(Enlarge) Configuration and book keeping menus in the SP-2 MVS system ROM.

The system ROM (often called BIOS) is a ROM containing code for the 68k startup program, some lookup tables, and various generic functions which can or must be used by games. They are present in all hardware types in various versions. The NeoGeo CD system ROM also contains graphics, sound, and Z80 code.

Official system ROMs have their nationality set by the byte at address $000401 (0=Japan, 1=US, 2=Euro), and their type set by the byte at $000400 (0=AES, $80=MVS).

Hashes

Copied from MAME's source code.

Ref.	Version	CRC32	SHA-1
SP-S	Europe MVS (V1)	C7F2FA45	09576FF20B4D6B365E78E6A5698EA450262697CD
SP-S2	Europe MVS (V2)	9036D879	4F5ED7105B7128794654CE82B51723E16E389543
SP-E	US MVS (V1)	2723A5B5	5DBFF7531CF04886CDE3EF022FB5CA687573DCB8
SP-U2	US MVS (V2?)	E72943DE	5C6BBA07D2EC8AC95776AA3511109F5E1E2E92EB
V2	US MVS (4-slot V2)	62F021F4	62D372269E1B3161C64AE21123655A0A22FFD1BB
ASIA-S3	Asia MVS (V3)	91B64BE3	720A3E20D26818632AEDF2C2FD16C54F213543E1
VS-BIOS	Japan MVS (V3)	F0E8F27D	ECF01EDA815909F1FACEC62ABF3594EAA8D11075
SP-J2	Japan MVS (V2)	ACEDE59C	B6F97ACD282FD7E94D9426078A90F059B5E9DD91
SP1	Japan MVS (V1)	9FB0ABE4	18A987CE2229DF79A8CF6A84F968F0E42CE4E59D
SP-45	Asia MVS (V4.5)	03CC9F6A	CDF1F49E3FF2BAC528C21ED28449CF35B7957DC1
JAPAN-J3	Japan MVS (V3)	DFF6D41F	E92910E20092577A4523A6B39D578A71D4DE7085
SP-1V1	Hotel unit (V1.3)	162F0EBE	FE1C6DD3DFCF97D960065B1BB46C1E11CB7BF271
NEO-EPO	Export AES	D27A71F1	1B3B22092F30C4D1B2C15F04D1670EB1E9FBEA07
NEO-PO	Japan AES	16D0C132	4E4A440CAE46F3889D20234AEBD7F8D5F522E22C
DEBUG	Dev. Sys.	698EBB7D	081C49AA8CC7DAD5939833DC1B18338321EA0A07

Use

The system ROM contents are simply mapped at $C00000 and available at all times.

See:

Home system

Size: 128KiB. Named NEO-EP0.

MVS

Size: 128KiB. Often named "SP" for System Program. Many different versions.

SP-S2 in PROM/MaskROM
SP1 in EPROM
SPJ Japanese system ROM on a ROM-only arcade board.

SPJ Japanese system ROM on a ROM-only arcade board.

CD/CDZ

File:Cd2 bios.jpg

TOP-SP1 system ROM on a NEO-CDM3-2 board.

File:Cdzbiosgfx.png

Graphic visualisation of the CDZ system ROM, highlighting the different data blocks.

Size: 512KiB.

FRONT-SP1 (Front loader)
TOP-SP1 (Top loader using LC8953)
TOP-SP2 (Top loader using LC98000)
TOP-SPD (CDZ)

Contains Z80 and 68k programs, ADPCM sound, and graphics which are copied to the corresponding DRAMs at boot time. There is no SFIX ROM or SM1 ROMs in CD systems (but still a LO ROM).

The CD1 and CD2 system ROMs contain credits, organized to be displayed on the fix layer (how can this be seen ?):

CREDITS
SOFTWARE NORIYUKI HIGASHI
HARDWARE MOTOO YOKOYAMA TOSHIYA YAHARA
GRAPHICS OTIAI
SPECIAL  JON   GUSO
THANKS   CURRY SHIMIZU
SNK ALL STAFF

Noriyuki Higashi is the infamous "Mr.Noric".
Toshiya Yahara is cited as the inventor of the NeoGeo Pocket power supply in an SNK patent.
Jo(h)n Guso is credited as a programmer in several games.

Sound drivers

The CD1 and CD2 system ROMs (FRONT-SP1 and TOP-SP1/SP2) include the "Ver 3.0 by Mr.Noric.1993/11/10 14:00" Z80 sound driver.

The CDZ version includes the "Ver 3.0 by MAKOTO.04/03/10 to SK" driver.

UniBIOS

Hacked MVS system ROM with various added functionalities such as cheats, debug DIPs settings, region and system switch, CRC checking, a jukebox, error handling. See Universe BIOS.

Neopen BIOS

Opensource AES/MVS system ROM in development. See Neopen BIOS.

System ROM

Contents