Rom Hacking

[FamicomFreak]

This thread is dedicated to rom hacks for the NES/Famicom or any other hacking really. I only hacked a couple of super mario bros games back in 1999. They were part of a 4 game set with changed levels and improved graphics. I'm working on part V now so hopefully I can come up with more challenging levels unlike the others which are way too easy...

[zombiepowder]

I did NOT make this.... i FOUND it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxbAUkgQXmE

[UglyJoe]

This is easily the most comprehensive SMB hack out there:

EXTRA MARIO BROS

And this is one heck of a Final Fantasy hack:

Dragoon X Omega II

[JC]

Why are there so many hacks of SMB -- both by pirate companies and individual gamers? Is it easier than most? More attractive as an icon?

[ericj]

I would guess it's because Mario is the most widely & easily recognized character from Nintendo. For instance, if there was a hack of Street Cop, how many people would know the difference between the original and the hacked version? Throw Mario into that hack and now suddenly everyone wants a copy.

Since SMB are the most recognized games, hacking them would have the broadest appeal and generate the most interest to the widest audience--both gamers and those who remember the games from childhood and can now play a hacked version on their computer and wouldn't hesitate to do so since the games are already familiar.

I have to admit they have an appeal to me and I'd imagine most people who grew up with these games would have to agree.

[NintendoKing]

I rom hacked, Argus once, and changed the name to Star Trek then editted the ships. The main ship into the Enterprise, and all the lesser ships into romulan bird of preys.

[DDCecil]

I made a complete Final Fantasy hack and Super Mario World hack, both put onto cartridge for me. Unfortunately, I made some slight mistakes in both games, and don't feel like paying more to get them fixed. I have some videos on youtube for both games.

[133MHz]

I used to do some ROM hacking with a friend a while back. He had a spare Pentium computer on his back yard where we used to play emulators and sometimes ROM hacking. We did a Nuts & Milk hack with a cat  theme (supposedly his cats). Also we did some Super Mario World level editing with Lunar Magic, but my levels weren't very good and we lost everything to a hard drive crash .

[zombiepowder]

any suggestions for hacking any type of rom with a Mac...?
as of now it seems impossible to hack anything...

[133MHz]

When I used 68k-based Macs and System 7 I had a tile editor program called TileEater, very similar to the famous Tile Layer Pro. I think there's a PowerPC version somewhere too. Hex editors for Mac shouldn't be too hard to find.

[michaelthegreat]

Why are there so many hacks of SMB -- both by pirate companies and individual gamers? Is it easier than most? More attractive as an icon?

A lot of it also has to do with that there are so many tools that help you do it all so that even newbs can do it.

[133MHz]

I've never been able to edit Bowser's graphics on SMB, couldn't find the tiles anywhere on the ROM. Also the Super Mario Bros.logo is compressed so it's quite hard to change it.

[UglyJoe]

Bowser's graphics should be somewhere near the bottom of the sprite sheet.  Also, the title screen is not compressed (unless you're using that term very loosely).  All of the tiles that are used to make the logo are uncompressed.  There is a map somewhere that tells the title screen where to place each tile.  Some tiles are used multiple times, so it makes it hard to edit without knowing where that map is and how to manipulate it.

[zombiepowder]

Bowser's graphics should be somewhere near the bottom of the sprite sheet.  Also, the title screen is not compressed (unless you're using that term very loosely).  All of the tiles that are used to make the logo are uncompressed.  There is a map somewhere that tells the title screen where to place each tile.  Some tiles are used multiple times, so it makes it hard to edit without knowing where that map is and how to manipulate it.

if u do use a mac its very hard to find that map & manipulate it as well...

hence a title screen for my Super Mario Bros. ROM hack (all done on a mac)...:


many tiles are used multiple times but with different colors...

(btw the one japanese character in the upper left corner is for "Ninja")

[FamicomFreak]

Looks pretty kewl.