Category Archives: Hacks Showcase

Hack Showcase: Y’s 3 Renewal & Rebalanced Hacks (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.

Y’s 3 Renewal by Plombo aims to clean up the dialogue and script of the game into something that flows and sounds better. Beside that, the hack also presents terms and names used by XSEED in the modern remakes of the Y’s series along with some graphical improvements to clean up the look of the game more.

The goal of Y’s 3 Rebalanced by Mentil is to reduce the amount of time grinding and a lot of the difficulty issues this game has with the following changes:

  • The player getting hit now grants 25 invincibility frames rather than 10; each mistake is now less likely to get you hit more than once.
  • Enemies now grant 6x the gold and XP in the early game; once reaching an area where you should be about halfway to the level cap, this drops to 2x. One should reach the recommended level for each area by the time one arrives, with almost no grinding required, if one slays every monster in one’s path.
  • Many enemies and bosses have had their damage output nerfed to more-reasonable levels. The final boss got particular attention and should be far less frustrating to fight.
  • Each enemy defeated now grants 3 ring points instead of 1, making rings more useful without frequent recharges in town.
  • Adol now starts the game with a sword, given the intro states he has one.

I combined both these hacks for gameplay and for this review, which is recommended and possible to do. Review will be for both together and separate and same with my final score.

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Hack Showcase: Mega Man 2 Revamped (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.

Created by TheSkipper1995, this hack is just like the Mega Man 3 Revamped hack where it adds polish and other corrections to Mega Man 2 with hose weapons are used, ai of enemies and bosses, new level design to benefit stage gimmicks and more. There’s also 3 optional patches included with the base hack which are recommended:

  • NoFlash – Removes the flashing visual effects
  • Friction – Removes the slide Mega Man does when he stops running
  • FastEnergy – Faster speed which energy is refilled

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RPG Hack Showcase: Final Fantasy 2 – Unprecedented Crisis (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 Pinkpuff and his team, this hack changes up the events of FF2/4 in a new and exciting way that makes it feel like an all new game. You’ll have new party configurations, new skills and stats for your heroes, new items, new locations and a lot more. A lot of events from FF2/4 are more fleshed out in this hack as well as a cleaned up script. Visiting the Training Room in Baron will give a good rundown of a number of the changes and more.

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RPG Hack Showcase: Ultima Exodus Remastered (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.

Ultima: Exodus Remastered by Fox Cunning aims to improve the game with quality of life features such as canceling an action, easier grinding, better combat AI, fixing typos and rebalancing the player classes. More can be found in the release notes. but for starters:

  • Updated, more user-friendly UI
  • Bug fixes
  • Many Quality-Of-Life changes
  • Improved “3D” dungeon view
  • Graphics inspired to Ultima IV-VI
  • NPC portraits in dialogues
  • Lootable weapons/armour
  • New enemy AI makes battles faster and more tactical
  • Battle/magic systems rebalance
  • More distinct Professions, each with their own stats and abilities
  • Horses actually make map movement faster over certain terrain types and are not just cosmetic

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Hack Showcase: Swamp Thing Easy (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.

Created by Chronix, this hack makes the NES game Swamp Thing a lot more stable and playable, instead of it being a combination of jank and “Nintendo Hard”. Swamp Thing is one of those games that looks good, but plays like toxic waste. This following changes were added:

  • Faster walking
  • Longer jumps
  • Start with 9 lives and 6 hitpoints
  • Start with 20 shots
  • Power Ups give 20 additional shots

SO HOW IS IT? First off, let’s discuss the game itself. The presentation of Swamp Thing is well done. The music and sound effects really fit the mood as do the stage layouts and the use of bold colors, Earth tones, and other effects. That said, the play control, jank, and hitboxes really bring this game down and make Swamp Thing a “Nintendo Hard” game but not in a good way like with the Ninja Gaiden trilogy.

That said, the improvements to Swamp Ting from this hack make this game a lot less of a chore and more playable. Especially when it comes to the excessive platforming areas. Starting with more shots and getting more of them is helpful with keeping your distance attacking enemies, especially the boss fights (except for Skin Man). Better jumping and faster walking mares the platforming a lot easier than being a chore in the original and hoping that you don’t slip off a platform or anything (especially in the last stage). Having 9 lives is helpful since everything can kill you fast in this and you can find yourself being drained of hit points pretty fast before realizing it, especially since i-frames in this game are very short.

All that aside, Swamp Thing is a decent game made better by this hack and not as much of a chore. Just remember continues kick in after fighting the first boss in the cemetery level.

I GIVE SWAMP THING EASY 5 OUT OF 5 SWAMP FLOWERS!!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO:

LINKS:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4178/ – Swamp Thing Easy

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!

RPG Hack Showcase: Arcana: Seal of Rimsala (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.

Arcana: Seal of Rimsala is a labor of love by Sarah Shinespark to create the definitive version of this forgotten SNES RPG from Hal Labs. Lots of small and big fixes to this game were made to improve and modernize this game, along with various quality of life improvements! 

Features:

  • Faster gameplay, redrawn maps, and a coherent story.
  • Explore remodeled dungeons and search for new items!
  • Overhauled weapons and armor
  • Battle the SOR mascot, Mimic!
  • Undoes 90’s Nintendo censorship
  • One-page level-up screen; no more scrolling!
  • New status screen with stat icons and monster bonuses!
  • Tons of unused content debuting
  • Easter eggs and bug fixes
  • Hundreds of tiny tweaks

New to version 2.1:

  • Quality of Life: The New Game intro can now be skipped through with the A button.
  • Modernization: The menu now opens with the X button.
  • Gameplay: New anti-Human and Anti-Reptile equipment; balance changes
  • Coding: Elemental and race bonuses can now be viewed in the Status screen!
  • Graphics: New elemental icons!
  • Script: Spell and equipment text rewritten for more flavor.
  • Script: Attribute spells now show their element.
  • Balance: Reverted barehanded damage to vanilla.
  • Extras: Added a Monster list, Spell list, and Equipment list in PDF.
  • Extras: Added vanilla lists for reference.

