Early Beta Builds of Officially Released Software

NEOGEO EARLY BETA ROM BUILDS

(protos of released games)

While the primary focus of this website has always been and always will be the accumulation of pics and info about the UNRELEASED proto games, over the years I have had many questions and inquiries about the protos of the RELEASED games as well. (actually, my friend Matt is really the ONLY person that has ever asked or cared about this stuff!) But while this subject matter is not as interesting to me, I decided that perhaps it was indeed time to discuss it at length and to cover it in more detail.

PUZZLE BOBBLE

Original Working Title: Bubble Buster
Released as: Puzzle Bobble / Bust A Move
Developer: TAITO
Released: June 1994

Unknown to most people, the original Bust-A-Move puzzle game concept began its humble beginnings as a stand-alone puzzle game idea. Later on down the line, the Taito game designers decided to kick it up a notch by incorporating some of Taito's IP game characters into the storyline in order to enhance the gameplay and make it more appealing to audiences. Thus the characters from Taito's famous Bubble Bobble action game series were added in just prior to release and a pseudo-sequel "Puzzle" Bobble was born. We know this because the original beta of Bust-A-Move was left intact hidden within the proto Puzzle Bobble program. The music and sound effects for this version of the game are also different. In fact, the only thing it seems to be missing (more likely perhaps was never programmed) is a game ending. This is probably because the game was at about 80% completion when the concept was changed.

ROM STATUS: FREELY AVAILABLE

POWER SPIKES II

Original Working Title(s): Super Volley '94 / Fighting Volley
Released as: Power Spikes II
Developer: VIDEO SYSTEM
Released: October 1994

Video System released the original Super Volleyball in 1989 as a jamma board. The Sega Genesis and NEC Turbografx received ports of this game in 1990. The second title in the series, also on jamma, was called Super Volley '91 (aka Power Spikes) in 1991. And in 1993, the Super NES saw the release of Hyper V-Ball. This last game in the series may have been initially called "Fighting Volley", later changed to Super Volley '94, and then changed to Power Spikes II.

The FIRST RUN of MVS cartridges manufactured went out with the Super Volleyball '94 version of the game. Shortly afterwards, they changed the games rom data, specifically the P rom and the C roms, and did the next MVS run.

The known differences are the obvious title screen change and subsequent attract mode title logo of the game. In addition, it has a completely different introduction sequence opening. (video and BGM are altered) And finally the league selection screen has the men, women, and hyper choices in different order and with different icons.

January 1994 - the official arcade flyer is distributed by Video System.

February 1994 - Super Volley '94 is presented at the 1994 AOU show

April 1994 - Taito/Video System places an advertisement in GM Magazine.

April 1994 - Game Machine reports on SNK at the AOU show and provides a screenshot.

May 1994 - Gamest #113 reports on SNK at the AOU show in this article with screenshots.

May 1994 - Dengeki Oh Magazine publishes an article with screenshots

June 1994 - Video System continues to advertise Super Volley '94 month after month.

July 1994 - the NEOGEO Guide Book publishes an article with a screenshot

July 1994 - Dengeki Oh Magazine runs an AD by Video System

November 1994 - Gamest #130 finally reviews the game as Power Spikes II.

November 2001 - a Super Volley '94 MVS cartridge is found in California, USA.

January 2005 - Emulated shots are provided by (X)

May 2012 - a Super Volley '94 MVS cartridge is found in France, Europe.

December 2016 - The P rom file is shared courtesy of Rob from California. (still need M and S)

September 2022 - Emulated shots provided by (R).

October 2022 - Emulated videos provided by (R).

ROM STATUS: SAFEGUARDED

BREAKERS

Original Working Title: Crystal Legacy
Released as: Breakers
Developer: VISCO
Released: December 1996

The Breakers fighting game series (released in 1996 and 1998) began development as far back as 1994. Originally entitled Crystal Legacy, the game centered around fighters searching for the "Tenrin no syo" master scroll and 8 crystals. It was initially given an earlier NGH product number (NGM-072) which was revoked after the game underwent a 2 year makeover before releasing at position NGM-230. A sequel then followed at (NGM-245).

April 1994 - presented at the Japan 1994 AM show.

May 1994 - official arcade flyer produced by VISCO.

July 1994 - Gamest Magazine runs a full page article on Crystal Legacy.

