[Zelo]

Hi all. I've had an interest in ROM hacks for some time (roughly 10 years), but I haven't really had the chance to play games much at all in the past 5+ years due to school and other matters, so haven't kept up with the community. I was wondering if people here could recommend to me what they feel are the best hacks out there at the moment. I'm already aware of a few of the big ones: namely Crimson Echoes, Super Mario Star Road, Metroid Redesign, Zelda Outlands, Parallel Worlds, and Parallel Remodel, but I know that's just a fraction of what's out there.

I'm looking for suggestions for hacks of games from any console up to and including N64 and any handheld up to and including the original DS, that significantly change the game they're based on and feel more like playing a reimagining or sequel to the original game rather than just a slight modification (the ones I cited above are good examples).

I'm open to hacks of pretty much all games; the quality of the hack is more important to me that what game it's based on. But if I had to make a list of the games that interest me most, they would be:
- Super Mario Bros 3/World/64
- Super Metroid
- Zelda LttP/LA/OOT/AoL
- Yoshi's Island 1/2
- Sonic 1/2/3&K
- Chrono Trigger
- Final Fantasy 6-9
- Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario
- Castlevania SotN
- Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/BW1/BW2
- Donkey Kong Country 1/2
- Starfox 1/64

I'd also be interested in any translations of games that were never released in english, whichever console they're on (I already know the Dejap released, as well as Tales of Innocence and Ace Attorney Investigations 2).

[BlackDog61]

Only 1 advice.
Pick something you like, and will still like after banging your head on it for weeks and months.
THAT's the ultimate criterion for your choice.

[Zelo]

Should have mentioned that earlier; I'm NOT looking for kaizo-style hacks or anything that'll just have me frustrated for weeks trying to get through it. I'm really mainly looking for hacks that feel like the kind of thing that could have been released as a commercial title (Crimson Echoes is a good example).

[SunGodPortal]

- Zelda LttP/LA/OOT/AoL

I specialize in ALttP hacking so I guess I'll give my 2 cents on those.

*Goddess of Wisdom*
Dungeons aren't very attractive visually but are pretty good otherwise. My biggest complaint is that it's too easy to get lost in this game and not know what to do next. Very cryptic.

*Parallel Worlds*
Same problems as GoW (very confusing at times) but it looks much better. I remember this having a ton of back-tracking though. I also felt that at times the difficulty was very cheap/unfair. I would only play this with cheat codes or those god mode hacks that Puzzledude released.

*Puzzledude's Quest*
I have only one complaint about this: the overworld. OMG! You would think that it was called "Maze-dude's Quest". All short cuts are blocked and going ANYWHERE requires going through a maze. The dungeons are top-notch though and that's mainly what this one focues on. Very little changes were made beyond redesigning the dungeons and putting tedious mazes in the Light World. There really isn't a Dark World since all of those dungeons are inside the pyramid. Doesn't bother me though. Once I hacked this to get rid of the overworld mazes I had a ton of fun with this. Very cool.

*Bruce Campbell vs Ganon*
This is a great hack, though I may be a bit biased since I am responsible for the current version (a bugfix and improvment of the v1.1). I'm currently working on a complete rebuild from scratch in an attempt to do the story and dungeons justice. The existing version is rather rough and if you aren't careful you can find yourself stuck in an unwinnable game. The new version will be drastically different so this version (1.5) should still be fun to play as long as you make sure to get everything you can in the Light World because once you head to the Dark World it will be a while before you can return and if you forgot some stuff you can't. LOL

*Zelda 3 IQ Test*
This is a no-bullshit hack (apart from the format) that is all dungeon puzzles and basically nothing else. If you like Zelda games and very complicated puzzles I would def recommend this. Not much else to say about it.

I haven't played either of the "Master Quest" hacks because they seemed kinda cheap. Having said that, I did recently play a beta for a new version that one of the authors is working on and I found it to be pretty fun.

That's my 2 cents.

