Despite Ghostlop never being officially released to the public by SNK, a ROM image of the complete game was leaked online by homebrew developer Neobitz, allowing for it to be played.

[1][8][9][10] Its development was helmed by Nitro Ball director Koji Jinbo as producer, with Yuzuru Tsukahara serving as the project's sole designer.

[8][9][10] The sound was handled by Gamadelic members Hiroaki Yoshida, Masaaki Iwasaki and Shinichi Yamazaki, while character voice work was done by Lynn Harris and Ward Sexton, the latter of which is credited erroneously as Word E.

[5][6][15][16] SNK briefly considered re-releasing the title in 2001 but the idea was scrapped and was ultimately shelved for unknown reasons, leading Data East in notifying Japanese audiences about the cancelled launch via email, but several possible factors have been given as to why it was never published.

[12][17] In January 2002, emulated screenshots from a prototype cartridge surfaced online, indicating that the ROM image of the game was preserved but not made widely available to public.

[12] In February 2003, a MVS prototype cartridge of Ghostlop was acquired by video game collector Billy Pitt from an Ohio-based arcade operator, who received it via SNK.