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In this section, we recommend ROM Hacks that we consider worth checking out.

Links to the patches -and NOT to patched ROMs- should be provided in the description whenever possible.

How to play[]

You will need ROMs of the original games. Sometimes you need a specific version of the said ROM but it's usually told in the readme file. For example you may need to use "awesomegame (U).nes" while it may not work with "awesomegame (U) [b1].nes".

You will also need a ROM patcher such as Lunar IPS.

Of course, you will need the patches that turn the original ROMs into the hacked ones. Links should be provided in the descriptions. Most of them should be avalaible at www.romhacking.net

Finally, run the patched ROMs in your emulator of choice (or put them on your expensive Powerpak to play them on a real console, but that's only if you're a rich bastard). If nothing happens, or if something odd happens, then you probably applied the patch on a wrong version of the ROM of the game.

The ROM Hack List[]

Game Title Genre Description Link Screenshot
Adventure Island 3 Adventure Island 3: The Lost Isles Platformer All 8 worlds and 8 levels each have been altered. (with the exception of world 4-4 although most enemies have been changed.) Link Hudson's Adventure Island III - The Lost Isles (U) 003
Adventures of Lolo Challenging Lolo Puzzle You've beat Lolo 1,2 and 3 and you're still asking for more ?
.... REALLY ?! Well, your wish has been fullfilled. 50 new levels. It gets really hard.
Link Adventures of Lolo - Challenging Lolo (U) -!- 002
Adventures of Lolo The Quest of Lala Puzzle This is a level and sprite hack of The Adventures of Lolo for the NES. Based on the PC game “Eggerland: Episode 0 - Quest of Lala”. This hack replaces Lolo with Princess Lala as the player with her own adventures and new levels.


(Note: Presumably (?) all 32 levels from Quest of Lala are represented, but since there's 50 levels in Lolo 3, the remaining 18 are filled by unreleased "kopio" levels. Also, some rooms are improvised to suit the games limitations, e.g. no Mirror blocks and no Enemy teleportation bug; Kopio rooms are made fair.)

Link
3625screenshot2
Adventures of Lolo 2 Challenging Lolo 2 Puzzle If you've beat the 3 original games and the first hack, and are still begging for more, try this one. 54 new levels. Like the first one, it's HARD. Link Adventures of Lolo 2 - Challenging Lolo 2 (U) 003
Castlevania Castlevania: Blood Moon Platformer A hack which changes all the levels, and also gives some good looking art (especially for the monsters).
It gets rather difficult past some point.
Link Castlevania - Blood moon (U) (PRG1) 004
Castlevania Castlevania: The Holy Relics Platformer An all new Castlevania adventure with New stages, graphics, items, enemies, music and gameplay for Castlevania fans to enjoy.

Select from 5 exciting stages before reaching the final showdown with Lord Ghulash, an evil necromancer terrorizing Transylvania in the wake of Dracula’s defeat.

Link
3759screenshot2
Dragon Warrior Dragon Quest: Delocalized RPG Dragon Quest: Delocalized is a project aimed at giving English speakers the opportunity to play the first Dragon Quest game in a form that looks and reads like the Japanese Famicom version, while still retaining key improvements from the North American release.

I recommend applying the included NA gfx patch because IMO those sprites are much better than the original Japanese and also apply this patch to make the game less grindy.

