Your Dream Game Hackz

[Ed Oscuro]

I would like a vertically oriented hand held vidya game player, it would be pretty rad

not a Xerox Alto or a Vectrex, something actually no bigger than a Sega Nomad. modern technology looks promising

Mock-up spotted in the wild (minor NSFWryy notice)

[Skykid]

Final Fight - Three players.

I'm digging this idea: would be awesome.

[gameoverDude]

Nightmare in the Dark (Neo-Geo)
- Replace the hit points system with individual lives. Instead of losing a hit point and otherwise having the game proceed almost as if nothing happened, have the character die and get sent back to the starting point like Zupapa, Bubble Memories/Symphony, etc.

I've played the shit out of this game, and let me tell you, getting hit is enough of a penalty. You lose ALL your buffs AND your multiplier. This will seriously fuck up your score potentional, not only because of the multiplier, but without at least the Speed Up (blue potion), it's a lot harder to pick up all the diamonds after one-shot clearing a stage.

And also, if you're playing for score, you generally aren't picking up a lot of items during stages. There is some milking during boss fights that can help, but the random nature of item drops can be a real bitch and cost you millions in the end.

Actually that might be one thing that could be 'fixed' -- make the item drops somehow not random. Like killing a certain number of mobs with a shot drops a specific item.

True. While Fire Up is useful, losing Move Up is the biggest zonk of them all. Shame the item drops aren't keyed to a specific value of the ones digit in the timer, a score digit, the location you fire a kill shot from, or something. That makes getting the three bags of gold required for an 8x multiplier a hard thing. I generally don't get to 8x until after the first boss bites it. I sure wish I knew a way to guarantee a certain item. Range Up is the item I'm least afraid of losing. It's not bad to have, but definitely is the least important of the three.

Zupapa isn't quite as bad about this- there, the buffs are easier to come by.

I've found the first boss of NitD good to milk on, due to those zombies that keep coming up from the ground. The kill shots should probably be spaced out well, since Frankenstein goes down FAST.

[stryc9]

Final Fight - Three players.

I'm digging this idea: would be awesome.

They should have ported Vendetta when they had the chance

On the subject of beat 'em ups - Bare Knuckle III with the hit effects properly implemented and not dropping out all the time as is the case now. Swap the tune that plays in the nightclub over with another one.

[Vexorg]

Batrider: make the start of game menus a lot less confusing. I thinks trying to figure out what I'm doing here is probably the biggest reason I've never been able to get into this one.

[Gespenst]

Demonstar (including Secret Mission series) - makes the player not losing entire weapon level if he/she picks up different color power up.

Oh, and set the missile ammo to unlimited as well. And perhaps, making it less Euroshmuppy by making you and popcorn enemies one-hit-killable.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows: More variety in enemy spawns and decreased enemy spawn duration. At least there's have to be a single enemy unit every second (or however short it fits).

For both games: Obviously, make the bosses' bullet patterns not to be fired in fixed pattern anymore.

[BPzeBanshee]

OpenTyrian: Get OpenTyrian2000 back in dev and working
Tyrian (gameplay): remove inertia and reduce later episode difficulty ie. actually balance game
Xeno Fighters R: fix the arcade mode issues and bring back Solvalou

Batrider: make the start of game menus a lot less confusing. I thinks trying to figure out what I'm doing here is probably the biggest reason I've never been able to get into this one.

This!

R-Gear (unreleased + unfinished 2D Rayforce sequel on F3 hardware): would be awesome to get a dump of this someday, if one exists. Even just the one stage seen in youtube videos looks like loads of fun. I actually like Raystorm, a lot, but god I hate that this game never came out.

This too!

Thunder Force II: Remove overhead stages and it would actually be playable

I got one better: have a Course Selection screen. One for overhead only, one for hori-only and a 'marathon' one that'd be the normal game.

[RoninBuddha]

Nekketsu/Kunio games which uses two buttons.
- make them have a 3rd button for jump :V

[Mortificator]

I've thought of a few more DREAM HAX:

Resident Evil Director's Cut - Incorporate into the PS1 version the knife button, quick turn, and tactical reload from the DS port, and the Battle Game from the Saturn port.

Nemesis 3 - Smooth scrolling.

Various SNES brawlers - Increase the cap on the maximum number of simultaneous enemies to higher than 3.

