ROM Hacks that genuinely improve the base game?

[Bakuma1997]

I'd like to add some five more:

Paper Mario TTYD 64: A great enhancement of Paper Mario 64 that adds TTYD's features and even gives you the ability to skip the intro
Crash Bandicoot Quality of Life: Crash 1 can be a pain to 100% (Is one to beat in general, but that is beside the point) since dying means missing the box gem, thanks to this patch boxes works like in 2 onwards, shaving lots of pointless hours
Dragon Quest IV Party Chat: What i disliked of OG Dragon quest is that your companion's characterization cease to exist as soon as you start Episode 5, the remake on DS added the capacity to chat with your party... Japan only, fortunately there is a patch that translates said barter and now we can hear the banter of our allies (They properly brought it back in the Mobile Ports)
Super Mario RPG Enhanced: QoL/Difficulty patch that makes the experience smoother while making the honestly easy game a legit challenge

And Lastly...

Circle of The Moon Card Mode: Easly the most underrated game of the GBA trilogy, good concepts, good music, interesting enemies and bosses and a great challenge vindicated today, sadly its gimmick, the DDS (Escencially combining cards for effects and magic) was marred by being randomized, not only that, only 20 enemies yield the card, making some people flatout miss the gimmick, fortunately with this one some HP/MP extensions are replaced with cards, making finding them more simple and the game slightly more enjoyable, oh, the game lacks a store, so the fact that enemies that dropped the card now drop healing items is also a godsend

 

[χKai]

Colorization hacks for Game Boy Mega Man games.

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7492/

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8688/

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8738/

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7413/

Alternatively...

Mega Man World 3 DX

A remastered version of Mega Man III Game Boy videogame, that colorizes it and works on real GBC hardware.

www.marcrobledo.com

Mega Man World 4 DX

A remastered version of Mega Man IV Game Boy videogame, that colorizes it and works on real GBC hardware.

www.marcrobledo.com

Mega Man World 5 DX

A remastered version of Mega Man III Game Boy videogame, that colorizes it and works on real GBC hardware.

www.marcrobledo.com

 

[Cheela]

I really like the base game without hack but i got too say that Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance recolor was a blessing to my eyes. Also i love the Pokemon Hacks like Recharged Emerald, that does not change anything of the base games in terms of difficulty and balancing, but add little things like a nuzlocke mode or level caps options. Love that stuff.

Also i will throw a bonus here:
Oops too many archers is Fire Emblem 8 hack that is funny as hell to play. Is not perfect (the autor is color blind soo there are very glitchy color palettes) but is a refreshing way to experience FE8

 

[χKai]

Someone really needs to make a slowdown removal patch for River City Ransom/Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari.

Might see about getting a couple people and become that someone; it would be great to have the game playable in 2P mode.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Oh man, I love hacks. I could go on for hours, but I'll just list some of my favorites.

Final Fantasy VII - New Threat
This is for the PC release of FFVII. I honestly can't play the base game again after using this mod. It's a pretty huge overhaul to basically everything in the game. I would recommend scrolling down to "Feature List" to learn more about it. The only caveats are that it works best without other mods, cracked copies will not work and unless you want to have a bad time, the Steam release is the absolutely best way to play it.

Final Fantasy VI - Brave New World
This is for the US Final Fantasy III release for the SNES. Another giant overhaul, touching basically everything in the game. I also have a hard time going back to the base game after this. The readme file on the site goes deep into all the changes that are made. The only downside is that it messes with the script in what I would consider not a good way. Stuff like fart jokes and memes. Thankfully there is a couple of optional patches that make the script closer to the original. x)

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - One Vision
This is for the PSP release of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Oh look, it's another major overhaul that touches everything and that's almost killed the base game for me. See a pattern here? Though unlike the others it doesn't touch the script at all. It's just a fantastic overhaul, changing bascially everything gameplay related to be more balanced. It also severly cuts down on the skill grinding the base game had. Can't recommend it enough.

