Hey,

I was kinda bored and started thinking about some ROM hacks that could be done w/ VB games. By ROM hacks, I mean adding/changing parts of the game, like levels, not stupid stuff like changing Wario’s face to an egg, or plain cheats/change in difficulty, like a faster guy, unlimited lives, etc.

I didn’t put much thought into this (as you can probably tell), but here’s a preliminary list of stuff I thought could realistically be possible.

3D Tetris – different puzzles in puzzle mode (make a VB rather than a Race Car or something)
Golf – different courses
Galactic Pinball – different tables (although I think there may be too much custom stuff for each table)
Insmouse – different mazes
Jack Bros – different mazes
Mario Clash – different levels
Red Alarm – different levels
Vertical Force – different levels
Baseball – different teams (heh, who cares :P)
Wario Land – different levels

I left some games out either because there’s not really much to do with them (like Virtual Lab), or things like different guys in Teleroboxer, which probably have quite a bit of custom code for each character, which would be VERY difficult to change. Most of the stuff I noted would likely have a generic engine with level data (except probably Galactic Pinball).

I don’t think all of these should be done either, I was just throwing them out there. IMO, new levels for Wario Land would be the coolest, although I played with it a couple years ago and it wasn’t obvious how to do it. A custom Star Wars Death Star level for Red Alarm would be pretty sweet too, and the ability to change styles of ships would be cool.

Anyone have any comments, ideas, thoughts, etc?

DogP

An editor for Wario Land would indeed be super sweet! One I thought of long ago was turning Jack Bros. into Zelda. That would only need some graphic hacks.

It’s good to see an actual list laid out like that. By narrowing it down, it makes it easier for someone to pick something to start on.

I like your idea, KR155E, but I think it would take more than “just some graphics hacks” to make a JB Zelda 😛

As for Red Alarm, I’d like to see it hacked into a Zero Racers-type game. I’ve been wanting to start on something like this (from scratch, not a hack) but I’ve never liked racing games/flight sims with digital controls, so I’d have to make one of DogP’s PSX-pad interfaces (or implement my own analog interface idea) first.

Heh, yeah… Zelda GFX on JB would be cool, but definitely different than Zelda (though if you could remove a lot of walls and maybe make the timer just life, it could be an interesting hack).

I was trying to come up with a way to hack Red Alarm into a racing game, but I just don’t think it’d work, since the RA wall collisions (or lack of) would be terrible for a racing game.

DogP

I’ve always thought a level editor for Jack Bros would be amazing. I think its something that would allow the community to work together. Even people without great coding skill could make levels.

I also think an English translation of Gundam would be very, very nice. I would help.

I haven’t played Gundam in years, but what was in JP? Just the story, right? I don’t remember having any problems playing it, though I didn’t find the game that fun either (it was WAY too easy IMO).

DogP

It’s Virtual Fishing that need a translation. 😉

i havent played gundam in so long i forgot which language it was in…

Would it be possible to swap the buttons over in Mario Clash, so you can jump with the classic Mario jump button ‘A’, might make the game less frustrating as it always gets me, I am just so used to pressing A to make Mario jump across all other platforms.

That’s a good idea… I never really had too much of a problem with it, but lots of people have complained about it… I’ll bet it wouldn’t be too tough to fix.

DogP

You could get another controller and change the wiring…

This one sold for $2.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250572378268

And he has another one ending in a day:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350311377687

Just open, cut the leads on the PCB and solder wires to how you want it instead.

I was planning to bid on one of those myself but I’m trying not to… There’s been a little too much buying this month. 😉

e5frog wrote:
You could get another controller and change the wiring…

That wouldn’t be so good because you might still want the original controller setup in the menus and such… And hot-swapping the controller when the game begins isn’t a very good idea with a virtual boy 😉

If Hedgetrimmer want to change it in the game and can’t handle the menu after doing so there’s also the option of adding a switch/es to swap between the two setups. I’m guessing it would be a quicker fix than to edit the game itself.

e5frog wrote:
If Hedgetrimmer want to change it in the game and can’t handle the menu after doing so there’s also the option of adding a switch/es to swap between the two setups. I’m guessing it would be a quicker fix than to edit the game itself.

Quicker for some, but not for all… if everyone who disliked the control scheme had to buy another controller, wait for it to arrive in the mail, hack it, then play, compared to downloading a ROM that someone else hacked… 😉 .

DogP

Has anyone hacked their controller to swap A and B buttons yet? 😉 Heh, RunnerPack and I were in IRC tonight and we started discussing fixing the controls in Mario Clash… so tonight (well, this morning), we got it working, and we got some good use out of the new tools 🙂 . Attached is the IPS patch to make A jump, B throw, and both triggers run.

Let me know if there’s any problems w/ it… either disliking the new control scheme (wanting something different), or any actual bugs. The patch was created w/ Smart IPS.

DogP

Attachments:

1. mc_ctrl_fix.ips

This is prob a dumb question but how does the patch work, is this something that works with the emulators or can it be patched to the ROM and played on Flashboy.
I am at work so not able to try any thing but if this patches the ROM and can play Mario with the correct keys on Flashboy then that is top speedy fix work fellas, many thanks.

Hedgetrimmer wrote:
This is prob a dumb question but how does the patch work, is this something that works with the emulators or can it be patched to the ROM and played on Flashboy.
I am at work so not able to try any thing but if this patches the ROM and can play Mario with the correct keys on Flashboy then that is top speedy fix work fellas, many thanks.

The rom itself is altered so you can run it on an emulator, Flashboy, or whatever.

Here’s what I would like to see:

Virtual League Baseball:

Play as the Miracle and Galaxy teams.

Mario Clash:

Be able to select levels 1-99 in level select.

Insmouse:

Fixed item locations.
Turn off monster respawn.

Teleroboxer:

Be able to play as other boxers.

Everything:

TWO PLAYER VIA LINK CABLE!!!
Some games (like Nester’s Bowling) would probably be easier than others.

Brian

Hedge: Download Smart IPS: http://www.megagames.com/gba/files/dx-ips11.zip (or search on google if it doesn’t allow direct linking). Then make a copy of Mario Clash, open Smart IPS, select your copy as the original file, select the patch as the IPS, then click apply. This will use the patch to modify the ROM with the changes.

Brian: Those are some good ideas. But why would you want fixed item locations in Insmouse, and I guess I didn’t realize the monsters respawned 😛 . Attached are the level maps from Insmouse that I nicely rastered up a little while ago… I think the colors in the maps are possible item locations (I don’t remember this one for sure), as well as doors, and exit. Also, notice the extra level… that’s DEMO, though there’s no exit. I did swap that with one of the other levels and played it, but meh.

DogP

Attachments:

1. 

   insmouse_levels.jpg
   

DogP wrote:
Quicker for some, but not for all… if everyone who disliked the control scheme had to buy another controller, wait for it to arrive in the mail, hack it, then play, compared to downloading a ROM that someone else hacked… 😉 .

DogP

Yes, but you’d be dependent on someone else having the time to do it, luckily noone had time to hack their controller in the twelve or so hours it took before you came up with the solution. A solution for people with a programmable cart that is. 😉
I haven’t even tried the game yet but I’m not “damaged” from playing any other Mario game much so perhaps it won’t be a problem.

Great job btw, expert solution as always DogP.

BTW, the hack to allow all levels to be selected in Mario Clash was already done, though just as a cheat for Red Dragon… attached is an IPS patch to use with the ROM. And I haven’t tried it, but you should be able to use both this and the controller patch together without any problems.

DogP

Attachments:

1. mc_all_levels.ips

You fellas are top notch at this, nice job.