July 1994 - A preview shown in the NEOGEO guide book

August 1994 - Visco places an advertisement in Game Machine Magazine.

September 1994 - Japan Amusement Monthly Vol.4 #1 has an article with a screenshot.
September 1994 - article with screenshots in DENGEKI OH Magazine

(?) 1994 - Consoles Plus Magazine runs a FRENCH article on Crystal Legacy.

(?) 1994 - Unknown Publication runs a KOREAN article on Crystal Legacy.

(?) 1994 - VISCO places an AD for Crystal Legacy in Gamest.

November 1994 - Electronic Gaming Monthly #68 has an article with screenshots.

December 1994 - Game Machine has a short article with a screenshot.

January 2005 - Emulated screenshots (X)

January 2005 - Emulated screenshots (R)

January 2005 - Emulated VIDEOS (R)

Additional NEO-GEO BETA Title Screens

Baseball Stars 2 was originally referred to in SNK documents as "Baseball Stars Professional II". It was also stated that the player could play in leagues and tournaments. Baseball Stars 2 originally had solid black letters for its title as well as different colors utilized for the stars, the uniforms, etc. The US title screen was also altered prior to release from crediting SNK Corporation to the newly reformed SNK Home Entertainment. Even some debug code can be seen on the top right corner of the title as well.

King of the Monsters 2, which has the subtitle of "The Next Thing" was originally called The Next Thing, with the subtitle of King of the Monsters II" The same thing with regards to Sengoku 2. It was originally titled "Sengoku II". The first big "sequel" push by SNK came to us during this time with these three games, as well as the Japanese Quiz Detective 2 game. Someone in the marketing department must have been debating these last minute changes to the titles of these games.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
SNK put quite a bit of effort and detail into the Sengoku games. They were intended to be the shining stars of the side scrolling beat 'em up genre. But the theme of Sengoku was (at the time) considered to be unsuitable for the US market. Even the title was going to be changed because it sounded too foreign. (The working titles for Sengoku and Last Resort were Battle World and Shooting World). And by the time Sengoku 2 was nearing completion, the arcade industry trend was shifting from side scrolling beat 'em ups to one on one fighting. Sengoku 2 originally had 6 stages, but the final release was cut down to just 4. The removed stages were excessively violent and contained offensive religious symbols. The game had a very small production run on both MVS and HOME formats and the English home cart release was only intended for the EUROPEAN market.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
An early beta of Burning Fight was found and it contained many differences from the final rom build. Some of the later stages were not yet finished and could not be accessed without the memory card. Also one of the 3 main characters was drawn very different.

Here we can see that Robo Army originally used different colors for the title text and originally kept the forward marching army from the introduction sequence in the background behind it.

Take a look at this radically different and much simpler looking title screen shot taken from an earlier March 1996 rom build of Ninja Master's. (the final was released in June 1996)

An early title screen for Puzzle de Pon with its' original working title.

An early beta title screen for Neo Mr. Do! with a 1995 copyright date and a red and white versus red and yellow logo.

An early beta title screen for Neo Drift Out. Again, a plain black background and the "All Right Reserved" line is missing the S.

An 82 MEG early beta of SNK's 3 Count Bout!

(PLACEHOLDER TEXT LINE)

Amazingly, the 106 Mega Shock SNK wrestling game 3 Count Bout, which features 10 player selectable characters, was originally an 82 Meg game with only 8 selectable characters. However, all is not what it seems. Although the final version had 2 more characters to choose from, 2 of them were simply "pallette swaps" of other characters with alternate names.

At first, we assumed this "9th" character was originally intended to be a final boss character. (very similar to the Great Puma of Nintendo's NES Pro Wrestling) However upon closer inspection, it was discovered that he was actually the original concept for Roy Wilson. Roy Wilson began as a "standard" wrestler (similar to Terry Rogers) but was eventually redrawn and recreated with a more diverse personality as a German rastafarian character.

It is completely unknown as to why SNK made these changes. If they had enough time to redo one character, as well as double up two others, why not simply leave the roster at 8 with the 9th character as a final elusive boss? A boss that could also be hidden and playable. Surely this would have been a far better addition then simply repeating 2 characters. With some more time, SNK might have been able to have incorporated a real final boss into this game, but instead the character Master Barnes was given the status of "current SWF champion" and as such is the last wrestler you must defeat to see the ending.

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