Link
4275screenshot3
Final Fantasy Final Fantasy ++ RPG Final Fantasy ++ is a “re-imagining” of the very first Final Fantasy game. Pretty much EVERYTHING has been redone, EVERYTHING! Graphics, monsters, equipment, spells, maps, towns, class system and there are even some new dungeons. . Link Final Fantasy Plus Plus screenshot
Final Fantasy Final Fantasy ++ World of Chaos RPG This is an expansion pack for final fantasy ++.
It includes adaptations of various dungeons from FFs 3, 4, 5, & 6, SaGa 2, Dragon Quest 5 along with a couple of new ones. It is is quite harder to beat than FF++ !!!
Link Final Fantasy Plus Plus World of Chaos screenshot
Kid Icarus Kid Icarus: Retold Platformer This hack has new palettes and graphics ported from the GB version of Kid Icarus, and the very high difficulty of the original game has been lowered. Link
1459screenshot1
Mega Man Mega Man Remastered Platformer This is the ultimate Mega Man enhancement patch! Those pointless score balls are removed, you can now save and load your progress, and the select button toggles between obtained weapons. Link
1762screenshot1
Mega Man Mega Man Simplified Platformer You think Mega Man is too hard? This hack is for you! Mostly the same game, but with damage ratios skewed against enemies, stage hazards lowered and/or having a way to (mostly) avoid them, and more in-stage items. There's also no knockback from enemies, even in mid-air. Mega now has a higher maximum jump, but with the normal and hop jumps still possible. The cherry on top is that the Magnet Beam can be gotten without Gutsman's Super Arm. Sadly, Mega's invuln frames STILL don't protect him against spikes. The rapid-Select Button trick also still works (and wrecks everything even harder than before)


Note: There's also similar hacks for MMs 2, 3, and 4, but the first MM game benefits the most from this treatment.