Final Fantasy Tactics - Cerabow's Mod
This is for the US PS1 release of Final Fantasy Tactics. Now this is a real treat, it's another mod that makes it hard for me to return to the original. My favorite mod for my favorite game of all time. Is it another huge overhaul? Of course! You should know me by now. Everything's been tweaked and rebalanced, a bunch of new abilities and even complete skillset changes for classes and the enemies come with more skills and equipment. The Lucavi fights are true fucking battles now, they do not mess around. One of the biggest changes is that leveling up in specific classes does not change the character's stats permanently. I wasn't a fan of the idea at first, but I think it's the way to go now. You can switch classes freely and experiment more without having to worry about a character turning shitty because of weird growths. I could sing praises about this mod all day. Please give it a chance if you're a big FFT fan.

Well, that's it for now. Those are my favorites that come to mind immediately. I will return with more if I think of them.

 

[RageBurner]

Oh man, I love hacks. I could go on for hours, but I'll just list some of my favorites.

Final Fantasy VII - New Threat
This is for the PC release of FFVII. I honestly can't play the base game again after using this mod. It's a pretty huge overhaul to basically everything in the game. I would recommend scrolling down to "Feature List" to learn more about it. The only caveats are that it works best without other mods, cracked copies will not work and unless you want to have a bad time, the Steam release is the absolutely best way to play it.

Final Fantasy VI - Brave New World
This is for the US Final Fantasy III release for the SNES. Another giant overhaul, touching basically everything in the game. I also have a hard time going back to the base game after this. The readme file on the site goes deep into all the changes that are made. The only downside is that it messes with the script in what I would consider not a good way. Stuff like fart jokes and memes. Thankfully there is a couple of optional patches that make the script closer to the original. x)

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - One Vision
This is for the PSP release of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Oh look, it's another major overhaul that touches everything and that's almost killed the base game for me. See a pattern here? Though unlike the others it doesn't touch the script at all. It's just a fantastic overhaul, changing bascially everything gameplay related to be more balanced. It also severly cuts down on the skill grinding the base game had. Can't recommend it enough.

Final Fantasy Tactics - Cerabow's Mod
This is for the US PS1 release of Final Fantasy Tactics. Now this is a real treat, it's another mod that makes it hard for me to return to the original. My favorite mod for my favorite game of all time. Is it another huge overhaul? Of course! You should know me by now. Everything's been tweaked and rebalanced, a bunch of new abilities and even complete skillset changes for classes and the enemies come with more skills and equipment. The Lucavi fights are true fucking battles now, they do not mess around. One of the biggest changes is that leveling up in specific classes does not change the character's stats permanently. I wasn't a fan of the idea at first, but I think it's the way to go now. You can switch classes freely and experiment more without having to worry about a character turning shitty because of weird growths. I could sing praises about this mod all day. Please give it a chance if you're a big FFT fan.

Well, that's it for now. Those are my favorites that come to mind immediately. I will return with more if I think of them.

Some excellent picks here. I'll add that FF8 Ragnarok and FF8 Crystal are great overhauls of FF8 as well and significantly iron out the issues with the original.

I can't vouch for BNW because it messes with the script in really stupid ways; it's not something I like in hacks and as soon as I noticed I gave it the boot. A Soldier's Contingency does a much better job at balancing the game and preserving its spirit without script liberties or cop outs like exp toggles.

 

[MasterEn]

pikmin1². better ai, improved rock bombs, 2 stories and a crazy awesome and terrifying randomizer.
if i remember more, i'll list them later. i can't stop playing pikmin 1², it even taught me a keyboard combo that i didn't know about.

 

[Escaeva]

A couple always really stand out to me.

Final Fantasy VI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition
This is in my opinion the DEFINITIVE way to play ff6. It keeps the best parts of all the official and fan translations, fixes every bug, and adds some QoL things that should have been in the original game (optional patch, but highly recommended)

Phantasy Star 3 retrnaslation/improvement
Greatly improves the translation and adds double walking speed and rewards douber, honestly makes it one of the best RPG's on the genesis. FlamePurge also has a classic names patch floating around if you Google it.

Basically the FlamePurge patches for Phantasy Star 2 and 4 are also incredible at bringing the games into their ultimate forms.

