 Hello, in the past I've looked at ROM hacks for the Super Nintendo, and I cranked out three of those videos already, so I think it's about time to take a look at some ROM hacks for NES games. It's tough to parse which ones are worth playing because there's so many out there. There's seemingly an endless amount for games like Mario 3, Metroid, Castlevania, all that stuff, but I found some favorites that are really well done without being ridiculously difficult. We'll start with Super Mario Bros. 3 Mix, made by Southbird. Here we've got all new levels, new power-ups, like a penguin instead of a frog. What is Mario cosplaying as Pentaro now? I never figured Mario for a Perotius fan. We've also got Starcoins that unlock other parts of the game, and there's even alternate exits in some levels. There's also stuff from levels in other Mario games you're sure to recognize, and you can even go back to previous levels you've completed to find any Starcoins you might have missed. In addition to all that, you can play as Luigi or Toad, although that's mostly cosmetic. They don't really play differently like Mario 2, but still, it's pretty dang cool. And there's also a save feature here, something that's bothered many over the years about the original Mario 3, but man, oh man, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better NES ROM hack than this one. It's reasonably polished, and it's challenging without being Kaizo-level-hard. The title doesn't lie, it really does feel like a remix of Mario 3, and it's well worth checking out. Next, there's Mario Adventure, made by Dark Days, which has been hailed by many over the years as THE definitive Mario 3 ROM hack, and yeah, it lives up to the hype. All the worlds have completely new themes like hotfoot caverns, which seemingly takes place in a volcano, or Karibos Woods, which puts a big emphasis on precise platforming. I've said this before, but the frustrating thing about finding good ROM hacks is that some are just way too hard, and it's usually because it's easy to just skew everything toward the difficult side without thinking about difficulty balancing. Mario Adventure, however, nails the difficulty. There's some creative level design here, and it's challenging, while still being approachable even for casual gamers. What helps you out is that you can switch power-ups on the fly, so you can glide along with the raccoon tail, land and flip to the fire flower and blast some enemies. This is one ROM hack that lives up to the hype. Definitely check out Mario Adventure. Let's do one more Mario ROM hack with extra Mario Bros made by ATA. Here we've got if Mario were made like a Metroid game, there's five different areas to explore through warp tunnels, and unfortunately you can only move from left to right here, but the game does a nice job putting the emphasis on exploration. Heck, there's even tiles lifted straight from Metroid itself in this one. We got new enemies, new power-ups, there's even a new physics engine at work. So yeah, if you want to play an NES Mario game that has a Metroid slant to it, then you gotta play extra Mario Bros. Speaking of Metroid, next we have Metroid Rogue Dawn made by a team of folks led by Grimlock, Optimon, and Snarfblam. Rogue Dawn is an unofficial prequel that covers the events leading up to the original Metroid game, including the theft of the capsule which led to Ridley and Mother Brain gaining control of the Metroids. The story here is actually pretty interesting, and I don't want to spoil anything, but as you can see, the game itself is a complete rework of the original, with most of the basic gameplay left intact, but there's a lot of quality of life improvements that weren't in the original game, like, you know, a friggin' map, and it's even on screen too, even better. Simply put, Metroid Rogue Dawn is a must-play if you're a Metroid fan, it's clear this one was made by some dedicated and passionate Metroid fans, and the result is a ROM hack that feels like a brand new game, and it does not disappoint. Let's move on to a couple Mega Man hacks with Mega Man CX made by Hemogen Jikichu, and this hack takes Mega Man 2 and rearranges a few things. For instance, you get items 1, 2, and 3 right from the beginning of the game, with item 1 producing platforms beneath you, there can be 3 on screen at once, item 2 regains any weapon or life energy, and item 3 grants about 1 second of invincibility for each use. You can also dash, you can find heart tanks, you can even call for help from other characters like Quick Man. There's all sorts of other characters that show up, and there's surprises that I don't want to spoil, but this is a really fun hack any Mega Man fan is sure to enjoy. Next there's Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity, made by Pirasabe, and yes, you do have to use a Rock Man 4 ROM for this to work. Everything here is upgraded so to speak. From the levels to the bosses to the weapons, even the music. The levels now include branching paths with hidden bosses, similar to the X series, only run into bosses from the past, like Shadow Man and Crash Man. Now that's cool. What really makes this one fun are the boss fights, their patterns are completely redone, which