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. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to hack updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.
Created by Ok Impala!, this Zelda 2 hack changes the game from the ground up with a new story, revised graphics, different gameplay and more! The game is more balanced and there’s less grinding and combat isn’t a chore as in Zelda 2 itself. Temples and towns are redesigned for this new world and you’ll still find all the elements of Zelda 2 here someplace: the magic spells, items, stat building and more. In this hack, Link finds himself in an all new world, trapped there until he discovers the secret of Amida’s Curse.
Features:
9 new temples to explore (vs 7 in vanilla Zelda II).
11 new towns to visit (vs 8 in vanilla Zelda II).
New soundtrack.
Brand new overworld.
New story.
New graphics.
Animated tiles on the overworld.
Balanced difficulty, no cheap deaths.
No random encounters on the overworld.
Loads of gameplay tweaks (building on Zelda II Redux).
Lives you find are permanent.
No grinding necessary.
Enemy rebalancing, no more huge HP pools.
Press A as a Fairy to instantly return to your normal form.
Temple stones give fixed EXP.
Fairy can’t fly through doors.
Save anywhere by pressing up and A on the start menu. Be aware though, that you’ll be warped back to the starting point of the game. So, only use this option when you want to stop playing.
The RPG and Hack Showcases tend to be one of the centerpieces of my streaming and gaming. I really took a liking to game hacks when i discovered various quality of life ones for action and adventure titles, the various Streets of Rage hacks, and great ones for FF4 and FF6 like FF4 Ultima and FF6 Return of the Dark Sorcerer. So I decided to build it into something with the Hack Showcases where I show off a game hack and try to play it through finishing, talk about the changes and what I like and don’t like, and write up a review here on my blog for it. Action games I will try to fully finish them, adventure ones I’ll show off some of the game to get a feel for it and do full playthroughs later. If it’s something I can’t finish in a couple streams, put the videos together for yt, and link 1 gameplay video to the reviews, then I show off some of said game(s).
RPG hack Showcases are the tougher ones. We all know rpgs are big timesinks regardless and except for a few I have in mind, I’d rather not play through them fully on stream at the time, or on my own. So for the rpg showcases I’ll show off some of the beginning of it, where quality of life, cleaner dialogue, new, renamed or balanced gear or magic comes into play, or if it’s the type of hack that completely rebuilds or reimagines the base game as something else, like FF6 Return of the Dark Sorcerer or FF4 Darkness Within.
In some cases if later mechanics come into play that were changed, like a magic system, new heroes with a revised skill set, or new content, I’ll play said rpg up to the point (or pints), and save state to show it off in the showcase stream along with the start of the game. Or least try to get save states from someone to save time. Such was the case with all the additional content for FF4 Ultima.
Hope this clears things up as to my Hack Showcase streams. Feel free to ask me any other questions here or Twitter, and I do take game recommendations! Join me monthly for a new rpg and other hack I’ll be trying out!
If you enjoy reading any of my content and hearing of my nerdy adventures, feel free to share my posts on social media or leave me a comment. I would be forever grateful if you supported me via my Cash App or buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi. All donations are very welcomed and appreciated. I earn no income from this blog and this will help me continue in providing content and fulfilling my dreams. Thanks!
New Ghostbusters 2 was released in Japan and Europe by Lal Laboratories. This game is much different and a lot better than the crappy ghostbusters games that came out in the US. It’s likely thought licensing issues is what stopped this hidden gem from a stateside release. You proceed through 5 levels based on the movie and trap ghosts which appear and fight some bosses in levels. You can pick from the 4 Ghostbusters: Egon, Ray, Peter and Winston (who is blue) and even Louis. Your partner is controlled by the ai and controls the ghost traps while the player traps ghosts with the proton packs. your player loses a life with one hit and there’s limited continues, so a lot of proceeding through the game is memorization of where ghosts appear, avoiding any attacks, and how they move. This game is really fun! I discovered this last year but couldn’t finish it, but recently did in 2021!
