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Difference between revisions of "Sonic hacks"

From Sonic Retro

(rv: do you play the vidya?)
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*''[[Tohaka]]'' by [[Ultima]]
 
*''[[Tohaka]]'' by [[Ultima]]
  
===Really Good Hacks===
 
*''[[Sonic TSH]]'' BY [[Guitardo]]
 
 
[[Category:Hacks]]
 
[[Category:Hacks]]
 
[[Category:Hacking Information]]
 
[[Category:Hacking Information]]

Revision as of 23:05, 22 January 2008

Hacks are edited Sonic games. The hacking scene started around 1997, led by Saxman. While the first hacks were very basic, such as minor palette changes, the hacks of today are very complex, usually featuring some combination of the following:

  • Palette changes
  • Sprite changes
  • Major art (title screen, HUD, et al.) changes
  • Level art changes and original level layouts
  • Music and/or sound changes
  • Importation of levels from other games
  • Changes in movement engines or bosses
  • Original ideas and concepts introduced, such as the ring counter in Sonic 2 Delta

Most hacks are distributed as full ROMs today. In the past, IPS patches were used, because an IPS patch was usually much smaller than the source ROM. It was also believed that since an IPS patch did not contain any copyrighted code, it was not illegal to distribute one. Many old hacks can still be found as IPS patches, but the format fell out of use when people started using split disassemblies to edit the game data. The massive shifts in the ROM that can result from reassembly made IPS patches very large, and they would often contain code anyway, thus eliminating the legal advantage. Though the RXL Format, developed by Saxman, was meant to eventually replace IPS, it quickly faded into obscurity (and probably would have suffered from the same problems anyway).

Notable hacks

In alphabetical order

Megadrive/Genesis