Anyone Interested in Doing "SMB Special" for NES?

[Wario Bros.]

Also, I can't seem to find the Sharp X1 version anywhere...

I found the Sharp X1 version by googling Sharp X1 roms and there it was (not really that hard actually)  I'd go into more details but I don't want get into trouble. 

And trust me, once you get the Sharp X1 version, you'll want to trash the PC8801 version in a heartbeat.

The reason why I said I want to use the rom hack as a ref is because I know in its current state is very accurate to the real game's levels (not so much on the enemy placement though XD)  So it's still reliable to me.

[frantik]

(not so much on the enemy placement though XD)

i tried to make them as close as possible.. the enemies move differently so it coulnt be an exact 1-1, plus there are lots of enemies missing in the nes port

[CelticMinstrel]

The reason why I said I want to use the rom hack as a ref is because I know in its current state is very accurate to the real game's levels (not so much on the enemy placement though XD)  So it's still reliable to me.

It's mostly accurate, I think, but there are a few notable places in which it is very different... and the backgrounds are completely different.

As for Google, it has failed me.

[Wario Bros.]

i tried to make them as close as possible.. the enemies move differently so it coulnt be an exact 1-1, plus there are lots of enemies missing in the nes port

Sorry I said that.  I guess you can't move the enemies by 8 pixels rather than 16 right.  Well nothing's perfect.

[Snake Plissken]

I have some alternate dumps (non TOSEC) for SMB special for the PC-88, found in a japanese collection. If anyone is interested i can upload them somewhere so you can check if these versions are corrupted or not (just a simple comparison with an hex editor should be sufficient).

[frantik]

karatorian might be interested but im not planning on doing any more work on the hack unless there's some glaring graphics glitch

[rbudrick]

A little bit of a thread bump here.  Just wanted to say I finally got a chance to play through the X1 version of this game.  It turns out, that thing I mentioned much earlier in the thread in level 4-3 where you have to make the elevator drop off the screen in order to make a platform appear two screens over is alive and well in this version.  So, no glitch!  That's programmed in!  Evil. 

The last level has three incredibly difficult jumps.  The hardest in any official SMB game by far.  Also, the ending mentions the hidden "new characters," (flying wing, clock, etc.).  It also lists the "lucky star" among them, which is dumb because the starman isn't new.

Luckily, you can use a joypad in the X-Millenium emulator I used.  Using a keypad like the PC-8801 version was torture.

-Rob

[rbudrick]

Just wanted to bump again simply because I noticed a significant difference in Mario's jumping between the X1 and the PC88 versions.  In the X1 version, the distance you jump is about a block or maybe even half a block shorter, making some long distance jumps significantly harder, most especially those long jumps you have to make in 8-4 (SO hard in the X1 version, pretty easy in the NES and PC88 versions).

-Rob

[frantik]

A little bit of a thread bump here.  Just wanted to say I finally got a chance to play through the X1 version of this game.  It turns out, that thing I mentioned much earlier in the thread in level 4-3 where you have to make the elevator drop off the screen in order to make a platform appear two screens over is alive and well in this version.  So, no glitch!  That's programmed in!  Evil. 

interesting.. though it could still be a bug.  either way, not gonna be in the nes port :-p

[Superjustinbros]

Sorry for the sudden bump, but since this is where the NES hack-port is discussed, I wanted to let in my honest opinions.

*I think the colors should've been closer to the PC88 version (of which this hack is based on), using only shades of RGB% blue, red, and yellow (plus black & white, the later for several things that were meant to be green.)
*The SMBS-exclusive enemies and items should have their original appearances, and via proper HEX editing, their original traits and behavior. I know the SMB ROM is already pretty much filled up to a brim, but maybe with a utility that can expand the size of a ROM, we can add these items and enemies in, plus other things, like Mario entering/exiting an area the intended way, the large castles being the proper height, and the underwater tiles being on the surface, like in W5-1.
*The overall structure of the levels should be perfectly accurate to the original version down to the finest detail, including the block graphics and backgrounds (not really a big deal, but just what I feel).
*The ROM hack should keep the W4-3 dead-end room, but have it so the exit pipe on the other side of the room actually warps you to the pipe that's underneath the mushroom staircase just beyond where you find the vine to access the room. If the point of doing this hack is to make both an easier and more fair experience for the player than the original PC88 version, then this change should be put into effect.

[frantik]

thank you for your opinions

[messatu]

Hello. Levi "Karatorian" Aho and SMB Special Team

I am the Japanese ROM hacker and am called Messatu.
My romhacks use enhanced tilesets and new color pallets to make both games look even closer
to the arcade versions than their original Famicom releases.
My web site is http://messatu.wordpress.com/.


I played and enjoyed SMB Special for NES.
And since some bugs were discovered, it reports.

1. The star box is not hidden.
2. Registry commands are insufficient.
   It checked by MMC1 flash rom and working NES.
   It will freeze, if it resets.
http://messatu.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/edit_2012-05-28_1.jpg?w=512

I corrected to SMB Special and made Sharp X1 version.
1. Title screen
2. World selection addition
3. A dot picture and a color
4. Automatic walking is corrected to a manual. (Word 1-2 2-2)
5. Ending message
   The Hudson soft was dispersed.
   It corrected to the message for which HUDSON is appreciated.
6. etc
http://messatu.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/smbs-x1.png?w=812




I would like to exhibit a patch at my site.
It releases by IPS.
    smb.nes > smbs-20100307.nes > smbs-x1.ips

Please let me know conditions required for public presentation.
messatu@hotmail.co.jp

[Valkyrie_Ace]

It's a shame that no one responded to the guy above, his patch looked really cool. 

