Author Topic: Worst games that hackers fixed (Read 7543 times)

NesDraug · « **on:** January 14, 2020, 12:32:26 pm »

I'm thinking of creating a series of videos on my YouTube Channel about the worst NES/SNES/SEGA games (or games from that era) that hackers MANAGED TO FIX.

Like the game has to be very broken or unplayable or just very unenjoyable. And the rom hack manages to fix it.

Like, Ghostbusters come to mind.

Do you have any suggestions?

NesDraug's Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvYg73T8boKh-_Hyg2zIZEA

MathUser2929 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2020, 12:51:46 pm »

Sonic the Hedgehog on NES. Also Super mario World on NES.

filler · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2020, 02:04:29 pm »

I haven't actually played it despite translating the script, but SWAT on the Famicom had a bug that would prevent you from finishing levels that was patched by Pluvius (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/nes/patches/4105readme.txt). That combined with the English patch, AND a fast forward feature of an emulator should make the game at least playable.

MathUser2929 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2020, 02:43:19 pm »

I forgot to mention Final Fantasy VII on NES.

Metal64 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2020, 02:47:53 pm »

FAST6191 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2020, 03:06:28 pm »

I am not sure what I have here for consoles of that vintage. Got plenty for later stuff and PC but consoles is a harder ask. Most of what I would look at is instead sorting little niggles, censorship, minor bugs that most would not encounter, stuff that dragged it down only a little bit (see something like Mario 6 golden coins fixes) or more of the same level expansions and whatnot.

There were a few attempts to improve the castlevanias.

Quote from: Metal64 on January 14, 2020, 02:47:53 pm

E.T.

While I highly recommend looking up the fixes for that game, and the explanations of things that people made to go along with it, was it that bad to begin with?

Quote from: MathUser2929 on January 14, 2020, 02:43:19 pm

I forgot to mention Final Fantasy VII on NES.

Quote from: MathUser2929 on January 14, 2020, 12:51:46 pm

Sonic the Hedgehog on NES. Also Super mario World on NES.

Do homebrew/years later bootleg fan games count here?

Noside · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2020, 03:23:18 pm »

Ghost & Goblins NES.

Gideon Zhi · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2020, 07:38:53 pm »

Quote from: Metal64 on January 14, 2020, 02:47:53 pm

E.T.

E.T. has been fixed. http://www.neocomputer.org/projects/et/

Edit: Nevermind, I somehow misread this as games that _haven't_ been fixed.

Jorpho · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2020, 11:28:48 pm »

Maybe Mega Man Soccer, as in http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4215/ ?

Or Home Improvement? http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3079/

Perhaps the hack that restores the life bar to the US version of Contra Hard Corps?

Simon's Quest Redacted also comes to mind.

NesDraug · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2020, 10:02:53 am »

Quote from: FAST6191 on January 14, 2020, 03:06:28 pm

Do homebrew/years later bootleg fan games count here?

I'm mainly looking for official 8-bit / 16-bit games that was released broken or bad but hackers fixed 'em later.

nesrocks · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2020, 11:08:34 am »

It's kind of my specialty, but to say the games were fixed is a bit of a subjective matter. I like to believe they were improved. One hack that went under the radar was the one I did for Goonies II. It was not a bad game, but I found a lot of problems with it that I addressed in the hack. For some reason not many people were interested on it. Probably because it didn't feature any graphics upgrades.
There's also of course Super Pitfall.

Nightwolf · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2020, 11:41:31 am »

At the moment, I am really enjoying Phantasy Star 2 Modernization. Another hack was for Mega Man Wily Wars, removing the movement delay. Small big change!

Badseed · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2020, 12:46:57 pm »

The best part of super pitfall was watching it on AVGN. I couldn't imagine what could be fixed.

IAmCaptPlanet · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2020, 02:21:08 pm »

since nesrocks won't "toot his own horn" i'm here to do it.

you can basically look at his "contributions" section in his profile and do a whole video on that...

another one to check out is https://www.romhacking.net/community/3060/ (ShadowOne333) and his "ReDux" series

but he generally does well-liked games

NesDraug · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2020, 06:16:05 pm »

Quote from: nesrocks on January 15, 2020, 11:08:34 am

It's kind of my specialty, but to say the games were fixed is a bit of a subjective matter. I like to believe they were improved. One hack that went under the radar was the one I did for Goonies II. It was not a bad game, but I found a lot of problems with it that I addressed in the hack. For some reason not many people were interested on it. Probably because it didn't feature any graphics upgrades.
There's also of course Super Pitfall.

I played your Goonies II hack I quite enjoyed it... I mean I really appreciate the effort. But it's a "where the fu€# do i go kind of game". And he moves so friggin slow. With cheat codes LEUAOPZA and ZESAPAPA the game is a bit more enjoyable.

I add everything to my list. Keep em coming!

Ghaleonh41 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2020, 10:13:07 pm »

Can add CastleVania: The Adventure to the list, as well as Mega Man X6, although I don't find them to be bad persay.

Jorpho · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2020, 11:26:36 pm »

How about StarTropics? There was a movement patch that was small but significant, apparently.
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3307/

SleepyFist · « **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2020, 05:47:06 am »

I could have sworn I heard something about Hoshi wa Miru Hito being patched, but the only thing I can find is one that adds SRAM saving and enhanced walking speed, I suppose actually fixing that game would require far more effort than it's worth.

Zynk · « **Reply #18 on:** January 16, 2020, 06:29:16 am »

Someone made a bugfix for Cheetahmen II.

Jorpho · « **Reply #19 on:** January 16, 2020, 08:57:54 am »

Quote from: SleepyFist on January 16, 2020, 05:47:06 am

I could have sworn I heard something about Hoshi wa Miru Hito being patched, but the only thing I can find is one that adds SRAM saving and enhanced walking speed, I suppose actually fixing that game would require far more effort than it's worth.

I remember reading about that. The remake is still available, but the page with the patches seems to be down. Maybe someone should upload those to RHDN from the archive.org page before they are forgotten entirely?