Anyone here play ROM hacks?

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

It sounds like a novel concept, but sturgeon's law and whatnot prevent me from seriously giving them a try. I only ever tried a few from SMWC and a Mega Man hack called Minus Infinity, but I didn't like the latter due to the mega buster sucking. So yeah! platformers. Is anyone out there good at making them from old games?

[BryanM]

Dragoon X Omega II is an example of a man spending way too much of his life on something that'll only be played by super nerds.

Any time I'm tempted at wasting my life, I think about how trivial the changes you can really make are. You can change the art, you can change the text, maybe even events (sometimes only to a very limited degree, those last two), and molest stats a little... But you can't change the game much at all. You can't hack Mega Man 2 into Mega Man 9 for example, or add new skills to Dragon Quest 3. Or implement that elaborate card battle minigame you always wanted.

It just makes more sense to make or reuse a damn engine from scratch than editing romz.

But I do enjoy the Let's Plays of terrible ones. Here's one of Pokemon Quartz. Good times.

[KennyMan666]

I've played a lot of Mega Man ROM hacks. No Constancy, Deus Ex Machina and Gray Zone - all Rockman 2 hacks - are most excellent.

[null1024]

Mostly Sonic hacks here, my favorites are Sonic 1 D3LSIML [vanilla Sonic 1, but with pseudorotation for the screen when going on slopes, it looks really cool, only issue is increased slowdown sometimes] and Sonic 2 Heroes [pretty much Sonic 2, but with 3 characters on screen and Sonic Heroes style character switching]. Also, Sonic 1 and 2, which combines the first two games into one cohesive whole, like locking Sonic and Knuckles onto Sonic 3.
Take note that the last two aren't exactly finished and have various bugs.


The nice thing about the Sonic hacking scene is that the hackers usually work with a split disassembly nowadays instead of direct ROM edits. More flexibility.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

I've played a lot of Mega Man ROM hacks. No Constancy, Deus Ex Machina and Gray Zone - all Rockman 2 hacks - are most excellent.

>Proof of courage as the weapon get BGM
This is alone is enough to motivate me to play Gray Zone. No Constancy looks a little crazy to me though.

You can change the art, you can change the text, maybe even events (sometimes only to a very limited degree, those last two), and molest stats a little... But you can't change the game much at all.

I believe the general idea with ROM hacks is to implement ideas or concepts that were not elaborated upon or used at all in the original game rather than to try and create an entirely new one.

[BryanM]

That reminds me that Final Fantasy Tactics has a ton of edits, and an entire website dedicated to them.

Possibly the only game specific robust editor tool for a PSX game.

When I was making my Shining Force 2 data editor, it occurred to me that the language barrier we have with other countries might be destroying our productivity. There could have been a BrianO over there that did the same thing as I was doing then, but years earlier, and I'd have no damn idea. The implications the babel tower has on the detriment of Science bothers me..

[Stormwatch]

My favorite hax are fan translations. For example, you haven't really played Phantasy Star until you play SMS Power!'s version.

[Ruldra]

^I played the whole game using that version, it does make the game 100x better.

[PROMETHEUS]

I have made a SMW hack !

http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=showhack&id=1859

[BryanM]

Good times. Did you get rid of feathers and flowers completely like I did? They really do make the game too easy, don't they..

[PROMETHEUS]

Kinda yeah. My issue with them was they broke a lot of the game's design, but you can reprogram the feather item so that you cannot fly with it, only float. Then it becomes an interesting power up.

[evil_ash_xero]

I wish someone would make a rom hack of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and bring back the ol' invincibility music. Seems so odd without it.

[Ixmucane2]

I usually play the hack of Recca with unlocked modes that was discussed in this forum a few years ago rather than the original version.

[Snake]

Not really a "hack" per se, but download a new roster updated version of Tecmo Super Bowl every year. Updated rosters, teams, and even added plays to the playbooks. Better than Madden, IMO.

Dragoon X Omega II

Someone recommended this to me. A lot of work went into it, but a bit dull in the end.

[Jockel]

I have made a SMW hack !

http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=showhack&id=1859

Cool beans, I shall put this on my Powerpak tomorrow.
Will report back in with feedback.

[PROMETHEUS]

Have fun jockel ! It's a great hack ;D

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Translation ROM hacks are a godsend its the only way I can play Der Langrisser. I wish I knew about that Phantasy Star hack when I played the NA version from start to finish 12 months back, those sexy choons from the Japanese version are to die for

Since this thread is here, I wouldnt mind knowing about more ROM and MAME hacks that slightly change the game like that hack for Recca and the Garegga pink bullets MAME hack.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Apparently Neo Geo users can turn Ghost Pilots into a more enjoyable game using some cheat device. Don't know if emulators support that sort of cheating.

[null1024]

I wish someone would make a rom hack of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and bring back the ol' invincibility music. Seems so odd without it.

Sonic 3 Complete, changes everything in S3K to be more like Sonic 3 alone. Unless you mean the Sonic 1/2 invincibility music.

[BryanM]

Someone recommended this to me. A lot of work went into it, but a bit dull in the end.

