Talk:ROM hacking

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You guys forgot about Sonic the Hedgehog hacking, and the founding of Sonic 2 Beta ROM. I fixed that for you.

~A mysterious Sonic Hacker

Although never widely popular (or ever even implimented?) should the UNIF format be included in this article?

• Well, the article is about editing the game data, not about the encapsulation format (iNES, UNIF, etc) per se. On the other hand, UNIF has properties that make it difficult to perform hacks, since the corpus of hacking information (data offsets, etc) is iNES-centric, and the various "chunks" in UNIF can be arranged in any order, therefore UNIF is a pertinent concern for a ROM hacker. On the third hand, though, UNIF is still very much a niche format, so mainstream hackers will not likely encounter it. I think the issue of iNES-vs-UNIF, or at least game ROM formats in general, is a topic worthy of discussion, but perhaps in a separate article instead of in this page. -- Vystrix Nexoth 10:07, Apr 3, 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 usa censorship 2 Paragraph in Etymology section 3 I-Mockery.com Hacked Rom Reviews 4 On the topic of self-promotion 5 U.S. censorship laws 6 "Spoiler" image 7 Tile molesters websitre is gone. 8 Lunar Magic screenshot

[edit] usa censorship

"as censorship laws for video game games were much stricter in the United States than Japan or Europe"

any proof on this? I always thought it was just self-censorship (for example nes america was known for it)

I think there is an example The latest "Lary" game (a game with a guy that tries to find a girlfriend) in EU countries was permitted for children above 15 years old. Yeah I think they exagurated a bit but I find them much better than US were the game was considered as "adults only" since only if you were above 18 you could buy it  :0 LOL !!! Noumenorian

There was a version which was rated adults only, which meant most stores wouldn't carry it, but the US has never in any way banned, censored or restricted sales of a video game excepting copyright issues and The Guy Game, which turned out to have an underage model (in and of itself not illegal, but it meant her signature on the release wasn't legally valid). Ace of Sevens 07:50, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Paragraph in Etymology section

I removed the big paragraph that was put in the Etymology section. Said paragraph, from what I could gather, covers two topics (physical ROM vs. ROM "image", and the legal issues of emulation), both of which are addressed in the ROM image article. Furthermore, the ROM-vs-ROM-image thing is only peripherally related to the etymology of the term "ROM hacking", and the legality of emulation is not related to said etymology at all. I appreciate the contribution of these topics, but, as noted, they're addressed elsewhere. -- Vystrix Nexoth 10:13, Apr 3, 2005 (UTC)

If there are no objections, I'm going to remove the whole section. Not only is its meaning clear based on the definitions of "ROM" and "hack", but it reads like an idiot wrote it. Of COURSE anything-hacking can be spelled with "h4x0r|ng", but that holds no bearing on the ascual "something" being discussed. - anon 12/7/05

[edit] I-Mockery.com Hacked Rom Reviews

I don't believe this link should be here. To include it here would be to misrepresent ROM hacks and ROM hackers - most ROM hacks are much more thoughtful and much less delinquent than the examples given.

- Tzepish

I love Blackman 2 from i-mockery. It isn't a particularly well done hack, but toad with a fro and the line "please kill whitey" never cease to crack me up. This is an important part of the rom hack world I think - the ridiculous hacks with only a few graphical changes for comic effect. A large majority of the hacks out there fall into this category... 66.75.49.213

... Most romhacks DO NOT fall under this catagory. If they are made they are usually ignored by the romhacking communites. 142.163.25.6 17:17, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Yep, such hacks are indeed ignored by the majority of ROM hacking community. But even among ROM hackers we like to make fun of thoose "crap hacks" too, and some of thoose reviews are quite funny so I would just leave that link alone.Ailure 01:40, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] On the topic of self-promotion

This article is meant to explain what ROM hacking is to those who are not familiar with it. It is not personal advertising space. One hack screenshot is sufficient, we don't need screenshots of every hack covering every minute detail of hacking (let alone covering no new detail of hacking and being there just for self-promotion).

Also, we don't need to create a list of popular hacks, that just begs for blatant self-promotion, such as by creating the Hacks section and adding two hacks: Outlands, and some random 10-minute hack that happened to be made by you. If such a section is created (which I don't object to per se), then it ought to be limited to a few hacks, only a handful considered the best of their kind. This way there's only a few hacks to keep track of, not worrying about whether a given hack meets some criteria. If it meets the criteria, you'll know it does. Plus, having only truly excellent hacks listed will make it more obvious when someone adds their latest Mario-with-a-Penis hack at the bottom (or top) of the list.