SO HOW IS IT? I never played this when I was younger so I was excited to give this a try. Not to mention I’m not big on first-person dungeon crawlers and trying to follow maps. That said trying this out was an enjoyable experience!

I really enjoyed my time with this hack and want to revisit the game now even though I stink at first-person dungeon crawlers and finding my way around on maps. Text scrolling, transition between screens and going from fighting to walking is faster now with no lap! The fights can still be pretty intense and I do enjoy the battle music! Quality of life features like skipping dialogue and an easier way to open the menu is a must, and I do like the font used in the game!

Dialogue seems a lot cleaner and to the point now, and I like the extra commentary in dialogue scenes and in battle if you get hit with a surprise attack. It’s easier to see what gear upgrades do now with the new icons and screen now and easier to cast spells.

Included with this hack is a plethora of game information also if this is your first time playing this hack, or first time playing Arcana in general with information on your weapons, armor, spells, important characters, a monster lists and a lot more! I wish more hack authors did something like this!

I GIVE ARCANA: SEAL OF RIMSALA 5 OUT OF 5 CARDS!!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO:

LINKS:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4505/ – Arcana: Seal of Rimsala

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!

Hack Showcase: TMNT Shredder’s Re-Revenge (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.

Created by Savok with help from others, this aims to be the ultimate of the TMNT/Streets of Rage 2 hacks. Using a new storyline, all the graphics were changed to be TMNT-related. You have all 4 Turtles, Casey Jones, April, and Splinter, Foot Soldiers and well known enemies from the cartoon as bosses and more! This hack uses the graphics from the Steam game TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and more:

Features:

  • Replaced all characters, all enemies and all bosses.
  • Added shadow for all characters, all enemies and all bosses.
  • Some enemies have new attacks, that will surprise experienced players.
  • Characters replaced by Raph, Leo, Donnie, Mikey, April O’Neil, Splinter and Casey Jones.
  • All seven playable characters can jump further while running
  • All of the characters attacks are similar to those from TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.
  • The game has juggling for both players and enemies.
  • Players can recover from a hit by pressing the jump button upon landing (as in SOR4)
  • The command to run (f, f) becomes more sensitive.
  • All playable characters can jump further while running.
  • You can use the Offensive Special while running
  • Added 6-Button gamepad Support. Uppercut now is Y-button.
  • Friendly fire is disabled.
  • Added new sounds for players and enemies.
  • A new plot has been written for the game.
  • Changed the title screen
  • Changed all Story Screen in the game
  • For the first time in sor2 hacking, switching between normal and turbo mode has been added to the option
  • Added turbo mode

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Super Ghouls & Ghosts Restoration & Super Arthur Hacks (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.

Super Ghouls & Ghosts Restoration by SCD aims to remove most of the slowdown that hindered (or helped depending on your playstyle) of the original game, along with restoring religious content back to the game such as the crosses in level 1. There’s also a hidden menu by holding L and pressing Start.

The Super Arthur SGnG hack by Lufia aims to do the following:

  • Power decrementation on hit (return to previous armor)
  • Weapon collecting and switching between them with the L/R buttons
  • Shields that will not break by blocking with them
  • A slightly slower timer

Again this can be combined with the previously mentioned Restoration hack.

SO HOW IS IT? This hack really does help level the playing field with this tough game, no matter what difficulty you play on! For the record, playing this hack was my first real time playing Super Ghouls n Ghosts fully, first run went pretty badly, loop 2 went much better in some spots, worse in others. Satan fight wasn’t easy.

In terms of the Restoration hack, the slowdown removed really does help when fighting off the legions of Hell, and making tricky jumps and fighting bosses. In some cases of early SNES titles the slowdown can help, in other cases it impedes you since it sets off while you’re making a jump or fighting something and it throws you off. With this hack, no slowdown and you can fight your way without the game itself impeding your progress!

Adding the Super Arthur hack to it is where things really shine. Being able to keep all the weapons you find, and change them on the fly really will change your strategy for progressing through levels and fighting enemies, especially Red Devils and bosses. Being able to switch them is especially useful when you can use magic with the Gold Armors and need a different attack or finding hidden chests! Armor decrementation will give Arthur essentially 4 hit points if you have the Gold Armor, getting hit by enemies downgrades it to the Green Armor, then the Silver, then your boxers then death. It makes the game feel like the hit point system of the Sega Master System GnG which is a favorite of mine! Having a slower timer means you can take more time to explore and fight enemies, though lagging in places can still cause enemies to gather around you to move in for the kill. Shields don’t break when you block with them gives Arthur more time to kill things and stay alive just a little bit longer. The game can still throw the kitchen sink at you in terms of enemies or navigating the landscapes, but this gives you more of a chance to proceed or learn your way through levels.

I highly recommend both these hacks together if you’re a master of Super GnG or just a novice! It’ll change your outlook and the way you play this, leveling the playing field somewhat on any difficulty level! You can play these hacks separately or together as i did!

I GIVE THE SUPER GHOULS & GHOSTS RESTORATION AND SUPER ARTHUR HACKS 5 OUT OF 5 GOLD ARMORS!!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO:

LINKS:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2893/ – Super Arthur Hack
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3473/ – Restoration Hack

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!

Final Fantasy 6: Beyond Chaos Randomizer (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.

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.

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Hack Showcase: Mega Man 2 Sliding & Charging Hack (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.

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!

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