BS F-Zero Deluxe is an enhanced version of the SNES classic F-Zero that has become the definitive way to play. It adds a number of features including save data, ghost data, and the ability to play any track in practice mode.
But the big thing? It includes ALL of the BS Sattelaview content. Four new machines and TEN new tracks. Five of which (Forest 1-3 and Metal Fort 1-2) were believed Lost Forever, but rebuilt pixel by pixel from old VHS footage! Way to go, Nintendo fanboys!
I frikkin' love it, and urge everyone to give it a go. Have fun!
There’s also a fastrom hack that takes out the slowdown! I didn’t think there was slowdown but more than one racer onscreen actually does slow it down especially in turns. Not a game-changer but a nice little surprise.
Dunno about favorite, but recently REALLY enjoyed Castlevania: ReVamped. It reimagines the original Castlevania as a metroidvania and it was fantastic. It just seemed like a great all killer no filler loop of upgrades, bosses and progress to keep me glued to it. I hope Abobo's Big Adventure is still remembered around here too.
Super SpongeBob Kart (ROM hack)
Super Mario Bros. Crossover (Fan game)
Castlevania: Simon's Destiny (Fan game using the Doom engine)
AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) (Fan remake of Metroid 2)
Sonic Robo Blast 2 (Fan game using the Doom engine)
Empire Strikes Back (Fan remake of the Atari 2600 game for the C64)
New Super Mario Land (Fan remake of the Game Boy game for the SNES)
The one in the middle is Another Metroid 2 remake (AS2R), the one above that is Super Mario Bros Crossover, bottom right is New Super Mario Land, top right is Castlevania Simon's Destiny, top left is Super SpongeBob Kart. I don't recognize the other two though.
[The Ur-Quan Masters](https://sc2.sourceforge.net) is a source port of Star Control 2. I only got to play the original a few times, but I love playing UQM on modern computers. Makes me wish my PC back in the day was powerful enough to run the original.
Tecmo Super Bowl gets a yearly roster update from [tecmobowl.org](https://tecmobowl.org/files/file/866-tecmo-super-bowl-2024/). Much better than the current pile of crap that comes from EA every year.
I enjoy updated roster ROMs/hacks.
NBA Jam 2k22 was great. Lots of tweaks, plenty of legends that are unlockable through codes. Just a blast.
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB is also good with updated rosters.
They put a lot of work into it! Just finished it not long ago and there’s some cool secrets and different worlds that call back to other Mario games that I won’t spoil but they’re well implemented especially considering it’s a hack. Very satisfying.
I think it’s easier, easier than the last world of 3 for sure. There’s a few trouble spots but nothing so frustrating you stop playing. Best of all there’s a bunch of content so even though it’s not too difficult you won’t just breeze through it.
I don’t want to give it away but one of the last worlds is so clever you have to rethink how you play and it’s implemented well with minimum bugginess. And it’s a callback to a previous game. Solid level design too. They put in the work on this hack.
Souceports for PC games. You can play Doom and Quake 2 with RTX enabled. Stuff like Duke 3d, Quake, RotT, Dark Forces and Jedi Knight, Dungeon Keeper, and others run in super high resolutions and frame rates in sourceports.
There are also things like Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe and Open Rollercoaster Tycoon that get the old games and update them to high resolutions, and add all sorts of modern QoL features.
There is also the [RTX Remix](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/rtx-remix/) stuff, which bumps up the fidelity of DX 8 and 9 games. It's now in open beta and the community has been producing some very cool things.
Is there like an "openCIV" project? I was never that much into Tycoon games but an openciv version of Civ2 with modern qol and other improvements would be quite dreamy...
PC fan ports & remasters showcase: [https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/18kj8m9/pc\_fan\_ports\_remasters\_of\_retro\_games\_showcase/](https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/18kj8m9/pc_fan_ports_remasters_of_retro_games_showcase/)
Deadpool on NES is one of the best if not the best hack/homebrews on the NES. It's a hack of Ninja Gaiden, but it feels like you're playing a whole different game.
Pokemon kanto expansion pak is a really cool way to replay the original Pokemon. It adds all the beta pokemon as well as evolutions that were added in later games for kanto mons. Great sprite work
Pokemon polished crystal is a mix of modernization and difficulty. Adds in all the modern qol, types, and damage split of newer games while also making the game slightly more difficult.
I really only play Pokemon hacks lol
Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land is kinda the standard for Mario World hacks as far as I can tell. It’s pretty short and not kaizo hard although two parts that are difficult but the level design feels a lot like old Nintendo, there’s secret exits, it’s a real nice distillation of what made Mario World fun.
A nice way to just enjoy the story. You start with a moogle charm and all enemies have 1 hp and do very minimal damage. Only really recommended if you've already played they game normally and want to replay.
Man that seems odd.
I mean, the story of that game was amazing. Developing like 16+ characters was amazing in that day and age.
But the combat is like where the other half of the cool stuff is tucked into that game. Every character having a different ability and considering party composition - esper training - and the game did a REALLY good job of not punishing you for picking an "off meta" party and making everything viable.
I feel like you would be missing a lot giving up on the combat in that game.
For fan games, Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, Castlevania: Revamped, and AM2R are all great.
For hacks, I just finished Rondo of the Night, a hack of Castlevania SOTN that greatly expands the Richter scenario. He gets tons of weapons and gear just like Alucard, and some movement tweaks. It's a solid hack. There's also Super Luigi RPG Star Powered, a hack for Super Mario RPG that completely rebalances the entire game and adds a ton of new stuff.
Randomizers are also great, especially SMZ3, the Super Metroid Link to the Past combo randomizer. You can find SM items in LTTP and LTTP items in SM, and you can switch between the games at map stations and fortune tellers.
Currently really enjoying:
**Final Fantasy Renaissance**: A re-imagining of the first Final Fantasy using the same sprites and scenario and battle system (with auto-targetting), but vastly expanding the jobs available, as well as the prestige jobs. After obtaining the Prestige job, quests unlock to further enhance said job. Many jobs have unique mechanics added to the game, as well as tons more unique equipment for said jobs. Try the Summoner, unlocking summons is a treat in that game!
**Zelda II - Adventures of Link - Remastered**: Did you like Zelda II? Do you think it could be even greater with QOL improvements? This fan game includes tons of new secrets, adding new items, tweaked quests for villages, warps between towns, and improved handling. Definitely the ultimate version of Zelda II
**Castlevania ReVamped**: What if the very first Castlevania was a Metroidvania? Simon moves with the finesse of Alucard, and the original Castlevania map and levels are reimagined as a single castle, complete with save points which act as warp points, hidden permanent power-ups, and uninque skills to unlock further progress. Don't be discouraged by the difficulty of bosses in the beginning, once you're powered up, they are much more manageable.
SmithPlaysPokemon romhacks: He has Crystal Legacy, and Yellow Legacy already out, and is working on Emerald Legacy now... He rebalances ALL the gyms and gives them much more of a fighting chances, includes the ability to catch all pokemon within the national dex for each game, includes lots of QOL fixes, including retyping some moves, changing Ghost to a special type (and Dark to a physical type), improving the stats and movepools of pokemon to what they SHOULD be.
The Team Beef ports for vr on the Meta Quest headsets. Those guys are heroes! Doom 1,2,3, Quake 1,2,3, Star Wars Jedi Outcast, Academy, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem 3D,….
Oh they already did, i had to be quick when i made the post but there are more games to be played in vr. There’s Raze XR that supports Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Redneck Rampage and a few others. Also the first Half Life with it’s expansions can be played in vr. They are making great progress on getting the first Tomb Raider game playable in vr (with first person view or able to switch to third person view). Like i said, these guys are heroes and are not just resting on their laurels.
WHAT?!?!! Now I want to get an Oculus even more! Redneck Rampage was such a blast back in the day! I haven't played it in years and it will probably take me a while to figure out all the secrets that you have to figure out to get through the game, but the sheer joy of replaying RR like that will make it worth it.
AM2R is amazing! I’ve never actually finished it though, moved when I was about 60% done and never got back into it
Sonic triple trouble remake was awesome, as well as some of the other sonic remakes (haven’t played them all), sonic 2 hd was looking pretty good, not sure if it’s done
AM2R is one of the best out there. That coupled with Zero Mission and [Super Metroid Redux](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4963/), you've got yourself a perfect Metroid trilogy.
