Neo Turf Masters
Specifically, the pocket edition
Let me not be the first to say that Neo Turf Masters (a.k.a. Big Tournament Golf) is one of the greatest golf games there is. The Neo Geo's second of two golf simulators released during its lifetime in the arcade market, Neo Turf Masters is - very, very technically - the third Major Title game, being as developer Nazca were made up of former Irem staff. Neo Turf Masters would go from being celebrated by the fighting game community as a niche tournament game, to being re-released for mobile phones, to being a part of Hamster Corporation's Arcade Archives series of retro reissues.
 |
| OHH NOO!! |
But this is not about that version of the game. Today, I'm talking about the Neo Geo Pocket Color port, and a particular eccentricity it has. Where the arcade and Neo Geo CD versions of NTM had a list of fairly normal-sounding names of golfers to populate its tournament scoreboard, the NGPC version features a list of 95 names cribbing from everything from other SNK games, to names of celebrities and even characters from anime. In this way, pocket Neo Turf is the ultimate golf crossover game, even if you never actually get to see the other golfers anywhere but the scoreboard, and also a snapshot into what was popular in 1999 when the game was released.
 |
| Player 1 starts to strike back. This is Nazca's Report. |
I took it upon myself to extract the list of names from the ROM file with a hex editor, organize them into a spreadsheet, and give my best guess as to what they're all from. I don't know all of them, and some of them may as well be impossible to guess, short of tracking down a developer and asking them if they remember. But I gave them my best attempts, and left comments explaining my guesses. It stands to reason that if you feel like I'm wrong, get in touch; I'd like to know what you think some of these are.
NTM name |
Real name |
Weasel's comment |
|---|---|---|
| ACOSTA | Alberto Federico 'Beto' Acosta Tabizzi? | Famous soccer player; was playing for Sporting Clube de Portugal at the time |
| AGASI | Andre Agassi? | Famous tennis player |
| AKEBONO | Tarou Akebono | Famous sumo wrestler and yokozuna at the time |
| ANAQUIN | A stretch, but is this meant to be "Anakin"? Star Wars Ep1 was new at the time... | |
| ARNOLD | Arnold Palmer | Famous golfer |
| ASAMIYA | Athena Asamiya | Psycho Soldier |
| ASRA | Asra/Asura | Samurai Shodown (64 II) |
| BANDERAS | Antonio Banderas? | Actor |
| BOGARD | Terry Bogard | Fatal Fury |
| BREA | ||
| CAMERON | James Cameron? | Director (Titanic would have still been huge news when this game was new) |
| CHANG | Chang Koehan | King of Fighters (Korea team) |
| CHIN | Chin Gentsai | King of Fighters (Psycho Soldier team) |
| CHOI | Choi Bounge | King of Fighters (Korea team) |
| CLARK | Clark Still | Ikari Warriors |
| CRINTON | Bill Clinton? | President of the United States, when this game was released |
| DAIDOHJI | Tomoyo Daidouji? | From Cardcaptor Sakura (was still running at the time of this game's release) |
| DAIMON | Goro Daimon | King of Fighters (Japan team) |
| DESLER | ||
| DION | Dio/Neo Dio? Dion Dakis? | World Heroes 2 (Boss), or noted distributor of Neo-Geo AES in the US |
| ERABU | Maybe the "erabu sea snake"? | |
| FIDINI | ||
| GALFORD | Galford D. Weller | Samurai Shodown |
| GARCIA | Robert Garcia | Art of Fighting |
| GERMI | Fiolina "Fio" Germi | Metal Slug |
| GOENITZ | Goenitz | King of Fighters ('96 boss) |
| HAWARD | Geese Howard | Fatal Fury (misspelled) |
| HEIDERN | Heidern | Ikari Warriors |
| HIGASHI | Joe Higashi | Fatal Fury |
| HOLIFELD | Evander Holyfield | Famous boxer |
| HONFU | Hon Fu | Fatal Fury |
| HOUSTON | Could be damned near anything. | |
| JACKAL | Jackal | Shock Troopers (another game by Saurus, devs of this NGPC port) |
