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311:) is editing data such as character, item, and enemy properties. This is usually done either "by hand" (with a hex editor) if the location and structure of the data is known, or with a game-specific editor that has this functionality. Through this, a hacker can alter how weapons work, how strong enemies are or how they act, etc. This can be done to make the game easier or harder or to create new scenarios for the player to face.
431:-based versions. This sound engine was predominantly used in a wide variety of Japanese-developed games for the system (including first-party games) with some games providing modified versions of the sound engine tailored for that specific game. It has been researched for decades by many hackers. Today, there are many tools available that can alter the music of games that used the SMPS engine (most notably the
116:. It was preceded by its immediate predecessor, ROMhacking.com, a similar ROM hacking-oriented site that launched in 2000 and went offline in late 2004. On August 1, 2024, the site's staff announced that ROMhacking.net will transition over into being a read-only news site after nearly 20 years of hosting due to various reasons beyond the site's control, with its former database and files being archived on the
224:
More sophisticated graphics hacking involves changing more than just tiles and colors, but also on how the tiles are arranged, or tile groups generated, giving more flexibility and control over the final appearance. This is accomplished through hex editing or a specialized tool (either for a specific
45:
to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, and/or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to improve an old game of importance, as a creative outlet, or to make new, unofficial games using the old game's engine. ROM hacks either re-design a game for
463:
used by the game. For example, if a mapper allows 16 ROM banks and all of them are used, expanding the ROM further is impossible without somehow converting the game to another mapper, which could be easy or extremely difficult. On the other hand, expanding an SNES game (and even a Mega Drive/Genesis
87:(known as "translation hacking" within the ROM hacking community) is a type of ROM hacking; there are also anti-censorship hacks that exist to restore a game to its original state, which is often seen with older games that were imported, as publishers' content policies for video games (most notably,
513:
in the ROM, hence distributing it does not usually distribute parts of the original game. A patch is also normally drastically smaller than the full ROM image (an NES ROM can run anywhere from 8 KB to 2 MB; a Super NES ROM can run from 256 KB to 6 MB; and Mega Drive/Genesis ROMs
492:
between two binary files (in this case, between the unmodified and hacked ROMs) and is suitable for rom hacks. IPS is still used today for small patches—however, as ROMs became larger, this format became useless, leading to quite a few file formats being created—such as NINJA and PPF (also known as
370:
Music hacks are relatively rare in most hacks, due to the wide variety of ways games store music data (hence the difficulty in locating and modifying this data) as well as the difficulties in composing new music (or porting music from another game). As music cracking is very uncommon, many hacks do
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Patched ROMs are often played on emulators, however, it is possible to play patched ROMs on the original hardware. The destination cartridge could be the original cartridge from which the initial unpatched ROM was pulled (which usually involves replacing the original ROM chip with a new one), or
505:
games. A new patch format, UPS, has also been developed by the ROM hacking community, designed to be the successor to IPS and PPF. A more recent patching format, the APS patching system, has also been developed by a devoted Game Boy
Advance ROM hacker. The APS system is more space efficient, is
514:
can run from 512 KB to 4 MB). Patches are not illegal to be distributed, as they usually contained user-made code changes to the game and not the original game’s copyrighted code, thereby eliminating any copyright issues that may occur with distributing unofficial patches for games.
152:
form, and because of this, some specialized hex editors have been developed, which can be told what byte values correspond to what letter(s) of the alphabet, to facilitate text editing; a file that defines these byte=letter relationships is called a "table" file. Other games use simple text
177:
Another basic hacking skill is graphics hacking, which is changing the appearance of the game's environments, characters, fonts, or other such things. The format of graphics data varies from console to console, but most of the early ones (NES, Super NES, Game Boy, etc.) store graphics in
459:, whereby the total size of the ROM image is increased, making room for more content and, in turn, a larger game. The difficulty in doing this varies depending on the system for which the game was made. For example, expanding an NES ROM may be difficult or even impossible due to the
91:'s) were much stricter in the United States than Japan or Europe; as well as randomizers for certain games which shuffle entity placements. Although much of the method applies to both types of hacking, this article focuses on "creative hacking" such as editing game levels.
592:
to a lesser extent. However, games intended for more recent consoles are not exempt from hacking, and as computers have become faster over time and more programs and utilities have been written, more PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and
Nintendo DS hacks have emerged.
