Category Archives: SNES

Hack Showcase: Castlemania (SNES)

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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.

Created by LetsTalkGames, this hack combines gameplay and other elements of the Super Mario series with Castlevania into one fun package. 6 levels of platforming among Mario and Castlevania element await with enemies, tight jumps, bosses inspired by Mario and more. The hack has 2 versions: the main one and an “EASY VERSION”. The main version doesn’t save progress after levels until you finish it, the easy version does save after levels.

For the purpose of this review and streaming my first gameplay, I did do EASY Mode in case I ran into difficulty and save me from major setbacks or pc issues (all of which happened, lol).

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Hack Showcase: Law & Order: Mushroom Kingdom Unit – Pilot Episode (SNES)

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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.

Created by ChaseNScooter , Daizo Dee Von , EvilGuy0613 , Jamie originally as part of the 2023 Questionable Level Design Contest on smwcentral, this hack marries Law & Order: SVU with the characters of Mario World! Music based on that from the show, other tracks from games, great pixel work, bonus games and more are in this short, but fun hack! You control Elliot Mario as he tries to solve the case of who killed Sebastian “Tails” Prower!

As stated by ChaseNScooter, this is the pilot of an upcoming series of hacks. When more are released I’ll review them and add to this and make this a full review for the Mushroom Kingdom Unit series.

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My History with the Final Fantasy Series

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The “My History With…” series are my thoughts back when I was a kid to young adult, about when I got games of a series, my initial thoughts about them, and other thoughts about the games. I stick to games I have or had, not one I played for the first time when i discovered emulation or modern system remakes. 

I started my journey in the Final Fantasy series started later than Dragon Quest/Warrior, but i fell in love with it as I did DW. I loved reading as a kid and my love for sci-fi and fantasy really drove me to the FF series seeing how Dragon Warrior was always more medieval fantasy. The longform storytelling here of having an objective for your party and solving problems along the way, or not knowing who or what you’re fighting or fighting for made me want to keep playing as I grew up. Even as a kid I didn’t mind grinding that much (though now with emulators you got that magic fast forward button). I should really start seeing down with these again with some the remakes and rediscover my childhood joy. For this I stuck with ones

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Hack Showcase: Mega Man X1-2 Zero Playable + X3 Zero Project 4.6 (SNES)

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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.

Mega Man X and X2 Zero Playable was designed by Programmer Peru and makes Zero instead of X the main hero using his sprites from throughout the games and some other fixes. You’ll proceed normally throughout the game to fight the Mavericks, get items and upgrades on your way to fighting Sigma normally. Skull_emperor_ is the developer behind the graphic and text fix hacks which can be attached easily to the Zero Playable hacks to make some small graphical fixes in both games, and change the dialog in the openings and endings and cutscenes to reflect Zero being the main hero instead of X. In X1 the Dr. Light capsules were changed to Dr. Wily capsules and the dialog reflects that. Future updates for the X2 hack will change Dr. Light to Dr. Wily.

The Mega Man X3 Zero Project (as of this writing is version 4.6) by Justin3009 adds Zero as the main hero, with X playable too, and adds a lot more (worth noting this is different and rewritten from the ground up than their original Zero in X3 hack). Added in the Zero project is improved music and sounds, gameplay, Zero and X having their own sets of dialog through the game, and other options like a save/load system! Zero also starts with 2 mega shots and his sword attack! There’s also a New Game+ feature!

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.

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Mega Man Derusting Mega Man X3 (SNES)

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So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my Mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW: The last of the X games on the SNES, this one was also released on the Sega Saturn and Windows. Capcom pulled out all the stops to get the best out of this game in terms of music and graphics from the SNES and it showed. This one has always intimidated me the most of the SNES games due to the difficulty and backtracking too. X and Zero have been living their lives as maverick Hunters after Sigma’s defeat when a Dr. Doppler rose to create a Reploid paradise. of course, things went wrong and it’s up to X and Zero to stop the mad doctor’s plans and defeat his henchmen Bit and Byte, and the return of another old enemy too. You can even switch out X for Zero too! Besides going through stages on foot, you can switch to different types of Ride Armors for different situations to get through the larger levels, or find hidden stuff.

