2022) (SNES)

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Chris W

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.

Zelda Link to the Past Redux is another lovely hack released by Shadowone333 and his team. This one is a combination of his team’s work and that of the Link to the Past DX hack by Con and qwertymodo. This one added improvements to the graphics, quality of life features, and restored some censored content from the original release. The FMV opening was also restored!!

A Link to the Past Redux provides two main patches (either of which can be applied without the need of the other):

New inventory GFX starting from version 7.0, which gives individual slots to every item, including one per each bottle and the shovel is handled as a separate and permanent item. Ocarina and Golden Bee names have been fixed manually for this too.

New Retranslation patch, a companion to main Redux. This patch provides a completely new and unique retranslation of the game’s script provided by the Translation Quest team that is primarily faithful to the Japanese text. (NOTE: This is an independent patch and should NOT be patched over the main Redux patch, but all optional patches should be compatible with it.)

As for the main changes for Redux:

Max consumables for Bombs and Arrows are now 60 for Bombs and 99 for Arrows
Change Link’s hair and hat to closely match his original artwork.
Change Agahnim colors to match the original red robe and blue skin artwork.
Changed Uncle’s sprite to match official artwork.
Change the Flute’s name to Ocarina (I don’t know in what world that instrument is a flute). This includes in-game text and Credits name changed too.
Change the Good Bee’s name to Golden Bee.
Change Faerie to Fairy. This includes in-game text too.
Change Pegasus Shoes to Pegasus Boots. This includes in-game text too.
Change all the references of the “Wise Men” to “Sages”.
Change the layout of the Ice Palace to that of the GBA port. No more going around the entire palace just to get to the next room. As of v2.0, the Ice Palace new layout has been fixed to have 3 movable blocks in the new section. There was one movable block unused in one other Dungeon layout found in Room 240. (Why was it there?)
King of Hyrule now has a red outfit instead of green to match the rest of the franchise’s Kings of Hyrule (Like Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule from WW).
Permanent Shovel, as well as being able to dig up items with it in the overworld.
Skip the Title Screen sequence by pressing Start, you no longer have to wait until the Triforce and title screen finish their animation.

There’s also a number of optional patches to add!

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Retrorevisited: Starfox 1-2, Starfox 64

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Chris W

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.

Starfox was released in 1993 and was the first SNES title to use a new graphic chip called the SuperFX chip. Sporting great game play and a killer soundtrack, this rail shooter was a bit hit, even if the graphics weren’t the prettiest. Other SuperFX chip games were later released, a list of which can be found here. Later Starfox games were released on other Nintendo consoles including the N64, GameCube, and the handheld DS. Starfox 2 was completed for the SNES but never released in 1995, over fears over looking inferior to 32bit games. Over the years, various rom images showed up online for it. The game got an official release with the SNES Mini in 2017, and on the Switch in 2019.

I loved Starfox as a kid!! I used to be pretty good at it, having finished it a few times i think. loved the gameplay and the great soundtrack and knew a few of the secrets. I’d just constantly get messed up by rng and my own mistakes in later levels, even after having racked up a number of extra lives and continues. This Retrorevisited will see how much I can remember of Starfox itself, along with trying out Starfox 2 for the first time as a bonus, seeing the rom from the SNES mini got leaked online at one point. I had Starfox64 and ate it up as a kid even with the N64 limitations! loved the additions to the series, hated some stuff like the battles with the Starwolf team but it was a great addition to the series!

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Retrorevisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1-4 (NES & SNES)

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Chris W

Like most kids in the 80’s, I grew up on the first TMNT cartoon, and the first NES title. Even back then I figured there was quite a bit off with it, especially the challenge and jankiness. Like most kids and teens, my friends and I devoured the 2 arcade titles, and loved the home versions for the NES and SNES, and even liked TMNT3 which built on the brawler style and wasn’t based on an arcade title. So in my retrorevisited video, TMNT 1 I limped my way to stage 3, TMNT 2 and 3 I made it to stage 3 also! TMNT 4 I made it to stage 5! Both TMNT2 and 3 have hidden codes to increase lives, difficulty and a stage select.

I recently played through the Famicom TMNT2 (called TMNT in Japan) and TMNT3 (called TMNT2) there, and there are a number of difficulty, graphical and gameplay changes worth looking up too.

