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Another day has gone by, and another FF6 hack has been added to RHDN. Why should Divergent Paths be any different than the others?

At it’s heart, Divergent Paths is a storyline modification, re-arranging, re-purposing, and sometimes adding new content in order to make the game flow more naturally. It starts with a small change: Edgar jumps in the river after Sabin. The changes cascade from there, peaking with a very different set of events in Thamasa. Leo survives the attack, and is given a chance at redemption. He’s not just playable; he is a main character with a full character arc, sidequests, and his own musical theme, composed by William Kage. In fact, every named character receives an end to their story arc, both main characters and side characters. There is even an additional 16th character added in the World of Ruin.

Divergent Paths has been in development for 4 years, and sparked the completion of the Full Roster patch, allowing FF6 to have 2 additional fully-playable characters for a total of 16. It includes almost every bugfix for FF6 that has been released, and incorporates dozens of gameplay enhancements to make each character play smoother than ever before. An earlier proof-of-concept patch covering just the 3 Scenarios was released in 2017, and was so well-accepted that it became the basis for several other hacks, including being an option for the Beyond Chaos Randomizer.

Even with all of those changes listed, Divergent Paths has become somewhat noteworthy during its open beta not for its changes, but for its restraint. There is no difficulty rebalancing, no retranslation, no graphical changes, and only a handful of spells and items renamed. Every change is made in service to its characters, and the core of the game remains the same. It never stops feeling like the Final Fantasy 6 you know and love.

If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy 6(3 North America & Europe), give this one a try!

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It is an awesome pleasure and pride, for who is writing these lines, to announce to this community the release of the first patch for Dragon Quest I+II that by fist time in ROMhacking history FULLY (not partially) bugfixes the renowned RPGOne’s translation of this game from Japanese to English. This patch removes important game breaking glitches that froze Dragon Quest 2 at certain moments, like the infamous bug in the Inn of Beranule, or the endlessly looping Nun’s dialog near the end of DQ2 (after having defeated the final boss). Other important issues fixed by first time by this translation is the well-known and risky Rolando cloning bug, that makes this character reappears repeated in the town of Leftwyne / Liriza after having joined your party, in case the player talks again with the king of Laurasia; if after that the player happened to talk again with this Rolando’s clone, any item in Rolando’s inventory will be erased; added to this, if in that moment princess Linda / Maria were already in our party, she would be permanently erased from the game: it wouldn’t be possible to find her turned back to a dog anymore. You can see in the second picture how now, when entering back to Liriza, after having spoken with the King of Laurasia, Kain / Rolando doesn’t reappear in the inn (upper-right corner) anymore.

Other important uncorrected bugs from RPGOne’s English translation that this patch fixes is the famous DQ2 misnaming issue with main characters’ names in some dialogs, and even more important: an untranslated Japanese version of Dragon Quest 1 ending that is triggered if the first game of the series is completed with the princess Laura in our arms, without having first left her back to her castle before defeating the final boss. This the Japanese characters set was mostly replaced by Latin alphabet letters or erased in the RPGOne’s translation, this text will appear like a bunch of garbled random Latin letters and symbols (that don’t freeze the game by miracle, but completely sweeps the ending sequence).

Besides, derived from the Inn of Beranule glitch, this patch removes the problem that makes the name of the princess appear like “do''’R” or similar if the hero dies while the prince Rolando is ill in Beranule, and “Search” command is used. It also removes the disappearing of the 7th and 8th letters of the names of Rolando or the princess of Moonbrook, that may be customized at any moment by using a cheat.

If all that was not enough, this ROMhacking patch restores the original random system of names generation of the Japanese row ROM, for the prince of Cannock / Sumaltria and the princess of Moonbrooke in Dragon Quest 2, that had been rippled by RPGOne’s translation. Now, based on what name the player chooses for the main character, a name will randomly be chosen for the prince out of a list of 8 possible names, and another will be for the princess. These 8 possible names have also been restored to their original Japanese ROM’s form (transcripted to Latin alphabet with their etymological spellings). This names are, for the prince of Cannock: Rolando, Kain, Arthur, Conan, Kooky, Tonelat (pronounced Tonnlá in French, and transcripted to Japanese Katakana script like Tonnura), Esgar and Paulos; and for the princess of Moonbrook: Airin, Maria, Nana, Akina, Purine, Maiko, Linda, Samantha. In the original RPGOne’s translation this election was just based in the first letter of our hero’s name: from capital A to M it always was Rolando and Linda, from capital N to Z it was always Kain and Maria, from lower case a to m it was Arthur and Nana, from lower case n to z it was Conan and Samantha, if it was a dotting symbol or brackets it was Peter and Karen, and if it was a square bracket it was Brett and Gloria, more or less; the consequence of this was that in most of new games the only possible names the player could ever see were Rolando / Linda, and Kain / Maria, since most of people will type their name starting by a capital letter.

