Which ROM hacks have became the standard version for you?

[Boss]

Inspired by the other topic. Which ROM hacks would you say are the standard version for you now over the original?

I like:

Zelda Redux
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5752/

Super Mario RPG: Relocalized
https://www.romhacking.net/reviews/10179/

Tetris Retrospection
https://www.romhacking.net/reviews/10035/

Mario Land DX
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6114/

Mario Land 2 DX
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3784/

F-Zero Final
https://github.com/originalgrego/FZeroFinal


All of them take the original title and perfect it without adding in useless things. What you do recommend?

[capncrunch992]

Generally just bugfix/QoL/restoration patches. I tend to be too much of a purist to enjoy more extensive ROMhacks, and I prefer to play on real hardware when feasible. But I do find comprehensive conversion projects like Doom 32X Resurrection to be very impressive. If I had to choose a "definitive" version of Doom to play, that would be it.

More specifically, some ROM hacks I've found myself relying on over the years include Super Metroid Control Freak, and the GB Castlevania speed fixes. Some 20 years later, I still suck at Super Metroid and can't seem to get a grip on the game's unusual choice of physics and inputs. Control Freak at least makes it so I don't have to bring Samus to a halt every time I want to toggle weapons.

[Samus12345]

So many! I'll just mention the ones I can think of that I didn't get on RHDN:

Castlevania II Retranslation (on RHDH, but not updated)
https://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin

Sonic Classic Heroes (Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles in every stage of both Sonic 1 and 2)

Streets of Rage Killer Turbo (faster gameplay, both players can select same player)

Streets of Rage 2: Syndicate Wars (25 playable characters and cpu controlled 2nd player option)

Bare Knuckle III Project (9 playable characters, translated to English)

[EvilJagaGenius]

The first hack that comes to mind is Castlevania: Circle of the Moon's Card Mode hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4725/

Moving the cards to be hidden around the map instead of random drops just fits a Metroidvania so much better, and Dev Anj's placement of them was really smart too.  You rack up a bunch of practical card combos early, while the more overpowered ones are saved for late game.  Examples: you can find the Ice card in a secret room before the first boss, letting you freeze enemies into platforms.  Soon after you find the Fire card which can be used to make a fire whip, a sword, a powerful fireball shield, a straight 25% damage boost... I used the Fire combinations the most in my last playthrough, and it's one of the first cards you get.

So yeah, I don't think I'd play without Card Mode now. 

[Hemlock]

I'm more of a vanilla+ guy, so I tend to play hacks (or decompilations) that fix stuff. Examples include:
Sonic 1 Forever
Sonic 2 Absolute
Sonic 3 A.I.R
The recent LTTP decompilation (being able to skip the title screen is an absolute godsend)
The DX color hacks that are good, toruzz gets a notable mention for these.
Any uncensor patches
The Castlevania 3 fan translation and patches to change some text to match the NA version, along with the title screen.
Cannonball for Outrun (Arcade version)


A lot of Pokemon ROM hacks can apply here, but I haven't played them yet.

[Aceearly1993]

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Definitive Edition+
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5610/

Mega Man X3 Zero Project
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4086/

Mega Man X5 Improvement Project (Addendum)
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6131/

Mega Man X6 Tweaks Patcher
https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1414/

Mega Man Zero 2 Revisited (combine this to the cut scene skip hack for magics)
https://www.romhacking.net/reviews/9349/

Rockman Zero 2 Platinum (cutscene skip hack)
https://github.com/Ajarmar/platinum

They're all major impacts to me for improving my favorite video game franchises to even further beyond. Kudos for the magic of modern Internet and romhacking scenes when they're done right.

[Nintenja]

Great post!
Zelda Link to the Past Redux
Chrono Trigger Plus
Mario RPG Plus
For starters
*will add links and update this msg soon

[Boss]

Generally just bugfix/QoL/restoration patches. I tend to be too much of a purist to enjoy more extensive ROMhacks,

Yes, I agree. I've started another thread for more extensive mods as this one is just about vanilla, but better.

So many! I'll just mention the ones I can think of that I didn't get on RHDN:

Thats great, thanks. Feel free to mention the others as there are so many I thought it would be nice to get the best of the best personal recommendations here.

