You may remember me as one of the people who worked on translating VIP 4 recently, and long story short since then I've been working with Super Maks 64 and Ryrir on fixing and translating some more older hacks, which we'd like to present here.
Spoiler tags applied so that this post isn't absolutely huge to scroll through.
日本人の方はこっち:
やあ （´・ω・｀)
いや、釣りスレじゃありませんし、テキーラもサービスできませんけど。
日本人の方もいらっしゃるかもしれないと思いますから、日本語でちょっとした説明をします。
まあ短く言えば、ここではSMW改造の歴史を記念するため、その名作をすべてのエミュレーター、そして本物のSFCでプレーしてもクラッシュしないように古いAddMusicツールなどによるバグを直し、その上に英語に翻訳します。(あまり知られてない作品も含まれている可能性あり。)
この作品はもちろん、すべてもともと私たちの作った作品じゃなくて、それぞれの作者のものです。もし投稿した作品の中にあなたの作ったものが含まれていれば、勝手に修正してごめんなさい。あまりにも面白くてすごい作品で、なんだか人がもっとプレーするようにしたい気持ちでいてたまらないです。いや本当ですよ。
英語に翻訳すると言っても、日本語の作品なら日本語版も梱包していますから、ぜひダウンロードしてくださいね。
いや、釣りスレじゃありませんし、テキーラもサービスできませんけど。
日本人の方もいらっしゃるかもしれないと思いますから、日本語でちょっとした説明をします。
まあ短く言えば、ここではSMW改造の歴史を記念するため、その名作をすべてのエミュレーター、そして本物のSFCでプレーしてもクラッシュしないように古いAddMusicツールなどによるバグを直し、その上に英語に翻訳します。(あまり知られてない作品も含まれている可能性あり。)
この作品はもちろん、すべてもともと私たちの作った作品じゃなくて、それぞれの作者のものです。もし投稿した作品の中にあなたの作ったものが含まれていれば、勝手に修正してごめんなさい。あまりにも面白くてすごい作品で、なんだか人がもっとプレーするようにしたい気持ちでいてたまらないです。いや本当ですよ。
英語に翻訳すると言っても、日本語の作品なら日本語版も梱包していますから、ぜひダウンロードしてくださいね。
Japanese SMW romhacks have been part of the scene since the very beginning of SMW hacking itself, back in the early 2000s.
While impressive and groundbreaking hacks such as the early installments of the "VIP" series, the "Kaizo" hacks or the infamous "Brutal Mario" have been played and greatly enjoyed,
there are a couple of factors that we feel are causing them to be somewhat disregarded in recent times.
First of all is of course the language barrier itself. There have been occasional translations made for hacks, usually in the form of text documents, though occasionally integrated into the hack itself. Keeping a text file on hand while playing is a bit cumbersome, and I can imagine that they fall off many people's radar for that reason. Of course the gameplay can sometimes be sussed out even without being able to read what's onscreen, but there's plenty of occasions where hints that are presented plain-as-day might be missed.
Another factor that's probably very relevant now, and which is by no means limited to Japanese hacks, is that the majority of hacks made in the period of about 2008 to 2013 made use of tools for inserting custom content that were developed based on the inaccurate emulation of older emulators. There's a range of things that cause these hacks to break when played on anything more modern, the most common one being AddMusic tools made back in the day causing the sound to cut-out and the hack to lock up as a result of uploading music into a region reserved for echo data. These tools were fair for the time when ZSNES and SNESGT were the standard for playing SNES ROMs, but the fact that most people who have moved on to emulators with better functions and fidelity are unwilling to use these emulators now adds another barrier to playing these older hacks. Not to put ZSNES down, but I can't say I blame them.
Still, this is very regrettable, as we believe that there are some brilliant examples of SMW hacking history that are getting overlooked these days due to these two factors.
While impressive and groundbreaking hacks such as the early installments of the "VIP" series, the "Kaizo" hacks or the infamous "Brutal Mario" have been played and greatly enjoyed,
there are a couple of factors that we feel are causing them to be somewhat disregarded in recent times.
First of all is of course the language barrier itself. There have been occasional translations made for hacks, usually in the form of text documents, though occasionally integrated into the hack itself. Keeping a text file on hand while playing is a bit cumbersome, and I can imagine that they fall off many people's radar for that reason. Of course the gameplay can sometimes be sussed out even without being able to read what's onscreen, but there's plenty of occasions where hints that are presented plain-as-day might be missed.
