JoeViking245

No idea what "SW and MC" and "SW,ESB" are.  If they're arcade machines, check if there's a "SW and MC".ini file or "SW,ESB".ini file.  Of course, replace you acronyms with the ROMs' name. 
Or look for an ini file named after those machines BIOS name or parent system.
If the machines use the same monitor type atypical to most games, look for their monitor type .ini file (vector, raster, lcd...)
Whatever may be in those would override what's in mame.ini.

There's an article in the LaunchBox Strategy Guide regarding the Media Packs.
See here: LaunchBox Media Pack Feature – Version 13.21 - LaunchBox

If anything, it would make it "slower".  You've essentially added 4 additional fields that it now has to parse through as well.  However, my guess is it'll search the main Title first, then the alternate names [if there wasn't a hit in the main title].  Making the alternate title(s) a moot point [in this example].  (IF my guess is correct)
Now... say, if you rename the games' Title to "My Favorite Game", it would probably be nice to have those alternate names available.  ("I renamed the game to something really cool but forgot what I called it. But I know it had the game "Doodle" in it.")
 
That all said, searching happens pretty dang fast.  I think you'll spend way more time adding in the alternate titles than you could ever collectively save waiting for search results.

I'm believe Default Plus was the 1st theme to implement the platform icons feature. So it had placed them into it's own folder structure.  Subsequently a 'universal' folder was added to store those images.
If you wish to have those icons available for all your Themes (i.e. themes other than just Default Plus), they can be placed in:
\LaunchBox\Images\Platform Icons\Platforms\
Note: As a fallback, Default Plus will also look for icon images in this folder if a particular one doesn't exist within its own folder structure.

Did any of the other platform versions/ports show up with just "Shantae"?
 
I just tried it, and it was found here.  This is what I did:
Clicked on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance platform went to Tools < Import < Manually Add Game... (actually I just pressed Ctrl+N. Same thing). typed in "Shantae" (without quotes) and pressed Enter 
 

It does. But I thought you already put the BIOS (neogeo.zip) into the same folder as the ROMs.  And make sure you're still working with SNK NeoGeo Carts and not SNK NeoGeo CD.
Also, in most cases, you don't need to have the media type (i.e. -cart) in the command-line parameters.  So here you could have just:
-rompath %romlocation% neogeo  
For [future] Reference:
Go here:     http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/dettaglio_mame.php?game_name=neogeo
Scroll down to  and click on SHOW...
That'll show what files are required for that system.
 
Save the above link, change just the last part (neogeo) to the system you're working on next.  (32x, neocd, etc.)

Off hand, my guess is the [extra] period you have between unmute and bigbox.  You can try putting the entire parameter "within quotes" (just like you have in the batch file). Or try removing that dot ('period').   But NOT the dot before ahk.
 
If you end up going this route, create a shortcut to the batch file.  Right click the shortcut and select Properties.  Next to "Run", change it to Minimized.  Click OK to save and close.  Then point to the shortcut.
 

Could it be you have Exit Game mapped in LaunchBox?   (Tools < Options < GameControllers < Mappings)
Or if in Big Box, Close the Active Window. (System Menu <  Options < Controller Mappings)

The error indicates something is up with your license file. Email support@unbrokensoftware.com and they can sort it out for you.
Anytime an error code like that is tossed it's one of three situations:
1. The license is banned
2. The license has been altered (you tried to change details in the file, or the file has been corrupted).
3. You are using an Android license on PC or vice versa

Not that I've seen.  You can have custom Startup screens per platform within your selected Startup Theme. But not for Shutdown screens.
You can however customize the Shutdown screen (change it up to your liking) in your selected Theme. But is still a one-Shutdown-screen for all platforms.

It's because in v1 you could set the index. Which really shouldn't be done. That's why Jayjay removed it in v2.

That plugin's been broken since LaunchBox v13.19.  However, it will still work in LB v13.18 and older
Due to lack of interest noted on its download and support pages, the author hasn't deemed it worthwhile to take the time to update it.  Or rather, do a near complete rewrite to make it work again.
Fortunately, the list of ROMs Demul can run is relatively short and can be obtained by running "demul.exe –listroms" at the Windows command prompt.

What happens is, when a theme makes a call to a specific View (i.e. the Music Notification popup) and that view doesn't exist, Big Box will look for it in the Default themes' folder. (it's like magic )
I suspect if, instead of replacing the KeyboardView.xaml file, if you simply removed it from the /Critical Zone - BlueBox/Views/ folder, it would work [as well].  Maybe.  However, replacing it with one that's known to work is probably the safest bet.  
Well done on using your resources at hand!

I didn't know that games could be launched via a URL.  Not that I know, ya. It makes sense.  
 
