Hacks / translations for your favorite 8-16-bit console games

Remember that Lemmings Genesis / Mega Drive hack that brought the colors closer to the Amiga version? No? Then I may have forgotten to bring it here. Anyway, they just made a version for the SNES port as well.



Information and download here.

And the same author has created yet another hack for this version of the game, this time restoring some level titles and missing levels.

Lemmings: Level Title Fix + Original Level Restore

 

There's a new English translation for the SNES game Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut. It even includes an MSU-1 patch to use the NES soundtrack!



Information and download here.

 

Also, the SNES hacks for Lemmings (palette and other changes) have been updated:

Lemmings - Colour Palette & Level Title Fix V1.2 - FINAL - PAL

Lemmings - Colour Palette & Level Title Fix V1.0 - FINAL - NTSC-U

 

Bugfix v1.1 for Nightmare Busters (SNES again), a homebrew title from 2013.



It claims to fix the following issues:

- A bug specifically related to one of the magic items which causes the game to crash when the -player doesn't take it and the item is allowed to disappear.

- A bug in the collision routine between items and the ground.

- Update 1.1: A bug when performing the first slide of the stage in contact with an enemy.

Information and download here.

 

I think I've brought up the Street Fighter II hacks for the Genesis / Mega Drive here before. The original port has some issues, such as a muted color palette and mediocre voice samples. Over the years several hacks have appeared that try to correct this, of which Hyper Champion Edition by Lord Hiryu might be the best one.



This is yet another variation called SF2 Mania Champion Edition. It may scratch your itch if you don't like Hyper Champion Edition or, if you're like me, and you enjoy playing old games with a new twist.

Download here.

 

Stargood Translations has released an English translation of The Blue Crystal Rod for the Super Famicom!



It's an adventure game by Namco, and a sequel to RPGs Tower of Druaga and The Return of Ishtar.

Source

 

For a variety of reasons, I've never inmersed myself in the rabbit hole that is the world of Final Fantasy hacks.



There are just waaaaaaay too many of those, and not having played the games in depth, I don't have an informed opinion on what needs to be fixed or improved. If anything, that is.

It doesn't help that Nintendo renamed games IV and VI for the SNES as I and III in the west, ignoring the first three games for the NES. That was a dick move, and the cause of many confusions that still last today. Oh, and FFV? That one never left Japan until it was re-released for the PSX and the GBA.

This said, now and then there are some hacks that have caugh my eye, such as...



Manall's FF1 (for Final Fantasy I for the NES)



Final Fantasy II - Ultima (for FFII for the SNES)



Final Fantasy III - A Soldier's Contingency (for FFIII for the SNES)



FF5r (for FFV for the SNES, has a separate English translation)

Right now, Romhacking features Final Fantasy II - Job System on its headlines. It's a FFII hack that claims to let you explore the world with 14 unique jobs, each altering your stats, equipment, spells, battle commands, and even your battle sprite! It also seems worth checking out if you're a fan of the game.

 

I've been seeing SGB Enhanced patches for classic GB games for a while now:



Basically they add a custom border and a (limited) color palette to GB games, just like the Super Game Boy SNES addon used to do.

I'm linking to today's special because it's for one of my favorite GB games, Star Wars. To think that back in the day it didn't seem that hard to finish...

STAR WARS (スター・ウォーズ) SGB Enhanced

 

Yesterday Romhacking announced an English translation for Zero4 Champ (PC Engine):

It's a racing game about... drag racing?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Where's the fun in that?!

Anyway, a new translation for the platform is always good news.

Details here.

 

It turns out there exists a RPG variant of the Puyo Puyo games. It's called Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon for the Sega Saturn and it just got an English translation.

Information and download here.

 

This is The Lost Vikings: Ragnarok Edition. It adds the extra levels from the Genesis / Mega Drive port of the game to the SNES version, as well as three-player support.



Information and download here.

 

...and just like we got a Star Wars SGB Enhanced version for the Game Boy, today I learned of the same initiative for its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back .



Details here.

Ad now that I'm here, I never talked about homebrew games. However, the Genesis / Mega Drive scene in particular is releasing very interesting stuff. Some of these new games are ports of games from ther platforms, which makes them twice as interesting to people like me.

This is one of the most recent, Metal Gear for the Mega Drive. Yay!

It can be obtained for free here. But be nice and leave a good tip for the author, he certainly deserves it.

 

Do you guys feel any love for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)?



I do feel... a little. Back in the day I finished several times the Amstrad CPC version of the game, which is pretty much the same thing but shorter and eraser.

Anyway, if you feel the difficulty of this version is a bit unfair you could do worse than trying TMNT - Pizza Party. It can also be applied on top of an earlier difficulty hack called Return to New York.

 

BlackPaladin just released an English trnslation for Maerchen Veil, an RPG for the Famicom Disk System:



Information and download here.

FB Neo's latest betas already support it, if you're using this emulator.

 

...and another BlackPaladin English translation for the Famicom Disk System, this time for the platformer Transformers: The Headmasters:



Information and download here.

 

Strictly speaking, the PSX is a 32 bit console, but I just learnt that they have just translated Yaku: Yuujou Dangi into English:



EDIT: Here's the plot, according to The Visual Novel Database:

Five adults return to the elementary school they attended as children only to find that it has been closed up. They trespass into the closed-down building in order to dig up a time capsule they had buried at its courtyard. However, this turns out to be a mistake as bizarre monsters are waiting inside.

Information and download here.

 

The news today (at least for me) is that some elusive Genesis / Mega Drive strategy title is now playable in English. That would be The Hybrid Front, and the heroes are Nebulous Translations.



The patch (as well as a translated manual) can be obtained here.

 

An English translation has appeared for Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (that is, Fire Emblem IV ) for the SNES:



It's a turn-based strategy game.

Information and download here.

EDIT: It seems that this is an overhaul of an earlier English translation of FE4 that I knew nothing about.

 

I don't normally publicize translations in my native language (which is Spanish , BTW), nor projects for 32 / 64 bits consoles, but this time I feel like I must, because this is huge.



Tio Victor just made public their Spanish patches for Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor: Underground (PSX), which needs to be applied over the PAL dumps of the games with English texts.

In-game texts, graphics and voices are now in Spanish! Yes, the games that started it all!

You can download the patches (and check out their other projects) from their homepage .

 

An AI translation for Beltion has been made.
Beltion: Beyond Ritual - old Russian RPG based on fantasy novels