Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:23:00 GMT
Auntie Pixelante (aka “dessgeega”) has been peppering her blog with thoughtful commentary about Super Mario Bros. ROM hacks. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of NES ROM hacks, I usually imagine something like this (which, I have to admit, is amusing in its own terrible way). But what Auntie P. shows us is that, at least with a game as ubiquitous as Super Mario Bros., there are some more interesting and… er, subtle remixes out there.
Enigmario replaces Koji Kondo’s music with chiptune versions of Enigma’s MCMXC a.D., a concept album from the early 90’s. It gives the game a very different feel. (Auntie’s Analysis)
Super Greyscale Brothers presents a monochrome version of SMB. There’s not too much more to say about it than that, but it’s an interesting effect.
Old Pond, Diving Frog, and Water Sound is a hack named after a Matsuo BashÅ poem, and takes place entirely underwater. This is a really beautiful hack, visually, featuring quite a few custom graphics. As to be expected from the creator of Mario Air, it’s also pretty difficult. (Auntie’s Analysis)
Silhouette Mario makes Mario a two-color game. Lovely to look at, and quite difficult, also. (Auntie’s Analysis)
Last but not least, The Pixel Kingdom changes every sprite in the game into a single-colored rectangle. This, and Silhouette Mario, I think, really show off how iconic and well-understood the graphics in Mario are.
In conclusion: hacks can be delightful, and Super Mario Bros. 1 remains one of the most interesting conceptual playgrounds in video games (and probably elsewhere).
To play these, you need an emulator, an ips patcher, and, for The Pixel Kingdom, Super Greyscale Brothers, and Enigmario, a clean copy of the Super Mario 1 ROM, which you may or may not find if you hunt around in this thread.
Posted in Games and Art, Mods / Hacks | Tags dessgeega | 8 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:51:00 GMT
This is so unbelievably geeky and amazing. A Japanese guy creates an insanely difficult Super Mario World hack called “Kaizu Mario” and records his friend playing it. Eventually the video ends up on YouTube, under the mistranslated title “Asshole Mario,” and becomes a cult hit. Inspired by the hack, an intrepid fan in turn hacks the Super Nintendo emulator SNES9x so that he can superimpose all of his 134 attempts to beat the first stage onto a single recording (seen above), and then uses the recording to explain theories behind quantum physics.
I love it.
The hacked emulator and quantum physics are here, and the Kaizu Mario patch is here (IPS patcher required).
(Source: haze, via selectbutton)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Mods / Hacks, Videos, Physics | 31 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:28:00 GMT
Dwarf Fortress player sinoth has developed a great utility called “3dwarf” that lets you rip map data from the popular Roguelike, and then view them in 3d. 3dwarf lets you explore the maps via a floating camera, and has various helpful options for viewing the map, like “height map mode,” which colors each layer based on how high it is.
Now if only there was a “dwarf mode” to let you walk through your fortress FPS-style!
(Image Source: Dorten)
Posted in Roguelikes, Community, Mods / Hacks | Tags TarnAdams | 35 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:14:00 GMT
When a trailer begins with the words “Awake now the sleepy artist / To an insane world of strife” and there is a vicious man cooing about finger painting in the background, you know it’s probably not going to be your average mod for Unreal Tournament 2004.
Introspect puts you in control of an insane artist named Gabriel. In the game, you’ll be exploring Gabriel’s demented psyche, a metaphorical world whose visual style is influenced by American McGee’s Alice. Despite the dark themes, the game is purportedly non-violent, and trades in the flak cannons and link guns of UT2004 for an artist’s palette, which you can use to manipulate your surroundings.
Unfortunately, I can’t play the mod, but for what is ostensibly an “arthouse” game, Introspect seems like it has some actual substance.
(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair)
Posted in FPS, Games and Art, Mods / Hacks | 17 comments
Posted by ithamore
Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:00:00 GMT
Joe Barr at Linux.com recently reviewed the Quake II-based Alien Arena and declared it better than the Quake III-based Tremulous which use to be ”. . . the best free software FPS game [he had] had the pleasure of playing.”
From the review:
“If you’re a gamer but not familiar with Alien Arena, think of Quake III or Unreal Tournament and you won’t be far off the mark. If you’re not familiar with those icons of the first-person shooter genre, think massive, sustained, unrelenting, ankle-deep-in-blood, kill-or-be-killed carnage which can be enjoyed solo, just you against the bots on your PC, or, if your taste in killing tends toward living targets, in multiplayer mode on a network server.”
