release, retained their unused numbers. However, it was quite the opposite for the later releases. It was inconsequential what number a proto used because it only matterred if and when they would see release, at which point they would be assigned a new number if the number they happened to have during testing had already been issued by SNK to another title that beat it to production.

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As evidence of this numbering sytem, we actually have several examples. Crystal Legacy and Last Odyssey both had NGM-072 as their testing numbers. Another example is an early beta of King of the Monsters which has the number NGM-013. (the released game was assigned NGM-016) And Zupapa is yet another great example of proper number assignment. Because when SNK released it in 2001, they kept its testing number of NGM-070 because since the number had not been used, it was still available and still valid, even after 7 years.

And this is why we have too many numbers and not enough products to fill them at the front of the list, and too many products and not enough numbers for them at the back of the list.

Lastly, we have "delayed" games. Some NEOGEO games sufferred some VERY long delays. And I'm not talking about a few months here. I'm talking anywhere from half a years time to as much as two years time! The product numbers of these LONG DELAYED releases were handled differently depending on whether or not they were in house games or third party titles.

LIST OF SIGNIFICANTLY DELAYED GAMES AND THEIR NUMBERS:

The first NEOGEO game to suffer a major delay was SNK's Alpha Mission II. Assigned one of the earliest product numbers (NGM-007), and certainly among the initial projects due to release after the NEOGEO systems launch in early 1990, it would actually not come to market until a year later in 1991. There are actually several reports from arcade shows during this time period which comment on how the game is buggy and crashes during gameplay. It is also one of a very small group of NEOGEO games which retained its' DEBUG mode. Just like Baseball Stars Professional (NGM-002), this game was a "sequel" or "continuation" of an earlier SNK pre-NEOGEO game series. In fact, it is speculated that one of the other early unassigned NGM numbers could have been assigned to a similar SNK pre-NEOGEO game such as Athena or Ikari. Either way, at the end of the long delay, Alpha Mission II kept and retained its original assigned number.