What are your favorite romhacks?

[What's His Face]

I prefer mods that uncensor games (especially Nintendo games - those lunatics censor everything), mods that allow for better camera control (be it for games like Breath of Fire III or, well, games with lovely ladies in short skirts), nude mods (which are the second best mods), translation mods (be it from "moon runes" to "English" all the way to "un-Treehousing" & "un-Working Designs).

Basically, any and all mods that makes a game better understandable and/or sexier in some way. I'd gleefully kill for mods that gives Mai Shiranui back her bounce & thong in the SNES Fatal Fury 2 & Special, Aska back her thong in TMNT Tournament Fighters (which would be a straight swap from the SFC version), among other/similar alterations.

 

[χKai]

I agree, they went way overboard when censoring. Even the slightest cleavage was covered up by Nintendo of America, where in Japan kids were getting games with more mature premises as well as artwork, but, y'know.. nothing on the level of bootleg porn games

I feel like Japan got an exclusivity to a broader spectrum of genres when it comes to video games, being the sole proprietor to several major companies like Nintendo throughout recent history.

 

[Graw]

I see those Pixel Remasters looking like RPGMaker Final Fantasy and I don't want to touch 'em, even with a long, sharpened stick.

The problem I had with the pixel remasters is that they were just too easy. The PR version of FF1 is a joke. I played almost the entire game with auto battle, including bosses, and didn't even come close to losing a fight. Even FFV felt too easy. I was able to beat Shinryu first try on a whim with no prep or coral rings. The first time I tried Shinryu on the snes version I got wiped on the first round.

For the op I'd say the Zelda 2 redux hack is basically the definitive way to play the game. It's honestly the way the game should have been made originally.

Also, the Ps2 music and textures mod for the PSP version of Tekken 5. The PSP version is better than the ps2 version in pretty much every way except for the music and graphics. The soundtrack on the PSP version sucks.

 

[MasterEn]

The problem I had with the pixel remasters is that they were just too easy. The PR version of FF1 is a joke. I played almost the entire game with auto battle, including bosses, and didn't even come close to losing a fight. Even FFV felt too easy. I was able to beat Shinryu first try on a whim with no prep or coral rings. The first time I tried Shinryu on the snes version I got wiped on the first round.

this is pretty funny, since after ff3, they started making the games easier. 4 was the last one to have a hard version. any game that comes later only has difficulty from super bosses and/or a lack of understanding the game's mechanics like the job system, materia, the sphere grid and ect.
they took the nintendo route, for some reason.

 

[Jdan-S]

Most of the ROM hacks I like are fan translations of Japan-only games (Rhythm Heaven Silver, Shin Megami Tensei, Mystic Ark, Tomato Adventure, Silent Hill Play Novel, Madou Monogatari, etc.). Apart from those:

Roll-chan sprite hacks by Zynk

Search Results for: roll-chan – The Repo

retrogametalk.com

Tetris Rosy Retrospection

Tetris: Rosy Retrospection (Hack) GB ROM - The Repo

Tetris: Rosy Retrospection (Hack) GB ROM Languages: English. For GameBoy.

retrogametalk.com

GBC DX hacks, including Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario DX (Hack) GBC ROM - The Repo

Dr. Mario DX (Hack) GBC ROM Languages: English. For the GameBoy Color.

retrogametalk.com

Super Mario Bros. 8 (Don Doko Don 2)

Super Mario Bros. 8 (Hack) NES ROM – The Repo

Super Mario Bros. 8 (Hack) NES ROM Languages: English, Spanish. For the NES.

retrogametalk.com

Super Diagonal Mario 2

 

[saturnsh2x2]

In terms of quality-of-life patches:

• Phantasy Star Generation:4 gives the English script a once-over and works in details taken from developer interviews and the like.
• The Akaneia Build for Super Smash Bros Melee; I like how the mod simply focuses on acting like an expansion pack for the original game instead of tweaking any of the original stages or mechanics.
• Sonic Advance 2 SP tones down the level design and makes it actually feasible to enter the Special Stages on casual runs by lowering the SP Ring requirement.

