VGDensetsu

There's a Magician Lord 2 prototype on NeoGeo Pocket Color.

Probably, yes.

Tokeijikake no Aquario, Nekketsu Oyako, Blast Wind, etc.

The Hyper Neo Geo 64 system was originally designed for 2D, and a prototype racing game similar to Outrun using 2D sprites was in development (probably Roads Edge / Round Trip). But along the way, the system and the project switched to 3D.
5/5

Pinball Fantasia: Last Odyssey title screen

The NeoGeo game Pinball Fantasia: Last Odyssey underwent a location test at the same time as World Heroes Perfect in 1995, but with less exposure, in an isolated corner of the NeoGeo Land in Osaka. The game was completed but never released.
Video:
youtu.be/R6CjyIyzJb4?...
4/5

Mutation Nation was scheduled for release in 1991 and was even completed by that date, but SNK spread out the releases of its beat 'em ups, and Robo Army and Eight Man were released first, partly due to their results in location tests.
3/5

Mutation Nation was originally called Dream Over, but the name was changed by SNK's marketing department. Among the ideas that were scrapped were battles with hoverboards, similar to those in Back to the Future.
2/5

YouTube video by GAME IMPACT 【10/13・19時より公開生配信！】NEOGEOトークRound1(１回目)元SNKグラフィックJ.MIKAMI出演！ネオジオ開発トーク＆ネオジオ実機ゲームプレイ（MAX90分のトーク）

In 2024, Masashi Mikami gave a lecture in which he discussed his years at SNK.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Cj...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGY...
According to him, Shinkiro was also involved in game development when he started at SNK; for example, he did playtesting on Soccer Brawl.
1/5

The console looks like a flat NeoGeo CDZ

"As February comes to an end, I’d like to reintroduce myself. I’m JM (real name: MASASHI MIKAMI), and I was with SNK from April 1, 1991 to January 1995. When I first joined, I worked at SNK’s Tokyo development studio, which was located in Akihabara at the time. Later, in the fall of 1991, SNK Tokyo Development was closed and the team relocated to the Osaka headquarters. During my time there, I was mainly involved in the development of titles such as Mutation Nation, Samurai Shodown, Super Sidekicks, Savage Reign, and the Sega Genesis version of Art of Fighting. I was responsible for character and background pixel art on these projects. I hope to continue sharing memories and behind-the-scenes stories from those days. Thank you for your support. “JM” comes from “J. MIKAMI,” the name used in the staff credits of my early works."

I, JM, was with SAURUS from February 1995 to February 1997. SAURUS was established in part as a tax strategy for SNK, which was making tremendous profits at the time. All of its shares were 100% owned by SNK’s Executive Vice President, Nishiyama. I also believe it was meant to fulfill the promise of bringing the former SNK Tokyo development team back to Tokyo. During my time there, I was mainly involved in the development of titles such as Pleasure Goal: 5 on 5 Mini Soccer and Shock Troopers. After that, I joined Grams (the company that developed titles like QUOVADIS) at the invitation of a junior colleague from my SNK days, and I participated in the development of the Avalon Hill series. However, the company went bankrupt just six months later…

Former SNK / Saurus / GLAM / Camelot graphic designer Masashi Mikami on SNK and Saurus:
xcancel.com/JM_NewBreed/...
xcancel.com/JM_NewBreed/...

He is a mix of two references: Mad Bull 34 + Jean Valjean from the play Les misérables (which explains why Haggar was the mayor).
game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/colu...
x.com/neo_tarou/st...

And it's probably also well known the graffiti in Street Fighter 1 literally is him!

Bill Bull sprite

picture of Bill Craven

According to Akira Nishitani, Bill Bull from Final Fight was based on former Capcom USA VP of Sales & MarketingBill Craven.
xcancel.com/game7650/sta...

