Yeah, 2 versions. Mag Lord is easy to tell - just die and find out. Nam [...] - Set 1 is supposedly no final boss continue, set 2 has continues. I haven't personally verified this though.
That is actually an intriguing topic with great archive values worth the risk of an elaboration...
Regarding Nam 1975, I could not find any verification on the Dr. R. Muckley matter. BBH is rather right, if he claims
here ('02) that it's skill alone, that let's you see NAM's ending.
But here's the story so far...
1. Shito starts the topic of different romsets in '06:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...NeoGeo-games&p=1988059&viewfull=1#post1988059
It's mostly about Magician Lord, but also NAM get's two interesting remarks: the
first by chrisr, concerning continues,
second by Lord, nota bene two years later in '08, about a gameplay demo not present in one of the sets.
2. In '10, we have a comeback of the matter, again by Shito of course:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...-answer-this&p=2950919&viewfull=1#post2950919
Not much changes, as in Mag Lord still steals the show, but SG donates us another info about
NAM's alternating continue issue.
3. In 2011 comes Shito's definite thread on this subject:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...ith-BIG-news&p=3135150&viewfull=1#post3135150
The NAM question though, rests unconfirmed.
4. Two years later, in 2013, we have another approach by James:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...ian-Lord-AES&p=3503226&viewfull=1#post3503226
There's also a theme related and congenial list on JNX worth checking out
here.
5. Finally, a semi-related thread occurs the same year ('13) in regard of the unlimited continues problem in SNK games in general:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...rds-question&p=3601177&viewfull=1#post3601177
And here's the last relevant NAM remark, or rather, a sort of confirmation of what has been already suspected. I quote:
"If you play in MVS mode, then you can just keep feeding it with credits (the last boss of NAM-1975 being an exception)."
So, the lesson seems clear: We still need a definite confirmation of the differences of both NAM '75 romsets, if there are any, and yes, this is a shout out to all you SNK Otakus out here. Deliver some answers... please
.