Double Dragon II NES - Weapons that don't disappear when their original wielder's defeated, and more simultaneous enemies.

Ultima VI - Art assets from the PC version with the smooth full-screen scrolling from the SNES.

Final Fantasy VIII - skippable summon animations.

Xenogears - English audio synced to animation, skippable story sequences.

Various RPGs - Allow the main character to be removed from the battle party.

Several Zelda games: Re-fightable bosses.

Look for Sonic 3 Complete.

All the levels, Big Arm back as Sonic 3's final boss, and a few little tweaks that make it the definitive version of S3&K. I haven't played the original Sonic 3 and Knuckles in ages because of that hack. There's also a customizer for what tweaks you want [IIRC, Big Arm is by default enabled, but I customized my version, so I don't know how much it differs from the stock release.]

That looks awesome. Thanks for posting!

[Skykid]

Various SNES brawlers - Increase the cap on the maximum number of simultaneous enemies to higher than 3.

Pretty sure it's not a problem on Ghost Chaser Densei, try that one, it's awesome.

[gameoverDude]

I've thought of a few more DREAM HAX:
Various SNES brawlers - Increase the cap on the maximum number of simultaneous enemies to higher than 3.

Amen. Final Fight Tough is somewhat watered down by only having THREE enemies on screen at once. Six or eight would've been fine.

Snow Bros: Make it so the main character doesn't move glacially slow.

Double Dragon II PC-Engine: Just add the in-game voices from the arcade. This would probably push the game into requiring an Arcade Card though.

Final Fight: Let Haggar move when using the lariat.

Final Fight Tough: CPS-I or II "port" done by Capcom & M2 together. Smarten up the enemy AI a little, and raise the enemy count to match FF1 arcade.

Silent Scope: PS3 port of the complete series.

Otomedius G: PS3 version with Move support for D-Burst attacks and other touch screen functions.

[wiNteR]

DOJ without hypers (without the hyper meter filling) so that the chain isn't interlinked with the main game in any way. Also, the hit boxes being the same for WL as they are in BL.

A visual rank bar for Battle Garegga. Also, a much simpler version of Batrider with less secrets, perhaps like Garegga.

[Op Intensify]

A visual rank bar for Battle Garegga.

Available through MAME hacks. I think GareMAME is the version designed specifically for Garegga that supports all that stuff.

You might be interested to know that Pink Sweets and MuchiPork had visible rank meters added for their 360 ports.

[Ruldra]

Dimahoo: Make it so the item list in its entirety is visible at all times so you know what's missing. I don't know how to implement this without cluttering the screen though.

[shmuppyLove]

Dimahoo: Make it so the item list in its entirety is visible at all times so you know what's missing. I don't know how to implement this without cluttering the screen though.

I dunno, I know people love this game, and I enjoy playing it, but the item collection stuff is complete bullshit and so out of place in a STG, especially if you're trying to be precise about it.

I say get rid of the items altogether and implement something else. Like medals.

The items make sense in the context of a high-fantasy D&D-style shmup, but seriously the game is fucking hard enough.

[Rupert H]

I've thought of a few more DREAM HAX:
Various SNES brawlers - Increase the cap on the maximum number of simultaneous enemies to higher than 3.

Final Fight Tough: CPS-I or II "port" done by Capcom & M2 together. Smarten up the enemy AI a little, and raise the enemy count to match FF1 arcade.

I would punch a disabled guy out of a window to play this.

[Ruldra]

I would punch a disabled guy out of a window to play this.

[GaijinPunch]

Since I just booted my Xbox for the first time in over a year, and it's giving me the service screen, I'd take full 360-BC for Jet Set Radio Future & Panzer Dragoon Orta.

[mesh control]

I'd take full 360-BC for Jet Set Radio Future

Came here to post the exact same thing.

Thunder Force II: Remove overhead stages and it would actually be playable.

Remove the best part of TFII? No thank you.

[Jeneki]

Add Steam Hearts style cutscenes to Ibara and Pink Sweets.

[Siren2011]

- Beat the shit out of clueless people like this for writing reviews saying Kaze Kiri "definitely ranks as one of the best PC Engine games ever made."

