Gameboy Color DX Hacks (+GBC to GBA enhancement hacks)

[EvilJagaGenius]

Okay, this is cool stuff, because I know these aren't simple ports of the NES MM1 stages but remixes.  So I started Cut Man's stage and promptly got my rear handed to me.    I like Mega Man, but I'm not good at it.  Sure looks pretty though.

I wonder if these colorizations will pique interest in tweaking these GB games?  I kept trying to slide (probably because I play Wily Wars with the slide hacked in) but kept getting whacked for my troubles.  That'd be a cool addition.  Adding the slide to Wily Wars felt like adding the spin dash to Sonic 1, just fits in so well, I think it'd feel good here too.

I wonder if Zynk will be updating the Roll-Chan hacks to play in color too?

[Specialagentape]

I'd love if my hack were used as a basis for other people's work, if people would like to make additions and addendums I'm here for it. Zynk has already contacted me about a potential Roll-Chan World GBC and I'd love to see it.

Edit: People seem to dislike purple, so I'll likely be re-palette-ing elec man's stage in a future v1.02 since it's pretty much the only actual stage color critique I'm getting.

[Supergamerguy]

^ No problem! I hope you'll enjoy it
I hope to do 2 at some point as well.

Version 1.01 is awaiting mod approval and should fix the error with VBA, thanks to the person who made me aware of the bug. It also fixes one incorrect face assignment for Ice Man.

Are you planning on making the MM2 (GB) Colorization compatible with this music bug fix patch? https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4695/

I feel like this is a must for playing World 2, even if it's only a minor change.

[skite2001]

i really hope at some point someone will do a color patch for the turtles games aswell..beginning with TMNT 3   

[amaturehr]

Edit: People seem to dislike purple, so I'll likely be re-palette-ing elec man's stage in a future v1.02 since it's pretty much the only actual stage color critique I'm getting.

I will say all the level color choices I think are great, especially wiley stages, and I REALLY like cutman stage, but I was a little surprised by Elecman's stage.  In fact, I avoided playing that stage, since I was like "I know what this will look like" so it was really a surprise when I did play it .  But, I won't lie that seeing you say you were going to re-evaluate the palette choice for Elecman has me excited.

[Eggplantus]

Are you planning on making the MM2 (GB) Colorization compatible with this music bug fix patch? https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4695/

I feel like this is a must for playing World 2, even if it's only a minor change.

Agreed!

[Specialagentape]

Are you planning on making the MM2 (GB) Colorization compatible with this music bug fix patch?

I'd like to. In general I prefer to leave code where it is whenever possible, so addendum hack compatibility should be quite high.

[Supergamerguy]

I'd like to. In general I prefer to leave code where it is whenever possible, so addendum hack compatibility should be quite high.

Awesome! I hope that means the "Refill Weapon After Death" patches for both World 1 and World 2 will work as well.

Thank you for all of your hard work! It's most appreciated.

[Specialagentape]

v1.02 was released and has a new palette for elec man stage closer to NES--the background has been brightened though as the floor is using dark outlines unlike the NES floor which is using no outlines and is using highlights. I will be taking a break from these for a while but I do eventually want to do the second game.

[SuperStarFox]

v1.02 was released and has a new palette for elec man stage closer to NES--the background has been brightened though as the floor is using dark outlines unlike the NES floor which is using no outlines and is using highlights. I will be taking a break from these for a while but I do eventually want to do the second game.

Why don't you take a break first? I think it's fair that we let you get some rest first.

But if you really want to colorize Mega Man World 2 before you relax, then go for it. You have our support! 

One more thing, if you ever need any help with playtesting the project, I'll be more than happy to volunteer. 

[N.Dpendent]

I am working on a mario themed table for Pinball-Revenge of the Gator. It is still WIP but you can see some changes here:
 

Currently i try to put mario at the hole on startscreen in mario golf style. Maybe could use some help later, to change the palettes from the DX hack from MojoDodo.

[Supergamerguy]

v1.02 was released and has a new palette for elec man stage closer to NES--the background has been brightened though as the floor is using dark outlines unlike the NES floor which is using no outlines and is using highlights. I will be taking a break from these for a while but I do eventually want to do the second game.

That's awesome! I've already got V1.02 ready to play sometime this week, and was inspired to make this box art to show your hack off:


Unfortunately, the "Refill Weapon After Death" hack is not compatible with the Colorization project (from what I tried, at least), but that doesn't bother me like it would some people.