164:
A hex editor is the tool of choice for editing things such as character/item properties if the structure and location of this data are known and there is no game-specific editor for the game that can edit this information. Some intrepid hackers also perform
107:
One of the most popular sites devoted to the ROM hacking of games was ROMhacking.net, which first went online in late 2005. It hosted a repository of hacks, translations, utilities, documents, and patches for many well-known and obscure video games from the
103:
channel. There are also many guides created by several hacking groups that aims to help others get into grips with ROM hacking for the first time, one of which was the legendary "Rom
Hacking Bible" for the NES written in the mid-to-late 1990s.
531:, besides allowing players to play emulated versions of these older games, takes advantage of Steam's support for user-created content through the Steam Workshop, officially allowing the distribution of ROM hacks of any of the offered games.
944:
299:). Level edits can be done to make the game more challenging, to alter the flow of the game's plot, or just to give something new to an old game. Combined with extensive graphics hacking, the game can take on a very different look and feel.
398:
As many Game Boy
Advance games use the M4A Engine (also called "Sappy Driver") for music, the program SapTapper can be used to hack Game Boy Advance music data. Various other utilities were created to work with the engine such as
970:
292:
One of the most popular forms of ROM hacking, level editing entails modifying or redesigning a game's levels or maps. This is almost exclusively done with an editor specially tailored for a particular game (called a
327:", referring to the low-level programming language that gets executed by the CPU). There is no set pattern for ASM hacking, as the code varies widely from game to game, but most skilled ASM hackers either use an
140:
is one of the most fundamental tools in any ROM hacker's repertoire. Hex editors are usually used for editing text, and for editing other data for which the structure is known (for example, item properties), and
484:
Once a hack is completed (or an incomplete version is deemed suitable for an interim release) it is released onto the
Internet for others to play. The generally accepted way to do this is by making an
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46:
an all-new, fun gameplay while keeping most if not all of the items the same, as well as unlocking and/or reimplementing features that existed in the game's code but are not utilized in-game.
186:
units of data, which are arranged on-screen to produce the desired result. Editing these tiles is also possible with a hex editor, but is generally accomplished with a tile editor (such as
99:
Most hacking groups offer web space for hosting hacks and screenshots (sometimes only hosting hacks by the group's members and hosting almost any hack), a message board, and often have an
548:, prototypes, games for which ROM cartridges were never produced, or for games that require exact timing or other elements of the original hardware that are not available in emulators.
488:(in IPS format or others) that can be applied to the unmodified ROM. This, and usually some form of documentation, is put in an archive file and uploaded somewhere. IPS is a format for
400:
406:
Another instance of the same engine being used between games is on the
Nintendo 64 where most games use the same format; albeit with different sound banks. A utility known as the
377:
hacks where new music can have new instruments not found in the original game. Other games that have music hacking as part of their research and hacking communities are the NES
335:, then analyze the code and modify it using a hex editor or assembler according to their needs. While quite challenging compared to the relatively simple methods listed above,
410:
was created to edit the sequences that the majority of
Nintendo 64 games use, however it does not cover first-party N64 titles that used a slightly different engine such as
945:"Founder takes down the Nexus Mods of romhacking after 20 years because 'lines were crossed' by 'a most dishonest and hate filled group,' but others tell a different story"
120:. New submissions on the site were also permanently closed on the same day of the announcement, and all downloads will remain available on the site until further notice.
350:, the hacker may be able to compile their code for the game in the same language if they have access to a proper compiler. One such example would be using C to hack
1472:
971:"20-year-old romhack site that was a treasure trove of Pokemon fan games and JRPG translations winds down after achieving "almost everything it set out to do""
244:
which added, among others, full-color support (the original game only supported greyscale) and fixes with screen flickering issues from the original game.
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with a hex editor, but this is extremely difficult (except on games whose level storage format closely resembles how it is presented in a hex editor).
272:-based color palette); palette hacking in this case entails changing which of those colors are selected. The matter is slightly more complicated with
113:
1335:
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or DTE, in which certain combinations of two or more letters are encoded as one byte) which a suitably equipped hex editor can facilitate editing.
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The purpose of distributing a hack in patch form is to avoid the legal aspects of distributing entire ROM images; the patch records only what has
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game for that matter) is (relatively) straightforward. To utilize the added space, parts of the game code have to be modified or rewritten (see
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editors, and game-specific tools which are generally used for editing levels, items, and the like, although more advanced tools such as
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is possible with ASM hacking, within the limits of the hardware and the software of the gaming platform, ranging from altering enemy
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2114:
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751:
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for use in
Generation I-V Pokémon games), to full-blown thematic changes (usually with accompanying palette changes; see below).
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ROMs. The ROMs themselves are generally small, but the memory space available sometimes exceeds it by multiples of up to 17.