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New Super Mario Land SNES v1.5 Homebrew & Review (Updated 6/5/2023)

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Note: I’ve recently learned that there have been updated versions of this homebrew released with graphical and control fixes, along with improved features closer to the Game Boy original Super Mario Land. Latest and last version of this is v1.5.

So I came across this little homebrew completely by accident, a SNES homebrew version of the Gameboy classic Super Mario Land. I had never played SML before or had a giant brick Gameboy save for playing emulators back in the day or borrowing a friend’s (I think that’s how I finished the og Link’s Awakening and Pokemon Red). Finding the rom, I fired it up on my phone emulator and had a blast with it! This project was originally a homebrew of SML as a Christmas gift for the anonymous programmer’s friends. Of course this being 2019 the rom got dumped online and can easily be flashed to a cart, or played on your favorite SNES emulator. I recommend Retroarch, Snes9x or Bsnes.

You can find more information about this amazing project and its history and videos at the below articles. More information can be found here:
RetroRGB Article
NintendoLife Article
Archive.org Download v1.5

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man X2 (SNES)

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So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my Mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW: X2 was always my favorite of the X trilogy on the SNES. Better graphics, gameplay and music made this a worthy sequel. Months passed since X defeated Zero and a new enemy appeared with an army of mavericks for X to battle, and they’re also holding Zero’s body parts hostage!

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man X (SNES)

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So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

REVIEW TIME: I loved this game as a teen and replaying it now, I still love it! Finishing it finally I’ve only finished X, X2, and I think X4. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are very pretty as per Capcom’s usual high quality. The music is incredible! The story of X fighting Sigma during the Maverick War (the 1st of many), and X seeking vengeance from Vile and later Sigma is classic. Besides the graphical and music improvements, X sports a number of new moves and features. One of them being the 8 bosses you fight being called Mavericks and their names being based upon different animals and plants and are humanoid in appearance, and of course Sigma replacing Dr. Wily as the final boss. X can still gain new weapons from defeating the 8 Mavericks just like in the classic series. Another change are the upgrades to X’s helmet, armor, boots and gun which are found hidden in capsules around the 8 levels. X now sports a dash move when you upgrade his boots, along with a wall jump move letting the player jump up walls and slide down them, along with doing dashes off walls themselves. Other upgrades found in stages include heart tanks which increase X’s life bar and 4 sub-tanks which replace energy tanks from the classic series. Unlike the classic series, you can fill these with energy until max, and use as needed, and keep refilling them with energy when your life bar is full. A password system like the classic series, saves your progress on fought Mavericks and other upgrades.

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Retrorevisited: Street Fighter 2/Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 (SNES/Genesis)

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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 Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat series were big hits in the arcades in the 1990’s and that translated to their home editions, becoming big hits in the 16bit era for the SNES and Sega Genesis. The various game ports are translated perfectly to the home systems (complete with cheating AI!) from the graphics, gameplay and soundtracks. Street Fighter 2 Turbo was really the port to own and the one most gamers in that era knew and studied all the move and combo lists.

The Mortal Kombat series had a more creative and public history when it was introduced by midway due to the graphic violence as part of the gameplay. Blood, gore, and violent Fatalities were what everyone wanted to do and see, and what non-gamers were appealed over. Because of this the editions of Mortal Kombat which came home had the more violent elements removed or locked out behind a code. SNES MK had the better graphics and music, but the blood was changed to sweat (which you can easily change to red or any other color with Game Genie codes!), while the blood was behind a code for the Genesis. MK2 and onward everything was intact for gamers!

For the record, I do enjoy fighting games, but I suck at them. I can hold my own to a point, I’ve always had trouble building combos and thinking fast with performing special moves and the like.

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My History with the Mega Man and Mega Man X Series

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The “My History With…” series are my thoughts back when I was a kid to young adult, about when I got games of a series, my initial thoughts about them, and other thoughts about the games. I stick to games I have or had, not one I played for the first time when i discovered emulation or modern system remakes. 