I never really sat down with any of the Castlevania Gameboy titles before past or present, so I figured October would be a good time to round out playing all the CV games between the console, Gameboy and the gba titles, I had done the Nintendo console titles as a Castlevania Retrorevisited, streamed the gba titles to show them off, and did full reviews of them last year. I tried out Castlevania Adventure 1 and 2, the often hated Castlevania legends, and the spin-off Kid Dracula.
All games played with normal SGB color enhanced improvements on Retroarch. It’s worth noting that in Europe the GB Konami Collections vol 1 and 4 had Castlevania Adventure 1 and 2 in full color. For the sake of the reviews I played the normal versions, but at the end of these mini-reviews, I’ll show some screencaps of the ports for the Konami Collections.
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. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream or play on my own.
Continuing my Castlevania theme, I decided to try some Castlevania hacks. Not like the Bisqwit one, the kind that really change the nature of the game. inspired by some friends, I found some neat ones I tried out on stream for the 3 NES titles, and after some searching, found ones for Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow even! I really enjoyed trying these out and going to revisit them! I’ve never been into hacks that increase the difficulty of games, some of these do, but it’s not a major difficulty spike that feels unfair.
Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series i haven’t played in over 10 or 20 years. I’ll go through to try see what i remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that i enjoyed have or had at one point and bring more to the retro community with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play one later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle and graphics of the games the review will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.
The Ghouls & Ghosts series by Capcom is known to strike fear in the hearts of gamers due to their high difficulty, cheap deaths, and having to complete the game twice for the ending. I’ll be covering the NES, Sega Master System, Genesis and SNES ports in this edition of Retrorevisited. Prior to this I had only played the arcade version, NES and the SNES games, and had forgotten the Genesis and SMS ports existed. Each port brings something new to the table, especially the SMS one with its rpg elements. The NES game being based on Ghosts & Goblins, the prequel title to the Ghouls & Ghosts series. The Genesis and SNES ports are close to the same as the arcade G&G, but with a key gameplay mechanic difference: the Genesis one lets you shot up while the SNES port has the double jump and you cannot shoot up. I’ve never really been that good at any of these, especially the NES one, but willing to give these a try again. After doing this edition of Retrorevisited I still enjoy the SMS port and plan to finish both loops on stream sometime, and I really enjoyed the Genesis port too! I did enjoy the SNES game to a point when it was released in my teenage years and I was surprised with how well done and how much I enjoyed the SMS and Genesis ports too! least they all have unlimited continues!
Night of Shaq Fu was a channel point redemption challenge that got filled out awhile ago on my stream. I said I would play all 4 of these miserable games, so I did. These 4 games came out in 1994 for the Genesis and SNES, and 1995 gave us the Game gear and Game Boy editions. All games are 2D fighters staring basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. The plot follows Shaq as he finds himself in a mystical and magical realm, taking down fighters to stop the evil mummy Sett Ra in Second World. These are known as some of the worst games ever made. Even with the digitized graphics and sprites and decent music, the play control of the games were awful. Games have a story, duel and tournament modes, except the GB port. Normally I wouldn’t give mini-reviews a rating, but these were so bad I kinda felt I should.
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. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to hack updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.
The Sonic 1 Megamix hack is an ongoing project by Team Megamix with the goal of enhancing and improving Sonic 1 for Genesis in the best ways possible! This hack showcase is for the current 3.0 for Genesis, there is an unstable beta 4.0 for Sega CD, use it your own risk. A later edition was released after files were stolen. Currently the project is on hold or dead, with the team members going their own ways and some who worked on Sonic mania. The Sonic 1 Megamix adds the ability to save and continue your adventure, and use Mighty the Armadillo or Shadow the Hedgehog throughout the adventure of new stages and using abilities from later Sonic games. Other highlights of v3.0 include:
All level layouts edited (some complete; others pending).
Each character now has a unique set of moves (though Sonic and Shadow share the homing attack).
Most levels (not all) have a small intro, ala S3K, where they perform some sort of action when starting the level i.e, running in from the left.
Loads of music edits.