84:
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The most powerful, and arguably the most difficult, hacking technique is editing the game's actual code, a process called
265:
217:) to "porting" characters from one game to another (such as creating pixelated "retro-styled" sprites of later generation
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color values. Palette editors are usually simple and often are with level editors or game-specific graphics editors.
256:, where color values are modified to change the colors a player sees in the game (this often goes hand-in-hand with
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games to an extent), since such games are small and simple compared to games of more advanced consoles such as the
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749:, which featured increased game speed and new special moves. The success of this game prompted Capcom to release
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another compatible cartridge of the same type, such as flash cartridges. This is particularly popular for
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Of these, popular games to play are popular games to hack; many hacks have been released of games of the
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Having been created by many different programmers or programming teams, ROM data can be very diverse.
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1022:"Site: ROMhacking.net Moves to News Only, Database and File Archive Released to Internet Archive"
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games, the graphics of which use a pre-defined set of colors among which a game selects (using a
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Editing text is one of the most basic forms of hacking. Many games do not store their text in
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Patch Format"). PPF is still used today, particularly to patch large files such as ISO
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magazine published a monthly column called "Program
Pitstop". This focused mainly on
759:
736:
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521:-based virtual hub for its previous collection of Mega Drive/Genesis games, entitled
198:), which can graphically display the ROM data, as well as finding and editing tiles.
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not have any ported/composed music added in. Exceptions can be found in most recent
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games used a sound engine commonly known as "SMPS", which has been offered in both
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which attempts to add a whole new generation of Pokémon and tiles to the game, and
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hacks for games, but also featured both a level map printer for the original
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From Rule-Breaking to ROM-Hacking: Theorizing the
Computer Game-as-Commodity
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games in particular); many of them had eventually made their way into the
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1336:"Modders are already having fun with Sega Mega Drive classics on Steam"
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equipped with a built-in debugger or tracer, or run the ROM through a
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1984:
1949:
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997:"The best ROM hack website is shutting down after nearly 20 years"
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1237:"Steam Workshop :: SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics"
281:
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1182:
1047:"Pokemon Rom Hacks List: GBC, GBC & NDS - PokemonCoders"
201:
Graphics hacks can range from simple edits (such as giving
517:
In a novel example of legal distribution, Sega released a
41:
to alter the contents contained within them, usually of a
895:"NES - Rom Hacking Bible - NES - By SeRiAlKLR - GameFAQs"
276:
games as well as games for other systems (which included
468:
above) so the game knows where to look. Another type of
588:
are also popular for hacking, as well as games for the
1437:. Situated Play, Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference.
455:
existing content. This limit can be overcome through
773:, as well as a full level editor for the same game.
69:
are occasionally used. Once ready, they are usually
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2012:
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1299:"The PokéCommunity Forums - View Profile: HackMew"
228:Examples of graphics hacks include the incomplete
447:Generally speaking, a ROM hacker cannot normally
1317:"Newest patching format, APS, recently released"
506:reversible, and is faster than its predecessor.
307:A core component of many hacks (especially of
1466:
1091:"A Christmas gift from Game Boy ROM hackers:
8:
1422:Let me play: stories of gaming and emulation
1120:"vg64tools - Project Hosting on Google Code"
969:published, Catherine Lewis (2 August 2024).
919:"The Legacy - ROMhacking.com/ROMhacking.org"
847:
845:
843:
53:is generally accomplished through use of a
2082:
2068:
1854:
1558:
1473:
1459:
1451:
1140:"Super Mario 64: Pong Of Death (messiaen)"
260:); Palette values are commonly stored in
1281:"New patching format, UPS, debuts today"
1169:GDRI (Game Developer Research Institute)
871:"The BIG List of Video Game Randomizers"
343:to changing how graphics are generated.
839:
556:The majority of ROM hacking is done on
1165:"Mega Drive/Genesis Sound Driver List"
362:can compile code for the Nintendo 64.
1395:"World of Spectrum - Forced Redirect"
1377:"World of Spectrum - Forced Redirect"
465:
257:
238:Super Mario Land 2 DX: 6 Golden Coins
142:
7:
1334:Yin-Poole, Wesley (April 29, 2016).
1089:Machkovech, Sam (25 December 2017).
995:McWhertor, Michael (2 August 2024).
1205:Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board
746:Street Fighter II: Rainbow Edition
641:Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
252:Another common form of hacking is
166:
25:
853:"Dictionary of ROM hacking terms"
752:Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
743:A notable hacked arcade game was
70:
27:Editing technique for video games
1542:
153:compression techniques (such as
37:) is the process of modifying a
943:Joshua Wolens (2 August 2024).
