Author Archives: Chris W

Retrorevisited: Shinobi Series

Posted on by
Reply

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 still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Shinobi series from Sega started with the arcade game and grew into a franchise with multiple ports of the arcade game on systems, and various sequels for the Sega Genesis and new editions for more modern systems. Great graphics and music, tough action and gameplay define the Shinobi series throughout the series. Some games added to the series while others took a slightly different route, but all games are still tough.

For this Retrorevisited I tried out the Sega Master System ports of the arcade Shinobi, then Revenge of Shinobi (ver 1 with Batman and Godzilla still as bosses), Shadow Dancer, and Shinobi 3 for the Sega Genesis.

Continue reading →

Retrorevisited: Mario Kart (snes, gba, n64)

Posted on by
Reply

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 still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Mario Kart series has been a long running popular series since the first game was released for the SNES. Since then there’s been a Mario Kart game for every Nintendo system, with various improvements to gameplay, racers, power-ups, tracks and more. Series is so popular it started the “kart racing” genre!

For this edition of Retrorevisited, I started with the SNES Super Mario Kart, then tried out for the first time the GBA edition and finished with the n64 Mario Kart, which is the one i have the most experience with. GameCube was supposed to be a 4th title, but it didn’t work well while streaming so I had to drop it. I played as Luigi (my fav!) and did Mushroom and Flower Cup runs in all 3 games.

Continue reading →

Final Fantasy 6: Beyond Chaos Randomizer (SNES)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

The FF6 Beyond Chaos randomizer is one of the most in-depth randomizers for any game. BC was originally developed by Abyssonym, then maintained by SubtractionSoup, now maintained by DarkSlash88 and available on Github. Nearly everything is randomized, including treasure, enemies, colors, graphics, character abilities, music, sprites, and more. The program will give you a list when you load up the program of different flags to add to your seed. Flags being different changes from graphics, skills, magic, scenarios and more! The main game flags are as follows:

o Shuffle characters’ in-battle commands
w Generate new commands for characters, replacing old commands.
z Always have “Sprint Shoes” effect.
b Make the game more balanced by removing exploits such as Joker Doom, Vanish/Doom, and the Evade/Mblock bug.
m Randomize enemy stats.
c Randomize palettes and names of various things.
i Randomize the stats of equippable items.
q Randomize what equipment each character can wear and character stats.
e Randomize esper spells and levelup bonuses.
t Randomize treasure, including chests, colosseum, shops, and enemy drops.
u Umaro risk. (Random character will be berserk)
l Randomize blitz inputs.
n Randomize window background colors.
f Randomize enemy formations.
s Swap character graphics around.
p Randomize the palettes of spells and weapon animations.
d Randomize final dungeon.
a Organize rages alphabetically (default)
h Organize rages by highest level first
g Randomize dances
k Randomize the clock in Zozo

You can also set BC to different types of games as well along with playing the main game, such as an Ancient Cave type game based off the randomized Ancient Cave in Lufia 2, Only fight the 8 Dragons and more. This randomizer is highly customizable for a tough and possibly fun game!

With most romhacks, strongly suggested to check out the readme files for advice on the changes to hacks and any gameplay tips, especially with rpgs. Readme files for rpg hacks can contain additional gameplay advice, etc, and it’s worth subscribing to hacks you like on RHDN to keep up with updates for bug fixes, additional content, etc.

Continue reading →

Hack Showcase: Mega Man 2 Sliding & Charging Hack (NES)

Posted on by
1

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.

Mega Man 2 Sliding & Charging by Kujakiller adds a Mega Buster charge and sliding mechanic to Mega Man 2 and Rock Man 2. The Buster charge works and looks as it does in Mega Man 5, and the sliding mechanic works based on Mega Man 3. You can also change your weapons hitting the select button. As of this writing, version 1.2 is out with the additional fixes:

  • Various bugfixes, added support for the MM2 randomizer
  • Flashman battle, opening/closing menu while he freezes you
  • Switching Flash Stopper to other weapon at Mecha Dragon boss autoscroll
  • Touching energy drops when sliding won’t “auto jump”
  • Fixed graphics corruption with select button

For the record, when I streamed this, I patched my copy of Mega Man 2 with the “don’t lose e-tanks at game over” patch already on and worked perfectly!

