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Some Psikyo games have secret ships that are unlocked in some manner:

Sengoku Blade/Tengai and Strikers 1945 Plus: Input command, it's always available.
Gunbird 2 and Strikers 1999/1945 III: Input code in test menu, then input command.

I don't think any of these characters are particularly gamebreaking, but I'm sure some would disagree. Even so, would either of these be allowed? I assume the first two would, but the second two allows nvram clear to force the test menu step to be shown.

long response time here:

If you include the nvram state with the zip, we could allow this since it should playback, but nvram files are tricky get one thing wrong and it won't playback.

The main reason for the nvram rule is to keep everyone aware that existence and non exsitence of nvrams can cause playback issues, the second reason is to make everyone start at the same level, so if the nvram is shared and everyone can use it, i don't see why a default nvram start file can be used by everyone, if it creates some interesting gameplay.

Current MAME romsets for these games (at least the Psikyo SH-2 ones do) already have a default state for the EEPROM.

Also, the methods for Strikers 1945 III and Gunbird 2 are detailed in the MAME source.

For Strikers 1945 III: Press the test switch, go to Maintenance Mode, enter the code 01999, and press button 1. Go back to the test menu and select Exit. System restarts, and now you can select X-36 on the plane select screen by pressing Up on the "?" square. I believe there are already INPs uploaded to MARP that do this.

For Gunbird 2: Same as above, but the code is 51024, and you press down on the "?" square to select Aine.

NVRAM is not required.