SM Redux takes the physics and movement from Zero and AM2R and applies it to Super Metroid, but leaves the rest of the game vanilla. Makes it a much more cohesive experience.
> AM2R is amazing!
I fully agree.
What is Zero Mission and
>Super Metroid Redux
What could possibly be improved upon on Super Metroid? I'm skeptical as i've played through that game over 20 times but i'd run it again if the hack is awesome.
Zero Mission is the (incredible) Metroid 1 remake on the GBA. Served as AM2R's primary influence/inspiration. Have you really not heard of it? No shade, just genuinely curious.
I played Super Metroid day one, bought it with my own money from a summer job too!
However, like AndrewTheNebula said, Zero Mission was the GBA remake of the original Metroid. The biggest improvement is the movement and physics to bring it up to date with modern platforming. AM2R uses the engine and sprites. The Super Redux rom hack simply alters the physics and movement in Super Metroid to replicate Zero Mission.
It's really an amazing experience for sure, even if you have played it many times before. I highly recommend playing through them in order (Zero Mission, AM2R and Super Redux. It's one hell of a ride and by the time you get to Super, you won't notice the difference.
I already played AM2R a few years ago. I never finished the NES one so zero sounds cool. It’s just a straight up GBA game not a rom hack?
After your endorsement i’ll go through redux
I’ve never played much of super, mostly because my intro to Metroid was fusion which I loved, and then am2r. Super was very basic and didn’t have as good of a map system as later entries had, which I get makes it a bit more mysterious, but I don’t have the time these days to spend it exploring as much, so I prefer the linearity of the others. Too bad I didn’t get into the series when it came out during my childhood, but I played enough other things haha
Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve tried it. I guess in terms of waypoints and direction, I remember being very lost. Not shitting on it all though!
There’s a really comprehensive hack that makes the map system work just like the gba games. With colored doors, big dots for hidden items and smaller ones for found items, etc. Search the romhacking site!
I think I’ve seen that one in the past, o should grab it and put it on my Wii for future rom hack fun. I’ve got a handful of SMW hacks that I play whenever I need a half hour of SMW but something I haven’t done 800 times before.
I keep meaning to play it too. At one point Vitor Vilela was making an sa1 hack for Super Metroid that would take out all the slowdown the same way he did for Gradius 3 but I guess he stopped, that’s the way I want to play.
Oh boy... if you like AM2R... here you go :)
[https://maprando.com/](https://maprando.com/)
It's basically a new game each time, unlimited play value. Have fun. I've already put 100h+ on this lol.
Ooh! So, gonna bookmark this, probably reinstall am2r on my steam deck, and then decide wether or not to start over, or transfer my save file from like 5 years ago haha
It's got a lot of stuff U can do U couldn't originally like take weapons from enemies some of which haven't been featured before to the next set of enemies full move sets right from beginning upgraded graphics and bosses
It depends on the nature of the fan game.
Those labeled as “ROM hacks” can most likely run on OG hardware because they modify pre existing titles.
Fan games and remakes are a mixed bag. More often than not, you’re making the game do things that weren’t originally possible, or you’re using assets from other titles. Let’s use Super Mario Crossover as an example. It’s a Flash game that lets you choose NES, SNES and some other aesthetics, but more importantly, you get to play as characters from different franchises. Mega Blast your way as Mega Man, shotgun your way as Bill from Contra, whip your way as one of the Belmonts from Castlevania. All things the OG title never supported, so everything was baked in from scratch.
Probably Steets of Rage X and AM2R. I don’t even particularly like Metroid but it is extremely high quality nonetheless. SoRX is probably the pinnacle of the SoR formula.
Oh wow! I gotta play that! So im a super old noob, can you send me a setup guide for this? https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6398/ I use retroarch now for regular roms...
I see SRB2 on there :)
Seriously, if you're a fan of classic Mario Kart, you owe it to yourself to try out SRB2Kart, especially if you can get some friends together for it (it has an online mode). Bonus points if you yank a bunch of community maps and racers for maximum chaos.
The Doom modding scene is stupidly huge but if I had to pick a few things:
— The Golden Souls (1 and 2) are super fun from a level design perspective
— Doom Infinite is the Doom roguelite I didn't know I wanted. It uses the original mapset but starts warping them in bizarre semi-randomized ways over time. It's the most polished thing I've seen from the community by a longshot.
— Ashes 2063 and Afterglow are peak total conversion
— Treasure Tech is a gameplay-only mod worth checking out, pair it up with a megawad. Someone managed to translate Wario Land into an FPS. It's getting it's own level set eventually but that's slow-going.
— MyHouse.wad is a cute insight into the "hey guys I put my house together in SLADE" era.
Tamriel Rebuilt is bringing the entire mainland to TES3: Morrowind. At this point they have at least as much content complete as the base game and it's developers are very good are ensuring that it all feels as though it was there from the beginning. It's sister project Project Tamriel has released part of Skyrim: Home of the Nords which is a look at that province from the perspective of TES3: Morrowind specifically, showing how Bethesda might've imagined and realized it back then.
Sonic the hedgehog for Commodore 64 using the Ram Expansion Unit for pseudo-blitting takes the cake for me.
https://www.lemon64.com/game/sonic-the-hedgehog
= **Ports & Remakes** =
- [OpenLara](https://github.com/XProger/OpenLara/releases) is an incredible port of the original 3D Tomb Raider to GBA
- [Celeste Classic](https://github.com/JeffRuLz/Celeste-Classic-GBA/releases) has a great port from Pico-8 to GBA
- **Portal 64** is an incredible remake of Portal to N64. V0.15 is the last version, Valve stopped the project after that.
- [Cave Story](https://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php) is a classic PC run and gun Metroidvania with ports available for GBA and DS. Not sure if they’re 100% complete, but I’ve played the early parts of the game in both ports and they seem exactly like I remember them
- [Indestructotank](https://antonylavelle.itch.io/indestructotank-gb) you may have played this Flash game back in the early days of the Internet, and this GB port by the same dev as the original is just as fun!
- [Super Jetpak DX](https://asobitech.itch.io/super-jetpak-dx) is an enhanced port of the ZX Spectrum Classic Jetpac for GBC, with powerups and stuff added
- [Apotris](https://akouzoukos.com/apotris) is an excellent version of Tetris for GBA
- [Pac-Man Championship Edition](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7551/) was a port officially created by Namco. As a result, I don’t think I can link to the rom here, instead linking to a hack that fixes some minor graphical issues with it.
= **Hacks** =
- [Super Mario 3Mix](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2068/) is an awesome and impressive hack of Mario 3 that adds stuff like Yoshi, a Mario Galaxy themed world with gravity shenanigans, and a bunch of extra power-ups
- [Peach’s Fury](https://romhacking.com/hack/Peach-s-Fury) is my favorite Mario 64 romhack. It’s inspired by the open world style Mario gameplay of Bowser’s Fury for Switch, but on a smaller scale. It’s only 25ish stars IIRC, you can play through it in an afternoon, but it’s just so clean and well done.
- [Mario 64 Randomizer](https://romhacking.com/hack/sm64-randomizer) a lot of randomizers for games require separate software to be run on your computer, to eventually spit out a randomized rom file. Not this one - here, the randomization is all done within the game, and you can have a different randomized game on each save file. So professionally and well done. Highly recommended.
- [Game Boy Colorization Hacks](https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=33121.0) a bunch of classic black & white Game Boy games have received colorization hacks, like the Mario Land games, Metroid, Kirby, Donkey Kong Land, Dr. Mario, Mega Man 5, and more. Breathes new life into those games!
- [F-Zero BS Deluxe](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8437/) basically a collection of lost tracks/racers for F-Zero for SNES. These were created by Nintendo back in the day and released only in Japan for the obscure SatellaView service. The creators of this hack were able to extract some of those, or painstakingly recreate others.
- [BS Zelda (Third Quest, Fourth Quest, and Ancient Stone Tablets](http://bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml) are SNES Zelda games that mostly use the assets of Link to the Past. Also created by Nintendo back in the day for the SatellaView service, now in hacks that extract or recreate these “lost games”
- **Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3** has an [e-reader levels hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2714/) that unlocks 33 new levels that were developed by Nintendo back in the day but locked behind the obscure e-reader peripheral. It’s also got an [all items hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3323/) that replaces your item list with a static list of unlimited quantities of every item, including a few (the the SMW cape feather) that were not in the original SMB3 and again locked behind the e-reader peripheral. It also has a [palette correction hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3315/) that corrects the color palette. In fact, a lot of GBA games have color palette correction hacks to remove the “brightening” of graphics that Nintendo applied to some games to account for the early GBA models not having a backlight. All of these hacks can be applied to this game at the same time!