There is now a “preferences” screen, where you can customize certain aspects of the game (suggestions are welcome).
Cheat codes have been changed – figuring them out will grant you access to a new, special level select
“Original Mode” allows you to play the original levels from Sonic the Hedgehog, using all of the additions from Sonic Megamix (such as bug fixes, moves, preferences, etc). There is also a separate save slot for a character’s original mode.
Title screen demos have been edited. Credits demos have not.
Super forms have been added.
Elemental shields, ala S3K, have been added.
Credits have been edited; each character has a unique end pose on the ending sequence.
SO HOW IS IT? This hack is so well done! The Sonic hacking community constantly puts out great stuff and this is one of them! Shame it was unfinished. The graphics are great and in line with the other Sonic games. Great music tracks in the new levels and some music was remixed for this one like the boss themes. Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal even plays in one of the later levels! The hud for your score, time and amount of rings each changes whether you use Sonic, Mighty, or Shadow. Sonic, Mighty, and Shadow can all use their basic moves and use the Shields, Mighty and Shadow each have a unique abilities too. You can also either play the new hack, or play the original Sonic 1 with all the gameplay changes of Megamix!
Being able to use Sonic’s abilities from Sonic 3 is a great change and really adds to it, especially being able to charge a spin dash which you couldn’t do in Sonic 1. The stage new layouts all have the different power-up monitors and you can find the lightning, water, fire, and basic shields throughout the level, sometimes in spots where you’ll need them in the water and fire based levels. Sonic, Mighty, and Shadow can each use them. The level designs are larger than that of Sonic 1, and more dangerous too. Sometimes their too long, and they use the design of Sonic 1 where Act 3 has you go through a level before fighting Robotnik. For the record, I never liked the Special Stages in Sonic 1, Megamix changes up the designs of the Special Stages so they’re more manageable. The music and design is the same, but there’s more to do and it’s not as hectic.
If I had to come up with some negatives it’s the aforementioned longer levels. Sometimes just trying to get through them is a chore and like Sonic 1, there isn’t many opportunities to go fast since you’re avoiding the environment and enemies, Misty Maze Zone is a great example. The Robotnik fights seem about the same as from vanilla, except the final fight is harder. The save feature is a great addition, but it saves where you left off and how many lives you had at the start. So if you make it to a later zone with 1 life, you’re kind of in trouble.
If you enjoy reading any of my content and hearing of my nerdy adventures, feel free to share my posts on social media or leave me a comment. I would be forever grateful if you supported me via my Cash App or buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi. All donations are very welcomed and appreciated. I earn no income from this blog and this will help me continue in providing content and fulfilling my dreams. Thanks!
I’ve been a big anime fan for a long time, though I’ve lessened my consumption over the years off and on. Grew up on Transformers, Voltron and Robotech. My first modern anime being Sailor Moon, then got into it more with DBZ, Gundam Wing, Bleach, One Piece, Attack of Titan, and more. The NES and SNES had a large assortment of games related to various anime encompassing various genres of fighting games, brawlers, rpgs, and shooters. This Theme night I decided to give a handful of games a try, a few I had played in the past, some of them new to me. A few of these will be added to my longplay lists, like the rpgs and possibly some of the action titles! With the exception of Mazinger Z, all games are translated. UN Squadron and Ranma 1/2 hard battle US releases.
Games played: Cyborg 009
Gundam Wing Endless Duel
Tenchi Muyo Rpg
Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle (US)
DBZ Hyper Dimension
Mazinger Z
Magic Knight Rayearth Rpg
Sailor Moon R
UN Squadron
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Rpg
Ranma 1/2 Chougi Ranbu Hen
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079
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. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to hack updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.
PROPHET’S GUILE: Created by Kaja Laboratories, PG tells the story of Magus and how he becomes the Prophet in the Kingdom of Zeal in 10,000 BC after the incident with Lavos when the heroes came to fight him in 600 AD. The hack is pretty short, but fills in a number of details of how Magus got where he was when you encounter him again at Zeal and the Ocean Palace.
kainetertainment 