So yeah, I don't think I'd play without Card Mode now. 

Thats a really good write up, thanks. I will check it out as it sounds like a really good quality of life improvement that doesn't change everything else.

vanilla+ guy, so I tend to play hacks (or decompilations) that fix stuff.

Yes, I prefer that as well. I will look into those Sonic hacks as the ones I'd seen previously had very bad level design. In Sonic that is so important as there is a zone to the way you move throuh the layout. Can you recommend any good ones for Sonic 1 and 2? I couldn't get into 3 (too rambling level design) or CD (playing blind/too little control and too much going on). Mania got it just right.

They're all major impacts to me for improving my favorite video game franchises to even further beyond. Kudos for the magic of modern Internet and romhacking scenes when they're done right.

Nice selection. Agree with your comment about the net perfecting these games due to hackers talents. Its so true.

Great post!

Thank you. Solid picks there, they all feel just like the definitive versions.


I've started another thread for more extensive ROM hacks you may like. We can keep this thread for vanilla optimizations and tweaks which improve titles without strayin too far from the base title:

https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=36887.0

The new thread is for ones that heavily modify the art, music, play, story etc..

[tygerbug]

With apologies for self-promotion, some of my hacks are intended to be "definitive" compared to the original ROMs ... if revisionist.

https://www.romhacking.net/?page=hacks&authorid=6297

The Bugs Bunny Crazier castle has 28 enemies instead of 4, and five new cutscenes.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7201/

Bravesoft Windows 2000 NES translates this bootleg to English but also improves the graphics and overall experience.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7299/

and so on. The Family Basic minigame "Excalibur 2: Get Even With Dragon" is translated to English but also has new graphics and is less cryptic.

[Bregalad]

Anything that will be in the order of simple changes or bug fixes.

For instance, the Mega Buster sound fade out hacks for Mega Man 4, 5 and 6.

In the original, charging the Mega Buster makes an annoying sound and makes a singificant part of the music unhearable because the second square wave channel is permanantly used by the sound effect. With this hack, the sound is kept, but fades out so you can continue to listen to the music while playing.

[FAST6191]

Simple bugfixes, pointless gated items that mess with multiplayer (especially in a heavy multiplayer game), gated items that allow me to play a game that might amuse me by tweaking some things but more justifiably be counted as a reward for skills/challenge completion and the like are probably going to appear for this. Indeed I will tend to do it by default.

I have played Tetris DS with a hack I did many years ago repointing the music to be the classic tetris theme (was lucky it was the same instrument set/sound bank) in VS CPU mode, my favourite mode, that it sounds odd for it to be the mario theme now that it is by default. I am told people that did similar for the Zelda theme felt similarly but for that.

I am not necessarily a fan of the insanedifficulty approach to the world but can see it and have done things along that path before I play the baseline game. Final Fantasy tactics frequently being a good one for this, as is advance wars.

I also do a lot of things with savestates and simple cheats to make my own challenge and amusements (that section was pretty fun, let's do it again but maybe with some bonuses/restrictions). Severely annoyed when Sony got patents to those ends some years ago now.

I have often quite seriously stated my favourite hack is Link Gets Laid (hack of GB Zelda, about as puerile as you imagine) and actually I think it has replaced what I think of when I think that game (probably should not say that lest the wrath of the big N come down on badder/baddest hacks).

I don't play pokemon (too many years as ROM hacker and person what knows stuff on Nintendo handheld flash cart and emulator forums, to say nothing of them not really changing in all this time) but have found it amusing the couple of times a year someone comes along and finds their shiny new flash cart somehow unable to play at the 600% turbo mode or whatever their emulator normally does. Someone should fix that.

[EvilJagaGenius]

Can you recommend any good ones for Sonic 1 and 2?

I really like SophieDude's Anniversary Edition hacks for Sonic 1 and 2.  They both add a lot of new features, gives each act its own color palette and music remix, which to me brings them more in line with Sonic 3's presentation.  Sonic 1 has the spin dash, Sonic 2 lets Tails fly and adds Hidden Palace Zone.  Lots of options so you can probably switch off anything that bothers you.  They're found as pre-patched ROMs which is why I'm not linking them here, but they're not too hard to find.