Final Fantasy Adventure / Seiken Densetsu
This romhack re translate and fleshes out the script, fixes bugs, fleshes out the lore using later Mana's games, and overall makes the game wayyyyy better without changing the base experience at all.

 

[χKai]

Final Fantasy VI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition
This is in my opinion the DEFINITIVE way to play ff6. It keeps the best parts of all the official and fan translations, fixes every bug, and adds some QoL things that should have been in the original game (optional patch, but highly recommended)

My favorite way to play FF6 apart from T-Edition. I've been trying to find if I can combine it with a fanmade patch, the Lion Armlet, which replaces Celes' Runic ability with General Leo's Shock. Check it out.

 

[RageBurner]

I wish I can play this one hack...I just leave it here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1881457927388557388

This is genuinely impressive.

 

[ucorpus]

Rock and Roll racing hack V17.
6 Cars in the race instead of 4, new planets, tracks, characters, cars, CD audio, recoloring, widescreen, etc... It's simply amazing.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Some excellent picks here. I'll add that FF8 Ragnarok and FF8 Crystal are great overhauls of FF8 as well and significantly iron out the issues with the original.

I can't vouch for BNW because it messes with the script in really stupid ways; it's not something I like in hacks and as soon as I noticed I gave it the boot. A Soldier's Contingency does a much better job at balancing the game and preserving its spirit without script liberties or cop outs like exp toggles.

Thank you for the suggestions! I've played with Ragnarok some and I agree that it's a quality mod. I wanted to wait until the mod was finished before I did a full playthrough, but it was last updated halfway through 2023 so it will be awhile and the remastered mod is behind the original Steam release to a decent degree, but thankfully and surprisingly the original Steam release is still for sale.

Crystal seems super good too. It looks more complete than Ragnarok as well. I'll definitely check that out, thank you for bringing it to my attention.

The creator of FF7 - New Threat is working on a version for FF8 as well. If it's even half as good as the version for 7, it will be a real treat. Sadly it hasn't been updated since 2019 and there's still a ton of work to do, so I won't hold my breath for it being completed any time soon.

As for BNW, I totally understand. The script changes were just totally unnecessary and really bad in a lot of cases. I honestly don't know what the creator was thinking. x) There are two optional patches that change the script, but I'm not sure to what degree. Still, I loved the changes enough that it kept me playing, but I can understand why you dropped it.

I'll have to give A Soldier's Contingency a try sometime. I'm a bit wary about it making story changes and adding Leo as a party member, but I should just bite the bullet and give it a shot. I've played vanilla FF6 enough that I should just relax and let myself have fun with a new experience. x)

 

[RageBurner]

I'll have to give A Soldier's Contingency a try sometime. I'm a bit wary about it making story changes and adding Leo as a party member, but I should just bite the bullet and give it a shot. I've played vanilla FF6 enough that I should just relax and let myself have fun with a new experience. x)

Just my headcanon talking here, but saving Leo should definitely have been a possibility even on the base game. It would pass a very important message: the Empire is only mostly bad because the people behind it are mostly bad. In other words, it would be a far less cookie cutter antagonistic body. Having Celes already is a blessing, so Leo would be the icing.

 

[χKai]

Just my headcanon talking here, but saving Leo should definitely have been a possibility even on the base game. It would pass a very important message: the Empire is only mostly bad because the people behind it are mostly bad. In other words, it would be a far less cookie cutter antagonistic body. Having Celes already is a blessing, so Leo would be the icing.

I think that was intentional, killing off Leo, our last hope for diplomacy with the good citizens of the empire renders the party and player alike with that unmistakable feeling of utter hopelessness.

 

[RageBurner]

I think that was intentional, killing off Leo, our last hope for diplomacy with the good citizens of the empire renders the party and player alike with that unmistakable feeling of utter hopelessness.

That's a good point, yeah. I guess the likes of

Spoiler

Nei, Aerith, and Lyla/Alys

dying for the benefit of the plot never sat well with me.

 

[χKai]

That's a good point, yeah. I guess the likes of

Spoiler

Nei, Aerith, and Lyla/Alys

dying for the benefit of the plot never sat well with me.