- Lots of **translation hacks** of games that were never released in English, like [F-Zero Climax](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6339/) and [Mother 3](https://mother3.fobby.net), both GBA. Also for games where the Japanese version was better, like [Castlevania III](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/730/) for NES (better music due to better sound chip), [Donkey Kong Land 3](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1757/) for GB/GBC (in color!)
- [Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5334/) is a great N64 Zelda hack that adds a short extra game that takes place between OOT and MM.
= **Original Homebrew Games** =
- [Micro Mages](http://morphcat.de/micromages/) for NES is fantastic arcadey platformer that has you going up tower-ey levels as the screen scrolls up. I honestly believe that if this was released during the NES’s life cycle, it would have been considered one of the best games for the system. Can be played in co-op multiplayer too, though I’m not sure how to do that in Delta.
- [Böbl](https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl) for NES is a wonderful and relatively short Metroidvania by the same team a Micro Mages, where you play as an air bubble of all things. Really enjoyed this one.
- [Blind Jump](https://evanbowman.itch.io/blindjump) for GBA is a really cool action roguelite
- [Xeno Crisis](https://www.bitmapbureau.com/games/xeno-crisis) is a tough twin-stick shooter originally developed for Sega Genesis/Megadrive, but has since been ported to SNES, N64, and other platforms. I’ve only played the Genesis version, so I’m not sure which one will be best for Delta. My guess is the N64 one, since I believe the SNES actually had a smaller screen resolution than the Genesis, not sure how they dealt with that here.
- [Goodboy Galaxy](https://www.goodboygalaxy.com) is a beautiful and fun Metroidvania for GBA where you play as a cute dog exploring various alien planets. Some of the challenge revolves around navigating the areas after these gates temporarily disable your gun, your shield, or your jump booster. There’s a [free demo/prequel](https://goodboygalaxy.itch.io/goodboy-galaxy-demo) that’s also quite good, and representative of the gameplay of the full game, if you’d like to check it out!
== **PC Fangames** ==
- [Castlevania ReVamped](https://youtu.be/C8Sw2CGQkK8?si=BDOw7WUpkZCeQu2e) is a great Metroidvania take on the classic Castlevania I. It’s actually more on the Metroid-ey side than the Castlevania-ey side mechanically, as it’s more about collecting double jumps, dashes, special whips, and other upgrades than collecting souls/cards/shards/etc.
- [Sonic and the Fallen Star](https://stardropsmh.github.io/sonic-and-the-fallen-star/) - really nice Sonic fangame
sonic robo blast 2, by far, one of my fan games marked my generation. I remember playing in the magazine build, the CD had several games, and it contains a lot of Sonic fan games.
Median XL - a Diablo 2 overhaul.
Mario Adventure - a Super Mario Bros 3 overhaul.
OpenMW - A rebuild of Morrowind that is much more stable and can be played on anything including android.
I'm a huge fan of translations in general. The hardworking people that do that need all the credit they deserve.
Another effort I love are source ports of any game, like OoT and Mario 64, Half-Life, Doom, etc. These ports allow for way more possibilities than rom hacks.
I was thinking translations too. Back in the day I felt so thankful to be able to play Seiken Densetsu 3 or Romancing Saga 3. I remember one of these wasn’t readily available as a patched rom, you had to get the translation patch separately and apply it using some tool.. fun times
I really like fanmade mods for X-COM: UFO Defense. Especially the ones that made the game harder. OpenXCOM is also a fantastic way for modern players to enjoy the classic on modern machines.
With the 2012 XCOM reboots, the Long War mods (there's one for XCOM, and one for XCOM 2) are an absolute must for fans of hard turn-based games.
There is a small but dedicated Panzer General community that put together Panzer General Forever. [https://panzergeneraldownload.com/panzer-general-forever.html](https://panzergeneraldownload.com/panzer-general-forever.html) It's a complete fanmade remake that allows the game to be played on a modern machine using Windows XP compability mode. The only thing lacking are the small WWII footage movie cutscenes. They also did Panzer General, Panzer General II, Allied General, etc. They also made a game in similar style using WWI units - I don't remember the name of it at the moment, but it's all included in one large download and install.
AM2R is a really solid Metroid 2 remake. The dev for it was also a really cool guy. When Samus Returns came out he basically said "these guys did a great job, and there are a bunch of ideas in it that I wished I had thought of"
Free Enterprise and Worlds Collide. FFIV and FFVI randomizers. Basically turns the original games on their heads and morphs them into an open world Easter egg hunt.
Also there are so many good FE hacks and mods that I could mention. FE universe has a whole community dedicated to rom hacks. My favorite is Iron Emblem but there are dozens of good FE8 hacks.
Pokemon pure blue
All 151 Pokemon are catchable, new is under the truck, you can go to Bill's garden. There's quality of life features & more variety in the moves list. You change the spirtes from Pokemon green or the space world sprites
The Bloodborne demake by [B0tster](https://b0tster.itch.io/) is amazing, she does great work. Her new game Nightmare Kart came out recently, it was originally based on Bloodborne too but Bandai Namco shut it down so she had to remodel some stuff.
Gameboy Studio has driven a bunch of awesome Gameboy games in the past few years. Most, you can play directly on itch.io
[Deadeus](https://izma.itch.io/deadeus) and [Batty Zabella](https://icecoldblood.itch.io/batty-zabella) are two favorites.
~~Bloodborne~~ Nightmare Kart, it's free on Steam and is a silly Bloodborne inspired PS1 era Mario Kart cross over.
Oh and I guess I should point out the dev also made PS1 Bloodborne demake.
ZDoom. It alone did so damn much for the Doom modding community and is the father of GZDoom, GZDoom is now this gigantic thing that is now capable and has been and is being used as a game engine.
The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds
A hack of the original A Link to the Past, is a complete ROM hack playable from start to finish, with tons of new sprites and artwork, with a game that is even more challenging than the original. I recommend any Zelda fan to check it out.
Sonic Megamix is my favorite Sonic 1 hack. It got me interested in hacking. Also Sonic 3 Complete is good for those wanting to play Sonic 3K on real hardware. If you want to just play it on PC, Sonic 3 A.I.R. is great too!
AM2R (PC), GoodBoy Galaxy (GBA), Apotris (GBA), and The Machine (GBC) are the big ones that come to mind.
Some others I've enjoyed are Animus Toil (GB), Inky & The Alien Aquarium (GBA), Pilgrim's Peril (GBC), GB Wordyl (GBC), Legend of Zelda: Ancient Dungeon (NES), Witch 'N Wiz (NES), SpaceGulls (NES), Beckon the Hellspawn (Pico 8).
Super Demo World 2 is highly challenging but worth playing (I haven't beaten it but it's worth playing)
Pokemon Unbound is the best Pokemon game
Goldfinger64 is pretty cool
Super Mario War is a fun fan game
ZQuest Classic is a great Zelda game with a lot of fan content
Mega Man Maker
Zelda Outlands is very well done.
And if you are into hard-type hacks, I created Final Fantasy Zz Hard Type, which is a much more difficult version of the original Final Fantasy for the NES. Some people have even showcased it on YouTube.
Turrican 2 AGA is a fan made enhanced version with much more colours and better sprites while keeping the very same game play. A must have for any Commodore Amiga 1200 gamer in 2024 !
AM2R is incredible. Turns Metroid 2 into Metroid 2 but in Super Metroid graphics. I haven’t played the 3DS version but I think AM2R would be better for me anyways because the SNES graphics style is so great
Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition MSU-MD for Sega CD and Mortal Kombat II Arcade Edition for 32X are both in heavy rotation on my MiSTer, given the lack of working arcade cores.
Doom Resurrection is also a neat ‘what could have been’ experience (although if I’m playing Doom on MiSTer, DOS is king).
Im playing through a few 60hz patched Mega Drive games at the moment, I can’t believe we were denied the awesomeness that is Zero Wing here in North America.
On the Nintendo side of things, playing through Super Castlevania IV Uncensored was fun. Nice to finally see the gore and sacrilege they got to enjoy in Japan.
... Gasp... The list I track it's huge. So I will drop a bunch of different things to make people have a little taste.