makes this one challenging in a really fun way. Overall though, this is Mega Man 4 with a comprehensive overhaul, with tons of surprises and lots to find and explore, and even if you're not that big of a Mega Man fan, this one is really worth checking out. There are several Castlevania hacks that are well worth your time, so I picked Holy Relics, Blood Moon, and Chorus of Mysteries. These are already pretty popular with most folks, I mean there's been reproduction cards made for these hacks going back over 10 years now. So I'll just give a really brief summary of each. Holy Relics is my pick for the best of the bunch. It's an impressively polished and fully realized game that can easily stand on its own merits, even if you're not crazy about Castlevania. There's lots of improvements from the original game, and it feels like what Castlevania 2 should have been in the minds of a lot of fans. If you're looking for more of a challenge within the Castlevania universe, then Blood Moon is what you need. The basic mechanics are tinkered with a bit, and take some getting used to, but it's still well worth a play through. If that kind of challenge doesn't jive with you, then try out Chorus of Mysteries, another really challenging hack, but it stays closer to the original Castlevania, with the catch being that it plays as a side story with new characters and new levels. Anyone you choose here, you can't go wrong with these three hacks. Since we're on Castlevania, I gotta mention Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest, since there's two hacks that function more as improvement patches that keep the game, as it was intended, so to speak, while cleaning up a lot of the issues and adding some quality of life improvements. One patch is called Redaction. That's a pretty popular one that's been around a long time that many people swear by. It speeds up the text and fixes a lot of the translation. If you want to go a step further, there's also the retranslation and map patch, which obviously adds a helpful map to the proceedings, so that's pretty cool. I also have to mention Final Fantasy Ultra Champion Edition. This is the latest of a long-running Final Fantasy hack made by Robert Auguste Meyer that goes back years. You get 12 classes to choose from, starting out, and hey, there's people here that actually tell you what the classes do and all that. Also, the world map has changed. The dungeons have been rearranged, but not too much, so the game really does feel like a new adventure in a familiar world. There's also plenty of quality of life improvements here, like a dash button and the ability to speed up battles, but I should mention that this game is far from a cakewalk. I found it interesting that it's actually difficult to find gold in this hack. It's not one of those games where you've got it coming out of your ears after a couple hours, so you gotta be smart on how you spend. There's lots of bonus material too, so if you dig the original Final Fantasy, you gotta check this one out. Not done yet. I'm gonna go off the beaten path a little bit with a few others. Here's a hack for a game that never reached North America called Gimmick, and this hack is simply called Gimmick 2 made by Peckinsack Dave. Okay, this hack isn't the most polished. There's quite a few unfair deaths and some wonky level design, and it needs quite a bit more work to stay the least. Still, I wanted to make sure people saw this one just to prove that some people out there are working on hacks other than the usual Mario Castlevania Mega Man stuff. And hey, even if it's not that good, I still encourage folks to try it out themselves and give some constructive feedback. That's one way these hacks can get better. There's also Jackal 2 by RayofJ. He's given the whole game an overhaul with new levels, enemy logic changes, and all sorts of other tweaks. Like when dying instead of losing all your firepower, you're only taken down just a notch, and I appreciate that. I hate dying and starting with nothing. It also maintains its two-player co-op compatibility, and you're gonna need a second player because once again, this one is really, really hard. I understand these hacks are made by folks that have put hundreds of hours into their games, so it's probably not hard to them, but to the average player, a game like this is gonna be pretty tough. It's still a good time, though. I mean, you're in a tank, I mean, whoops, a jeep, and you're shooting stuff. It can't get more simple than that. Finally, here's one called DuckTales2, The New Journey, and it's a hack of DuckTales2, as opposed to the first DuckTales, which is kinda cool to see, especially since in this hack, there's a ton of emphasis on exploration and finding the seemingly endless number of secret areas in this game. It's reasonably well done. Again, don't expect AAA-level polish here since it's made by just one fellow by the name of MechanicCDRR, but still, this is a promising start on a ROM hack for a title you hardly ever see any for, so I'm always happy to see even just a little progress on some games that you just don't hear about as often. All right, that's all for now. I wanna thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.