Also, here is a bit on Tremulous:
“Tremulous is basically a struggle between two teams: the humans, a species I will assume you are familiar with, and the aliens, which look like bugs and sometimes crawl along walls and ceilings. During the game, each side progresses through three stages, with advanced abilities and equipment coming in during the second and third stages. There is one major difference between the species, beyond being on different teams. Humans can upgrade their equipment. Aliens can upgrade themselves. Both species have structures peculiar to themselves.”
I haven’t tried either game, since I’m not into FPS’s, so you’ll have to tell us what you think about them and which is better in the comments. And, for the record’s sake, this is the first time Slashdot (the source) has been “officially” TIGSourced [Edit: on the new TIGSource that is], the unofficial Mac version of Tremulous is available here, and the images I used were nabbed from the games’ websites.
Posted in FPS, Macintosh, Mods / Hacks, Linux, Windows, Freeware | 12 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:24:00 GMT
[Guest review by MedO]
Adam Foster recently released the last part in the first episode of Minerva, his amazing Half-Life 2 mod. I’ve played through it a few days ago and I think it’s vastly better than Valve’s own HL2:Episode1. In fact, it’s one of the best games I’ve played in the last few months.
The story takes place in the Half-Life universe, on a tiny island somewhere in the Baltic Sea that has been burrowed out by the Combine. You are dropped off there by the unknown and unseen character calling herself Minerva, who sends you (sometimes cryptic) text messages to inform you of important events or sometimes just to insult you. She doesn’t seem to care about your life, but wants you to survive as long as possible to gather information, and cross the Combine’s plans. Guided by Minerva, you begin to explore what the Combine are up to, descending ever deeper into the island’s underground.
One very nice thing about the mod is that you’ll rarely see the loading screen, because they are created in a very economic way – there’s almost an hour of gameplay in each map. Since you are descending ever deeper, you have several layers of rooms on the same map, all below each other. The long time you spend in each map sometimes allows you to see into areas you will only reach a while later, and makes it possible to have enemies appear in a realistic fashion: sometimes you can see Combine hurrying along above or below you some time before they actually get to you, which adds a lot to the feeling of realism in the game.
(The Minerva Development Blog is here.)
Posted in FPS, Mods / Hacks, Freeware | 11 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:28:00 GMT
Castlevania for the NES was a pretty tough game, but Chorus of Mysteries, a rom hack by optomon and Dr. Mario, makes playing the original seem as easy as cloning a PopCap game (zing!). Never before have medusa heads and jumping situations been combined with such little compassion towards the player. I think save states were created for the sole purpose of getting through this game.
Still, if you’re a Castlevania nut, it’s worth checking out because it’s a pretty full conversion of the first game. Or, you know, buy a whip and check yourself into a Turkish prison. The results will probably be the same.
Posted in Platformers, Mods / Hacks | 7 comments
Posted by Shabadage
Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:56:00 GMT
Well, this game came out of nowhere (relative, of course, to my blindness), but it’s a good one. Basically, it’s a rom hack that replaces the normal Link to the Past with an adventure called Parallel Worlds. The hack is high quality, though some of the early dungeons are a bit simplistic, they do get better. If you’ve already beaten the crap out of Twilight Princess, then this game might hold you over until the DS Zelda launches later this year.
Notes: This is designed to work with the [U] GOODSNES designated rom. You might have to go through a few roms before you get one the hack works on.
(NOTE: TIGSource cannot and will not provide links to the ROM, only the hack.)
Posted in Mods / Hacks | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:33:00 GMT
Did you know that Halo was originally designed to be an RTS? But then they made it into a FPS. WTF?
Then three years ago some people started working on a mod for Command and Conquer Generals to recreate Halo as an RTS. But recently Microsoft sent them a cease and desist letter.
I’ll never understand why people try to make mods like this. Three years spent working on a game (for free, no less!), only to have the project canned with a single email. It’s like taking your neighbors’ kid and then raising it as your own for three years, only to have them be like, “WTF, that’s MY kid!” and then take them back. And there’s nothing you can do because it really isn’t your kid, even though you invested three years’ of time into it.
You should have had your own kid! Or “licensed” one legally through an adoption center. You know what I mean?
(Source: Kotaku)
Posted in Community, Mods / Hacks, Strategy | 9 comments
Posted by Albert Lai
Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:39:00 GMT
“In Strider Mod Team, we made a little experiment with the source engine. Can we code a portal system like Prey, Portal or any game with portals and do it multiplayer?. Yes, we can do and source can do it.”
For those not in the know, Excite is the name of the mod (Portal: Please Don’t Sue Us probably wasn’t catchy enough). No release date yet, but it looks to be shaping up nicely.
Heck, funny things happen when the picture is larger than the post.
Posted in Multiplayer, Mods / Hacks, Previews | 1 comment