Link Megaman1simp
Mega Man II Rockman No Constancy Platformer A Rockman hack with the typical somewhat bumped up difficulty. However, MANY elements of the game were changed. New graphics, altered bosses and weapons, and all new levels. Most of all, THE SOUNDTRACK, which features many songs from other games and series. Link Constancy
Mega Man III Rockman 3: Burst Chaser Platformer A Rockman hack that changes everything in the game: enemy and boss IA, color palettes, level design, weapons, music, and gameplay. The most notable change of this hack is that Megaman moves and shoots a lot faster! Link
1537screenshot3
Mega Man IV Mega Man IV: Gadget Master Platformer The layout of all the stages were changed to give a whole new MMIV. A lot palette colors were changed, but there are no new graphics except at the end, no new bosses and no new weapons.
This is exactly why I love this hack: as a consequence it feels new and classic at the same time and it focuses on level design instead of on useless fancy tricks. It was made by Schwa who also made Chaos Control for SMB3.
Link Mega Man 4 - Gadget Master(U) 005
Mega Man IV Rockman 4: Minus Infinity Platformer If you want to play ONE Mega Man hack, play this one.
The most technically impressive Mega Man hack. New weapons, new items, new bosses and enemies behaviour, and even an automatic save system.
All the levels and musics were changed. Great level design, challenging while remaining fair. The only problem I had with it was the final bosses (I recommend to save ALL your E-tanks for them) One of the best Mega Man hacks, a must play, you'll be surprised how good it is.
Link Rockman4 mi MMC5 002
Mega Man IV Mega Man: Maverick Revenge Platformer Changes some levels but not all of them (because it freezes against a boss in the Wily stages and the game "ends" there) Some art was changed, replaced by art from other NES Mega Man games. Not as good as Gadget Master but still worth at least a play through. Link Mega Man 4 - Maverick Revenge (U) 003
Mega Man V Rockman 5: Endless Platformer Like the Endless mode in Mega Man 9, except in Mega Man 5.
It mixes already existing rooms with new ones. Some new rooms are unfair (especially those with the lasers) but most of them have a very good design. Requires a ROM of Rockman V and will not work with an US or PAL version.
Link 460screenshot2
Metroid Metroid + Saving Platformer It's good old Metroid, but now with saving instead of annoying passwords. Also, an in-game map! Link Metroid Plus Saving screenshot
Rush'n Attack Rush’n Attack G Platformer All the levels were changed. Rather difficult. Link Rush'n Attack - G (U) 001
Super Mario Bros Extra Mario Bros Platformer Mario meets Super Metroid. It's as good as it sounds. The look adds pseudo SNES-sprites and the soundtrack is cool too. Just remember that it runs on SMB1 physics, so jumping and bouncing work kind of weird here. Link Extra mario bros screen
Super Mario Bros 2 Legend Of The Blob Bros 2 Platformer This hack offers completely new levels, a new story and a lotof new graphics.
It succeeds in offering new cool stuffs (the new sprites for characters and monsters are some of the bests I've seen in Hacks of NES games) while having a smart level design taking into consideration all the things that make the gameplay of SMB2 unique. It's more difficult than the original game at least in the sense that the number of coins is more limited.
Link Super Mario Bros. 2 - Blob Bros 2 (U) (PRG0) -!- 003
Super Mario Bros 3 Chaos Control Platformer This one is my favourite SMB3 hack. Like many others it replaces all the levels by new ones, but this one succeeds in retaining a classic feel, a classic level design, while being just challenging enough and while never being unfair. As a consequence, it sure is more difficult than the original game, but it's never too fancy and it's just how it should be: it feels like rediscovering SMB3 again and the replay value is high. It was made by Schwa who also made Gadget Master for Mega Man IV. Link Super Mario Bros. 3 - Chaos Control (U) (PRG1) -!- 001
Super Mario Bros 3 Mario Adventure Platformer Considered to be one of the bests hack of SMB3. All the levels were changed. You can even choose in which world you want to go. A lot of new features, such as a random weather. Link Super Mario Bros. 3 - Mario Adventure (U) (PRG1) -!- 003
Super Mario Bros 3 Super Mario Ultimate Platformer This is one of the all time best SMB3 hacks. It features 8 new worlds, over 90 new levels, new graphics, new enemies, save game, difficulty selection, item slot, etc. Link
3843screenshot1
Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back: Easy Platformer This hack tones down the difficulty and improves the controls. The first level isn’t slippery anymore, cold water doesn’t kill Tauntaun instantly, Luke can be moved left or right while falling down, and some enemies and bosses have less power and less hitpoints. Link
4356screenshot1
Super Pitfall Super Pitfall: 30th Anniversary Edition Platformer Super Pitfall (a loose remake of Pitfall II for the Atari 2600) has a terrible reputation as one of the worst NES games ever. But this ambitious hack turns things around with completely redone graphics and music, and vastly tweaked gameplay. Link Super Pitfall 30th Anniversary Edition screenshot
Swamp Thing Swamp Thing: Easy Platformer Swamp thing is one of the worst games on the NES because of its insane difficulty. This hack makes the gameplay much more forgiving and enjoyable. Link
4178screenshot2
Wolverine Wolverine: Easy Version Platformer While not a bad game (and that's saying a lot for an LJN game), Wolverine is just too damn hard to be much fun. This hack fixes just one little detail that happens to be its biggest problem: the lack of recovery time. Link Wolverine NES screenshot
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Zelda II Redux Action RPG This is a major improvement hack for Zelda II that adds loads of new features and improves the difficulty! See the hack page for all of the changes. Link
Zelda2redux
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Zelda II - Amida's Curse Action RPG Zelda II – Amida’s Curse is a brand new Zelda II adventure. The game has been build up from the ground. With a new world, new graphics and an original soundtrack by bentglasstube. The focus of Amida’s Curse lies on exploration above combat. Gameplay has been altered to make this, above all, a fun gaming experience. So, difficulty is lower than the original Zelda II, there are no cheap deaths and grinding isn’t necessary. Link
Zelda II Amidas Curse
Third Generation
Consoles Action Max - Atari 7800 - Amstrad GX4000 - RDI Halcyon - View-Master Interactive Vision - Sega Master System - Nintendo Entertainment System - Casio PV-1000 - VTech Socrates - Epoch Super Cassete Vision
Computers Mattel Aquarius - Acorn Archimedes - Commodore 64 - Amstrad CPC - Fujitsu FM-7 - Apple Lisa - Apple Macintosh - Microsoft MS-DOS - ASCII MSX - ASCII MSX2 - IBM OS-2 - NEC PC-88 - NEC PC-98 - Amstrad PCW - Sinclair QL - Commodore VIC-20 - Sharp X1 - Sinclair ZX Spectrum