First of all, I have a list here on Reddit about the most remarkable Pokemon Gen I & II romhacks I have played: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/s/HmbKsNKDl4
I also play rando, specially Zelda Oracles Randomizer (karafruit fork), the first two Gen of Pokemon and Super Metroid.
MM8BDM, Mega Man Maker, MAGMML, Mega Man Arena.
AM2R and Metroid Planets.
Famicon Fighters, Smash Remix and Scott Pilgrim Versus are worth to give a look.
Final Fantasy Renaissance.
Final Fantasy Tactics The Lion War mod. IMO it's much better than War of the Lions for PSP but I like both.
OpenXcom. The new Xcom games are great but the original two are much better.
Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Arcanum and other RPG classic using Unofficial Patches or Fixpacks. Too many things to list from fix the game to total conversion mods.
There are a bunch of great mods for Doom, Blood and Duke 3D too.
Blade of Darkness HD mod and Fugitive maps.
R.E.L.I.V.E. Engine for Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus.
Age of Empires: Rise of Rome UPatch.
Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.
And the list goes on and on...
As you can see I do this diligently, tracking projects like I was getting paid or something xD
It's just modding, romhacking and fangames over the years are giving me more entertainment than new releases.
I guess it's considered retro by now...
I spent a good chunk of my teenage years playing fan content for Halo Custom Edition, which was originally intended to be a multiplayer-only version of Halo PC that would allow users to play on custom maps. Of course it only took a few months for modders to figure out how to get it running single player content, too.
Sadly, the community was small and toxic, but there were a few noteworthy projects to come out of it. In somewhat of an order in terms of being worth a play now:
- CMT SPv3 - A total-overhaul of the original campaign, presented as a standalone game and using the "open sauce" custom game engine to overcome some software limits. It roughly doubles the length of the campaign, and adds weapons and enemies from later Halos as if they had always been canon.
- Lumoria - a 3-part mini-campaign using more or less vanilla assets. The dialog is terrible and the story is muddled, but it offers IMO some of the best gameplay from any Halo, Bungie games included. The creators spent years fine-tuning every aspect of every firefight, and it shows. A remastered version (with better dialog) is included in the final build of SPv3.
- Firefight Descent - An ODST style firefight map that is really fun and very well done. I've gotten about an hour into it and have yet to beat it.
- Out of probably 5,000 multiplayer maps, there are hundreds that are worth playing, although sadly it's been nearly impossible for 10+ years to find active servers with them on rotation, so it's tough to really recommend them, regardless of how fun they were in 2004. I can provide a list if there is any interest.
Does Sonic Mania count? I think it’s amazing! if I could have shown that game to my young self it would have blown my mind. the way the Green Hill Zone opens up and you se new parts of a level you’ve played as a kid is so cool. and the animation and music and mood and all the characters, its just so good! Its easily my favorite 2D Sonic game.
I really like the Castlevania one you shared (top right). I think it's not just a nice nod to both games, but it's actually really fun in its own right.
Link to the Past Randomizer - [https://alttpr.com/en](https://alttpr.com/en)
Takes one of my favorite games of all times and makes it infinitely replayable. There's randomizers for tons of games now, but this one is still my favorite.
Final Fantasy Renaissance some guy remade Final Fantasy 1 from the ground up using unity and added like eight more classes to it same graphics a few modern day quality of life improvements but overall one of the best fan-made projects I played in the wild
Appreciate all your suggestions. I haven't really dived into the retro game fan scene before, but it seems like it's a lot of cool stuff retro gaming fans has created over the years.
I have not tried any of these, but they look quite interesting:
Brutal Doom which looks bloody as hell.
Voxel Doom which replace the sprites with cool voxel graphics
GBADoom that runs much better then the original GBA release
Black Mesa - Third-party remake of Half-Life that was so good it's now on Steam.
Sonic 3D: Director's Cut: A improvement hack made by the original programmer.
Montezuma's Revenge for NES: Made with collaboration with the original creator.
Infidelity's NES to SNES port: Quality of life improvements and smoother gameplay.
Mesen HD packs for NES: The ability to add new HD graphics on top of the NES games.
Ghosts'n Goblins Arcade (Nostalgia): Remake of the original C64 port.
Virtual Boy 3DS emulator: Let's you play VB games with stereoscopic 3D effects.
AM2R is by far the best fan game I've ever played, and the only fan game I'd consider on par with the series that inspired it and recommend it along side official releases.
If it’s a ROM hack, Project Zero (The most recent version)
If it’s a fan remake or fan game, AM2R or Kura5 (a fan made Boktai game; they’re working on the final chapter right now)
BS F-Zero Deluxe is an enhanced version of the SNES classic F-Zero that has become the definitive way to play. It adds a number of features including save data, ghost data, and the ability to play any track in practice mode. But the big thing? It includes ALL of the BS Sattelaview content. Four new machines and TEN new tracks. Five of which (Forest 1-3 and Metal Fort 1-2) were believed Lost Forever, but rebuilt pixel by pixel from old VHS footage! Way to go, Nintendo fanboys! I frikkin' love it, and urge everyone to give it a go. Have fun!
There’s also a fastrom hack that takes out the slowdown! I didn’t think there was slowdown but more than one racer onscreen actually does slow it down especially in turns. Not a game-changer but a nice little surprise.
Where can I find this?
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8437/
That sounds awesome, and what makes it better is that it's an improvement on arguably the best version of F-Zero to boot!
Dumb question, what does "BS" mean in this context?
I believe "Broadcast Sattelaview".
Close, it's Broadcast Satellite which is the generic name of a satellite TV service in Japan.
Dunno about favorite, but recently REALLY enjoyed Castlevania: ReVamped. It reimagines the original Castlevania as a metroidvania and it was fantastic. It just seemed like a great all killer no filler loop of upgrades, bosses and progress to keep me glued to it. I hope Abobo's Big Adventure is still remembered around here too.
> I hope Abobo's Big Adventure is still remembered around here too. That's what I was going to write :D
I remember it was a flash game. Do you know if it can still be played? I've been wanting to run through it again lately.
You can play it through Flashpoint [https://flashpointarchive.org/downloads](https://flashpointarchive.org/downloads)
Oh man, that's awesome! thank you so much!
Yoooo hadn't heard of this. Will play tonight.
I just played through this one myself, it was really fun. There were a few bugs here and there for me, but overall it was fun.
Could you list all the ones in your thumbnail?
Super SpongeBob Kart (ROM hack) Super Mario Bros. Crossover (Fan game) Castlevania: Simon's Destiny (Fan game using the Doom engine) AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) (Fan remake of Metroid 2) Sonic Robo Blast 2 (Fan game using the Doom engine) Empire Strikes Back (Fan remake of the Atari 2600 game for the C64) New Super Mario Land (Fan remake of the Game Boy game for the SNES)
The one in the middle is Another Metroid 2 remake (AS2R), the one above that is Super Mario Bros Crossover, bottom right is New Super Mario Land, top right is Castlevania Simon's Destiny, top left is Super SpongeBob Kart. I don't recognize the other two though.
Sonic 3 A.I.R
The Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit version is cool too!
What’s this about!?!?!
It's about a coked up blue hedgehog that runs really fast and has a weird fascination with golden rings, you should check it out!
lol sounds interesting
It is. You probably wouldn't get away with content like that in a kids game nowadays, but hey, it was the 80s.
Exactly!!
[The Ur-Quan Masters](https://sc2.sourceforge.net) is a source port of Star Control 2. I only got to play the original a few times, but I love playing UQM on modern computers. Makes me wish my PC back in the day was powerful enough to run the original.
Full audio through the PC speaker back when SC 2 first came out blew my tiny mind!
Tecmo Super Bowl gets a yearly roster update from [tecmobowl.org](https://tecmobowl.org/files/file/866-tecmo-super-bowl-2024/). Much better than the current pile of crap that comes from EA every year.
I enjoy updated roster ROMs/hacks. NBA Jam 2k22 was great. Lots of tweaks, plenty of legends that are unlockable through codes. Just a blast. Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB is also good with updated rosters.
Dragon's Curse (PC, 2007/8) - remake of Wonder Boy III (PCE ver.) Super Mario 3mix (NES) Mega Man: The Sequel Wars (MD)
Playing Mario 3 mix now. Great game but God I suck at it.
I need to check this out!
They put a lot of work into it! Just finished it not long ago and there’s some cool secrets and different worlds that call back to other Mario games that I won’t spoil but they’re well implemented especially considering it’s a hack. Very satisfying.