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RPG Hack Showcase: FF2: Threat from Within Part 1 (SNES)

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Chris W

FF2: Threat From Within part 1 is a hack that has been in the making for a long time by Chillyfeez of FF4 Ultima fame. The first part of a 4 part(?) series, this one takes place 40 years after the events of FF2/4, and 20 years after the events of The After Years, in a time where the crystals lost their power after Zeromus was defeated and the second moon left Earth’s orbit. In the years since, King Edge has been rebuilding Eblan and established the Royal Eblana Mercenary Army (REMA), a ninja force for hire, to help with problems around the world. Edge’s son Furio is about to set off on his first mission, which will set off a chain of events that will endanger the entire world, yet again.

More information from romhacking.net: The gameplay will be familiar but the story is brand new and there are many new gameplay mechanics, including:

Limit Breaks!!
Hirable Mercenary Characters!!
Chocobo “Hunting”!!
Epic Choices – Decisions the player can make to alter how the events of the game play out!!

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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RPG Hack Showcase: FF4 Darkness Within (SNES)

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Chris W

Darkness Within is a FF4 hack by Rynzer completed in 2019. This hack starts out very dark where Palom and Parom are killed by baron soldiers and Cecil is killed during the assault on Mysidia for the crystal there. You end up in the underworld doing tasks for the King of the Underworld to restore your soul. From there the plot proceeds partly like it would in the vanilla game, but in a different order, just like you did the underworld missions when you started. Party members you know and love will join at different times and sometimes have a new ability than the original title with a number of other twists.

With a revised plot comes new dialogue and other changes to the gameplay and other mechanics. Some spells that you could target on all enemies can now only target one enemy, different consumables replace some from the original, and now you only have to buy 1 arrow and you’ll not run out! Enemies were rebalanced or nerfed depending on where you are in the story, and this hack can be hard! Especially in the beginning!

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Retrorevisited: Castlevania 1, 3 and Super Castlevania 4 (NES, SNES)

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Chris W

So I’ve always enjoyed the early and recent Castlevania titles from the first one to SOTN, the gba titles and Dracula X Chronicles. Even with the high difficulty of some games and the metroidvania aspect to the titles post SOTN they were always ones i came back to. Castlevania 1 was one my first NES games which I think i still have. I could always at least get up to the area before Death and i learned on my own as a kid and teen how the holy water can lockdown bosses. CV3 i rented a lot as a kid too and loved the improved graphics and music and the aspect of having one of 3 partners. So much in my password notebooks I had passwords for wherever I left off in cv3 with Trevor and Grant, Alucard or Sypha! No idea where the farthest i got was, but maybe around the beginnings of penetrating Castlevania itself. Castlevania 4 I loved and still do to this day as a 1st gen SENS title showcasing the SNES’ abilities. The music is incredible and being able to swing Simon’s whip in any direction was great! The boss fights and levels were incredible to my young eyes and I had a number of passwords for this one written down too!

(Reviews will be of cv1 and 3 together, and cv4 in a separate paragraph due to different system as the other 2.)

GRAPHICS AND SOUND: The graphics in cv1 and cv3 are beautiful and really fit the mood of the game. There’s some areas that are brightly colored, and others that are darker and forbidding. The color schemes really fit the mood, underground areas and forests are what you would imagine them as you penetrate the grounds of Castlevania to fight Dracula himself. All the bosses are big and colorful and look as they should. There is some graphical flicker in cv1, not as much in cv3 though. The music in these games is legendary! Cv1 you hear the classic Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears for the first time and will be pumped up to fight! Music in other areas fit the mood, like the underground you fall into after fighting the Mummies in cv1. Music is even more incredible in cv3 with more instruments to the classic Castlevania tracks, and you’ll like the music in the Clock tower area too! Killing enemies with your whip makes them explode, your hero “oofs” when hit, and the sub-weapons sound as they would in real life such as the sound when you throw the boomerang or break bottles of holy water all over the floors.

Castlevania 4 was one of the first SNES titles and a showcase of what the new 16bit machine could do with better and more enhanced colors and palettes, along with showcasing the mode 7 abilities during some boss fights. Like the NES titles, the graphics and colors fit the mood of the area of the castle grounds you’re in and check out the backgrounds too! First time you hear the 16bit music you’ll love it and want to hear more, from the 16bit renditions of the classic Castlevania tracks to Theme of Simon in the first stage when you enter the castle grounds! Sound effects are cleaner than that of their NES counterparts, though again Simon yelling “oof” when he gets hit will get annoying. The creeking sound when you swing on rings really sounds good!

