JAPAN ROM CLUB MEMBER #3
On August 14, 2022 the neogeo community at www.neo-geo.com was shocked to find a post in the international sub forums. The title of the thread was "my last hope". The author used the screen name RoU2022 and in their profile was the statement "my last hour may come". The post began with a brief introduction in where this person stated that they used to be a big neogeo collector, but that all of his possesions were sadly washed away after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. He had also recently lost his job to covid. Certainly a sad scenario and a hard set of circumstances for any person to suffer through. However, after this brief synopsis, he then posted emulated screen shots of one of the unreleased NEOGEO protos; the fighting game "The Warlocks of the Fates". It caught everyone completely by surprise, myself included, and as quickly as I could, I proceeded to ensure that these things were preserved.

So, what happened next?
When I proceeded to save these screen shots on my computer, I immediately noticed something even more significant then the pics themselves. Keep in mind that we've already had emulated screen shots for Warlocks of the Fates since 2005. And having them in English is nothing to special (other then a mild curiosity) as all neogeo software isn't region specific. Any rom file just as any cartridge contains the localization for both regions. But rather, what caught my attention and sent chills up my spine was when I saw the files name while saving it. It was "shinryusenki(077)" (Shinryu Senki being the japanese name of the game, but more importantly, 077 being the games software product code number: (NGM-077 / NGH-077)

So, why did this matter so much?
It is simply impossible for most people to understand and/or appreciate just how significant and relevant the confirmation of a NEOGEO software product number is. As a point of referance, prior to that very moment, we had managed to confirm 3 numbers over the course of over 20 years. And before this rollercoaster ride with RoU would come to an end, we would end up confirming 4 numbers in total. It was the single most largest acquisition of neogeo proto information in the entire history of the consoles lifespan.

So, what else happened?
Before the day was over, he returned and posted again. And this time he put up screen shots of Alpha Denshi's Block Paradise. Again, in English, as seen for the first time by the public. And on Monday morning, the deluge of information began when he posted an actual video of the Warlocks game running in both languages on a NeoRage emulator. Again, having video wasn't the ground breaking news, as we have also had video of this particular game since 2012. But rather, the revelation was seeing the game selection menu on his neorage emulator screen as he loaded the game and captured the video.

So, what was on the screen?
Well, again, it wasn't just that he had several unreleased protos on his menus game list, as almost all of the titles had already been seen before in the past. It was the file names of the entries that caught my eye. Again, 2 of them had the NGH numbers visible. Block PARADISE was tagged NGH-012 and The Eye of Typhoon was listed with NGH-210.

So, when, how, and why did this all end?
Having received relentless attacks and unwarranted insults from the unchecked trolls of the forums, RoU left and went to another forum in France. I followed him there and questioned him about a particular game that Xacrow had shown us in 2005. (Magic Master) He then responded and posted screenshots of the game. However, he soon left there as well, and then eventually opened up his own Twitter and You Tube accounts, where he proceeded to reveal more screenshots and videos of these games. With that said, lets go through the whole list of all that was gained from his postings. And let the historical record show that since the 33rd week of August 2022, RoU provided the following list of relevent discoveries:

And so what ever became of RoU?
Sadly, just as what happened with his predecessors, RoU faded away into obscurity, never to be seen or heard from again. He closed both of his accounts (Twitter and YouTube) and completely disappeared. And considering his state of mind and taking into account his deteriorating medical condition, it is logically assumed that he may have passed away shortly thereafter.