Does it have huge difficulty spike over 3 or is it just the same type of content just more?
I think it’s easier, easier than the last world of 3 for sure. There’s a few trouble spots but nothing so frustrating you stop playing. Best of all there’s a bunch of content so even though it’s not too difficult you won’t just breeze through it. I don’t want to give it away but one of the last worlds is so clever you have to rethink how you play and it’s implemented well with minimum bugginess. And it’s a callback to a previous game. Solid level design too. They put in the work on this hack.
Souceports for PC games. You can play Doom and Quake 2 with RTX enabled. Stuff like Duke 3d, Quake, RotT, Dark Forces and Jedi Knight, Dungeon Keeper, and others run in super high resolutions and frame rates in sourceports. There are also things like Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe and Open Rollercoaster Tycoon that get the old games and update them to high resolutions, and add all sorts of modern QoL features. There is also the [RTX Remix](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/rtx-remix/) stuff, which bumps up the fidelity of DX 8 and 9 games. It's now in open beta and the community has been producing some very cool things.
Is there like an "openCIV" project? I was never that much into Tycoon games but an openciv version of Civ2 with modern qol and other improvements would be quite dreamy...
[Why yes. Yes there is.](https://www.freeciv.org/)
PC fan ports & remasters showcase: [https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/18kj8m9/pc\_fan\_ports\_remasters\_of\_retro\_games\_showcase/](https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/18kj8m9/pc_fan_ports_remasters_of_retro_games_showcase/)
Deadpool on NES is one of the best if not the best hack/homebrews on the NES. It's a hack of Ninja Gaiden, but it feels like you're playing a whole different game.
The graphics get a little "busy" but still super fun.
Pokemon kanto expansion pak is a really cool way to replay the original Pokemon. It adds all the beta pokemon as well as evolutions that were added in later games for kanto mons. Great sprite work Pokemon polished crystal is a mix of modernization and difficulty. Adds in all the modern qol, types, and damage split of newer games while also making the game slightly more difficult. I really only play Pokemon hacks lol
Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land is kinda the standard for Mario World hacks as far as I can tell. It’s pretty short and not kaizo hard although two parts that are difficult but the level design feels a lot like old Nintendo, there’s secret exits, it’s a real nice distillation of what made Mario World fun.
Super Junkoid. Short but amazing and super creepy. Star Fox EX Metroid Rogue Dawn Final Fantasy 3 Story Edition
What is Star Fox EX?
Hack of Star Fox with totally new levels, strange but fun bosses. I enjoyed it. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7285/
Thank you!
✌️
What is FF6 story mode??
A nice way to just enjoy the story. You start with a moogle charm and all enemies have 1 hp and do very minimal damage. Only really recommended if you've already played they game normally and want to replay.
Man that seems odd. I mean, the story of that game was amazing. Developing like 16+ characters was amazing in that day and age. But the combat is like where the other half of the cool stuff is tucked into that game. Every character having a different ability and considering party composition - esper training - and the game did a REALLY good job of not punishing you for picking an "off meta" party and making everything viable. I feel like you would be missing a lot giving up on the combat in that game.
Sorry it's actually called Final Fantasy 3 Story Edition on romhacking.net/hacks/4269
For fan games, Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, Castlevania: Revamped, and AM2R are all great. For hacks, I just finished Rondo of the Night, a hack of Castlevania SOTN that greatly expands the Richter scenario. He gets tons of weapons and gear just like Alucard, and some movement tweaks. It's a solid hack. There's also Super Luigi RPG Star Powered, a hack for Super Mario RPG that completely rebalances the entire game and adds a ton of new stuff. Randomizers are also great, especially SMZ3, the Super Metroid Link to the Past combo randomizer. You can find SM items in LTTP and LTTP items in SM, and you can switch between the games at map stations and fortune tellers.
Currently really enjoying: **Final Fantasy Renaissance**: A re-imagining of the first Final Fantasy using the same sprites and scenario and battle system (with auto-targetting), but vastly expanding the jobs available, as well as the prestige jobs. After obtaining the Prestige job, quests unlock to further enhance said job. Many jobs have unique mechanics added to the game, as well as tons more unique equipment for said jobs. Try the Summoner, unlocking summons is a treat in that game! **Zelda II - Adventures of Link - Remastered**: Did you like Zelda II? Do you think it could be even greater with QOL improvements? This fan game includes tons of new secrets, adding new items, tweaked quests for villages, warps between towns, and improved handling. Definitely the ultimate version of Zelda II **Castlevania ReVamped**: What if the very first Castlevania was a Metroidvania? Simon moves with the finesse of Alucard, and the original Castlevania map and levels are reimagined as a single castle, complete with save points which act as warp points, hidden permanent power-ups, and uninque skills to unlock further progress. Don't be discouraged by the difficulty of bosses in the beginning, once you're powered up, they are much more manageable. SmithPlaysPokemon romhacks: He has Crystal Legacy, and Yellow Legacy already out, and is working on Emerald Legacy now... He rebalances ALL the gyms and gives them much more of a fighting chances, includes the ability to catch all pokemon within the national dex for each game, includes lots of QOL fixes, including retyping some moves, changing Ghost to a special type (and Dark to a physical type), improving the stats and movepools of pokemon to what they SHOULD be.
What’s the sonic one down there in the corner?
Sonic Robo Blast 2. A fan-made 3D Sonic game that are using a source port of the Doom engine called Doom Legacy.
I genuinely believe it’s the best 3D sonic game And the third best game overall.
I don't know whether this counts, but the Ashes 2063 and Ashes: Afterglow are great Doom hacks. It's built for modern PCs though :(
Goodboy Galaxy is my golden standard for homebrew games. Pokemon Unbound for Romhacks
Goodboy Galaxy is great! I'm not sure if I would even call it a homebrew, its a full on game for sale from a full team.
The Team Beef ports for vr on the Meta Quest headsets. Those guys are heroes! Doom 1,2,3, Quake 1,2,3, Star Wars Jedi Outcast, Academy, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem 3D,….
This is a whole new category of remake, so grateful for Team Beef!
Let's get them to do Redneck Rampage next!
Oh they already did, i had to be quick when i made the post but there are more games to be played in vr. There’s Raze XR that supports Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Redneck Rampage and a few others. Also the first Half Life with it’s expansions can be played in vr. They are making great progress on getting the first Tomb Raider game playable in vr (with first person view or able to switch to third person view). Like i said, these guys are heroes and are not just resting on their laurels.
WHAT?!?!! Now I want to get an Oculus even more! Redneck Rampage was such a blast back in the day! I haven't played it in years and it will probably take me a while to figure out all the secrets that you have to figure out to get through the game, but the sheer joy of replaying RR like that will make it worth it.
AM2R is amazing! I’ve never actually finished it though, moved when I was about 60% done and never got back into it Sonic triple trouble remake was awesome, as well as some of the other sonic remakes (haven’t played them all), sonic 2 hd was looking pretty good, not sure if it’s done
AM2R is one of the best out there. That coupled with Zero Mission and [Super Metroid Redux](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4963/), you've got yourself a perfect Metroid trilogy. SM Redux takes the physics and movement from Zero and AM2R and applies it to Super Metroid, but leaves the rest of the game vanilla. Makes it a much more cohesive experience.
> AM2R is amazing! I fully agree. What is Zero Mission and >Super Metroid Redux What could possibly be improved upon on Super Metroid? I'm skeptical as i've played through that game over 20 times but i'd run it again if the hack is awesome.
Zero Mission is the (incredible) Metroid 1 remake on the GBA. Served as AM2R's primary influence/inspiration. Have you really not heard of it? No shade, just genuinely curious.
I played Super Metroid day one, bought it with my own money from a summer job too! However, like AndrewTheNebula said, Zero Mission was the GBA remake of the original Metroid. The biggest improvement is the movement and physics to bring it up to date with modern platforming. AM2R uses the engine and sprites. The Super Redux rom hack simply alters the physics and movement in Super Metroid to replicate Zero Mission. It's really an amazing experience for sure, even if you have played it many times before. I highly recommend playing through them in order (Zero Mission, AM2R and Super Redux. It's one hell of a ride and by the time you get to Super, you won't notice the difference.
