I was thinking about this topic today as I was playing the Hyper Fighting demo on my VB. I was thinking about how badly I would like the play the full game and how awesome it would be based on the demo and the YouTube videos. Then I found out only 18 were made and it bummed me out thoroughly when I realized I will never be able to do that. It is literally rarer than the gold Nintendo World Championship cart.

I just don’t understand why the full Hyper Fighting ROM can’t be out there. I keep reading about “legal issues” but does anyone really think Capcom is going to go through the logistical and legal hassle to determine the actual identities of the developers and sue them for porting a game onto a 20 year old system with a very small (though rabidly devoted) fan base, a system for which Capcom could not possibly develop for anymore? Furthermore, wouldn’t the demo suffer from the same IP “legal issues” as the full version? To my knowledge, Capcom has never pursued anyone for that. Maybe there are other reasons to which I’m not privy.

All of that said, I understand it may be easier for me to say since I am not the one subject to these hypothetical legal issues. It just seems like such a waste of what was obviously so much hard work for the community to not be able to enjoy it. If wouldn’t cheapen the value of the existing copies at all… in fact if anything it would make them more sought after by the rest of us who have played the full version.

I’m not trying to be in any way hostile or a malcontent. I am not bitter that I don’t have a physical cart or anything like that… it’s not like I’m special. I am just a hard core fan of the VB, as are we all on this forum. I ALWAYS prefer to play on hardware, but until someone develops a 32-bit flash cart in the future I am plenty content with 3-D glasses and a SNES USB adapter. It just seems like if nothing else it could show up anonymously, as things so often do on the internet, for the good of the VB community. I’ve said my peace. Now I can only hope.

There are more than 18. Where did you hear that? It isn’t as rare as you make it seem, it is just nearly impossible to know where to get a copy. Also lets say, hypothetically, that 75 were made. That would be a pretty big run for a “homebrew”. This one just happens to have received a lot of press, so now that number seems really small.

I wouldn’t want the ROM released for free. Especially knowing the full backstory (research it if you haven’t read). I also disagree that releasing it would not hurt the value. Releasing the ROM would bring more press but a lot of those potential “buyers” would just get the free ROM and play it. The market value would drop unless it was a bidding war between collectors. Right now we have both collectors and gamers seeking a cart.

In case you didn’t know, the ROM is too large to fit on the current Flash Boy design. So even if it was out there you wouldn’t be enjoying it on hardware as easily as you think.

It would be nice if more carts could be produced and sold, but then again comes the legal issue. Once you make this public you risk being sued, plain and simple. I, for one, would not risk trying to fight the lawyers Capcom can afford to hire. In the end you really have no legal ground to stand on. It might be “homebrew” code, but the entire premise of the game, graphics, sounds, etc, are copyrighted. They are still producing SF games today. You can’t look at it as a game for a 20 yr old system, but that you are infringing on their copyrights. If they let that go then everyone might try to make SF stuff and sell it.

Do you know who MegaRan is? He is a nerd-core hiphoper who got famous after releasing a Mega Man themed album. Capcom took notice and granted him the rights to use their copyrighted materials in his work. Knowing that, maybe a few letters sent their way (and a copy of the game) would pursued them to allow a small run to be made each year? I’m pretty sure they already know about it, it got press on some big sites. I don’t feel like asking would hurt anything.

These are all good points. Again, I’m just a fan like you and everyone else on here. I heard 18 just today through a PM on this forum from someone who has a copy. I won’t name him since his info is apparently false. I’ll assume his motives were pure and he just had bad info, perhaps from whomever he got it from. Who knows. He wasn’t willing to part with his and guessed it would “fetch thousands one day.” This sent me into my aforementioned spiral of bummertude.

In principle I wouldn’t mind paying for the ROM, and if there was a physical copy out there for anywhere approaching a reasonably affordable price I’d be first in line. But making profit is the reason most often sited for getting sued so that’s part of the reason for my plea. I assumed there would be no additional runs if getting sued is really a concern.

As for hurting the market for the cart, that could be debated. This would so far be among if not the rarest VB game. Look at other rare games… NES for example. Nintendo World Championship cart, Stadium Events, Little Sampson… and on and on. These games all have ROMs available a thousand places on the internet, yet they still go for ridiculous prices. Also, given that right now a physical copy is the only way to play it on hardware points to the market not being harmed but if anything probably helped by people who play the ROM and want to play it on hardware. Hard core collectors want physical copies even if they are just going to put them on a shelf. Hard core fans want to physical copies because they want to play games on original hardware. I’m both, but I also have to be realistic and not go broke.

While I think getting permission sounds awesome, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how and it’s obviously not my place to meddle with anything, beyond my words on a forum. I agree they probably already know about it though because it was everywhere.

maybe my info is wrong, but the last time i asked i was given a number as to how many were made. it is possible they changed the plan and decided to make them on a per-purchase basis. so maybe there really are only 18 out there. at this point i’d be betting on the info i was given because it came from the source’s mouth. but again, who really knows but those who were involved in its creation.

if i ever sold my copy and got “thousands” for it, i would put that money back into getting a new game written for the vb. how cool would that be? like a proper metroidvania game! something like cave story!

at some point, someone is going to dump the ROM. it is inevitable. look at the point you made about all of those rare games having ROM dumps available. with ROM dumps usually come custom carts. we could even potentially get a different VB flash kit at some point. you never know.