Continue reading →

Legend of Zelda 1 White Sword/Blue Ring Both Quests Run

Posted on by

When I was a kid I was able to do a run of Zelda 1 in both quests only getting the White Sword and Blue Ring upgrades, instead of going for the Red Ring in Death Mountain and the Master Sword in the Graveyard. It was tough, but I managed to do it. Years later I remembered I used to do this and wanted to stream me preforming this feat for prosperity. I did a Zelda 1 1st Quest run and 2nd Quest run on stream and now I can share the full videos of the run and how I won for the record.

Both runs had their ups and downs. I had a few dumb deaths in the first half of the First Quest, and managed to not get a game over again until Death Mountain. Was nice with the First Quest that I can go get bombs early, 2 Heart Containers and the White Sword before i even start the dungeons! Can’t do really do that with the Second! The Second Quest I forgot how especially rough it could be even out of the gate. Hit some walls at the 2nd and 7th Dungeons, and of course Death Mountain in both Quests.

1ST QUEST:

2ND QUEST:

If anyone’s interested also, I made a victory video for fighting and beating Ganon in both quests:

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.

Hack Showcase: Sonic Classic Heroes (Genesis)

Posted on by

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.

Sonic Classic Heroes is a collaboration hack between flamewing and ColinC10, which combines their respective Sonic 2 heroes and Sonic 1 & 2 hack. Sonic Classic heroes features the games Sonic 1 & 2 with Team Sonic consisting of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and Team Chaotix with Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy the Bee, all characters from Knuckles Chaotix for the Sega 32x. Gameplay is built on the Sonic 2 engine and also features SRAM capabilities for saving your progress, a stage select for both games, Team Chaotix mode, and a feature to go through all the Chaos Emerald bonus stages of Sonic 1 and 2. Gameplay consists of controlling 1 character from your team, while the cpu controls the other 2 and you can switch between them at any time, or play with only 2 members of a team or go at it solo. Game also includes the elemental shields and uses physics from Sonic 3. Finishing Sonic 1 leads right into Sonic 2 after a brief cutscene.

Also worth noting the download of the latest version as on Jan 4, 2022 from the Sonic Retro forums has a full color pdf manual for download with the plot, controls for a 3 or 6-button controller and more!

Continue reading →

Hack Showcase: Super Pitfall 30th Anniversary Edition (NES)

Posted on by

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.

Super Pitfall 30th Anniversary Edition is a celebration and a rebuild of the NES game by Nesrocks. The game has been modernized from the graphics, a save feature, sound test, the controls and more!

  • Completely new graphics
  • Completely new Soundtrack
  • New menu screens
  • Improved game design (no more hidden items, warps are now doors, new in-game HUD, improved game controls, small level design adjustments, etc!)
  • Improved performance
  • Seamless, fully automatic save feature (please hold reset while shutting down when playing on a repro cartridge to avoid save file corruption).
  • Available languages: English and Portuguese (choose one of the patches in the zip)
  • Many more small improvements!

Continue reading →

Hack Showcase: TMNT: Return to New York & TMNT 2: Arcade Game Options Mode

Posted on by

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 Return to New York by guitarpalooz is a rebalance and remastering of the first TMNT game for the NES. This hack fixes a number of the problems with the game since it’s well known for the difficulty, overpowered Donatello and janky gameplay. Each turtle now has different abilities to progress throughout the game, meaning you’ll want to switch turtles throughout the game.