Also, English patches for games that made it outside of Japan, but those are kind of a given.

 

[SherionVane]

my life

 

[Aunt Sarah]

The Linkle Mod for Breath of the Wild. I'm still amazed how far they went to fully transform the game and bend it to their will to make this a fully realized implementation of an entirely different character. Amazing stuff.

 

[TruthandConsequence]

It's not as cool and game-changing as a lot of other stuff mentioned here. But the 60fps patch for Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled on Switch really makes the game pop in a way it deserved to have officially.

 

[JoystickV2]

• Sonic 3 Complete: I know that we have Sonic 3 AIR nowadays, but I still think that this romhack is REALLY great, fixing a lot of bugs with Sonic 3, allowing the player to change the difficult, Sonic's moveset and other stuff. No joke, I think I played this romhack more than 10 times, it's that good xD
• Big's Fishing Derby: I unironically love this hack. I know it isn't a "actual Sonic game" because of the changes done to it, but man does it feel relaxing and fun xD
• Mega Man World 5 DX: a color romhack for Mega Man V that, honestly, I can't play the game without. I already like Mega Man V, but the colors make it even better \o\
• Dawn of Sorrow Definitive Edition: this romhack manages to fix all my problems with the original Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, fixing the luck stat, making the usage of the touchscreen optional (THANK CHRIST) and also giving the game a more classic Castlevania artstyle too. No joke, if Dawn of Sorrow is a 6.5/10 to me, this hack bumps it up to a solid 9/10.
• Aria of Sorrow Alter: I love Aria of Sorrow, and this romhack is a great alternative version of that game! The story is the same, but the castle was changed A LOT, which might sound like a simple modification, but it makes a lot of difference for a massive fan of the original game, it feels like a actual expansion of Aria of Sorrow and I love that \o\
• Custom Classes: my favorite Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy V, and this romhack takes the Job System of that game and makes it even more customizable, which is really freaking cool. I played this romhack a lot on my actual GBA and I had a blast doing so.
• River City Girls... of Rage: this romhack may look like a basic "character swap" hack, but it has a lot of changes done to it. The characters have very different and interesting movesets and you can juggle the enemies (insanely fun btw), and while you can't use weapons in this version, I still love playing it xD

 

[Ikagura]

Sonic 3 Complete: I know that we have Sonic 3 AIR nowadays, but I still think that this romhack is REALLY great, fixing a lot of bugs with Sonic 3, allowing the player to change the difficult, Sonic's moveset and other stuff. No joke, I think I played this romhack more than 10 times, it's that good xD

I still believe that AIR is good for what it is but S3C is more "portable" as you can put it on a weaker phone that couldn't have handled AIR or even a retro console with a Genesis emulator.

 

[JoystickV2]

I still believe that AIR is good for what it is but S3C is more "portable" as you can put it on a weaker phone that couldn't have handled AIR or even a retro console with a Genesis emulator.

EXACTLY! I still play S3C on my PSP and PS Vita because of this very reason!

 

[pupok999]

Don't know if you can call it a "mod", but I am certainly in love with romhacks that tends to improve game's original experience with some QoL stuff if it's done correctly.

Like for example, Mother 2 Deluxe. It's tends to give a player a "improved and enchanted experience" but i only feel a slug that, most of the time, doesn't feel right with original game (yeah, no matter how already weird EB is). Cherry on top is that, most of the new content is LOCKED BY GAME'S DIFFICULTY.

And i have to say it, it's so much better when fans do it rather than an official Remaster release. I don't really like Final Fantasy's Pixel Remasters, i appreciate a remade soundtrack, but gameplay and graphics just feels so lazy, and it's a remaster for a one of, if not the, biggest JRPG series ever made. Final Fantasy V Pixel Freemaster is my way, it's gives a really nice QoL that by many FFV fans is considered to be better than PRs (it's just an IMHO, but still), and it comes up with many-MANY more fan-patches you can apply to if you really wanna!