This is the BIOS at war with the cartridge.
It sounds polite. It is a brick wall. The BIOS refuses to execute the code. It is the ultimate DRM for 1990, long before Denuvo. neo geo bios rom
This "slow death" was diabolical. Operators thought their hardware was failing, not the bootleg cart. It took crackers years to fully patch this out. The BIOS was actively fighting a war. Today, if you buy a "consolized MVS" (a converted arcade board) or a flash cart like the NeoSD, the first modification you will make is the BIOS. Nobody runs stock J3 or U3 anymore unless they are preservationists. This is the BIOS at war with the cartridge
For the emulation user, changing the BIOS from "Europe" to "Japan" is the difference between a sterile simulation and a neon-soaked Tokyo arcade fantasy. It is the difference between white blood and red blood. Between "You Win" and "WINNER." The BIOS refuses to execute the code
Do you run a stock BIOS or a UniBIOS? Have you ever been hit by the Green Screen of Death? Let me know in the comments below.