At last, this patch removes the need to press the A Button an extra time when searching something with no success, and since the 1.03 update, it removes the need to press three times the A Button when using field magic spells, thus restoring the game’s behaviour to how it was in the Japanese row ROM.

For more details and information read the readme file.

This patch needs to be applied to a “Dragon Quest I&II [Japan]” ROM.

These bugfixed have been done by Rod Merida (2021), with additional beta testing and bugs report made by Vicks Dg (2020). This patch is sort of an English port of the previously existing translation of Dragon Quest I+II to Spanish, that can be downloaded in here, and includes the aforementioned bug fixes, too (it was the first translation of this game to a Western language to do soo in fact): https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6039/ .

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Star Fox Exploration Showcase has proudly reached version 7.86.3!

What is Star Fox Exploration Showcase? This is a romhack that is built off of the source code, and has many, many new features! So many features that they cannot all be listed in this news article!

Some of the major features include:

Alternate camera angles, complete camera control, all-range mode
Additional Ships and Weapons that are selectable
2 player mode
An endurance mode, a 4th boss-only course, a scored edition mod for points
Model testing mode, SFX/BGM testing
Freeze + Explore mode to remove the rails and travel as you want
First person cockpit mode
God mode with no death/infinite bombs

and much, much more!

This latest update brings many new features to the table, notably:

Pre-game menu for turning options on and off. No need to memorize the codes for endurance run/level features codes/scored edition codes etc.
Huge models mode, rainbow fire mode, enemy firing disabled and other options also on this menu!

New Game+ Mode - Challenge the game like never before, with weakened laser shots and bomb damage, limited to single laser only, and reduced rapid fire.
2 Player CPU mode - Want to play 2 player mode but don’t have a friend to play with? Get that authentic 2 player experience with a CPU as your friend.

Other changes include fixing the wrong instruments being played in some BGM’s during testing/endurance runs and 2 player mode adjustments.

What is next in store for SF:ES? Only time will tell.

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The oft-overlooked, yet beloved cult classic Mega Man RPG series, Mega Man Star Force, has received an expansive mod for the first game. Mega Man Star Force DX aims to completely revamp and modernize the original, by bringing over many features and improvements from the sequels.

New gameplay elements and mechanics have been added, as well as an expanded postgame, restored Japan-exclusive and unused content, and a wide range of QoL improvements. Every aspect of the game has been touched up in some way!

Some of the highlights among the vast list of changes:

The font has been updated to that of MMSF2/MMSF3, greatly improving the story presentation.
Gameplay features which were exclusive to the Wave Scanner peripheral have been seamlessly integrated into the base game, in the form of Star Cards and Power Up data.
A new Legend Mode difficulty has been added, providing a sizable challenge to even seasoned players.
The touch screen is no longer mandatory; all touch inputs and minigames can now also be done with button controls.
The Lunar Knights crossover, which was cut from the international releases, has been fully restored in a single player context.
All version-exclusive content can now be experienced in a single game: including Star Force transformations, Giga Class Battle Cards and Satellite admin bosses.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg - head over to the project page and check it out for yourself!

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The American version of NBA Jam T.E. being one of the first PSX release discs in the States, some AI fixes were implemented in the Japanese rom that was issued close to a year later. This Double Z Mod takes advantage of those AI edits and moves over eskayelle / Double Z’s previous mods to the Japanese game.