389:, and the Mega Drive (Genesis)
798:Forking (software development)
793:Fan translation of video games
451:content to a game, but merely
1:
2180:Preboot Execution Environment
1785:Run-Time Abstraction Services
1201:"Valley Bell's SMPS Research"
280:games), which store absolute
240:, an enhanced version of the
1639:MultiProcessor Specification
524:Sega Mega Drive Classics Hub
225:game or a specific system).
2210:Remote Initial Program Load
1807:Common Firmware Environment
1072:"Pokemon FireRed ROM Hacks"
2373:
1799:Hybrid firmware bootloader
1540:
264:. This is fairly easy for
1848:Comparison of bootloaders
1219:"Sonic Hacking Utilities"
875:Guillaume Fortin-Debigaré
755:as an official response.
490:recording the differences
346:If the developers used a
77:for others to play on an
1363:"Basic NES Reproduction"
309:role-playing video games
35:Read-only memory hacking
1736:Phoenix SecureCore UEFI
1444:Playing with videogames
1399:www.worldofspectrum.org
1381:www.worldofspectrum.org
566:Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
472:that is fairly easy is
421:Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
278:Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
813:Homebrew (video games)
1428:Jordan, Will (2007).
1321:www.pokecommunity.com
1303:www.pokecommunity.com
899:gamefaqs.gamespot.com
662:series (most notably
39:ROM image or ROM file
2055:EFI system partition
2021:GUID Partition Table
1971:Windows Boot Manager
1841:Bootloader unlocking
1653:Legacy Plug and Play
1577:Open-source firmware
1570:Proprietary firmware
1287:. 27 September 2023.
81:or a games console.
2062:BIOS boot partition
2035:Apple Partition Map
1866:Acronis OS Selector
1706:American Megatrends
1261:. 20 September 2020
1255:"Pokemon Rom Hacks"
740:, and many others.
713:The Legend of Zelda
629:Super Mario Bros. 3
623:Super Mario Bros. 2
2352:Video game modding
2323:Power-on self-test
2028:Master boot record
1285:www.romhacking.net
1241:steamcommunity.com
1093:Super Mario Land 2
818:Video game modding
608:series (including
599:Sonic the Hedgehog
501:images as well as
433:Sonic the Hedgehog
392:Sonic the Hedgehog
159:dual tile encoding
155:byte pair encoding
114:seventh generation
2339:
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2013:Partition layouts
2008:
2007:
1992:Plop Boot Manager
1794:
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1420:Castro, Radford,
1076:PokemonCoders.com
828:Twin Eagles Group
783:Emergent gameplay
653:Super Mario World
617:Super Mario Bros.
564:games (including
552:Systems and games
374:Super Mario World
16:(Redirected from
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1142:. Archived from
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1078:. 11 March 2019.
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695:Chip's Challenge
665:Super Mario Kart
635:Super Mario Land
586:Game Boy Advance
576:. Games for the
542:fan translations
486:unofficial patch
474:Game Boy Advance
466:Assembly hacking
386:Final Fantasy VI
315:Assembly hacking
258:graphics hacking
182:, which are 8x8-
173:Graphics editing
143:Assembly hacking
118:Internet Archive
110:third generation
21:
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254:palette hacking
250:
248:Palette editing
234:Pokémon FireRed
230:Pokémon Torzach
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85:Fan translation
28:
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1026:ROMhacking.net
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857:ROMhacking.net
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671:Mario Kart Wii
647:Super Mario 64
582:Game Boy Color
553:
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546:homebrew games
536:
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437:Steam Workshop
413:Super Mario 64
367:
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348:typed language
323:("ASM" means "
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1051:PokemonCoders
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737:Super Metroid
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443:ROM expansion
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408:N64 Midi Tool
404:
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366:Music hacking
365:
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354:games, since
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288:Level editing
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242:original game
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195:Tile Molester
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167:level editing
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19:
2280:
2227:ROM variants
2171:Network boot
2149:Raspberry Pi
1915:systemd-boot
1443:
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1421:
1414:Gaming hacks
1413:
1398:
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1357:
1345:. Retrieved
1339:
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1263:. Retrieved
1258:
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1168:
1159:
1148:. Retrieved
1144:the original
1134:
1123:. Retrieved
1114:
1102:. Retrieved
1099:Ars Technica
1098:
1092:
1084:
1075:
1066:
1055:. Retrieved
1053:. 2019-04-13
1050:
1041:
1029:. Retrieved
1025:
1016:
1004:. Retrieved
1000:
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978:. Retrieved
974:
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952:. Retrieved
948:
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926:. Retrieved
922:
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902:. Retrieved
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345:
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333:disassembler
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303:Data editing
296:level editor
294:
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232:, a hack of
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147:
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127:
106:
98:
83:
48:
34:
30:
29:
2281:ROM hacking
2217:Wake-on-LAN
1880:BootManager
1832:Bootloaders
1223:Sonic Retro
1104:18 February
725:Fire Emblem
701:Castlevania
611:Mario Bros.
