Sonic hacks
From Sonic Retro
Revision as of 16:55, 20 November 2009 by PicklePower (talk | contribs)
Sonic hacks are Sonic games which are usually edited through the process of ROM Hacking. From the emergence of Cyan Helkaraxe's Sonic 1 Beta Hoax in 1999, the production of hacks has been a vital part of the Sonic research community. Starting with the early documents penned by Cyan and saxman, to the Nemesis guides and the Sonic Community Hacking Guide, researchers have taken their understanding of the Sonic games and turned them into original creations. While earlier hacks were simple, such as minor palette changes, a number of hacks today are very complex. Over time, as the scene learns more about the underlying code behind the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the extent of these modifications has expanded. Modifications now include:
- palette changes
- sprite changes
- major art (title screen, HUD, et al.) changes
- level art changes and original level layouts
- music and sound changes
- importation of levels from other games
- changes in movement engines or bosses
- original concepts and gameplay styles
Today, with the assistance of hex editors, disassemblies and specific Sonic Hacking Utilities, fans have been creating more extensive modifications.
Hacks in the Sonic community are usually distributed as full ROMs today. In the past, IPS patches were used, since an IPS patch was usually much smaller than the source ROM and therefore easier to distribute in a time when dial-up was widely used. 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. This format fell out of use when split disassemblies came into use to edit game data, and when dial-up was losing popularity. The massive shifts in the ROM that can result from reassembly made IPS patches very large, and they would often contain a good volume of code anyway, thus eliminating the alleged legal advantage. Though saxman's RXL Format was meant to eventually replace IPS, it quickly faded into obscurity along with IPS patches.
Notable hacks
In alphabetical order
Mega Drive/Genesis
- Eggman in Sonic 1 (a.k.a. Eggman the Dictator) by LOst
- Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog by Stealth
- Project Shadow 2 by JohnnyUK
- Robotnik's Revenge by ColinC10
- Sonic 1 Beta Remake by Mistergambit
- Sonic 1-Metal Sonic Hack by unknown
- Sonic 1 Remastered by Puto
- Sonic 2 Remastered by Puto
- Sonic 1 Return to the Origin
- Sonic 2: Advanced Edit by Rika Chou
- Sonic 2: Aluminum Edition by Dr. Eggfan
- Sonic 2 Delta by Esrael
- Sonic 2 Long Version by Sonic Hachelle-Bee
- Sonic 2 & Knuckles Long Version by Sonic Hachelle-Bee
- Sonic 2 SMTP by SMTP
- Sonic 3 Delta by Esrael
- Sonic Boom by SÆGA
- Sonic Gaiden by Yuski the Dog
- Sonic in Chaotix by JJFTails
- South Island Adventure by Hivebrain
- Sonic - The Lost Land by Shadow Fire
- Sonic the Hedgehog Extended Edition by Cinossu
- Sonic the Hedgehog Plus by Hivebrain
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (colourised ending hack) by Nemesis
- Tails in Sonic 1 by drx
- Tohaka by Ultima