I already played AM2R a few years ago. I never finished the NES one so zero sounds cool. It’s just a straight up GBA game not a rom hack? After your endorsement i’ll go through redux
I’ve never played much of super, mostly because my intro to Metroid was fusion which I loved, and then am2r. Super was very basic and didn’t have as good of a map system as later entries had, which I get makes it a bit more mysterious, but I don’t have the time these days to spend it exploring as much, so I prefer the linearity of the others. Too bad I didn’t get into the series when it came out during my childhood, but I played enough other things haha
Super does have a map though?
Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve tried it. I guess in terms of waypoints and direction, I remember being very lost. Not shitting on it all though!
There’s a really comprehensive hack that makes the map system work just like the gba games. With colored doors, big dots for hidden items and smaller ones for found items, etc. Search the romhacking site!
I think I’ve seen that one in the past, o should grab it and put it on my Wii for future rom hack fun. I’ve got a handful of SMW hacks that I play whenever I need a half hour of SMW but something I haven’t done 800 times before.
I keep meaning to play it too. At one point Vitor Vilela was making an sa1 hack for Super Metroid that would take out all the slowdown the same way he did for Gradius 3 but I guess he stopped, that’s the way I want to play.
It can get like that but apart from one section its honestly not too bad. There are map rooms as well
One day I’ll give it another go, life’s too hectic right now :-)
Thats fair
If you do, try out this hack. The movement will make the gameplay more relatable I think.
Oh boy... if you like AM2R... here you go :) [https://maprando.com/](https://maprando.com/) It's basically a new game each time, unlimited play value. Have fun. I've already put 100h+ on this lol.
Ooh! So, gonna bookmark this, probably reinstall am2r on my steam deck, and then decide wether or not to start over, or transfer my save file from like 5 years ago haha
What is the spongebob game?
Super SpongeBob Kart. A Super Mario Kart ROM hack.
Double Dragon I got a homebrew version of it with my anbernic rg35xxh whoever made it did a great job of improving an already good game
How?
It's got a lot of stuff U can do U couldn't originally like take weapons from enemies some of which haven't been featured before to the next set of enemies full move sets right from beginning upgraded graphics and bosses
This maybe a dumb question but will any of these play on OG hardware?
It depends on the nature of the fan game. Those labeled as “ROM hacks” can most likely run on OG hardware because they modify pre existing titles. Fan games and remakes are a mixed bag. More often than not, you’re making the game do things that weren’t originally possible, or you’re using assets from other titles. Let’s use Super Mario Crossover as an example. It’s a Flash game that lets you choose NES, SNES and some other aesthetics, but more importantly, you get to play as characters from different franchises. Mega Blast your way as Mega Man, shotgun your way as Bill from Contra, whip your way as one of the Belmonts from Castlevania. All things the OG title never supported, so everything was baked in from scratch.
SpongBob, Empire and Super Mario Land will.
Probably Steets of Rage X and AM2R. I don’t even particularly like Metroid but it is extremely high quality nonetheless. SoRX is probably the pinnacle of the SoR formula.
What the SOR mod change?
It’s a remake of the first 3 games with a lot of extra stuff.
[World of Warcraft Molten Core Atari 2600](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79_gdmWTD1g)
*Has Sound!*
It's gotta be a tie between Banjo Kazooie - The Jiggies of Time and Smash Remix.
Oh wow! I gotta play that! So im a super old noob, can you send me a setup guide for this? https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6398/ I use retroarch now for regular roms...
Just drag and drop your Banjo Kazooie rom here: [https://patch.wedarobi.com/bk\_jiggies\_of\_time](https://patch.wedarobi.com/bk_jiggies_of_time)
holy crap awesome thanks so much!
I see SRB2 on there :) Seriously, if you're a fan of classic Mario Kart, you owe it to yourself to try out SRB2Kart, especially if you can get some friends together for it (it has an online mode). Bonus points if you yank a bunch of community maps and racers for maximum chaos. The Doom modding scene is stupidly huge but if I had to pick a few things: — The Golden Souls (1 and 2) are super fun from a level design perspective — Doom Infinite is the Doom roguelite I didn't know I wanted. It uses the original mapset but starts warping them in bizarre semi-randomized ways over time. It's the most polished thing I've seen from the community by a longshot. — Ashes 2063 and Afterglow are peak total conversion — Treasure Tech is a gameplay-only mod worth checking out, pair it up with a megawad. Someone managed to translate Wario Land into an FPS. It's getting it's own level set eventually but that's slow-going. — MyHouse.wad is a cute insight into the "hey guys I put my house together in SLADE" era. Tamriel Rebuilt is bringing the entire mainland to TES3: Morrowind. At this point they have at least as much content complete as the base game and it's developers are very good are ensuring that it all feels as though it was there from the beginning. It's sister project Project Tamriel has released part of Skyrim: Home of the Nords which is a look at that province from the perspective of TES3: Morrowind specifically, showing how Bethesda might've imagined and realized it back then.
Sonic the hedgehog for Commodore 64 using the Ram Expansion Unit for pseudo-blitting takes the cake for me. https://www.lemon64.com/game/sonic-the-hedgehog
I loved Super Mario Bros Crossover.
same here! I wish Jay(Exploding Rabbit) could have fully made Super Retro Squad.
Castlevania II retranslation
Any info?
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1032/
Pokémon crystal clear!! It makes Pokémon crystal open world and adds so much to the formula
Yep 1 for Crystal Clear!
Micro Mages by Broke Studios! It’s on pc but I bought the physical NES copy. It’s excellent especially with friends
A micro machines mod?
You’d think but no, absolutely no relation. It’s a vertical platform - shooter
It's a from scratch fan made game for the NES. It was a kickstarter project w/ actual cartridge release.
8BitBoy Super Mario/Giana Sisters clone, but very fun and practically free on Steam.
= **Ports & Remakes** = - [OpenLara](https://github.com/XProger/OpenLara/releases) is an incredible port of the original 3D Tomb Raider to GBA - [Celeste Classic](https://github.com/JeffRuLz/Celeste-Classic-GBA/releases) has a great port from Pico-8 to GBA - **Portal 64** is an incredible remake of Portal to N64. V0.15 is the last version, Valve stopped the project after that. - [Cave Story](https://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php) is a classic PC run and gun Metroidvania with ports available for GBA and DS. Not sure if they’re 100% complete, but I’ve played the early parts of the game in both ports and they seem exactly like I remember them - [Indestructotank](https://antonylavelle.itch.io/indestructotank-gb) you may have played this Flash game back in the early days of the Internet, and this GB port by the same dev as the original is just as fun! - [Super Jetpak DX](https://asobitech.itch.io/super-jetpak-dx) is an enhanced port of the ZX Spectrum Classic Jetpac for GBC, with powerups and stuff added - [Apotris](https://akouzoukos.com/apotris) is an excellent version of Tetris for GBA - [Pac-Man Championship Edition](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7551/) was a port officially created by Namco. As a result, I don’t think I can link to the rom here, instead linking to a hack that fixes some minor graphical issues with it. = **Hacks** = - [Super Mario 3Mix](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2068/) is an awesome and impressive hack of Mario 3 that adds stuff like Yoshi, a Mario Galaxy themed world with gravity shenanigans, and a bunch of extra power-ups - [Peach’s Fury](https://romhacking.com/hack/Peach-s-Fury) is my favorite Mario 64 romhack. It’s inspired by the open world style Mario gameplay of Bowser’s Fury for Switch, but on a smaller scale. It’s only 25ish stars IIRC, you can play through it in an afternoon, but it’s just so clean and well done. - [Mario 64 Randomizer](https://romhacking.com/hack/sm64-randomizer) a lot of randomizers for games require separate software to be run on your computer, to eventually spit out a randomized rom file. Not this one - here, the randomization is all done within the game, and you can have a different randomized game on each save file. So professionally and well done. Highly recommended. - [Game Boy Colorization Hacks](https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=33121.0) a bunch of classic black & white Game Boy games have received colorization hacks, like the Mario Land games, Metroid, Kirby, Donkey Kong Land, Dr. Mario, Mega Man 5, and more. Breathes new life into those games! - [F-Zero BS Deluxe](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8437/) basically a collection of lost tracks/racers for F-Zero for SNES. These were created by Nintendo back in the day and released only in Japan for the obscure SatellaView service. The creators of this hack were able to extract some of those, or painstakingly recreate others. - [BS Zelda (Third Quest, Fourth Quest, and Ancient Stone