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All the talk of BillyTime!Games‘ ROM hack of Ghostbusters on the Sega Genesis got us thinking of other horror-themed ROM hacks that you may not be aware of. Obviously, the topics of ROM hacking and video game emulation are reserved for a different website, but that shouldn’t stop us from touching on them for this specific purpose. After all, the creativity of fans is shown time and time again when it comes to modding on PC, so why not consoles?
Here are some reworkings of games by fans that either offer a whole new way of playing a game with a horror makeover, or just enhance the original game to add that something that was “missing” from the original release.
Just as a legal note, none of the links in this article lead to the actual ROM images. We are not hosting the ROM files. Google is your friend if you’re looking for more information on emulation, using these hacks, and so on.
EarthBound Halloween Hack – EarthBound (SNES)
Created by Toby Fox (of Undertale fame) back in 2008, this hack creates an entirely new story for the classic SNES RPG, EarthBound. Taking place in an alternate timeline several months after the end of EarthBound where Ness doesn’t return to Onett, you play as a bounty hunter named Varik (of Brandish fame). Varik is hired by ex-mayor B. H. Pirkle, now campaigning on a law & order platform, to track down a mysterious creature who mutilated and ate a little girl’s parents in Twoson. Along the way, Varik encounters increasingly horrible things.
Probably one of the more infamous ROM hacks, the EarthBound Halloween Hack plays much the same as in the original EarthBound, but with a decidedly darker tone in terms of the visuals, humour and story. For this hack, Fox created new enemies (including tentacle-faced dogs, reanimated Starmen corpses and zombies), new areas to explore, and new music. The song “MEGALOVANIA” eventually made its way into Undertale. The hack is also much more difficult than the original game, requiring you to grind quite a bit.
Castlevania: The Holy Relics – Castlevania (NES)
Taking place after the events of Castlevania, Lord Ghulash, a Necromancer and old acquaintance of Dracula, has retrieved six of seven relics of power from the ruins of Dracula’s castle. Using the power of the relics, Lord Ghulash has begun terrorizing the countryside, resurrecting the souls of vile creatures and wicked men. Simon Belmont, himself in possession of a seventh relic, must once again deliver his homeland from the forces of evil.
The Holy Relics hack revamps the original game, adding five new stages that you can visit in any order (a la Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge for the Game Boy), with new enemies, bosses, and reworked music. Alongside that are new subweapons and items, but the biggest gameplay change is the addition of the holy relics, with each one obtained by beating a boss. The relics each have their own unique abilities, including health restoration, temporary invincibility, and more. They also have their own set of charges, so you’ll have to be smart about using them.
Doom: PC Doom Total Conversion – Doom (Game Boy Advance)
As impressive as Doom on the GBA was (questionable music quality and cutbacks on some levels, notwithstanding), you knew that someone would try to tweak the game to bring it that much closer to the original PC experience. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what Kippykip‘s PC Doom Total Conversion hack does.
This patch completely converts the game from using the Jaguar Doom engine, and switches it over to a new homebrew port that’s based on doomhack’s PrBoom port for the Game Boy Advance. This literally gives the game much higher quality sounds, the full set of maps (no cut or scaled back levels here), a more consistent framerate, improved graphics and, thankfully, better music. Plus, all of the music now plays in the correct order. The only thing missing from this hack is the multiplayer, which was present in the original version.
Metroid: Spooky Mission – Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance)
Created for the Metconst 2017 Fall Contest (which it won), Spooky Mission sees Samus up against Imago. Imago is threatening the very existence of Halloween, and it’s up to Samus to stop it. Getting to Imago is no simple task, however. It has infiltrated a massive space pumpkin and sealed off all entrances. Legend says that every Halloween, three holy beings appear in the physical realm. Samus will need their help in order to gain access to the pumpkin and save Halloween.
Admittedly a little on the lighter side rather than cranking up the pure horror aspect, it’s easy to see that Spooky Mission was a labour of love (if the readme for the hack is anything to go by). Featuring revamped graphics (including some ripped from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow), new gameplay mechanics such as implementing a tractor beam like in Prime series and new music, there’s also a surprising amount of non-linearity with this one. The creators even managed to include a hidden ending, though achieving it is “near impossible” unless you know the criteria. And no, they’re not telling you what it is.
Pokémon Snakewood – Pokémon: Ruby Version (Game Boy Advance)
Set a few years after the events of Ruby, you are the younger sibling of Ruby‘s protagonist. You awaken in a destroyed Littleroot Town with no memory of what has happened. It soon becomes apparent that the Hoenn region has become infested by zombies. Working with Professor Birch, you set off to find your brother Landon and Birch’s daughter, May, both of whom had set out to find the source of the plague, and have since gone missing.