On a somewhat less bitchy note... about this Sonic the Hedgehog 2 editor, I don't feel it is really relevant to the section on ROM expansion, as it is a specific way to address a specific game. Perhaps it would be worthy to mention the approach taken by that editor (storing and editing levels separately and re-assembling them into a ROM when done)-- with a passing mention of that one editor that implements that technique, if you must have your self-promotion-- but as it was, it had basically been put there for the purpose of getting that editor's name on the page and not so much to speak on the issue of ROM expansion in a general sense (remember, this article is not here to discuss ROM hacking techniques and methodology in depth, but mainly to kinda gloss over them so someone unfamiliar with ROM hacking can have at least a rough impression of what it's all about. The links section has some links to ROMhacking-related Wikis in which in-depth information would be more appropriate).

Basically, if it contributes to a user's understanding of what ROM hacking is, then by all means add it to the page. If it contributes only to your ego, then you're not good enough a hacker to not have to resort to such petty advertising (not that I expect you to take the time to read this anyway, but what the hell. :P) Vystrix Nexoth 01:29, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Coolboyman (creator of brown) is spelled like Coolboyman, not Koolboyman. It even says so in the game. I will also ask Coolboyman the next time he is on AIM if he wants to keep this in, which he probably will(the whole name of brown being the popular one[it is true, the game is nice. add tomstockmail to AIM if you want the .ips file to add to your LEGALLY obtained pokemon red ROM]), but his name is spelled with a C, ok? --WhereAmI 03:38, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] U.S. censorship laws

I removed the part of the article that claimed the U.S. had much stricter censorship laws than Japan or Europe. THe U.S. has never had any legally mandated censorship of games and it would, in fact, be illegal to make such laws. The U.K. and Germany did have considerable censorship at the time being referred to. Ace of Sevens 11:13, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Spoiler" image

The image Zelda-challenge_sword.png was removed from the top of the article because it was a spoiler (according to the person who removed it; I haven't played the game). It was added back according to WP:NOT ("Wikipedia is not censored"). This is true, but spoilers still should not appear at the top of the article without warning. In fact, they shouldn't appear without warning at all, but especially not at the top. What should we do? - furrykef (Talk at me) 04:18, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

The reason I added it, is that it illustrates the idea of ROM hacking (at a conceptual level) extremely well, since (A) you normally start out with the sword, but here you don't get it until you're already in the first level; and (B) you find Zelda here rather than at the end of the game.

As for the concern about it being a spoiler, I might point out that the screenshot is of the first dungeon of the game: not very far into it. It's not like it's a map to and of the final dungeon or anything. -- Vystrix Nexoth 02:14, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

OK, then it probably should remain. - furrykef (Talk at me) 04:49, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tile molesters websitre is gone.

I removed the link, there is a version of it at zophars domain that it could be replaced with.

[edit] Lunar Magic screenshot

I restored the Lunar Magic screenshot to what it originally was. The previous image was too cluttered, and this image-- which was what I had used in this article to begin with-- very clearly illustrates the idea of level editing-- it shows the user dragging-and-dropping a structural component of the level!-- which is the purpose of the screenshot. It is un-cluttered and to-the-point: anyone remotely familiar with video games will be able to see what's going on in that image.

In fact, I think the image might work well as the top-of-the-page image, to replace the Zelda: Outlands shot currently there (and would also address the spoiler concerns raised earlier). The main difference is that the Lunar Magic screenshot illustrates the process, whereas the Outlands screenshot illustrates the result. But, I think either one does a fine job of illustrating what the article is about, and that's the very purpose of the image. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Vystrix Nexoth (talk • contribs) 07:24, 20 December 2006 (UTC).

Another thing: although the previous screenshot is good at illustrating what Lunar Magic is, the screenshot used in this article is better at illustrating what ROM hacking is. Keep that in mind.

And this time I'll remember to sign the comment... had removed a paragraph (along with the signature) before finalizing the previous comment... oops! -- Vystrix Nexoth 07:39, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

For the same reason, I got rid of the Pokemon Brown screenshot. For all I know, it could be a screenshot of the original, unhacked game... the point being that, unless you're already familiar with that particular game, the screenshot will have no significance to you. The purpose of the images in the article is to illustrate ROM hacking, not ROM hacks. Besides, it just reeks of self-promotionalism. -- Vystrix Nexoth 01:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)