You should play War of the Lions of the Lions if you're a Final Fantasy Tactics fan.
I had that mentality too, wanting to save absolutely everyone and everything I could, after all, no one is evil to the core, there's good in everyone. And even if they are, that's okay too; they deserve to exist just as much as everyone else.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

I think that was intentional, killing off Leo, our last hope for diplomacy with the good citizens of the empire renders the party and player alike with that unmistakable feeling of utter hopelessness.

I liked Leo, so it sucked, but my biggest problem was that he died like a total bitch. x)

Spoiler: Halo 3 Spoilers

Not as bad as Sgt. Johnson though. One of the only likable characters in the series. Oof.

 

[χKai]

I liked Leo, so it sucked, but my biggest problem was that he died like a total bitch. x)

Spoiler: Halo 3 Spoilers

Not as bad as Sgt. Johnson though. One of the only likable characters in the series. Oof.

Reminds me of an edgy Soul Cal 3 character I made once that would say
"Death.... for the weak!"
Lmfao, everyone dies bruh

 

[RageBurner]

Reminds me of an edgy Soul Cal 3 character I made once that would say
"Death.... for the weak!"
Lmfao, everyone dies bruh

I guess in defense of your edgy character, the weak tend to punch their cards sooner. I get Akuma/Magus vibes from the quote.

 

[χKai]

I guess in defense of your edgy character, the weak tend to punch their cards sooner. I get Akuma/Magus vibes from the quote.

Very much had 'em, that character was a dual-personality self-insert type of thing I had going for a while.

 

[RageBurner]

Very much had 'em, that character was a dual-personality self-insert type of thing I had going for a while.

I generally just went with the usual rule of cool for custom characters. I did have a tabletop RPG phase with a group of friends though, and then I'd very much inject my personality into it all, though. My longest lived character was a highly irritable elf that couldn't catch a break because he was serious, but the whole party was a bunch of goofs.

My other character was a paladin, and he too was mostly ridiculed and goofed at at every turn. Good fun, but part of me resented not being able to actually perform my role.

 

[χKai]

I generally just went with the usual rule of cool for custom characters. I did have a tabletop RPG phase with a group of friends though, and then I'd very much inject my personality into it all, though. My longest lived character was a highly irritable elf that couldn't catch a break because he was serious, but the whole party was a bunch of goofs.

My other character was a paladin, and he too was mostly ridiculed and goofed at at every turn. Good fun, but part of me resented not being able to actually perform my role.

Two things make it hard to roleplay;
Trying to be too much like yourself in RP, and other people not wanting to RP seriously enough for you.

 

[RageBurner]

Two things make it hard to roleplay;
Trying to be too much like yourself in RP, and other people not wanting to RP seriously enough for you.

That's true, yeah.

 

[rodimusprimal]

A couple always really stand out to me.

Final Fantasy VI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition
This is in my opinion the DEFINITIVE way to play ff6. It keeps the best parts of all the official and fan translations, fixes every bug, and adds some QoL things that should have been in the original game (optional patch, but highly recommended)

Phantasy Star 3 retrnaslation/improvement
Greatly improves the translation and adds double walking speed and rewards douber, honestly makes it one of the best RPG's on the genesis. FlamePurge also has a classic names patch floating around if you Google it.

Basically the FlamePurge patches for Phantasy Star 2 and 4 are also incredible at bringing the games into their ultimate forms.

Final Fantasy Adventure / Seiken Densetsu
This romhack re translate and fleshes out the script, fixes bugs, fleshes out the lore using later Mana's games, and overall makes the game wayyyyy better without changing the base experience at all.

My favorite way to play FF6 apart from T-Edition. I've been trying to find if I can combine it with a fanmade patch, the Lion Armlet, which replaces Celes' Runic ability with General Leo's Shock. Check it out.

Thank you both for the kind words. I also made a similar project with others, like Flame Purge, for FFIV. Namingway Edition.

I don't know if the Lion Armlet patch works as some things are shifted in the ROM to expand things like item descriptions. It would have to be tested out.

 

[Yukyon]

The "legend of not dying to wolves" hack for DBZ the legend of goku, that jungle part was so frustrating because you barely leveled up by killing them and they would kill you in like 2 blows
(At least how I remember it being as a kid)