[magictrufflez]

If you want an amazing FF6 hack, Brave New World is one I'm willing to plug until they put me 6-feet under.  It is difficult but fair, and if you've played through the original, you will like how it makes you think about your strategies a lot.  They're currently running an open beta of v1.7 so you may want to wait til thats finished, but the gameplay changes are extensive (no plot changes, but there are dialogue tweaks that are good, including copious references to BoF3), and really do provide the definitive FF6 experience.

IMO of course.

[PresidentLeever]

Bonemage's/Ti's Rock 'n Roll Racing hack
Dragon's Curse/Wonder Boy III Remake (actually not a romhack but a free PC remake with a new game world and new enemies)
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive (Sonic 1)
Sonic Classic Heroes (Sonic 1 and 2)
MIJET's enhancement hacks for Contra: Hard Corps and Shinobi 3
Castlevania II (NES) English Re-translation (+Map)
Crystalis Rebalanced
Belmont's Revenge: Speed Hack (Castlevania II GB)
Rockman 4: Minus Infinity - Pretty hard though.
Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble (Alex Kidd in Miracle World) - My own Alex Kidd hack featuring improved controls, longer levels, better puzzles and more variation. A second episode is coming soon. Longer description and instructions: http://626535750121256080.weebly.com/alex-kidd-in-radaxian-rumble.html

Chrono Trigger - Prophet's Guile
Zelda LttP - I'd get the hacks that let you keep running while changing directions and that add CD quality music.
SMB3 - Super Mario Bros 3mix, Mario Adventure

[SunGodPortal]

Zelda LttP - I'd get the hacks that let you keep running while changing directions and that add CD quality music.

I would skip the CD quality music (because I love the SNES sound chip and see this as blasphemy) but the mod for the pegasus boots is awesome. It makes some things a little too easy though. It's easy to kill soldiers by simply plowing through them back and forth and it's too easy to avoid those annoying floor tiles that chase you by similar means (you won't get hit once!).

[Bonesy]

Pokemon Gaia.

[Atrushan]

For Super Metroid, might I add Super Metroid Zero Mission. It's a redesign of Super Metroid into Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA, and it's really good imo. Iirc it might have had a few glitchy things, or things that weren't exactly like MZM, but it was very similar and I enjoyed it a lot. If you liked Metroid Zero Mission, you'll likely have fun with this as well.

[vacantplanets]

Mega Man X3 - Zero Project

[Chronosplit]

I can only really answer on two accounts:

-S1/2/3&K
1: Sonic Classic Heroes, also covers 2.
2: Retro Remix if you like collecting things, also that one where all the rings are Onion Rings if you want a challenge.
3&K: Sonic 3 Complete.

-FF VI-IX
VI: Either Ted Woolsey Uncensored or Relocalization Project, depending on your personal taste.  You can also patch the heck out of the GBA version.
VII: There's a fix for the Spirit Bug, which is included with other fixes in the retranslation Green Goblin ported from the PC's fan effort.  Some terms are more literal than others (Mog/Moogle for example) but other than that it's not bad, especially compared to the original.
VIII: None.
IX: There's a speedup hack for the battle speed, outside of that nothing really of note.  There's one floating around here that restores some cut scenes, but it's kinda meh and sometimes doesn't completely fit with the rest of the game.

Worth noting that Pokemon DS games don't really have a ton of them yet outside of difficulty/catch em' all hacks.  GBA games are still where the scene's mostly at.

[Dr. Floppy]

- Zelda LttP/LA/OOT/AoL

I'm going to assume that you omitted the first of the initial five Zelda games by mistake.
The most recent (to my knowledge) Total Conversion hack of Zelda 1 can be found here: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2385/

Cheers! 

[Tirlititi]

IX: There's a speedup hack for the battle speed, outside of that nothing really of note.  There's one floating around here that restores some cut scenes, but it's kinda meh and sometimes doesn't completely fit with the rest of the game.

 
Both the speedup and the cutscene restoration hacks are really minor. The most consistent FF9 hacks are my Alternate Fantasy and Landon Ray's Unleashed. There's also Vir who makes mods related to the stat-maxing runs.

Also, Landon Ray has made a difficulty hack for Castlevania SotN. I found it fun, but since I played a regular run not so long ago, I got bored midway.