[Specialagentape]

They might have added code in the same empty space I used to add code myself for the colorization. Sorry to hear! It would likely be a simple thing to make a compatibility patch for though I'd think.

[Supergamerguy]

They might have added code in the same empty space I used to add code myself for the colorization. Sorry to hear! It would likely be a simple thing to make a compatibility patch for though I'd think.

All good. I'm excited to give your project a try soon!

[SegaMan89]

I've made a list of some Game Boy games that haven't been colorized yet that I think would look awesome in full color. 

Mole Mania
Game and Watch Gallery
Wario Blast
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Donkey Kong '94
Kid Icarus: of Myths and Monsters
Mega Man II-IV (seriously, whoever is colorizing the Game Boy Mega Man games, THANK YOU!)
Operation C (yeah I know it's in the Konami GB Collection, but it'd be nice to have by itself since it was the first Game Boy game I've ever played.)
Final Fantasy Adventure
Final Fantasy Legends 1-3
Castlevania Legends
Gargoyle's Quest
Probably some more Capcom stuff but those are mostly ports of NES games and the NES was already in full color.

[Supergamerguy]

I've made a list of some Game Boy games that haven't been colorized yet that I think would look awesome in full color. 

Mole Mania
Game and Watch Gallery
Wario Blast
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Donkey Kong '94
Kid Icarus: of Myths and Monsters
Mega Man II-IV (seriously, whoever is colorizing the Game Boy Mega Man games, THANK YOU!)
Operation C (yeah I know it's in the Konami GB Collection, but it'd be nice to have by itself since it was the first Game Boy game I've ever played.)
Final Fantasy Adventure
Final Fantasy Legends 1-3
Castlevania Legends
Gargoyle's Quest
Probably some more Capcom stuff but those are mostly ports of NES games and the NES was already in full color.

Some of those are already in progress:
- Donkey Kong ('94) DX (marc_max): https://twitter.com/marc_robledo/status/1610587640071393280?s=20&t=NBybDYLi6visPwHLOqcZVw
- Kirby's Dreamland 2 DX (kk_zero): https://twitter.com/kkzero2015/status/1611753090562015234
- Final Fantasy Adventure also has one in progress, but I can't remember where to find info about it, outside of earlier in this thread.

Operation C already has an autoboot hack:
- (Contra) Operation C (Autoboot hack): https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3923/
- (You can also choose to use the 10 Lives Code hack on top of the above autoboot hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3944/)

[ProstatePunch]

That's awesome! I've already got V1.02 ready to play sometime this week, and was inspired to make this box art to show your hack off:


Unfortunately, the "Refill Weapon After Death" hack is not compatible with the Colorization project (from what I tried, at least), but that doesn't bother me like it would some people.

This looks great! Well done!

[Jonathan H.]

What a great thread and great contributions! Thank you so much! I have enjoyed Super Mario Land 2 DX for a while and just learned about Pinball - Revenge of the Gator, one of my very first GameBoy games back in the early 90s.

Many of the patches have the feature "runs in double speed mode" which eliminates slowdowns. Honestly, this is what impresses me most.
Can this simply be "turned on"? I mean, colorizing a whole game properly is obviously a lot of work. But this "double speed mode" sounds like some parameter just have to be set to true or something.

If so, the game Gargoyles Quest suffers from major slowdowns, which makes it almost unplayable by todays standards.
A colorization would be nice, for sure, but a speed fix would be the true "game changer" for this title.

Can anyone comment on this? Or does this speed fix mess with timers used (or potentially used) somewhere in the game?

[Supergamerguy]

This looks great! Well done!

Thanks! It's always nice to have custom box art for Retroarch playlists and such.

[Specialagentape]

Many of the patches have the feature "runs in double speed mode" which eliminates slowdowns.
Can this simply be "turned on"? I mean, colorizing a whole game properly is obviously a lot of work. But this "double speed mode" sounds like some parameter just have to be set to true or something.

If so, the game Gargoyles Quest suffers from major slowdowns, which makes it almost unplayable by todays standards.
A colorization would be nice, for sure, but a speed fix would be the true "game changer" for this title.

Doublespeed mode will mess up clock timings and make tile writes fail if you don't account for the difference in timing but overall is just a parameter you need to set. It won't impact the frame rate or mess up for example timers counting down in game or once per frame or sound engines but it will mess up GB graphics modes and necessitate corrections to graphics writing routines.

The main thing though is that it is only available in GBC mode so it is a no brainer during colorization because you need to be messing with graphical routines (the thing most likely to break) anyway.