  • Leonardo, as the leader, is the best all around ninja
  • Raphael, the brawler, does best one-on-one vs strong enemies
  • Michelangelo, with his agility, works well for crowded areas and tricky jumps
  • Donatello, with his intelligence, excels in special situations and attacking from a safe distance

Notable features include:

  • New stats for each turtle including attack, 1/2 health boost, speed, jumping, special weapons, and defense (see readme)
  • Turtles can be swapped on the fly by pressing Up+Start to cycle through
  • Nearly all enemies have been redrawn to better match the source material
  • All turtles have been given unique palettes
  • In-game save feature that saves progress on each new world map
  • Almost all game text has been rewritten to reflect the characters, plot, and NYC setting
  • Minor gameplay changes to increase the challenge in some areas
  • Minor level changes to accommodate turtles with reduced jump
  • Boss fight changes to eliminate camping spots
  • Low health warning only beeps once

Continue reading →

Hack Showcase: Crystalis QoL & Ungrind (NES) and Doom 32x Resurrection (Sega 32x)

Posted on by

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.

Note: Seeing how I streamed both games together, I kept the gameplay video together along with this double review.

Crystalis QoL & Ungrind is a hack of Crystalis for the NES by Mentil. The aim of the hack is to reduce the time to grind for leveling and gathering gold, along with some other quality of life changes:

Changes:

  • Equipping orbs and bracelets is no longer necessary. Upon exiting the inventory screen, the respective Power will go into effect for your equipped sword.
  • Attempting to cast a spell with insufficient MP now leads to a single error beep and no interruption of gameplay, rather than a pause and a window opening up.
  • There is now an additional way to get Tornel to return home, that is a more reasonable prerequisite. In the God Slayer version of this patch, Stom now gives a hint to this instead of a red herring; a hint was also changed for how to progress at Mt. Sable to reflect a different stumbling block.
  • Dialog boxes should no longer cause screen wobbling on certain emulators (credit to steve_hacks for inspiration/vector). Running on Fceux/Mednafen is confirmed fixed, at least. If your emulator of choice (such as gnes) now has wobble or other issues when it didn’t before, use the respective anti_antiwobble IPS for your ROM version.
  • Fixed a bug preventing one from using level 3 charge attacks when current MP was exactly equal to their MP cost. Additionally, level 3 Bolt had its flashing toned down (it couldn’t be fully removed yet still display the associated graphics).
  • Fixed the Skeleton so that it now has paralysis immunity instead of poison, and shoots bones instead of webs. (I suspect someone typed in data from the line above in the spreadsheet (Blue Spider) here.)

Additionally, in the ungrind patches:

  • Most enemies had their gold and XP rewards increased to 200-300% of their original values, so almost no grinding should be required in order to progress or complete the game, if you defeat every enemy that crosses your path.
  • Several enemies had their damage nerfed to more-reasonable levels, and some damage sponges were adjusted so that they should no longer require more than ~6 hits to defeat (at expected levels/equipment). A few enemies had their elemental resistances modified.
  • Bosses had their level requirements lowered to 1, so there should be fewer cases of encountering a level gate. Note: despite this, late-game bosses have high defense that is insurmountable at too low a level, which isn’t fixable without substantially nerfing them (or some recoding effort that’d have broad balance implications). This precludes completing the game below approximately level 14.
  • Halved MP costs for level 3 charged sword attacks. They should be more useful relative to other spells now.

Continue reading →

Retrorevisited: Streets of Rage Trilogy (Genesis)

Posted on by

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 still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Streets of Rage games were Sega’s answer to brawlers on the SNES like the Final Fight series. Sporting great graphics and music and action, the games depict a team of ex-cops and friends fighting to save the city from the criminal organization run by Mr. X. Each character has their own move sets and stats in all 3 games. The three games of the Genesis trilogy were all released on the Genesis between 1991 and 1994, along with some Sega Master System and Game Gear ports, and included and various Sega collections. a 4th game was released for Windows and modern systems in 2020.

I never really played the SoR games until 2, and I still love it to this day. The music is some of my favorite of the 16-bit era, the graphics and gameplay are fabulous and it’s one of my go-to brawlers. I never fully played SoR or the hard SoR3, but plan to sit down with them in the future.

Continue reading →