[Archived] Hack ideas: for those without the skill but with all the ideas.

[Metro City]

If hack color of Alien Storm? 
Maybe fix second player on Sega cd for Golden Axe and Streets of Fate 

[PresidentLeever]

If hack color of Alien Storm? 
Maybe fix second player on Sega cd for Golden Axe and Streets of Fate 

Quick mockup of the Arcade ver. (126 to 58 colors):


Of course it can't quite look like that on MD, but closer than the actual port.

[Psyklax]

Well, looks like I need to make a Personal Projects thread for Super Bomberman 5...

[gustavocomvoce]

It would be possible to replace the songs of the original characters (ryu ken chun guile blanka honda gief dhalsim bboxer ditactor claw saggat) of Super Street Fighter 2 (Snes) for their themes of the version Street Fighter 2 World Warriors (Snes)?

[JunkaChineseShip]

Hack idea pleeeeeeaaaassssseeee.

For the Snes:  The SA1 game Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius is a fantastic and fun scrolling shooter.  But the start screen has many lines of choices for game start options...   if only the start menus could be translated, the rest of the game is very playable.   Any takers?  I can test on real hardware for those that take on the project.   
My first post!! Yeah!

[POWCo-op]

How easy, in general, would it be to make an easy mode for a game that only has normal? Is it workable?

[FAST6191]

How easy, in general, would it be to make an easy mode for a game that only has normal? Is it workable?

How long is a piece of string?

There are any number of ways a game works, and any number of ways to make it easier by some degree.

For the basic approach you might not have to do anything at all other than slow the game down in an emulator (many allow for this similar to their turbo options) and give the user savestates.

Beyond that infinite lives/continues might be enough. Basic cheat territory here really.

Depending upon the game then removing a given mechanic (if there is a timer then freeze it, if there is mana/ammo then give infinite but leave health) can be enough and that can be done with cheats. For many systems you could even hardcode it into a game fairly easily, if not trivially on some later systems where they have tools to hardcode cheats.

You could add pickups to the level that work within the context of a game. In the case of streets of rage turn every pickup into a turkey and the game is far easier despite nothing else changing.

You could change the level itself to remove enemies, traps/pits, harder segments that might risk the timer getting low... or change any of those to slightly lesser versions.

You could change the controls if they are bad.

For an RPG you could edit the save to give your characters a few level boost, or put an item into it that does the same, or put end game pickups right at the start. Or you could double the experience gained to reduce grind -- while I don't consider grinding to be difficulty then some do, and now we have one of the bigger almost religious debates, probably only behind the liberal-literal-pizza cats debate from translation. I won't argue though that increasing or lessening grinding can change how the game feels to people.

For a game with some roguelike elements you could change things here (removing say permadeath from fire emblem).

Are some sprites/graphics hard to see in a given mode? Change them to be a clearer distinction -- we often see this with more modern FPS titles, and have fun and games when disabled people or colour blindness modes get added to account for it and then make something of a cheat, or modders doing cosmetic mods... but I can probably find an example of when it would be good in a 2d sprite based affair.

You could change the camera type to give you more warning ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNSQIyNpVGHeak6isbP6AHdHD50gs8MNXF1GCf08efg/pub?embedded=true ), or otherwise code something to telegraph the upcoming hazards. Could be https://www.engadget.com/2016/04/11/punch-out-easter-egg-found-29-years-later/ , could be a sprite appearing in place on the side of the screen for a small time in the case of a scrolling beat em up.

Does a Luck stat have any effect on the game? Similar for critical hit, capture or whatever else calculations involving a measure of randomness. Pump it up. This could also come the other way and be a thing you tell the player about the algorithm ( https://www.dragonflycave.com/mechanics/gen-i-capturing ) rather than have it be "hidden". No hacking needed on their part if they know what the numbers will do, or don't have to piece it together for themselves.

You could change the movement or "AI" of an enemy. Of all the things mentioned thus far this is probably the hardest as far as what I would expect if I rocked up to an entirely new to me game tomorrow, especially for an older system.

Related to the above is hitboxes. Change these (either size or timing) and things can change in a game. Related to the "is or is not difficult" then what some call difficult others might call cheap, and if easiness is actually you wanting to reduce frustration with a game then this could go a long way. I would be worried about going too far here and making things boring but if you are the one making the hack then you are the one that chooses what to do here.