I suppose a jRPG with only 1 party member must be monotonous..

[Stormwatch]

I suppose a jRPG with only 1 party member must be monotonous..

Panzer Dragoon Saga proves that this is not necessarily the case.

[Snake]

I don't think one character is the issue. I used to do solo runs on FF1 back in the day and found that more interesting than playing the game with a full party (unless you get paralyzed).

I was attracted to DXO2 because it was based on FF1 but with a new story and dungeons, except they just weren't as interesting to me. I guess its hard to improve on a recognized classic.

But like I said, good job by the two guys who did it. Must have been a lot of work relative to a roster update.

[evil_ash_xero]

I wish someone would make a rom hack of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and bring back the ol' invincibility music. Seems so odd without it.

Sonic 3 Complete, changes everything in S3K to be more like Sonic 3 alone. Unless you mean the Sonic 1/2 invincibility music.

Yeah, I simply meant the invincibility music from 1 and 2. Seems like it's be easy to make that! Sega didn't have the rights to that particular song(for some reason) at the time, and had to come up with something else. How they didn't have the rights to a Sonic song, is beyond me.

[BrianC]

I'm going to be playing some 2600 rom hacks when I get a Harmony Cart. Some recent hacks allow for use of two buttons on the Genesis controller. Other impressive hacks are a hack that adds voice to Berzerk, various hacks of Adventure (some even increase the game size with extra castles and dragons), a hack of a homebrew into an impressive port of Pac-Man, hacks of games to use different controllers like a Trak Ball version of Missile Command, a hack of Ms. Pac-Man into Pac-Man (the more recent one that adds the intermissions), and Combat hack that adds AI.

I like how the Flashback 2 has the Haunted Adventure Boo! hack (aka Return to Haunted House). A nice hack of Adventure with nice touches like a gravestone that opens up and neat looking ghosts instead of dragons. There's a newer expanded 8k version only on cart (that Atariage sells) along with the sequel (also a hack of Adventure) and a third game, a hack of Superman. The versions of Haunted Adventure Boo and II that places have for download are complete, but the latest versions with added featueres aren't on the net (the FB2 version is an earlier one that was sold on cart, but is still based on the 4k optimized Adventure hack rather than the later 8k version like the newest one).

[Frenetic]

Famicom Tantei Club II: The Girl who Stands Behind for SNES (Super Famicom) is one of the best adventure/point and click/visual novel games I've ever played. Highly recommended. Big ups to Demiforce and Tomato for their excellent translation. You're the detective in one of the most genuinely suspenseful games I've every played.

Here's a nice wordpress entry for more info:
http://carlosplays.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... e-club-ii/

[Limbrooke]

Famicom Tantei Club II: The Girl who Stands Behind for SNES (Super Famicom) is one of the best adventure/point and click/visual novel games I've ever played. Highly recommended. Big ups to Demiforce and Tomato for their excellent translation. You're the detective in one of the most genuinely suspenseful games I've every played.

Here's a nice wordpress entry for more info:
http://carlosplays.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... e-club-ii/

While not exactly a rom hack, it definitely is a interesting and well done rom translation. I played through it a few years ago and found it well paced and fun.

[BrianC]

I read about a new SMB1 hack called Extra Mario Bros that adds Metroid style elements that looks interesting.

Extra Mario Bros. video

[Despatche]

Extra Mario Bros. looks fun. There's also this.

Yeah, I simply meant the invincibility music from 1 and 2. Seems like it's be easy to make that! Sega didn't have the rights to that particular song(for some reason) at the time, and had to come up with something else. How they didn't have the rights to a Sonic song, is beyond me.

It probably has something to do with this man being the composer. On another note, you may be interested in this.

Various Super Metroid hacks: Ice Metal, Super Metroid Eris, Super Metroid Redesign. They all seem interesting enough, but I'm finding it hard to approach them.

[Mortificator]

There are several texture replacement hacks for the N64.

[BPzeBanshee]

Translation ROM hacks are a godsend its the only way I can play Der Langrisser. I wish I knew about that Phantasy Star hack when I played the NA version from start to finish 12 months back, those sexy choons from the Japanese version are to die for

Since this thread is here, I wouldnt mind knowing about more ROM and MAME hacks that slightly change the game like that hack for Recca and the Garegga pink bullets MAME hack.

I'm glad the translation hack for Gleylancer was made, myself. It's really well done and says a lot on what the hell is actually going on. The only issue is that compared to the original the intro actually goes on for longer since the timing of the intro scenes are changed to allow the English text to get in the screen whilst having enough time to read it. Apparently some of the credits and ending stuff were deliberately kept Japanese too.

As for the pink bullets in Garegga, I'd like to know more about that too. I know the Saturn port allows for Red bullets via options menu but beyond that I've heard nothing of this sort.

Not sure if its really a hack, but has anyone played any of the prototype ROM material going around for the Sonic games? Sonic 2's betas/alphas are quite interesting, especially that Palace stage that got scrapped. I dont suppose there's any "finished" versions of that stage in some ROM hack somewhere is there?