Uhh, except he didn't say that, Skykid. Read it again. He said that some people call it that, but he didn't think it was quite deserving of that title. Though him saying it was "fantastic" might have been enough to bug ya. Just sayin'.

[Drum]

- Beat the shit out of clueless people like this for writing reviews saying Kaze Kiri "definitely ranks as one of the best PC Engine games ever made."

Uhh, except he didn't say that, Skykid. Read it again. He said that some people call it that, but he didn't think it was quite deserving of that title. Though him saying it was "fantastic" might have been enough to bug ya. Just sayin'.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, he absolutely said the thing that Skykid quoted him as saying - that it's one of the best games for the system. He just doesn't think it's the best game for the system.

[Drum]

Oh, I didn't do one. Here's one I thought of:

Combines the best bits of the 16 bit Sonic games:
*All the best levels from 2,3 & K, with some of the longer stages chopped down a little.
* Uses the rotating emerald bonus stages from 1, which are accessed via 50+ rings at checkpoints, like in 2.
* Uses the elemental shields from 3 with some adjustments: electric is the same, fire is replaced by a homing attack upon jumping in mid-air, water bounces on land/air but acts like the 3&K fire boost underwater.
* Incorporates a kind of rank system - the more rings you have, the more numerous and aggressive enemies are (up to a point).
* You can look ahead by pressing a button - it scrolls until your back is at the edge of the screen. You can hold it down indefinitely, while moving, with no repercussions. Pressing up and down scrolls up and down too when you're holding the button.
* The timer ticks down, instead of up. You get extra time for every ring you have when you pass a checkpoint. Time is still pretty generous though

There you go, the perfect Sonic game.

[CStarFlare]

There are a lot of old games that keep score, but aren't really playable for score. The main one that comes to mind is Castlevania, which keeps score, gives points for being fast, conserving hearts, hidden treasures, etc... but allows you to infinitely milk and rollover the score counter less than halfway through stage 1. In my mind, a reasonably simple but balanced score mechanic plus a high score tablewould make a lot of old games a lot of fun to play beyond completion. When I play CV or a Mega Man game I generally don't really care to improve past being able to credit feed through, but I think I'd put some work in if there were a more solid and tangible measure of skill... tweaking the system to prevent abuse and adding a score table could make things a lot of fun.

[Ghegs]

^ In lieu of a scoring system you can always try a speedrun. Just need to time it yourself, of course.

[CStarFlare]

I've done some of that, but score is right there, and it's a shame it's not really meaningful.

[D]

I would punch a disabled guy out of a window to play this.

Rupert H +1

[BIL]

In my mind, a reasonably simple but balanced score mechanic plus a high score tablewould make a lot of old games a lot of fun to play beyond completion.

Oldschool Castlevanias can be pretty rewarding to one-life, since there's a considerable divide between clearing most with deaths (possibly relying on extends and boss checkpoints) and none, and they're usually short enough to clear in a sitting.

Gigantic Army (PC) has a simple but engaging speed+finesse score tally I could see working well for stuff like old CV. Basically, going without damage causes surplus health pickups to become lucrative point items, and you also score highly for clearing a stage as quickly as possible. This forces you to take on stages aggressively while evading or blocking damage, relying on primary weapons since you need to ration out special attacks for boss speedkills. Minor enemies are worth so little in comparison to speed, it'll destroy your score to sit around milking them (but since taking damage will also kill your score, you've got a strong incentive to kill them swiftly and surely). It's more than good enough to play for the action alone, but it's also the most fun I've gotten out of going for high scores in a sidescroller.

On the other hand I like to think mastering a game and clearing it quickly and unscathed is its own reward, whatever the score counter says. I kind of retroactively superimpose GA's system on my CVs, Ninja Gaidens and Shinobis these days. Mike Uyama's no-damage speedrun of The Revenge of Shinobi might not have stopped the counter but it's vastly more impressive to watch.

[trap15]

Oh, I didn't do one. Here's one I thought of:

Combines the best bits of the 16 bit Sonic games:
* <epic ideas>

There you go, the perfect Sonic game.

This is amazing and if I cared about Genesis more I'd probably do it.

[emphatic]

Twin Cobra Arrange mode

When dying, bomb stock x 10.000 pts is awarded to player. This means that dying with 20 bombs in stock= extend. Weapon icons play the coin sound 0.5 seconds before they change color.