So I’ve mentioned before I do have a long history playing and loving the NES Mega Man series. First one I played being 2 thanks to a cousin and he and I tore it up figuring out the order to fight the Robot Masters, figuring out the weapons to use in Wily’s Castle, and looking through Nintendo Power issues for if/when the password system was cracked. MM3 was the first one I owned myself and loved, doing the same as with 3, and eventually went back to the series roots with 1, and 4. Never owned 5 or 6, though I eventually did play them via roms and played them again, along with 7 in the ps2 MM Anniversary Collection. I had played 8 thanks to a cousin bringing his copy over.

ONTO THE GAMES:

I think I got this for a gift sometime after getting MM3 and 4. I knew it was the first and didn’t have the polish of the later games, but I still had a blast! Never finished it, but i did learn the boss order and about the pause buffering from Nintendo Power. Not so much a favorite of mine, but still fun seeing its more crude compared to the later ones.

Now we’re talking, this was my first when a cousin brought this over to play, a lot! We spent hours exploring the game, figuring out the order, and even going against the order to try runs with different weapons. I never finished it as a kid cause I got stopped up at the Boobeams Trap like most people, and that was even after knowing you could blow up the walls and they won’t return during your next trip. Probably my 2nd favorite of the NES games! I think I bought this one myself some years back since it was the one I played the most outside of others. In March of 2023, I finished this on both difficulties buster only! Never doing Difficult Mode buster only again though.

This was the first Mega Man I owned and still my favorite and most played out of the NES games. This is still my favorite, even though knowing now how broken and glitchy the game is. I can still rock most of the game except for still getting stuck in Doc Robot Hell. This one has my favorite of the Robot Masters and music and a few favorite weapons! After relearning this it’s still a favorite of mine to play and find hacks for like the MM3 Improvement and Revamped hacks! In March 2023, I finished this buster only! Many my streaming friends are surprised how well I rock it in this game too!

Probably the 2nd MM NES title I owned. I was fascinated by the Robot Masters in this one as a kid, glad there wasn’t a hellish portion with Doc Robots again but surprised there were 2 boss castles (which is why i call MM4-6 the 2 boss castle trilogy). I never finished this one as a kid either cause I’d get stuck in Wily’s with no e-tanks. I finished this one for the first time on stream, after a couple tries.

First time and only times I really played this was with a cousin of mine. I had forgotten about this until I got older and into game collecting and streaming. I found the plot interesting and even younger I found the voice acting cheesy, but then again it was the early years of video game voice acting and anime dubs. Finishing this one recently I enjoyed the plot and the soundtrack, but it felt kinda meh compared to the others. I don’t think I would revisit this thanks to the 1st Wily boss and the “jump jump, slide slide” sections.

I think I first played this at a friend’s house or rented it and I was blown away. The soundtrack kicked ass the minute you turned on the console and you were fed a rainbow of colors when you started the game. Seeing Mega Man X and its cast in beautiful colors was amazing to me as a late teen! I loved relearning how the X series worked with the new mechanics and upgrades and liked the idea of the bosses being called Mavericks in a more mature storyline set in the future. I finished this for the first time a couple years ago and enjoy revisiting it when I can! Zero was also awesome!

This one I did rent often as a late teen and I think the first of the X series I finished. I enjoyed the still mature storyline set by the first game and started seeing how Sigma would be the “It was Wily all along!” of the X series. The colors and soundtrack still blew me away with how many colors and what a great and mature soundtrack this game had. I enjoyed learning the new mechanics of this one and the following games that started with the first X game.

X4 was the first one I owned and loved the upgrades to the series on the 32-bit PS1 system. I can play as X or Zero now, sweet! Loved how both had their own fighting styles getting through the stages with X being a ranged fighter and Zero being a melee fighter with his sword. The graphics and soundtrack still amaze me. I think this is my favorite of the X series and something I need to finish cause I always get stuck up on the final Sigma fights. X4 and X2 are my favorites!

What’s YOUR history with these games?

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