Monthly Archives: June 2020

RPG Hacks Showcase: Phantasy Star Generation: 4 – A Relocalization Hack (Sega Genesis)

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Hack Showcases and RPG hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. I try to stick with games that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, try to show parts later in titles. Some of these i may stream or play on my own.

This hack is by romhacking.net user GhaleonUnlimited. The goal of this hack was to bring the names, spells, etc closer to their Japanese counterparts, and what would have been used in a long canceled SEGA AGES release. There’s 2 different versions of this retranslation (as per romhacking.net):

  • Restore every mistranslated connection to the other PS games
  • Incorporate The Cutting Room Floor’s retranslation notes to best express Japanese creators’ meaning & intent in all dialog, esp. story dialog
  • A more colloquial, fun, and emotional script (from NPCs to main story)
  • Add PS lore gathered from PS team interviews and official SEGA resources
  • Add depth to character personalities and relationships
  • Explain the few plot holes and character choices that had been given no in-game reasoning (see project site for details – spoilers)
  • Proper grammar and capitalization
  • Restore censored content (A couple monsters readded)
  • Item descriptions for those that had none
  • Minor endgame character / item rebalancing
  • More accurate translation of proper nouns/items/monsters/etc.
  • Made some vague PS-series lore connections more obvious
  • Translated “comedic” character’s mis- and untranslated jokes
  • Include lory1990 bugfixes

If you’re a fan of Working Designs-style RPG writing (specifically Lunar and Lunar: EB on SEGA CD), you might best enjoy this. Or, if you’ve played PSIV before and would like an expanded look at the universe, try this.

2. Generation 4 – “Purist”

  • Removed most editorialization added to NPCs from WD script
  • Removed a few added dialog exchanges
  • Removed some dialog that fits the characters but isn’t in the Japanese script.

If you prefer a more straight-laced localization, this version removes most of the added color, leaving the naturalized English dialog, fixed PS references, more accurate story translation, and added PS background and story. This is closest to the literal, original Japanese script. The screenshots below are from the “Working Designs” patch, as is the review below. I did play “Purist” for awhile on my own to get a full view of the work done on this.

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Hack Showcase: Castlevania 2 English Re-translation + Map (NES)

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Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Castlevania 2, the black sheep of the original NES trilogy. Not a pure platformer like 1 and 3, but more of an adventure game with rpg elements like Zelda 2. Also made famous by the bad translation of clues and townspeople gossip which made figuring out progressing through the game harder then it should have been unless you had friends who knew what they were doing. Or Nintendo Power. And that infamous Nintendo Power cover that gave kids nightmares. I don’t have many memories of playing this as a kid except off and on renting or with friends. That said, never finished it either. I discovered another improvement to Redacted by romhacking.net user Bisqwit. He took what was done in Redacted and improved it even more! Other features include:

  • NTSC version (there is also a PAL option)
  • MMC4 chipset (there are also MMC3, MMC1, MMC5, UNROM and VRC6 options, see the vending machine)
  • Reintroduced some features that the English releases removed from the Japanese version — Includes the extended ending text, as well as Konami-style Start text on the power-on screen.
  • Map function — An in-game map is included. It helps understand the layout of the game world, and to know the name of whichever place the player currently is in. It compensates for the lack of actual game manual, which in the Japanese releases included a map. Press the select button to view the map in the game.
  • SRAM save function — Game can be saved at any time into internal battery-backed memory and loaded later.
  • Cinematic prologue
  • Seamless fading between night and day times
  • Quality-of-life improvements to game controls: Jump down stairs with down+A, hit stun on stairs, Simon blinks when hurt
  • Extra dialog in select locations — Small changes that improve the game experience without changing the nature of the game.
  • Language — English.

When I played this I added 3 other hacks to it: the Annoyance Fixes by tkempkes, False Floor & Breakable Block Replacer by Greyfield, and the Game Over Penalty Reduction by NaOH hacks (links provided at the end of this post). The Game Over one reduces the amount of hearts lost at a game over to half instead of all of them. Annoyance Fixes includes patches for a faster day and night transition, getting double hearts, empty space replacing false floors. False Floor & breakable Block Replacer changes the false blocks around the game to a different shade so you don’t have to always throw holy water around. I’ve played this hack with and without these additional patches, patches are compatible with this hack.

This review updated after a new video playthrough on 9/26 with version 2.12.0.1 of the Bisquit hack, and latest versions of the Game Over Penalty, Double Hearts and False Block Replacer hacks available. Review will reflect with and without the additional hacks.

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Hack Showcase: TMNT of Rage: The Final Shell Shock (Sega Genesis)

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Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

TMNT of Rage is a successor to previous TMNT/Streets of Rage 2 mods TMNT of rage and TMNT Remix. Final Shell Shock adds more to these previous mods for a better experience. The Streets of Rage cast is replaced with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they fight their way to save April and stop Mr X who enlisted the help of Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady! This mod is a total throwback to the Streets of rage series and the TMNT Arcade Game and Turtles in Time. So for some of the changes, let’s take a look from the changelog:

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