Mcginnis03's bugfix hacks are more vanilla and good too, hosted on RHDN.  Again, Sonic 1 gets the spin dash, Sonic 2 gets Tails flying.  Tails can also carry Sonic which is something I wish was in Anniversary Edition!  But I don't play co-op, and I like Hidden Palace and the palettes/remixes too much.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4956/
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4957/

[Hemlock]

Can you recommend any good ones for Sonic 1 and 2? I couldn't get into 3 (too rambling level design) or CD (playing blind/too little control and too much going on).

Sonic 1 Forever and Sonic 2 Absolute are decompilations of the mobile phone versions of said games, while AIR is a fan emulator for the now delisted Steam version (though you can easily find the ROM if you know where to look, while CD also has a decompilation with Sonic CD & Knuckles) As for hacks, Sonic Retro has a bunch to keep you occupied until you croak. They've started going into Sonic 3 as well, with one notable one being Sonic Hellfire, where Sonic fights a bunch of bosses from various horror games, such as Castlevania and Ghost and Goblins.

I don't play pokemon (too many years as ROM hacker and person what knows stuff on Nintendo handheld flash cart and emulator forums, to say nothing of them not really changing in all this time)

You have zero idea how wrong this part of the statement is. Just peering at Pokecommunity shows how much they have taken apart the first three generations of Pokemon (special mention goes to FireRed and Emerald, with a big shoutout to Pokemon Radical Red, where you can capture the Hisuian Pokemon now).

[FAST6191]

It was the unchanging nature of the underlying poekemon games, not the pokemon hacks (though the billion "I changed the starter" certainly did no favours for my ambivalence). I would be the first to note the considerable work achieved by many in there, even if I were to disregard the disassemblies. which leads to impressive tools even when the underlying games are really not that conducive to hacking compared to almost anything else (the code, formats, compression, logic and more, whether by design or requirement I leave to speculation, being not something I would point someone at in the abstract for a first hack*).

Indeed a pokemon hack, or hack sub family, wherein the game was changed into a more calculated battle such that you want to know systems, most similar to a boss rush if I have to compare things has long intrigued me as an outside observer/ROM hacking anthropologist (for want of a less pretentious term). Though amusingly the "I changed the starter" hacks recreate an aspect of that in the various "can you beat pokemon ? with just a [insert]" videos and the lore (or emergent behaviour if game design terms are opted for) that builds up around that.

*I do however hold to the best project when learning is one you want to do, and so very few people learn for the sake of learning.

[Kamen Rider Zi-O]

Whooo boy, where do I even start??

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Re-Revenge (Streets of Rage 2) is literally the de facto way to play THE ol' skool 16-bit TMNT for me now. Moreso than Turtles in Time for Snes.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7399/

2. Super Metroid: Justin Bailey...I didn't get this one from here - it was an already patched ROM on CD Romance - but the patch itself IS here, so let's keep it proper, eh? Anywho, this is nice!! Attention to detail was paid here, right down to the file select screen animation. Why would you wanna run anything else??     
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/342/

3. The Roll-chan Series (Only ONE LINK listed for y'all sanity and mine ) Okay, NOW we're talkin'!! I had absosmurfinlutely ZERO idea whatsoever that I needed this in my life until I downloaded these!! Roll as the star?? (Okay, sure, her ending in Marvel vs. Capcom 1 teased at it, but it was a joke, nobody took that seriously...) And Tango from the Gameboy games as her default partner? Yes, please!! So check it: Zynk Oxhyde has done all six Nes games, all five Gameboy games, and the Game Gear game. Sadly, nothing for the two Snes games (so no Roll-chan 7 or Roll-chan & Forte/Bass). The link here is for Roll-chan 6.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2692/

4. Animal Crossing New Leaf: Welcome Luxury, another one I got elsewhere, so no link for you. The experience here is making it seem like you're supposed to be gettin' rich. Not too shabby at all. Of course, in the early game, you're still at the mercy of the lengthy growth time of the fruit trees. There are some QoL things that do make it a better experience than stock New Leaf/New Leaf: Welcome Amiibo, though...my favorites being fish bite immediately, and nearly invincible flowers.