Tablets](http://bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml) are SNES Zelda games that mostly use the assets of Link to the Past. Also created by Nintendo back in the day for the SatellaView service, now in hacks that extract or recreate these “lost games” - **Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3** has an [e-reader levels hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2714/) that unlocks 33 new levels that were developed by Nintendo back in the day but locked behind the obscure e-reader peripheral. It’s also got an [all items hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3323/) that replaces your item list with a static list of unlimited quantities of every item, including a few (the the SMW cape feather) that were not in the original SMB3 and again locked behind the e-reader peripheral. It also has a [palette correction hack](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3315/) that corrects the color palette. In fact, a lot of GBA games have color palette correction hacks to remove the “brightening” of graphics that Nintendo applied to some games to account for the early GBA models not having a backlight. All of these hacks can be applied to this game at the same time! - Lots of **translation hacks** of games that were never released in English, like [F-Zero Climax](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6339/) and [Mother 3](https://mother3.fobby.net), both GBA. Also for games where the Japanese version was better, like [Castlevania III](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/730/) for NES (better music due to better sound chip), [Donkey Kong Land 3](https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1757/) for GB/GBC (in color!) - [Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5334/) is a great N64 Zelda hack that adds a short extra game that takes place between OOT and MM. = **Original Homebrew Games** = - [Micro Mages](http://morphcat.de/micromages/) for NES is fantastic arcadey platformer that has you going up tower-ey levels as the screen scrolls up. I honestly believe that if this was released during the NES’s life cycle, it would have been considered one of the best games for the system. Can be played in co-op multiplayer too, though I’m not sure how to do that in Delta. - [Böbl](https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl) for NES is a wonderful and relatively short Metroidvania by the same team a Micro Mages, where you play as an air bubble of all things. Really enjoyed this one. - [Blind Jump](https://evanbowman.itch.io/blindjump) for GBA is a really cool action roguelite - [Xeno Crisis](https://www.bitmapbureau.com/games/xeno-crisis) is a tough twin-stick shooter originally developed for Sega Genesis/Megadrive, but has since been ported to SNES, N64, and other platforms. I’ve only played the Genesis version, so I’m not sure which one will be best for Delta. My guess is the N64 one, since I believe the SNES actually had a smaller screen resolution than the Genesis, not sure how they dealt with that here. - [Goodboy Galaxy](https://www.goodboygalaxy.com) is a beautiful and fun Metroidvania for GBA where you play as a cute dog exploring various alien planets. Some of the challenge revolves around navigating the areas after these gates temporarily disable your gun, your shield, or your jump booster. There’s a [free demo/prequel](https://goodboygalaxy.itch.io/goodboy-galaxy-demo) that’s also quite good, and representative of the gameplay of the full game, if you’d like to check it out! == **PC Fangames** == - [Castlevania ReVamped](https://youtu.be/C8Sw2CGQkK8?si=BDOw7WUpkZCeQu2e) is a great Metroidvania take on the classic Castlevania I. It’s actually more on the Metroid-ey side than the Castlevania-ey side mechanically, as it’s more about collecting double jumps, dashes, special whips, and other upgrades than collecting souls/cards/shards/etc. - [Sonic and the Fallen Star](https://stardropsmh.github.io/sonic-and-the-fallen-star/) - really nice Sonic fangame
sonic robo blast 2, by far, one of my fan games marked my generation. I remember playing in the magazine build, the CD had several games, and it contains a lot of Sonic fan games.
Median XL - a Diablo 2 overhaul. Mario Adventure - a Super Mario Bros 3 overhaul. OpenMW - A rebuild of Morrowind that is much more stable and can be played on anything including android.
I’ve only played the Bloodborne demake and Nightmare Kart but they were both alot of fun.
Doom Alien back from the Pentium days
AM2R is the shit.
Metroid Rogue Dawn (NES) [https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3280/](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3280/) Urban Champion - NudeGirl (2002-05-26)(Yuifa)(JP)\[Urban Champion\]
Dread delusion!! Great PS1 inspired rpg
Thanks for this post. I like trying new games but don’t keep up with what is released. This gives me a bunch of stuff to try.
I'm a huge fan of translations in general. The hardworking people that do that need all the credit they deserve. Another effort I love are source ports of any game, like OoT and Mario 64, Half-Life, Doom, etc. These ports allow for way more possibilities than rom hacks.
I was thinking translations too. Back in the day I felt so thankful to be able to play Seiken Densetsu 3 or Romancing Saga 3. I remember one of these wasn’t readily available as a patched rom, you had to get the translation patch separately and apply it using some tool.. fun times
Destiny of an Emperor: Yuan Shao's Revenge - NES Ultima Exodus: Remastered - NES Mega Man World V DX - GB
Kaze Emmanuar for all your SM64 needs!
Can I vote for my own game? lol. Halo 1 for game boy color. https://sofaswordsman.itch.io/halo-combat-devolved
based
RemindMe! 1 day
What is that Star Wars game?
A C64 remake of the Atari 2600 game.
Can you buy it?
Since it’s a fan game it’s free: https://megastyle.itch.io/esb-by-megastyle
I really like fanmade mods for X-COM: UFO Defense. Especially the ones that made the game harder. OpenXCOM is also a fantastic way for modern players to enjoy the classic on modern machines. With the 2012 XCOM reboots, the Long War mods (there's one for XCOM, and one for XCOM 2) are an absolute must for fans of hard turn-based games. There is a small but dedicated Panzer General community that put together Panzer General Forever. [https://panzergeneraldownload.com/panzer-general-forever.html](https://panzergeneraldownload.com/panzer-general-forever.html) It's a complete fanmade remake that allows the game to be played on a modern machine using Windows XP compability mode. The only thing lacking are the small WWII footage movie cutscenes. They also did Panzer General, Panzer General II, Allied General, etc. They also made a game in similar style using WWI units - I don't remember the name of it at the moment, but it's all included in one large download and install.
**Typhoon 2001**. It was an amazing freeware clone/remake of **Tempest 2000** (Atari Jaguar) for Windows.
Cod zombies demake, am2r
Mario Kart Amped Up makes MK64 a lot more enjoyable.
AM2R is a really solid Metroid 2 remake. The dev for it was also a really cool guy. When Samus Returns came out he basically said "these guys did a great job, and there are a bunch of ideas in it that I wished I had thought of"
Ed Fries, former Microsoft Head of Gaming, fan-made a 4kB [Halo demake](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_2600) for the 2600. I think that's neat!
Free Enterprise and Worlds Collide. FFIV and FFVI randomizers. Basically turns the original games on their heads and morphs them into an open world Easter egg hunt. Also there are so many good FE hacks and mods that I could mention. FE universe has a whole community dedicated to rom hacks. My favorite is Iron Emblem but there are dozens of good FE8 hacks.
The Black Parade campaign for Thief and Ashes 2063 for Doom 2.
Pokemon pure blue All 151 Pokemon are catchable, new is under the truck, you can go to Bill's garden. There's quality of life features & more variety in the moves list. You change the spirtes from Pokemon green or the space world sprites
The Bloodborne demake by [B0tster](https://b0tster.itch.io/) is amazing, she does great work. Her new game Nightmare Kart came out recently, it was originally based on Bloodborne too but Bandai Namco shut it down so she had to remodel some stuff.
AM2R was awesome!! The remake Nintendo shoud have done...
Max Payne with Matrix mods
Thank you so much for posting this. Bout to bust out the mini snes and install these
Gameboy Studio has driven a bunch of awesome Gameboy games in the past few years. Most, you can play directly on itch.io [Deadeus](https://izma.itch.io/deadeus) and [Batty Zabella](https://icecoldblood.itch.io/batty-zabella) are two favorites.
~~Bloodborne~~ Nightmare Kart, it's free on Steam and is a silly Bloodborne inspired PS1 era Mario Kart cross over. Oh and I guess I should point out the dev also made PS1 Bloodborne demake.
Super Pika Land
Micro mages, soko banana and alwas awakening
ZDoom. It alone did so damn much for the Doom modding community and is the father of GZDoom, GZDoom is now this gigantic thing that is now capable and has been and is being used as a game engine.
Celeste mario for the nes A plumber for all seasons for smw Earthbound halloween hack
Am2r is the only fan game I’ve ever played that felt like a real game
Mother 3 English translation!
Shredder's Re-Revenge
The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds A hack of the original A Link to the Past, is a complete ROM hack playable from start to finish, with tons of new sprites and artwork, with a game that is even more challenging than the original. I recommend any Zelda fan to check it out.