PLAY CONTROL: In cv1 Simon controls like a brick. He feels quite heavy when it comes to jumping and falling off platforms. You got a whip and jump button, and using the special items involve holding up and your attack button. Cv1 and 3 will require pixel-perfect jumps at times, though it can be for nothing with the pushback if you get hit by an enemy. Trevor in cv3 controls a lot looser and lighter. Jumping feels lighter and he doesn’t seem to feel wet cardboard. Of course both games you can lose control fast if you get juggled badly.

When it comes to your partner sin Castlevania 3, all have strengths and weaknesses. Grant is good for crawling on walls for shortcuts, but he has low range and he’s slippery trying to control him on walls. Slypha’s a glass cannon, but her magic can destroy everything! Alucard has range with his fireballs and can turn into a bat to fly over obstacles.

In cv4 Simon controls a lot better. You can also swing your whip in 8 directions to be able to attack enemies before you jump, along with holding it in front of you like a shield. Jumping is easier and there’s spots in the game where you have to swing your whip on a ring and swing over to farther platforms.

CHALLENGE: The challenge in all 3 Castlevania games is about the same: hard. Memorization is the key – memorizing where enemies spawn from and how they move, including bosses. Another key is the aforementioned pixel-perfect platforming at times, and the knockback when you take damage, which can leave you in trouble fast. Whip and explore everywhere to find hidden hearts, treasures, and wall meat! Knowing how and where to use the sub-weapons is another key. In cv1 you can use the holy water to lock some bosses in place, and just pelt them with holy water and attacks from your whip to achieve victory with little damage. Bosses range from mummies, cyclops, dragons, and even Death himself before fighting the big man Dracula. Thankfully all 3 games have unlimited continues, and cv3 and 4 having a password to return to where you left off. Cv3 also has three partners you can take with you: Grant, Sypha, and Alucard. Each has their own abilities and skill set. Grant can climb walls, Sypha with her destructive magic skills, and Alucard can turn into a bat and fly around and over obstacles. Castlevania 3 also has multiple paths on your journey to and into Castlevania itself, with different enemies, landscapes and bosses to fight, and partners to find.

I GIVE CASTLEVANIA 1 AND 3 (NES) 4 OUT OF 5 HOLY WATERS!
I GIVE SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV (SNES) 4.5 OUT OF 5 HOLY WATERS!

VIDEO:

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Retrorevisited: Super Star Wars Trilogy (SNES)

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Chris W

So since May 4th was Star Wars Day I decided to devote some streaming to Star Wars content. For a recent Retrorevisited I decided to do the SNES Super Star Wars trilogy (which happened late thanks to a series of events). For this Retrorevisited, I ran through each game till I hit a game over/continue, and sometimes kept going for a little longer, and used passwords to jump around a few levels in Empire and Jedi. I don’t have much history playing these as a teen, mostly renting or playing them with friends. Never owned this trilogy of SNES games until recently when I’ve been on a Star Wars kick as of late. XD And i know it’s August when I finally did this and posted this, I know I’m late. 😛

(Review is gonna be for all 3 games together seeing they’re all about the same.)
GRAPHICS AND SOUND: The graphics in all three games are beautiful and high quality! Your heroes look like who they’re supposed to be as do the various aliens and villians of the Star Wars galaxy. Explosions are very large and colorful. Many of the backgrounds on the planets and places you travel to are quite detailed and beautiful. Jabba’s palace in particular in Jedi has a lot going on in the background and foreground between where you are. Same with Hoth in Empire. Cinema scenes of important events are great for 16bit! All the music is straight from the movies so you can experience the John Williams orchestra in full 16-bit glory from the Imperial march to others.

PLAY CONTROL: The controls are quite tight and you can shoot your blasters in 8 directions. Spears and lightsabers can only go in 4 directions unless you’re spin jumping. You can lose your control for a few seconds due to enemy pushback when you get hit by them or a projectile, or if you lose control when you’re trying to spin jump. Controls can be a little slippy when you’re trying to navigate small platforms or jumps in all 3 games.

CHALLENGE: Oh boy, all three of these games are hard and require a lot of practice and hoping you hit enemies perfectly and making jumps correctly. Pushback from enemies and projectiles can ruin your day and find you losing more health than you want or push you into a pit. Enemies do drop hearts to replenish life, and sometimes drop point bonus and a health sword to make your life bar longer. Some stages are side-scrolling and following the plots of the movies depends on who you play as, sometimes being able to choose. The vehicle stages will require practice since you can get janked around a lot. It’s also ridiculous Jedi starts out with a driving level on a speeder with no weapons to avoid the rocks, and the last level escaping the 2nd Death Star makes no sense. Boss fights can be frustrating as well. You only have 3 lives and 4 continues total in all 3 games. Super Star Wars has no passwords, but Empire and Jedi do have passwords for each level and difficulty setting.