We also now have the reactions debate. Games frequently test reactions and rhythm. Patch out the code to instead just play like a normal game, or maybe just be more forgiving, and the game might change as a result.

Going on into the subjective realm now as well. I have a good memory and a thing for language and logic puzzles (probably not a coincidence that I get on well with ROM hacking) but others might not -- I make it something of a habit to read reviews from younger people when they look at older games and that is often what comes up. If you want to kick something like this in the head then maybe.

Colouring a bit more outside the lines, at least for around here. If you wanted to use a lua emulator to create a map on a game (or something like what http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=18717.0 does) then that might change how certain dungeon crawlers play (from having to memorise things like a proper maze, or make one on graph paper, to following a map in another window). Possibly subjective -- as long as you are not on a timer then there is very little difference in terms of information available to you, however if we go back to the frustration vs difficulty debate...

How difficult any one of those is... varies. I have had games where freezing a timer would break the game in various ways and following that I have to spend hours figuring out a workaround for that. Other times for controls then if I wanted a simple press to move 4 pixels rather than 5 it is easy enough, though if you had to learn some assembly first that might be harder. Graphics can be trivial to tweak, as can stat tables, and at the same time they can be buried deep in the game somewhere. Even savestates and slowdown probably won't help if people get hung up on logic puzzles, to say nothing of slowdown probably causing people to not learn a proper rhythm if it matters there.
I could possibly make some rules of thumb for an average game, where the coder did not get creative or try to block hacks, and maybe tweak it by "genre" a bit but it is not going to be any more useful than other rules of thumb, which is to say not very much at all in the long run.

Edit. Forgot co-op as well.
I like co-op games. Sometimes you can make one of these so the second character or whatever functions as an invincible helper (think Tails in the later megadrive Sonic titles). Can be good for the 5 year old sibling that wants to play approach so they can die all they like and not rinse a shared lives/continues counter but gives you something to do. Difficulty wise then probably easier to change an existing co-op game into this than add it into something that never had it, but at the same time could be harder than some simple add a second player sprite or give them controls over an on screen ally. Equally if you have to go back and tune enemy counts if the main player is doing the bulk of the work now then that can be a lot more involved.

[Masaru]

A Fan-translation of the japanese turtles in time, because of the extra boss text and the level select upgrade, but the problem starts with the low number of lifes and continues

[shakunetsu]

Colorized SF2 for the original GameBoy!!

SF2 series Optimize control layout for 3 Button Pad for Genesis.

LP: Tap A BTN  LK: Hold A BTN
MP: Tap B BTN  MK: Hold B BTN
HP: Tap C BTN  HK: Hold C BTN


SF2 series Optimize control layout for 4 Button Pad for SNES.

LP: Tap Y BTN   LK: Tap B BTN
MP: Tap X BTN   MK: Tap A BTN
HP: Hold X BTN  HK: Hold A BTN

Translations English

-MTG (Dreamcast)
-YuYu Hakusho Tokubehuten (Snes)
-Sankyo Fever 4 (PsX)
-SF2 Movie Game (PsX)
-KOF Kyo English (PsX)

[PRG]

I would like to see a hack that turns the Skula/Scylla and Undine souls in Castlevania Aria of Sorrow into grey ability souls, as opposed to yellow enchanted souls.

It has always bothered me that you have to toggle them about whenever you enter any room with water, especially since Dawn of Sorrow did away with that with Rahab's soul. I don't think they would conflict with one another. Though the real problem would be trying to fit two more abilities into the game, since the ability menu only has room for six.

[AmitoShot]

Hi, I joined hoping to get this out there.  If anything in here seems really lofty to achieve, that's primarily because I have pretty much no idea on what translating games is like.  Hence why I'm posting so much of what I'm posting on here.

I really like the Sega CD and learning of some games that I would probably like were really heavy in Japanese text was disappointing for me to learn.  After seeing what some people have been able to do over the years on the Sega CD, I think that maybe translating for this console must be doable on some level.

So here's the big hope I have, I would really like to see Arcus 1-2-3 translated into English.  Ideally I'd like to see it translated in a way like a Working Designs translation was done back in the day, maybe even find some way to English dub the Japanese voice acting that's in the game if that's possible.