| JIN | Jin Chonshu, Jin Chonrei, or Jin Fuha | Fatal Fury or Art of Fighting |
| KAGURA | Chizuru Kagura | King of Fighters (Sacred Treasures team) |
| KANE | Billy Kane | Fatal Fury |
| KENSOU | Sie Kensou | Psycho Soldier |
| KIM | Kim Kaphwan | Fatal Fury |
| KING | King | Art of Fighting |
| KINOMOTO | Sakura Kinomoto? | From Cardcaptor Sakura |
| KRAUSER | Wolfgang Krauser | Fatal Fury |
| KUSANAGI | Kyo Kusanagi, or Saisyu Kusanagi | King of Fighters (Japan team) |
| LEE | Lee Pai Long | Art of Fighting; could also be Lee Recca from The Last Blade |
| LUCUS | George Lucas? | Director (Star Wars Episode One hype was in full swing at this time) |
| MACGAIA | Mark McGwire? | Famous baseball player (bit of a stretch) |
| MARCHRIUS | Marchrius Dennis "Marco" Rossi | Metal Slug |
| MARU | Maru | Shock Troopers |
| MATSUI | There are so many Matsuis; who knows what they meant | |
| MATSUZAKA | Daisuke Matsuzaka | Famous baseball player (played for Seibu Lions at the time) |
| MAXIMA | Maxima | King of Fighters (New Hero team) |
| MORDEN | General Donald Morden | Metal Slug |
| MR BIG | Mr. Big | Art of Fighting |
| NAKATA | Plenty of notable Nakatas; feel free to hazard a guess. | |
| NAZARIO | Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima | Famous soccer player (played for Inter Milan at the time) |
| NIKAIDO | Benimaru Nikaido | King of Fighters (Japan team) |
| NOMURA | Plenty of famous Nomuras too | |
| NORMO | ||
| OBUCHI | Keizou Obuchi | Japan's Prime Minister at the time of this game's release |
| PETRUSIC | ||
| PLAYER 1 | You, the player | These two strings appear at the end of the name list |
| PLAYER 2 | You, the player | |
| RAIDEN | Raiden | Fatal Fury |
| RALF | Ralf Jones | Ikari Warriors |
| REONALD | Probably supposed to be "Leonard"? | |
| ROKI | Loki | Shock Troopers |
| ROLAN | Was the name of a kaiju in Ultraman Leo but I'm not certain that's the intent | |
| RUGAL | Rugal Bernstein | King of Fighters (recurring boss) |
| RUINSKI | Monica Lewinsky? | Famous presidential aide. Yeah that's what I'm gonna say here =| |
| SAKAZAKI | Ryo Sakazaki, or Yuri, or Takuma | Art of Fighting - Frankly Takuma seems the most likely to be into golf |
| SEO | Seo Yong Song? | Buriki One |
| SHIKI | Shiki | Samurai Shodown |
| SHIRANUI | Mai Shiranui | Fatal Fury |
| SINCLAIR | Sinclair | Art of Fighting |
| SNAKE | ||
| SOKLOV | Ivan Sokolov | Buriki One |
| SORSA | Sammy Sosa? | Famous baseball player |
| SUHALT | Suharto? | Former president of Indonesia; the "fall of Suharto" was big news at the time |
| TAISAN | Taizan Morozumi? | Samurai Shodown |
| TAKAHASHI | Third most common Japanese surname. Good luck. | |
| TANGFU | Tung Fu Rue | Fatal Fury |
| TARMICLE | Tarmicle "Tarma" Roving III | Metal Slug |
| TENNDO | Gai Tendo | Buriki One |
| TOHDOH | Ryuhaku Todoh, or Kasumi | Art of Fighting |
| TOURSSIER | Philippe Troussier | Had just taken over coaching Japan's soccer team in 1998 |
| TOY | Toy | Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad |
| VAGNER | ||
| WANG | Wang Koh-San | Art of Fighting |
| WYLER | Tom Wyler | Art of Fighting |
| YABUKI | Shingo Yabuki | King of Fighters (edit character) |
| YAGAMI | Iori Yagami | King of Fighters (Rivals team) |
| YASHIRO | Yashiro Nanakase | King of Fighters (New Faces team) |
| YUKAWA | Akiko Yukawa? | SNK employee (animator for KoF 98-2000) |
| ZAGGALO | Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo | Famous soccer player and manager (was managing Portuguesa at the time) |
| ZIDANE | Zinedine Zidane | Famous soccer player (playing for the French national team at the time) |
| ZONEDIKE | Jung Zorndike | A remake of Blue Submarine No.6 (and OVA adaptation) were running at the time. Thanks, sega 🇵🇸 juice! |