Given the above, you’ll still have the following features…

Battle from worst to first in campaign mode, with standings loosely based on the 1992-93 NBA season.
Players like Shaq, Jordan, Magic and Barkley have been restored!
Secret players like Sub-Zero, Reptile, Scorpion, and Bart Simpson, are all accessible. Even Smoke and Noob Saibot are in this game!!!
Wanna play as Chris Webber? Hakeem Olajuwon? Scottie Pippen? Just like the arcade version, several 90s superstars are available both on teams and as secret players.
Detroit Bad Boys Laimbeer, Thomas, and Rodman are all available as secret players.
The 72-10 Chicago Bulls are here! Jam with Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc and… Longley…
Think the AI still plays a bit too rough? Why not fight back with a super cheat. Use the code Right, Right, Left, Right, X, X, Right at the Tonight’s Match-Up screen to achieve true Maximum Offense and Defense. Fight back with everything but fire!
The Rookies have been rebalanced with more Eddie Jones and Tony Dumas. Plus, Brooks Thompson has been restored.
What other Superstars do you need when you have the Dream Team??? Beat the game in campaign mode to access the 1992 Olympic gold medalists.
Not a fan of the watered down house rock? Enjoy some ‘80s and ‘90s jams as well as some classic 16-bit Jam tunes instead.
A quick palette fix adjusts the attribute colors on the player select screen.

Also, beyond the original programming setting apart the American and Japanese roms, this mod boasts two different 90s tracks for the in-game music, plus a few different Dream Team roster combos, as well as an Astroblast-style stats font.

Interested in this version of the Double Z Mod, exclusively for the Japanese rom? Download the patch via retrohoops.net!

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Zero Meaning continues celebrating the anniversaries of Donkey Kong (40) and The Legend of Zelda (35) with Zelda Kong V-VIII. This second four-part series of hacks morphs the ape’s arcade classic into even more Hyrulean adventures mostly focussing on Zelda 2.

Play as an Armos Statue (vs Aquamentus), Zelda 2’s Link (vs Thunderbird), the fabled Triforce Keeper (vs Dark Link), and an innocent village Child (vs a Giant Bubble). All enemies, graphics, and palettes are unique to each hack. Choose your character, save your friend, and stop the forces of evil!

These hacks exist for both:

The NES port: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5968/
The Original Edition which adds in the pie/cement level: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5960/

A video longplay without commentary can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC6pBW79NHc

If you enjoyed these hacks, please look forward to more soon!

Previous entries in this series:

Zelda Kong I-IV: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5934/
Zelda Kong I-IV (Original Edition): https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5931/

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Dragon Ball Z: Buyuu Retsuden is the first and only (official) game from the Dragon Ball franchise made for the Mega Drive. As such, compared to its SNES cousins, it has a lot of exclusives (Krilin!) but lacked some content as well.

One of the divisive aspects is the character voices. It had less voices than the Super Butoden entries (3 per character), and while some are very exciting choices, at the same time most are not specific to the fighters actions, but`phrases like “Die!”, “Take this!”, etc.

This new hack for Dragon Ball Z: Buyuu Retsuden by KanonZombie aims to improve some of the choices made for the voices of the special attacks.

Gohan now says “Masenkō” when doing his signature move, instead of “Ha”, in consequence, now says “Ha” when doing a Kame Hame Ha.
Piccolo now says “Makankōsappō” for Makankōsappō, and “Ha” for Gekiretsu Kodan, his other super attack.
Vegeta now screams “Final Flash” for Final Flash, and “Ha” for Big Bang Attack.
Trunks now says “Finish Buster” for Finish Buster, and “Ha” for Burning Attack.
Cell now instead of some weird grunt in the original, now says “Kame Hame Ha“, and “Ha” for his Makankōsappō

Reportedly, limitations in the game engine (not ROM space) only allows for 3 voices per character, hence the need to change some voices to the generic “Ha!” instead of more specific phrases for the other attacks. But the author of the patch is working on that, so stay tuned for more in the future!

Download the patch HERE and check the new voices!

A short video with the changes can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuZT5uRM6r4

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After nearly 8 years in the works, the team behind it is happy to present a full English translation of Super Robot Wars GC for the Nintendo GameCube.

Started in 2013 from a conversation on which robot to pick for the story, some users on 4chan’s /m/ imageboard banded together in order to hack and translate the game once the discussion began to lean in that direction. Originally opting to use a feature in Dolphin which allowed for images to be replaced as the basis for the patch, they later switched to a standard translation further down the line after collaboration with other fans in related projects. While activity slowed down for a while, the project came back in full force as of the end of 2018 and since then has been completed and polished, ready for play!

The characters, units, and setting of this game were later adapted for use in the “Original Generation” subseries in Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers, and players can now experience the original story in which they appeared! Featuring a cast made up of robots from Earth and afar, this entry in the series departs from the norm in terms of both mechanics and presentation, but still offers the same mecha crossover experience that fans enjoy.

You can visit the project page for a download link, and the teams hopes that you’ll enjoy this translation!