590:PlayStation
574:Nintendo DS
570:Nintendo 64
503:Nintendo 64
495:PlayStation
352:Nintendo 64
321:ASM hacking
132:Hex editing
95:Communities
71:distributed
33:(short for
31:ROM hacking
2346:Categories
2316:Instant-on
2302:Devicetree
2142:Bus Pirate
2046:Partitions
1814:Das U-Boot
1699:Award BIOS
1616:Video BIOS
1594:Interfaces
1187:Sega Retro
1150:2009-09-09
1125:2009-09-09
1057:2023-03-08
975:gamesradar
904:2024-08-05
880:2020-07-10
834:References
803:Game Genie
731:EarthBound
659:Mario Kart
401:Sappy 2006
189:Tile Layer
138:hex editor
112:up to the
63:assemblers
55:hex editor
43:video game
2288:ROM image
2079:Utilities
1936:OpeniBoot
1778:Kickstart
1771:LinuxBoot
1764:Libreboot
1729:InsydeH2O
1720:AMI Aptio
1660:AlphaBIOS
1493:Processes
1341:Eurogamer
1095:in color"
1031:27 August
928:27 August
823:Undubbing
808:GameShark
274:Super NES
215:golf club
67:debuggers
2330:EDL mode
2309:Fastboot
2274:Boot ROM
2134:Hardware
2122:Heimdall
2108:UEFITool
2094:flashrom
2086:Software
1964:SYSLINUX
1901:GNU GRUB
1757:Coreboot
1750:OpenBIOS
1554:firmware
1552:Booting
1482:Firmware
1265:31 March
1006:2 August
980:2 August
954:2 August
949:PC Gamer
777:See also
770:Gauntlet
728:series,
722:series,
719:Mega Man
692:series,
602:series,
578:Game Boy
419:Several
380:Mega Man
337:anything
329:emulator
325:assembly
89:Nintendo
79:emulator
75:Internet
18:ROM hack
2266:Related
2203:NetBoot
1943:RedBoot
1922:loadlin
1873:Barebox
1713:AMIBIOS
1692:SeaBIOS
1531:Android
1501:Windows
1486:booting
1001:Polygon
788:Fangame
689:Pokémon
511:changed
395:games.
383:games,
219:Pokémon
124:Methods
73:on the
51:hacking
2256:EEPROM
2156:ft2232
2069:/boot/
1985:Yaboot
1950:rEFInd
1347:May 3,
1183:"SMPS"
680:, and
527:. The
499:CD-ROM
461:mapper
453:change
2249:EPROM
2101:fwupd
1957:rEFIt
1929:NTLDR
1908:iBoot
1562:Types
1524:Linux
1435:(PDF)
765:cheat
605:Mario
535:Usage
519:Steam
211:Luigi
203:Mario
184:pixel
180:tiles
150:ASCII
2242:PROM
2194:iPXE
2187:gPXE
2115:Odin
1999:MILO
1978:xOSL
1821:ARCS
1632:ACPI
1609:BIOS
1602:UEFI
1484:and
1349:2016
1267:2021
1106:2023
1033:2024
1008:2024
982:2024
956:2024
930:2024
650:and
584:and
562:SNES
560:and
427:and
356:MIPS
207:afro
65:and
59:tile
49:ROM
2235:ROM
1674:SFI
1667:SRM
1646:APM
686:),
656:),
572:or
558:NES
529:Hub
449:add
429:Z80
425:68k
360:GCC
282:RGB
270:YIQ
266:NES
262:Hex
209:or
205:an
192:or
101:IRC
2348::
1515:NT
1508:9x
1397:.
1379:.
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1319:.
1301:.
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1185:.
1167:.
1097:.
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897:.
873:.
855:.
842:^
734:,
716:,
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644:,
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632:,
626:,
620:,
614:,
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544:,
439:.
416:.
403:.
341:AI
213:a
145:.
136:A
1474:e
1467:t
1460:v
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1128:.
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1010:.
984:.
958:.
932:.
907:.
883:.
859:.
493:"
358:-
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.