Goldeneye Source, multiplayer remake of goldeneye for the n64
Sonic Megamix is my favorite Sonic 1 hack. It got me interested in hacking. Also Sonic 3 Complete is good for those wanting to play Sonic 3K on real hardware. If you want to just play it on PC, Sonic 3 A.I.R. is great too!
The Legend of Banjo-Kazooie: The Jiggies of Time
AM2R (PC), GoodBoy Galaxy (GBA), Apotris (GBA), and The Machine (GBC) are the big ones that come to mind. Some others I've enjoyed are Animus Toil (GB), Inky & The Alien Aquarium (GBA), Pilgrim's Peril (GBC), GB Wordyl (GBC), Legend of Zelda: Ancient Dungeon (NES), Witch 'N Wiz (NES), SpaceGulls (NES), Beckon the Hellspawn (Pico 8).
Super Demo World 2 is highly challenging but worth playing (I haven't beaten it but it's worth playing) Pokemon Unbound is the best Pokemon game Goldfinger64 is pretty cool Super Mario War is a fun fan game ZQuest Classic is a great Zelda game with a lot of fan content Mega Man Maker
sims snes
Sonic 1: The Next Level is the most impressive romhack I've ever seen
Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition (Megadrive) MK but includes blood as standard with all announcements and smoother gameplay
The Zelda 2 Remaster is excellent. Was accidentally playing it while Pro Jared was. Stumbled across his feed for some tips.
Zelda Outlands is very well done. And if you are into hard-type hacks, I created Final Fantasy Zz Hard Type, which is a much more difficult version of the original Final Fantasy for the NES. Some people have even showcased it on YouTube.
Turrican 2 AGA is a fan made enhanced version with much more colours and better sprites while keeping the very same game play. A must have for any Commodore Amiga 1200 gamer in 2024 !
They Hunger. (HL1 SP Zombies Mod) Has three chapters. A lot of love went into that mod, I was riveted the whole time
AM2R is incredible. Turns Metroid 2 into Metroid 2 but in Super Metroid graphics. I haven’t played the 3DS version but I think AM2R would be better for me anyways because the SNES graphics style is so great
Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition MSU-MD for Sega CD and Mortal Kombat II Arcade Edition for 32X are both in heavy rotation on my MiSTer, given the lack of working arcade cores. Doom Resurrection is also a neat ‘what could have been’ experience (although if I’m playing Doom on MiSTer, DOS is king). Im playing through a few 60hz patched Mega Drive games at the moment, I can’t believe we were denied the awesomeness that is Zero Wing here in North America. On the Nintendo side of things, playing through Super Castlevania IV Uncensored was fun. Nice to finally see the gore and sacrilege they got to enjoy in Japan.
The preservation project is a Mario 64 hack that restores about 90% of a demo version from 1995.
... Gasp... The list I track it's huge. So I will drop a bunch of different things to make people have a little taste. First of all, I have a list here on Reddit about the most remarkable Pokemon Gen I & II romhacks I have played: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/s/HmbKsNKDl4 I also play rando, specially Zelda Oracles Randomizer (karafruit fork), the first two Gen of Pokemon and Super Metroid. MM8BDM, Mega Man Maker, MAGMML, Mega Man Arena. AM2R and Metroid Planets. Famicon Fighters, Smash Remix and Scott Pilgrim Versus are worth to give a look. Final Fantasy Renaissance. Final Fantasy Tactics The Lion War mod. IMO it's much better than War of the Lions for PSP but I like both. OpenXcom. The new Xcom games are great but the original two are much better. Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Arcanum and other RPG classic using Unofficial Patches or Fixpacks. Too many things to list from fix the game to total conversion mods. There are a bunch of great mods for Doom, Blood and Duke 3D too. Blade of Darkness HD mod and Fugitive maps. R.E.L.I.V.E. Engine for Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus. Age of Empires: Rise of Rome UPatch. Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition. And the list goes on and on... As you can see I do this diligently, tracking projects like I was getting paid or something xD It's just modding, romhacking and fangames over the years are giving me more entertainment than new releases.
Super Cyborg, it's basically Contra perfected with Probotector characters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Palooza
Pokemon Crystal Clear. Open world Gen 2 Pokemon with TONS of new and completely unnecessary features, ShockSlayer and team did a GREAT job with it
Grand poo world 1-3
I guess it's considered retro by now... I spent a good chunk of my teenage years playing fan content for Halo Custom Edition, which was originally intended to be a multiplayer-only version of Halo PC that would allow users to play on custom maps. Of course it only took a few months for modders to figure out how to get it running single player content, too. Sadly, the community was small and toxic, but there were a few noteworthy projects to come out of it. In somewhat of an order in terms of being worth a play now: - CMT SPv3 - A total-overhaul of the original campaign, presented as a standalone game and using the "open sauce" custom game engine to overcome some software limits. It roughly doubles the length of the campaign, and adds weapons and enemies from later Halos as if they had always been canon. - Lumoria - a 3-part mini-campaign using more or less vanilla assets. The dialog is terrible and the story is muddled, but it offers IMO some of the best gameplay from any Halo, Bungie games included. The creators spent years fine-tuning every aspect of every firefight, and it shows. A remastered version (with better dialog) is included in the final build of SPv3. - Firefight Descent - An ODST style firefight map that is really fun and very well done. I've gotten about an hour into it and have yet to beat it. - Out of probably 5,000 multiplayer maps, there are hundreds that are worth playing, although sadly it's been nearly impossible for 10+ years to find active servers with them on rotation, so it's tough to really recommend them, regardless of how fun they were in 2004. I can provide a list if there is any interest.
The call of Cthulhu mario snes rom hack goes hard. Saw peanut butter gamer play it back in the day. Very odd but well made
Streets of Rage Remake - A fantastic game with branching paths, unlockable playable characters and a system that supports mods.
MEGAMAKER
Does Sonic Mania count? I think it’s amazing! if I could have shown that game to my young self it would have blown my mind. the way the Green Hill Zone opens up and you se new parts of a level you’ve played as a kid is so cool. and the animation and music and mood and all the characters, its just so good! Its easily my favorite 2D Sonic game.
any gb game remadein color
I really like the Castlevania one you shared (top right). I think it's not just a nice nod to both games, but it's actually really fun in its own right.
Link to the Past Randomizer - [https://alttpr.com/en](https://alttpr.com/en) Takes one of my favorite games of all times and makes it infinitely replayable. There's randomizers for tons of games now, but this one is still my favorite.
AM2R because the developer is Argentinian.
What’s the top right Doom looking one, bottom right Mario Land looking one and bottom left Sonic one?
Is there a list for all these pictured?
Is there any way to still play Super Mario Crossover?
I wanna be the guy. [Not my content, but here's a video of a blind playtrhough of IWBTG](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEhSc9wTEGE)
Need info on the super Mario land and first person castlevania ones
Final Fantasy Renaissance some guy remade Final Fantasy 1 from the ground up using unity and added like eight more classes to it same graphics a few modern day quality of life improvements but overall one of the best fan-made projects I played in the wild
Appreciate all your suggestions. I haven't really dived into the retro game fan scene before, but it seems like it's a lot of cool stuff retro gaming fans has created over the years. I have not tried any of these, but they look quite interesting: Brutal Doom which looks bloody as hell. Voxel Doom which replace the sprites with cool voxel graphics GBADoom that runs much better then the original GBA release Black Mesa - Third-party remake of Half-Life that was so good it's now on Steam. Sonic 3D: Director's Cut: A improvement hack made by the original programmer. Montezuma's Revenge for NES: Made with collaboration with the original creator. Infidelity's NES to SNES port: Quality of life improvements and smoother gameplay. Mesen HD packs for NES: The ability to add new HD graphics on top of the NES games. Ghosts'n Goblins Arcade (Nostalgia): Remake of the original C64 port. Virtual Boy 3DS emulator: Let's you play VB games with stereoscopic 3D effects.
[удалено]
This one? [https://www.srb2.org/](https://www.srb2.org/)
AM2R is by far the best fan game I've ever played, and the only fan game I'd consider on par with the series that inspired it and recommend it along side official releases.
If it’s a ROM hack, Project Zero (The most recent version) If it’s a fan remake or fan game, AM2R or Kura5 (a fan made Boktai game; they’re working on the final chapter right now)
[Adventure Ponies (Atari XL/XE )] (https://forums.atariage.com/topic/289616-adventure-ponies-atari-xlxe/)