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DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
QP is a variety software game by Success originally named Quiz Puzzle and then later
changed to Quality People. It began development in 1995 as a NEOGEO CD exclusive title.
At some point in 1996, the quiz elemements of the game were minimized and the puzzle
elements were improved with an emphasis on more action. The game consisted of the
player challenging 6 opponents across 20 mini games, half of them puzzle based and
half action based, as well as 3 bonus rounds.
The producer was SUCCESS and the developer was a woman named Ito Shinobu. Neither
had ever released a NEOGEO game before and the fact that development of the game
began on the CD platform, may very well have been the main factor in why it sufferred
unprecedented delays and eventually never saw a release. Anyone who analyses the
screen shots from the game can clearly see that things just don't line up correctly.
The standard fixed layer NEOGEO credit and level displays are not on screen. Also,
the placement of the standard instructional text such as "Insert Coin", "Press Start
Button" and "continue" is completely unorthodoxed. Not even ONE of the 148 MVS
released games deviated from the standards set by SNK in the 1990 Dev Manual.
Even Ito herself indirectly admits and alludes to wrestling with these complications
due to the games foundation and structure when explaining that the details of the
games full story were too long to explain after putting a coin in and pressing start!
And so, Ito instead put the story explanation in the attract mode loop, which looped
in this order: Title screen demo – gameplay demo – story explanation.
Lastly, even had those serious issues been worked out and corrected, the game was
now several years behind schedule, and more importantly, the genre itself (variety game)
was simply not well suited for the MVS or home cartridge system format. Had it been
completed years earlier and/or had they focussed on the original intention of the
game being a CD system exclusive, then it would have probably had a different fate.
Success ended up never releasing a NEOGEO game, however, in 1999 they did at least
release "Cotton", a unique cult classic cutesy shooter, for the Neo-Geo Pocket
portable gaming system.
NOTE: QP at NGM-204 is not confirmed. It could have been assigned NGM-099 instead.
INFORMATION TIMELINE:
-- May 1995 -- NGF Magazine page 111 says QP is being developed for CD for January 1996.
-- June 1995 -- SNK places an advertisement in Game Machine which LISTS the game.
-- April 1996 -- Arcade Game Magazine has QP listed as a CD game title.
-- February 1997 -- NGF Magazine changes QP from a CD title to an MVS title.
-- March 1997 -- QP has a big article in NEO GEO FREAK Magazine.
-- April 1997 -- QP has a big article in NEO GEO FREAK Magazine.
-- May 1997 -- QP has an article in GAMEST Magazine.
-- June 1997 -- a picture of the lead programmer and the development board behind her.
-- (?) -- An article with 2 screenshots from a magazine. (date and publication unknown)
-- August 1998 -- the game disappears from the NGF coming soon lists as the project is killed.
CURRENT STATUS: UNKNOWN / LOST AND PRESUMED DEAD
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