Note that some graphics were redone or added after Utata left for the US version.

image 1: Mai in a well-lit background image 2: Mai in a darker background

In Fatal Fury 3, the characters' color palette varies depending on the lighting in the levels (dark or light).
xcancel.com/ryo_redcyclo...

an issue of Nintendo Power featuring Metal Storm on the cover

... which Utata discovered via a store in Akihabara that imported Western games, where he spotted an issue of Nintendo Power with Metal Storm on the cover. The game did well in the US and was finally released in Japan in 1992.
2/2
x.com/kurofunepai/...
x.com/kurofunepai/...
x.com/kurofunepai/...

Metal Storm box art by Irem in-house artist Shinji Kubota

According to Kiyoshi Utata, who designed approximately 90% of the game's graphics (with some parts redone by director Kengo Miyata), Metal Storm was completed in 1989, but it was not initially released in Japan due to a lack of pre-orders.
The game was finally released in the US in 1991, ...
1/2

Nostalgia 1907 box art: painting of a golden porthole used as a picture frame. A woman, a boat and a face seen in close-up

Kōichi Yotsui also did the box art for the Mega-CD version (signed Ren-Con)

Kōichi Yotsui is credited under 3 different names in Nostalgia 1907:
Ren Con Ten Shin: character design
Isuke (a pseudonym he also used at Capcom): scenario program
Kōichi Yotsui: director

According to Kiyoshi Utata, the Mega-CD version of Nostalgia 1907 was outsourced.
(Sometimes I make posts that are essentially or even solely intended for GDRI)
xcancel.com/kurofunepai/...

I just saw that, but I don't have any leads

Same here.

A・B Cop (Arcade - 1990) Programmer Gundeck / Vice: Project Doom (Famicom - 1991) sub-planner Viewpoint (NeoGeo - 1992) co-director Foresight Dolly (PC-98 - 1994) sub-planner, scenario Blazing Star (NeoGeo - 1998) Director Fatal Fury First Contact (NGPC - 1999) Director Love Hina Pocket (GBC - 2000) Super Real Mahjong Dōsōkai (GBA - 2004) scenario Mario Party Advance (GBA - 2005) Planning Walk It Out! (Wii - 2010) Director Fairy Tail : Gekitotsu ! Kardia Daiseidou (DS - 2011) Kokoro Connect: Yochi Random (PSP - 2012) Hello Kitty no DokiDoki Fruit Petanque (G-Cluster - 2013)

Wildran / Michio Sato stated that he left Yumekobo before it closed, but he was probably still there in 1999 as he worked on Fatal Fury 1st Contact (released in May 99).
x.com/wildran3/sta...
www.mobygames.com/person/22277...
Some of the games he has worked on (he still works in the VG industry BTW)

3e journée d'affilée en chemise au taf et pendant les pauses à l'extérieur ici.

Raiden Fighters flyer

Raiden Fighters 2 flyer

Raiden Fighters Jet flyer

Note that Masami Ohnishi / 大西将美 did the flyer illustrations for the original episodes of the Raiden Fighters series.
vgdensetsu.net/masamiohnishi/

3 fighter jets in the sky

Raiden Fighters Remix Collection illustration by Hidetaka Tenjin / 天神英貴
raiden.mossjp.co.jp/raiden_frc/

Dino is the name of the player's spaceship in Pulstar, and its title screen features a ‘Project Dino’ logo. But maybe their company's name was just a tribute?

The game was released in arcades on January 19, 1998 with what appears to have been rather mixed success and no release on the consoles of the time (NeoGeo, NeoGeo CD, Saturn, PS1).
18/18

a 4-page article taken from NeoGeo Freak

a 4-page article taken from NeoGeo Freak

a 4-page article taken from NeoGeo Freak

a 4-page article taken from NeoGeo Freak

before they could create the ending. A mid-game cutscene, designed for a hypothetical NeoGeo CD version, was also shelved. All that remains are what was published in NeoGeo Freak.
17/18

The end of development was apparently rushed by SNK with a rather sudden location test held at NeoGeo Land in Osaka. The Blazing Star team was reassigned to debugging the Saturn version of The King of Fighters (Wildran said ‘96’, but it's more likely to be ‘97’, released in March 1998)...
16/18