Ruby has been overhauled to include a darker plot (obviously), new music, new areas, zombified versions of normal Pokémon (two of which are capturable), and “an indeterminate number” of fake Pokémon (known as Fakemon), and more. Snakewood also features a new classification of Pokémon known as the Denjuu with their own stats and moves, but they can talk. It’s certainly a darker take on Pokémon Ruby, but it still retains a “kid-friendly” tone, overall.
Eternal Champions – Special Edition – Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis)
In case you ‘re wondering, BillyTime!Games has been at this hacking thing for a while. With Eternal Champions, this hack overhauls the entire game, most notably its notorious difficulty to be a little bit more forgiving. For starters, the game’s Inner Strength System (which is the meter used to perform special moves) has been rebalanced so that most moves now require the metre, with some moves costing more than before (including taunts). The game’s timer has also been adjusted to count down slightly slower.
In addition, the game’s end boss, the Eternal Champion, is now playable in VS mode, whereas before you had to rely on a Game Genie code to unlock him. The only limitations are that as the Eternal Champion, you cannot resurrect in this mode, and you’re limited to 1 out of 1 win conditions. The hack also reintroduces a Hard Mode Contest Difficulty. Doing so will crank up the difficulty for your current playthrough all the way to Difficulty 7.
Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition – Mortal Kombat (Sega Genesis)
As superior as the Sega Genesis port of Mortal Kombat was when compared to the Super Nintendo version, there was still room for improvement. Namely, the graphics and sound of the Genesis version fell short when compared to the SNES. That’s been remedied with Linkuei‘s hack, which not only adds sound samples directly from the arcade version, but also revamps the graphics. Those revamped graphics also includes new background animations for stages like the Courtyard, Shang Tsung’s Throne Room, as well as remade bio and ending screens.
Linkuei’s hack doesn’t stop there at the graphics and sound. The hack also add a new SRAM system to save the name list for the longest winning streaks (thanks to BillyTime!Games), as well as giving players the option to listen to the original Genesis soundtrack (which is still awesome), or the original arcade soundtrack. You also now have the option to play as Reptile in the game, complete with either Scorpion or Sub-Zero’s movesets. Finally, some of the timing for the moves has also been reworked, as well as removing delays. And yes, there’s still more to discover! There’s even an enhanced version that tweaks the graphics, sound and animation even more.
Sonic.Exe – Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
No set of Sega Genesis hacks would be complete without Sonic.Exe, also referred to as “Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack”. Created by Cinossu, this hack plays out like a normal game of Sonic The Hedgehog until you’re transported to an alternate dimension, complete with a different colour palette and “odd” music. In this dimension, some enemies can’t be hurt, and you can only escape back to the “normal” dimension by hitting an item box.
That might seem easy, but keep in mind that item boxes aren’t exactly in plentiful supply as you progress further. Not only that, in this alternate dimension, you’ll be chased by “creepypasta” Sonic, complete with the music that plays whenever you’re running out of air as he gets closer. To add even more “fun”, these dimension flips can also occur during boss fights. Luckily, an item box will spawn in these instances, but you’ll have to get to it while avoiding the boss.
Contra: Hard Corps Probotector – Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
Longtime fans of the series know about the whole Contra/Probotector thing. For those who don’t know, Probotector is the European version of Contra that removes all of the human enemies and replaces them with robots. But what if you could have the characters from Probotector in Contra: Hard Corps, along with some new tweaks? That’s exactly what you get with this hack by IT.GAMER.
Along with an original story, this ROM hack now allows you to select from eight characters, with the Probotector characters having 3 HP, and the Hard Corps characters having 1 HP. You can also select the same character if you’re playing with two players. The hack also tweaks enemy health, as well as tweaks certain weapons for Brawny and Fang to be a little more balanced. Best of all, if you have the means, this hack will work on the Genesis/Mega Drive.
Zombies Ate My Roguelike – Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Sega Genesis)
Ever wondered what Zombies Ate My Neighbors would be like as a roguelike? BillyTime!Games did, and as a result, their hack changes the LucasArts classic into something inspired by The Binding of Isaac. The hack now randomizes the game’s 48 levels across five tiers before ending at the level “Monsters Among Us”. Starting you at a random level in Tier 1, the hack then chooses a random level from the next Tier each time you complete a level. To add to the challenge, you have to do it all on a single life.
There’s even more to the hack than just changing the structure of the levels. Boss health has been adjusted, as has the Purple Ants’ health in “Say it Ant So!” to make them slightly easier to kill. Your Squirtgun also has increased damage, and key pickups have been doubled. And in the latest patch, BillyTime!Games introduced a Mania Mode. This mode now randomizes the levels after completing the first Tier, as well as making the entire game an endless loop which ends only if you die.