What it does when you click "the button" (v1.1.0😞
Scans all games in the selected platform If the games' Application Path is a shortcut (.lnk) or a weblink shortcut (.url) If the shortcut file exists The game is marked as Installed (Installed = true) If the shortcut file does NOT exist The game is marked as Un-Installed (Installed = false) ScanForUninstalled (v1.1.0).7z

Force update the metadata file.
Tools < Download < Force Update Games Database Metadata...

Using Custom platform icon images is not available in the free version.
If you decide to get a premium license, then it's simply a matter of placing the image files in your /LaunchBox/Images/Platform Icons/Platforms/ folder.
i.e.
DREAMM.png Installed eXoDOS Games.png ScummVM SVN.png

When launching a MAME game from LaunchBox, I can't say I've ever heard of it only opening the MAME UI. Unless of course when you right-click a game and select Open MAME. Usually if there's an issue, you'd see a flicker of a black screen, then it goes right back to LaunchBox.
The only thing I can think of that may be the issue is the ROMs being in the root of the drive (vs in a folder), in conjunction with using the -rompath parameter to tell MAME where the ROMs are located.  Not that using the parameter is bad. It's it pointing to a root drive instead of a folder.
As a test, could you put a rom into a folder, change the games path in LaunchBox to this [test] location and try launching it?
I always use 1942 (1942.zip) because it's near the top and easy to find.    So maybe try something like D:\games\1942.zip and see if that launches correctly.
 
EDIT:  Just did some testing and appears MAME doesn't like (or doesn't know how) looking in a root drive for ROMs.  aka, you need to place the ROMs into a folder.
You can create the folder name of your choosing and move the ROMs there.  Then in LaunchBox, in the Arcade platform, select a game then press Ctrl+A to select all games.  Then go to Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games... and point to the new folder they're in.

What you're seeing is actually an empty 3D Model (vs a 3D Image).  The Models get composed from Box-Front, Box-Back and Spine (or Clear Logo) images.
They actually look quite nice if you have those images available.
You can disable the "hideous" 3D Model image under Tools < Options < Visuals < Game Details - Show 3D Model.

Select the games in the given platform and then go to:
Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...

Try updating your local database file.    Tools < Download < Force Update Games Database Metadata...
BTW, I have never heard a solution to any issue being "delete LaunchBox and reinstall it entirely".  

I just ran a test to confirm what you're experiencing.
Tools < Import < ROM Files < Single Platform
In my case I selected a folder "Nintendo 64".  It auto-detected the platform and then gave the option to install RetroArch. Choosing "Install RetroArch", the wizard proceeds without giving the option to download bezels.
 
Test #2, same steps but instead of having LaunchBox automatically install the emulator, I selected "Manually Configure Emulator".  Added a new emulator (RetroArch) and continuing through the wizard, the "Download Bezels from The Bezel Project?" screen appeared this time.
 
My guess as to what's happening is, when choosing "Install RetroArch", RetroArch isn't technically installed until the end of the Import process. So the wizard doesn't "see" retroarch,.exe and skips the bezel section.
 
The good thing is, it'll only do that once. Or at least until RetroArch exists as an emulator.  The bad thing is it happens once. 
The easy fix is to re-add those games and the wizard this time should show the bezel option screen.  Subsequent platforms using RetroArch as the emulator should see the bezel option screen during the import wizard as well.
Feel free to report a bug here:  Feedback - LaunchBox  This way the developers will have a 1st hand report of the bug and can process accordingly. (Rather than them sifting through oodles of Forum threads.)

Before you indicated is said Nothing to Do.  No Missing Playlists makes more sense.   I just ran a test on v13.18 and v13.19 and it worked here to 'add the missing playlist'. 
Based on the actual message it gave to you, makes me wonder, if you switched to the Playlists view (left panel, change from Platform Category to Playlists), if it would appear there.  And that for some reason it just didn't nest it under the platform.  Maybe look there to see if there're 2 [similar] playlists (the 1 generated and the one you created).
 
The one it generated for me looks like this.

Those are some of the files that are supposed to be inside sf2.zip.  Since this is the parent ROM for the game, this (plus several others) should all be inside the zip file.
Beyond that, not sure what to tell you. 

Your 1st screenshot is showing (not showing) the games' Clear Logos.  If a game doesn't have its Clear Log, plain text will be shown.
If in LaunchBox, you recently added [more] game Clear Logos (or any other images for that matter), in BigBox you need to update the image cache.
System Menu < Options < Image Cache - select 1 or more options
 
Your 2nd screenshot if for Platform Videos.

I presume "EmuMovies".  
After adding your EmuMovies credentials into LaunchBox and verifying it works (which you have done).. I think what you're after is
Tools Download Update Metadata and Media for All Games When you get to the LaunchBox images click Check None  Then for the EmuMovies click Check All (or just the ones you actually need)