[Easy]

Hello. Levi "Karatorian" Aho and SMB Special Team

I am the Japanese ROM hacker and am called Messatu.
My romhacks use enhanced tilesets and new color pallets to make both games look even closer
to the arcade versions than their original Famicom releases.
My web site is http://messatu.wordpress.com/.


I played and enjoyed SMB Special for NES.
And since some bugs were discovered, it reports.

1. The star box is not hidden.
2. Registry commands are insufficient.
   It checked by MMC1 flash rom and working NES.
   It will freeze, if it resets.
http://messatu.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/edit_2012-05-28_1.jpg?w=512

I corrected to SMB Special and made Sharp X1 version.
1. Title screen
2. World selection addition
3. A dot picture and a color
4. Automatic walking is corrected to a manual. (Word 1-2 2-2)
5. Ending message
   The Hudson soft was dispersed.
   It corrected to the message for which HUDSON is appreciated.
6. etc
http://messatu.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/smbs-x1.png?w=812




I would like to exhibit a patch at my site.
It releases by IPS.
    smb.nes > smbs-20100307.nes > smbs-x1.ips

Please let me know conditions required for public presentation.
messatu@hotmail.co.jp

Very interesting.

[tymime]

All the vines seem to be broken- whenever I enter the room they go to, Mario's disappeared. Do I have the wrong patch version?

[hossbags2]

Is there any chance of allowing messatu to release his patch for this game. His looks amazing and exactly close to the original game.

[KingMike]

Nobody's stopping him from releasing it on his site.
He just needs to upload it somewhere and then it needs to be submitted to this site.

[Jorpho]

Alternatively, someone may choose to take the liberty of writing up a readme, taking some screenshots, and submitting it himself (with proper credit, of course).

[Karatorian]

Been out of the world for a bit. Nice to see that there's been some ongoing interest in this project.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing any more work on this, but I would like to respond to some of the issues that have come up. In one of the reviews, there's a bug report about the starman music being glitched. Also, messatu's additions probably deserve some looking into as it seems some of them purport to be bug fixes as well.

Current Bug Reports

Starman Music NEW I plan to investigate this and fix it if I can reproduce the problem (and figure out the cause).

Vines Broke NEW It seems like I'd have noticed this myself if all the vines where broken. On the other tentacle, there was an issue with one vine and some hacking was needed to work around it, so I might have broke the rest of them. I'll have to look and see.

Enemy Placement WONTFIX This is a limitation of the SMB engine and can't be (practically) changed.

W4-3 Dead End WONTFIX I've said it before and I'll say it again. The dead end in W4-3 is intentional, it's in the source material and, while a cheap shot, appears to have been a deliberate trap. That said, you can hack it yourself if you'd like.

Elevator Appearing WONTFIX The original behavior (even if intentional) was caused by an engine limitation in the original. The SMB engine doesn't have the same limitation and I don't plan on adding it.

Colors WONTFIX Part of the point was to give the game a facelift. Going back to ugly isn't gonna happen.

Backgrounds WONTFIX The way backgrounds are handled in the SMB engine and the SMBS engine are entirely different. Fixing this would require basically rewriting the engine.

Level Layout Issues WONTFIX The way level data is represented in the SMB engine and the SMBS engine are entirely different. Frantic has endeavored to make the levels as close as he can and extensive engine modifications have been made to support this. However, 100% accuracy isn't a realistic goal at this point. If you feel anything is very wrong, point out specifics and I'll look into it.

Two Point Oh

As I've mentioned before, the additional enemies and power ups have effectively been abandoned at this point. They've been pushed off to the 2.0 release. And that has been postponed indefinitely. However, to paraphrase Yoda, "Use the source, Luke". It's all available and anyone who really wants to see it done can do it themselves.

1.0-RC1 is currently in the database (with source code available), so if anyone is interested, beta testing would be appreciated. Once I investigate the Starman music and the Vines, if no other (legitimate) bugs are reported, I intend to release 1.0-Final shortly. Also, any daring soul who'll try building the source package and give feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Messatu's hack removes the RHDN credit from the title screen. That's just rude!

[TRIFORCE89]

Hi Karatorian,

For my own personal use (not uploaded anywhere, since I have not asked Messatu or yourself for permission), I took Messatu's version and restored the palettes and graphics to NES quality because, like you said, part of the point of this was to be a facelift. So, now I have the nicer looking title screen (minus the lack of the RHDN credit) and some of his other changes, but better looking.

I then went just slightly further and wanted Super Mario Bros. Special to truly be "special" and act as a sort of inbetweenquel to SMB and SMB2j. So, I brought over some SMB2j graphics (not all, only those that were also found in All Night Nippon SMB. So, a sort of hybrid between SMB and SMB2j) plus gave the Starman the smile "he" has in the actual SMB Special game.

Haven't played through this version or tested it in full yet, but... just felt compelled to let you know. Maybe something can be brought into a later official release? (At least the smiling Starman)