I GIVE THESE GAMES 4 OUT OF 5 LIGHTSABERS!

and the gameplay video:

RPG Hack Showcase: Final Fantasy C2 (SNES)

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Chris W

Final Fantasy C2 was originally released in 2016 by Naka no Hito. This hack is special as it takes the Super Famicom Final Fantasy 4 and transforms it beautifully into an updated version of Final Fantasy 2, the black sheep of the FF games originally released on the NES, and later ported to PSX, GBA, and PSP. The Professional Japanese-to-English localizer Clyde “Tomato” Mandelin, who is known for making the fan English patch for the GBA Mother 3 who runs the Legends of Localization website, dropped an English patch for Final Fantasy C2 recently in 2 different flavors!

There is a version A and version B of this patch. Version A uses the original hack’s FF4’s graphics. Version B changes the enemies FF4 enemies into that of enemies in FF2 with upgraded graphics. Tomato even recommends most people to play version B (version B is the one I played for this review.) A readme file included shows how to patch the hack if you’re not familiar with using ips files, along with a number of other changes including: quality of life improvements, a 5 member party with party swapping late in the game, new spells and gear, a treasure tracker just for fun, and more! Links to a news article about this hack and the website to download this included at the end of this page. So I was excited to play this spur of the moment! I love FF4 after playing Free Enterprise and the Ultima hack for the past month and wanted to see what this brought to the table. Plus I have little experience with FF2 so this would give me a chance to play without dealing with the wacky leveling system.

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Final Fantasy 6: World’s Collide Randomizer (ver 0.9.3 as of 11/14/2021)

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Chris W

Worlds Collide is an open-world randomizer for Final Fantasy 3/6. It follows the same features and format as other open-world randomizers FF4 Free Enterprise and FF5 Career Day. Set up your seed (seed being the type of randomizer you wanna play) by difficulty, randomizing heroes, Espers, monsters, gear and more! Your final goal in the game is to acquire the prerequisite heroes and Espers (which you can change the amount from 3 heroes or Esper, up to all 14 heroes and/or 26 Espers including the 8 Dragons) so you can enter Kefka’s Tower in the World of Ruin and win the game. You can play a normal open world game, or one set up with character gating. Character gating is when your starting hero(es) are limited to key events tied to them, to see if you get a new hero, Esper, or gear. For example Strago is tied to the Burning House, Ebot’s Rock and Fanatic’s Tower, and Edger is tied to the Ancient Castle and Figaro Castle in the WOB and WOR. A spoiler log can be generated with your seed (in a handy zip file with the smc rom and txt log) if you so wish if you get stuck. Only issues I’ve found with both style games, especially character gating, is that the key events tends to be geared more towards gear and Espers, so it may take a while going through everyone’s gating to pick up a new hero or two and make progress.

From the start you begin at Narshe with the airship Blackjack in the World of Balance and have access to all locations there, towns, dungeons, etc. Getting on the airship you have the option to fly around, do stuff in the airship, or go to the World of Ruin. Going to the Floating Continent when you have Shadow in character gating starts the trigger of forming a party of 3 and fighting your way through the Imperial Airforce and Ultros before plopping onto the Floating Continent. The World of Ruin flips you to the World of Ruin with the Falcon at Narshe, and again, access to all locations. But Doom Gaze is still around somewhere and could strike at any time. You can also set to start with Moogle Charms, which eliminate random enemy fights.

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RPG Hack Showcase: Final Fantasy 4 Ultima v2022+ (Updated 11/12/2022) (SNES)

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Chris W

(Note: review and hack showcase video on yt based on version 2022+ as of June 2022.)

Long time Final Fantasy fans know the US release of FF2 on the SNES was a dumbed down version from the original project of FF4.FF4 Ultima fixes all the issues in the easytype FF2, along with later ports prior to the 3D versions of FF4. You can call it the FF4 Deluxe Collector’s Edition package. FF4 Ultima by 8-bit fan, Chillyfeez, and their team team keeps the plot going and makes TONS of changes to everything. The plot script is cleaner and makes more sense, the maps of the overworld, underworld, and moon are even changed! You’ll be surprised when you see the world map coming out of the Cave of Mist! Expect to get lost if you try to take the normal way to the Towel of Bab-il in the underground from the Dwarf Castle! Look out for new areas in familiar dungeons and caves too! Lots of new equipment to mess around with too!

List of features, additions and changes: