So who here has heard of ROM hacking?

Tatrion

If you haven't, it's basically two categories; translations and actual game design changes. While translations are cool, they obviously don't create a new game experience like a level hack does. As for legality, while the ROM itself is illegal, most ROM hacks come as .ips patches that contain no copyrighted code to put onto your ROM (not that you should have one, because they're illegal... *cough*).

One of the most popular games to hack is Super Mario World, mostly because its level editor, Lunar Magic (http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lm/index.html) is so easy to use. People have created a lot of brilliant hacks of it, like Mario's Keytastrophe (http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=showhack&id=560), Super Demo World (http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=showhack&id=1), and Mario's Lost World (http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=showhack&id=466).

They've also made hacks of Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, A Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger. Among other systems, there's hacks of countless NES games, and even a few Game Boy games (including, yes, Pokemon). I've even seen very rudimentary hacks of New Super Mario Bros.

So yeah... ROM hacking is pretty neat. Discuss it.
​
 
I once played an amazing hack of Super Mario Bros 3 called Mario Adventure. It has all-new levels, world maps, power-ups, etc. Very impressive.

(btw, to the tc: sorry about the infraction, we had a mix-up)
 
Yeah, ive seen some pretty neat ROM hacks. Technically, ROM's aren't illegal IF you have the original itelf, and you have the system. Also, if you don't have the game, you are allowed to use the ROM for 24 hours, and then you must delete it.
 
I had a friend who was working on a Super Mario World hack a few years ago, I have pretty limited knowledge about them but the concept is really cool and I learned a bit more about it talking with him. Most of the SMW and SMB3 hacks I've played have been pretty well done but I can't even put into words how bad most of the Pokemon hacks have been, they are usually good enough to entertain me but they do a good job of reminding me that in-game pokemon isn't as underwhelming as I sometimes like to think.
 
FFMaster said:
Yeah, ive seen some pretty neat ROM hacks. Technically, ROM's aren't illegal IF you have the original itelf, and you have the system. Also, if you don't have the game, you are allowed to use the ROM for 24 hours, and then you must delete it.
Click to expand...

Actually, most of that isn't true.

This topic is allowed since it doesn't link to any ROMs.
 
Misty said:
I once played an amazing hack of Super Mario Bros 3 called Mario Adventure. It has all-new levels, world maps, power-ups, etc. Very impressive.
Click to expand...

Mario Adventure is one of my favorite SMB3 hacks too. I'd recommend that to absolutely everyone as well... in fact, DahrkDaiz (the author) was working on another SMB3 hack called "Luigi vs. Mario" that proved to have even more crazy stuff in it, but unfortunately, it was scrapped when his computer crashed and he lost a good few month's worth of work... I can't seem to find a link for you guys ATM, but Mario Adventure should be... somewhat easy with a Google Search.

Misty said:
(btw, to the tc: sorry about the infraction, we had a mix-up)
Click to expand...

It's ok; believe me when I say I was very careful about how I worded the topic because ROMs *are illegal*, after all. I got an odd jump from disappointment to happiness when I saw that I got an Infraction, only to have it reversed :P
 
There's a ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 1 called AIR, which requires you to know every single exploit and trick in the game in order to complete
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BDSIuAg8F_U

Also, speaking of SMW hacks, I'm sure everyone has heard of Asshole Mario (well maybe not as Asshole Mario, which is my friend's dubbed name for it). But for those who haven't...

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2A4C8FFD54A1AA10
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0B2DB30996951E4C

Basically one of the most brutal games out there.

Those are some interesting hacks I've seen!
 
Pokemon hacks are pretty common too, like brown, quartz, etc. I've played a few of them and some SMW hacks too, some of which are impossible.
 
I've played through brown. Going back and playing a completely revamped version of the monochromes makes the game feel completely different.

I worked on hacking FR/LG for a bit but ended up dropping the project to keep an eye out for new hacks to finish.

Naturally none of them ever get completed.
 
I "hack" into Fire Emblem games a lot, using a pre-made editor with modules, since I don't know how to do hex. I don't know how to turn my work into an IPS either, from what I get it just changes the ROM entirely, so if I wanted someone else to try it out I'd have to send them the entire ROM. Therefore, it's mostly for my own entertainment.

I've played a few other people's patches too. It's very easy to change basic stuff, but I've seen very advanced hacking to, to the point of changing menus and mechanics.

I've seen some Mario hacks too, like the infamous video of a guy cursing while playing some insane patch, as well as one where every Mario reference is gone and about everything just kills you.
 
I'm actually playing a hacked Diamond game that was hacked to have all 493 Pokemon catchable in grassy areas. They did similar things for Fire Red and Emerald.

If I could find the tools to look into the ROM file, I'd try to extract a proper listing of what's catchable where. The documentation for Diamond 493 is quite ass, to be honest.
 
Amazing how nobody gave a damn when I made two topics about Lunarmagic, well, at least somebody is being successful, kinda. Tatrion, if you're planning on releasing your own hack using Lunarmagic, I'll be glad to help you out, seeing how I've got basic skills using Lunarmagic. PM me for details.

edit:
Zephyrman said:
What's Pokemon brown like? Completely new world or just a revamped version of an old game?
Click to expand...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vbpv0i4buhY

edit2: yeah, so it's basically a crappy game, full of typos (diffuculty) and it doesn't seem worth downloading, the only part I enjoyed was Gary's name being "SATAN", and that's just because it was the last nick I expected him to have.

edit3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oKGDaMXlsNU

Pokemon Quartz, on the other hand, seems worth playing, absolutely.
 
Heh, hacks are fun to play. I play a lot of old games with emulators. The big problem is that some of the old games that aren't actually for the old systems such as SNES are just pixelated porno. -.-

I do however enjoy playing Chrono Trigger in Spanish though, so that I don't start to forget my Spanish!
 
i've seen pokemon hacks more than anything - and i've played 2, shiny gold - which is essentially the same thing as fire red is to red and blue, but it "adds a lot of new stuff" and by new stuff they mean stupid new rivals every 5 minutes. plus i dunno how to continue the game after the e4 (since it resets, and doesn't save like it does in the real game)

pokemon brown was the other, which is pretty much red or blue on acid. every part of the game - every building, gym, etc is somewhere, but they're all jumbled up, the towns are in weird places, there's a lot of big empty space, and the beginning is ridiculously hard.

and the map did not work on either game, so flying was impossible.

needless to say they were still interesting i guess
 
Norulz said:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vbpv0i4buhY

edit2: yeah, so it's basically a crappy game, full of typos (diffuculty) and it doesn't seem worth downloading, the only part I enjoyed was Gary's name being "SATAN", and that's just because it was the last nick I expected him to have.
Click to expand...

I found from playing that game for a little while that it was actually a pretty damn good hack. It may have been a little difficult, but I never noticed any terrible typos. Also, I have never played Quartz.

In any case, I have played a number of hacks of different games. The hacks have been of varying quality, ranging from absolute garbage to very different and enjoyable games. I know nothing of hacking myself, however.
 
Quartz is very different from the actual pokemon games. I have seen it and there are all new pokemon, which look like the guy who created them was high at the time. I have seen a lot of RSE hacks where the hacker has completely changed the area and pokemon captureable. It was awesome.
 
Remember the guy that did quartz is spanish, and so quartz is translated and doesn't make a lot of sense at times. He edited the whole pokedex with new pokemon, but they aren't catchable anyways cause he only added like 200 or less to the actual game.
 
kholdstaire said:
That would have been KKM. He inspired me to start my own project (not a hack though). It's kinda down at the moment, though. Been busy with other stuff :\
Click to expand...

Confirmed. To be honest, I've given up on the GSC remake due to limitations that ROM hacking provides, and decided that it would be better off to create the entire game from scratch, although there has been zero progress on that.

Also due to the possibility of a GSC remake on the DS thanks to some "hints" in DP, I've decided that the final product will not be a GSC remake, but will include Johto. Of course, this is all speculative.
 
Tangerine said:
There's a ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 1 called AIR, which requires you to know every single exploit and trick in the game in order to complete
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BDSIuAg8F_U

Also, speaking of SMW hacks, I'm sure everyone has heard of Asshole Mario (well maybe not as Asshole Mario, which is my friend's dubbed name for it). But for those who haven't...

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2A4C8FFD54A1AA10
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0B2DB30996951E4C

Basically one of the most brutal games out there.

Those are some interesting hacks I've seen!
Click to expand...

I just watched those videos, man that is deadly. I want to play some of these games now. I used to be legit at super mario world but not that legit.
 
I'm playing Fire Emblem 6 for the first time with an English translation patch, and so far it has been awesome. I'm stuck on the desert fog of war map with the manketes right now, though.

Probably the coolest hack I have ever seen was an SMB hack that had Metroid's levels.

By the by, there are several patches that I've found that require patching multiple .ips files to a single .gba file, and the only hard ROM patcher I've found that produces .gba files that are usable with my flashcart (EZ4) is IPSwin, which can't do the layered .ips file thing. Has anyone had any success with other tools?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top