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  • Secret of Mana Climate Crisis Edition Released

    You can follow TOMM’s work on RHDN or Hackofmana.

    The Secret of Mana Climate Crisis mod has been released courtesy of TOMM.

    For the hack publication, click here.

    Writes TOMM:

    Three decades since its original release, chaos finds its way into the legendary SNES RPG Secret of Mana. This project was lovingly undertaken by a single fan of the game over the course of two years.

    This hack invites you to rediscover the world of Secret of Mana, now facing new climatic conditions.

    Visual changes: Potos under snow, Pandora frozen… and way more! Maps and monsters have been recolored to create colorful new landscapes.

    Maps modifications: Embark on a journey through familiar maps with carefully placed changes that might impede your progress. Additionally, seven areas have have seen their rooms moved around for more thrill.

    Palaces and Magic chaos: Palaces now harbor different mana elements, thus unlocking magic spells in a new order. Some spells have been modified and moved from one elemental to the other.

    Lore: While the main storyline remains unchanged, townsfolk may react to the shifting climate, adding a dose of humor and depth to the experience.

    For a Let’s Play of this mod, stay tuned.

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  • Tetris: Conventional-Controls Edition Released

    One Game, Three Ports to Nintendo’s Eight-Bit Consoles… and a Buncha Bogus Licenses

    For clymax’s projects, click here. You can also follow him on YouTube or Twitter.

    The story about the early Tetris ports on Nintendo involves a web of events that is every bit of a brain teaser as the renowned game itself and that is, perhaps, truly worthy of a Hollywood adaptation even to this day.

    The First Port

    • Atari bought a bogus license from the worldwide PC-rights holder, to release Tengen Tetris in the US. It was believed by the parties involved that the rights weren’t limited to just PC. The game suffers a delay in development.
    • Bullet-Proof Software (BPS) bought a bogus license from the PC-rights holder via its sister company, to release Famicom Tetris in Japan. The game is released as the first port on a Nintendo console.

    Race for Handheld Rights

    • Nintendo, working on the Game Boy, wanted to buy a license from the PC-rights holder, to release Tetris as a pack-in on the Game Boy.
    • BPS, as a publishing partner of Nintendo, asked the PC-rights holder about Nintendo buying the handheld rights. The PC-rights holder asks the original, rights-acquiring middleman about the same.
    • Nothing transpired, tipping these parties off that none of them have the handheld rights. They race to Moscow.

    Aftermath

    • Nintendo not only wins the race for the handheld rights but ends up with a windfall. Namely, it also bought the worldwide console rights, which had actually never been sold.
    • BPS got from Nintendo a good license for subsequent releases of Famicom Tetris.
    • Game-Boy Tetris was later released.
    • Tengen Tetris was finally released as the second port on a Nintendo console.
    • NES Tetris was then released as the third port on a Nintendo console.
    • Due to Nintendo’s windfall, Atari’s license was fully rendered bogus. Atari was subsequently ordered to pull a quarter million unsold copies of Tengen Tetris from store shelves for good.

    The Ports, Today

    • NES Tetris is the most widely played, on both a casual level and a competitive level.
    • Tengen Tetris is recognized for its multiplayer versus and coop game modes. The game also has a devoted following that considers this version to be the best port.
    • Famicom Tetris is largely relegated to an afterthought. Any mention is likely just calling out the admittedly awkward control scheme of the port.

    Enter this Romhack

    In sum, despite being the first Tetris game to land on Nintendo, Famicom Tetris is grossly unappreciated due to its unusual control scheme. This romhack updates the game to have the standard controls that players have come to expect from a classic Tetris game. Features include the following.

    • Hard drop (A button)—remapped to Up on the D-pad.
    • Rotate counterclockwise (Down on D-pad)—remapped to B button.
    • Soft drop—newly added; mapped to Down on D-pad.
    • Rotate clockwise—newly added; mapped to A button.
    • Bonus: exploit patched—holding down any button after a hard drop no longer stalls the game indefinitely.

    For a demonstration of these features, see the following video.

    Related Post

    Tetris: Conventional-Controls Edition Re-Released

    This post has been viewed 14 time(s).

  • Final Fantasy II Self-Rando Sprint [draft]

    Brought to you by FF Rando and FFV Central

    Featuring: FFII: Upwind (FC) (latest dev build)

    Note: all details are subject to being finalized and may change.

    Co-organized by FFR and FFVC and hosted by FFR on Twitch

    Mod description: open-world self-randomizer with random item-chests, 10x boosts, and no random encounters unless you hold B.

    Potential game prizes for top placers to be arranged by FFVC depending on the number of entrants.

    Live race; no offline component. Races must be streamed. Hand and face cams not required.

    Glitches are allowed. A credits warp is not allowed; the final boss must be defeated.

    Leaderboards to be hosted on Racetime.gg and SRC.

    Race day TBD. Seed to be revealed at race start.

    Top 2 race finishers will enter a best-of-3 finals to be held on the same day.

    Top race finisher will carry a 1-0 scoring advantage into the finals. Each game will have a different seed than what was used before.

    This post has been viewed 55 time(s).