With that request in mind, I would like to hope that maybe an English translation of Arslan Senki, Urusei Yatsura: My Dear Friends, or even Shin Megami Tensei would be games I wouldn't mind seeing translated as well.

Is there any way to learn what that one group of translators who translated Captain Tsubasa into Arabic did to make that translation possible?  I'd imagine that they would at least give a little insight on what translating for Sega CD games must be like.

[BaiduMe]

I don't know what to do with this, but changing text and moving around characters is possible in Buu's Fury. Working on how to create scenarios 
(BTW, this is an imported sprite from LOG2), 18 can fight now without crashing the game.

Anyone got any ideas?

[cargo]

A few weeks ago I unknowingly suggested a translation of Ranma ½: Chougi Ranbu Hen. Thanks to all the guys who kindly pointed out this already exists.

This fighting game is actually pretty good (albeit slow). I'd like to suggest a speed hack. I wonder if it's possible to remove or modify the game's speed limit or character's fighting speed. It would be a nice improvement!

I'd love to see an English translation of Super Famicom's Ranma Nibunnoichi: Chougi Rambuhen. While the game can be played ignoring the Japanese text it would be cool to be able to read the stories for each character (presented as frame cards between matches).

[Psyklax]

I don't know what to do with this, but changing text and moving around characters is possible in Buu's Fury.

Kids, you wanna know the spirit of ROM hacking? This is it.

BaiduMe has looked inside this game, figured out how the graphics were stored and how to replace them, then did the same for the text, and for what? To translate the game? No. To add new characters? No. BaiduMe did it simply to see if they could do it.

I think this is the attitude that a lot of posters in this thread could learn from. The best hackers don't do it to get something out of it: they do it to see if they can. Bravo.

If you keep it up, I'm sure you'll do some cool things.

[tc]

A few weeks ago I unknowingly suggested a translation of Ranma ½: Chougi Ranbu Hen. Thanks to all the guys who kindly pointed out this already exists.

This fighting game is actually pretty good (albeit slow). I'd like to suggest a speed hack. I wonder if it's possible to remove or modify the game's speed limit or character's fighting speed. It would be a nice improvement!

These games are clunky, aren't they? But I don't know anything technical about it.

Turns out the butchered translation was Ranma ½: Chounai Gekitou Hen.

[gamingcat02261991]

I had another ROM Hack idea: A proper "Pokemon Brown", which would essentially be a Pokemon Yellow hack that replaces Pikachu with Eevee as the starter, with graphics edited to match the Evolution Pokemon's current design for the interaction and overworld sprites (as well as the Surfing Pikachu minigame) and Eevee's voice clips from Pokemon Let's Go being re-used, but in Game Boy quality (it would also restore Pikachu's original cry from Red/Blue when you have one in your party). Likewise, the game would also make it so that Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon would only be obtainable via trading since your Starter Eevee will react to Evolutionary Stones just like the Pikachu in Yellow reacts to the Thunder Stone. Plus, the only way to obtain Pikachu in this Pokemon Brown is in Celadon City in place of the Eevee you would normally obtain in Red/Blue/Yellow.

[niuus]

Super Double Dragon / Return of Double Dragon speed hack. That would improve the game sluggish feel, along with the existent 'Kencho hack'.

Super Bomberman 3 SNES - NTSC Patch (60HZ)

That one does exist.
https://evilgames.eu/emulation.htm#snes-ntsc-patches

SIM City (SNES) facelift: improve graphics since it looks like a NES game.

And with a mouse hack? That would be awesome.

[NES Boy]

I asked for this earlier, but the mockup .GIFs I made have been broken, so here is my old request:

A hack of Mega Man 5 and Mega Man 6 where Mega Man's eyes follow the selection like in Mega Man 3.

[Rodimus Primal]

Like so many others, I regret the fact that this has been canceled:




And it was the other fact that fans were trying to do something similar but never heard from them again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGch2ZXU2ts

With the fact that color hacks have started gaining traction, I wouldn't be surprised if this became a reality soon enough.

[Megahog2014]

I wonder if it's possible to replace graphics on the game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. I was hoping to see if anyone can help me find where the sprite data for Eggman and I want to replace his sprites with the Robotnik ones that are programmed in the game or atleast make an dips switch hack so the sprites can be swapped between the JP version and the planned worldwide version.