I would kill for Cave Story on Virtual Boy haha, absolutely love that game. Going back on topic though, it would be nice to see a playable rom for the public. The demo was so well made.

Lester Knight wrote:
if i ever sold my copy and got “thousands” for it, i would put that money back into getting a new game written for the vb. how cool would that be? like a proper metroidvania game! something like cave story!

at some point, someone is going to dump the ROM. it is inevitable. look at the point you made about all of those rare games having ROM dumps available. with ROM dumps usually come custom carts. we could even potentially get a different VB flash kit at some point. you never know.

Hey, we could start a Hyper Fighting fund raiser of sorts. If I were sell mine for thousands profit I’d also put it into a new game. Money is just money, a new VB game is priceless.

The ROM may not be dumped, but I know at least one copy is out there. I’m sure I’m not the only one who got it. Either way I’m not releasing it unless it’s the consensus of the community.

so what you just said was that someone dumped the cart to a ROM and you may or may not be the only one with the full version of SF as a .VB ROM file?

i’m not sure i would have admitted that publicly. assuming, that is what i just read. lol. i’d be worried about my inbox blowing up.

Lester Knight wrote:
so what you just said was that someone dumped the cart to a ROM and you may or may not be the only one with the full version of SF as a .VB ROM file?

i’m not sure i would have admitted that publicly. assuming, that is what i just read. lol. i’d be worried about my inbox blowing up.

I read that the same way, except I read it to mean the original, not a dump 😉

And just to be clear guys, I was not advocating for a nefarious release. Even if speedyink has a ROM, I agree that it should only be released with the permission and full blessing of the folks who developed it and/or bankrolled it, pain me though it does to say it. The leak suggestion was just to keep the developers anonymous if it was their wish to be so, not that someone should dump it and/or release it unauthorized.

I don’t think it was dumped, but I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one who got it. The only reason I say there might be more copies is because I’m not the only one listed in the credits, and that’s my only guess as to why I got it.

As for publicly saying it, oh well, let them message me. I just stated in that post that unless everyone agrees I’m not sending it to anyone. I don’t want to anger anyone, and I’m certainly not in the position to make the decision myself.

I am sorry but keeping this game off the internet is a good choice because it keeps the creators safe from suffering backlash. I know it sucks that not everyone can own a copy of the game but it’s just not a possibility. You could emulated the game boy version of Street Fighter 2 on Flashboy though which looks pretty good actually as well as the demo of Hyper Fighting.

Funny, several years ago we were all moaning about not having the Bound High ROM available. In the end it became available. Nothing happened, Nintendo didn’t sue anyone nor do anything even though everyone knew where it had come from. Now I log on and see another “please make XX ROM available”, where XX has transformed from Bound High to Hyper Fighting. He he he. Anyway, nice to see everything’s as it always was. Enjoy! 😉

Why would you want something you can’t play? Playing VB on the computer is beyond disappointing. The true fear is some place like aliexpress releasing copies of this game.

It would be nice to have a lite version that could fit on the Flashboy. Less stages and characters while the cart release has the full content. That way it still keep its worth.

SMVB64 wrote:
It would be nice to have a lite version that could fit on the Flashboy. Less stages and characters while the cart release has the full content. That way it still keep its worth.

That’s why there’s the demo though. If you remove the characters etc. then it’s not street fighter, or “hyper fighting”. Know what I’m saying?

Wyndcrosser wrote:

SMVB64 wrote:
It would be nice to have a lite version that could fit on the Flashboy. Less stages and characters while the cart release has the full content. That way it still keep its worth.

That’s why there’s the demo though. If you remove the characters etc. then it’s not street fighter, or “hyper fighting”. Know what I’m saying?

oh no, I mean like have the menu’s intact, arcade mode etc. If the cart has 10 characters this version will have 5 for example. Then it would be a fully playable game while as the demo is well..a demo haha.

I would just add that legally, Capcom have to fight this.

Nintendo may not care about Bound High so much (and are generally lenient with fan efforts) but Capcom are a different group, and are still making Street Fighter games and selling them now.

Legally speaking they have to be protective of it, otherwise copyright law dictates they don’t own the copyright. Bonkers, but the law.

Gamester 81 picked up a boxed copy of Hyper Fighting at the Portland Gaming Expo.

Not sure if it was a owner sale or if someone has managed to get the ROM and selling repos. But it look to be the same of the other version I’ve seen.

I’ve got the demo of Hyper Fighting but would love a boxed complete copy to add to the collection.

Giving the rediculous prices that these go for:

Ebay Hyper Fighting 1 ($1,125.00)

Ebay Hyper Fighting 2 ($499.99)

I feel a bigger release would not be out of place. If it’s the legal problems that keep this from happening then someone could go and have a talk with Capcom. I’m sure they are open for talking and it doesn’t have to be the guys who made the cart to go and talk to them. They know about the game anyway. If they do agree then they will probably want the title to be the original and have the credits mention the original ownership of Capcom. But that should not be too big of a problem. In the end the creators and Capcom should agree to the production. But I think a limited public release would be the most proper thing to do, if it ever would happen.