Another factor that's probably very relevant now, and which is by no means limited to Japanese hacks, is that the majority of hacks made in the period of about 2008 to 2013 made use of tools for inserting custom content that were developed based on the inaccurate emulation of older emulators. There's a range of things that cause these hacks to break when played on anything more modern, the most common one being AddMusic tools made back in the day causing the sound to cut-out and the hack to lock up as a result of uploading music into a region reserved for echo data. These tools were fair for the time when ZSNES and SNESGT were the standard for playing SNES ROMs, but the fact that most people who have moved on to emulators with better functions and fidelity are unwilling to use these emulators now adds another barrier to playing these older hacks. Not to put ZSNES down, but I can't say I blame them.
Still, this is very regrettable, as we believe that there are some brilliant examples of SMW hacking history that are getting overlooked these days due to these two factors.
We would like to bring more attention to some of the titles from the past, from both the English-speaking community as well as the Japanese-speaking one.
Basically, we're taking some of these older hacks and doing two things to them:
Firstly, we're fixing each hack so that they'll work on most modern emulators and even the original SNES console.
To this end we have prioritized the preservation of the way the original hack works internally. One way that hacks with broken music have been getting fixed recently is by gathering the original assets from various places on the net, and reuploading them into the hack with modern tools. However, finding the assets is not always easy or even possible, and it introduces some chance for inaccuracy, so Super Maks 64 came up with another method a couple of months ago, based on editing the data that was already in the ROM to work in such a way as to not crash the system. This method was first applied to VIP 4 for the sake of raocow's recent LP of it. Both during and after the work on VIP 4's fix and translation, we've also been doing a bunch of research into other aspects that cause emulation-based problems, and developed some methods for patching these up at a very low ASM level to make these hacks work properly even on a modern emulator. On top of that, I've been writing up some software to automate the grunt work of Maks' method. The result is that we can now start offering fixed hacks that should on modern emulators function 'almost' identically to their unfixed counterparts running on ZSNES (minus ZSNES' sub-par audio quality), and in some areas the music might incidentally even be a bit less glitchy than it used to be. I say 'almost' because of some minor caveats that will be fully explained in the readme of any hack where they're relevant.
Secondly, we have translated any Japanese hack shown here into English, (mostly) seamlessly integrated into the hack itself.
The more memey games like the VIPs also contain optional notes explaining some of the cultural references within.
You won't have to wonder anymore whether the solution to some of those completely obtuse puzzles are outright told to you by the game itself!
(Disclaimer: we're not responsible for any games that just flat-out refuse to give hints regardless.)
Basically, we're taking some of these older hacks and doing two things to them:
Firstly, we're fixing each hack so that they'll work on most modern emulators and even the original SNES console.
To this end we have prioritized the preservation of the way the original hack works internally. One way that hacks with broken music have been getting fixed recently is by gathering the original assets from various places on the net, and reuploading them into the hack with modern tools. However, finding the assets is not always easy or even possible, and it introduces some chance for inaccuracy, so Super Maks 64 came up with another method a couple of months ago, based on editing the data that was already in the ROM to work in such a way as to not crash the system. This method was first applied to VIP 4 for the sake of raocow's recent LP of it. Both during and after the work on VIP 4's fix and translation, we've also been doing a bunch of research into other aspects that cause emulation-based problems, and developed some methods for patching these up at a very low ASM level to make these hacks work properly even on a modern emulator. On top of that, I've been writing up some software to automate the grunt work of Maks' method. The result is that we can now start offering fixed hacks that should on modern emulators function 'almost' identically to their unfixed counterparts running on ZSNES (minus ZSNES' sub-par audio quality), and in some areas the music might incidentally even be a bit less glitchy than it used to be. I say 'almost' because of some minor caveats that will be fully explained in the readme of any hack where they're relevant.
Secondly, we have translated any Japanese hack shown here into English, (mostly) seamlessly integrated into the hack itself.
The more memey games like the VIPs also contain optional notes explaining some of the cultural references within.
You won't have to wonder anymore whether the solution to some of those completely obtuse puzzles are outright told to you by the game itself!
(Disclaimer: we're not responsible for any games that just flat-out refuse to give hints regardless.)
The way this'll go down is that each ZIP file will contain BPS patches for fixed versions of both the original hack, and a translated English version if that original hack was in Japanese.
On top of that, most of the downloads below will also contain a couple of ASM patches you might be interested in applying to your rom.
Some of these are extras such as lag-reducing FastROM or the aforementioned translation notes, others have to do with some more ambiguous compatibility fixes which we would prefer to leave to the player's discretion.
In the interest of preserving the authenticity we've made all of these optional, but don't worry: we've set it up so applying the patches is a very simple and short process that requires no knowledge of ASM coding, and it shouldn't get messed up if you just follow a couple of basic instructions.
You will find more information about these patches as well as a step-by-step explanation on how to apply them to your game in the specific readme file of the hack.
And of course, even if you don't bother with the ASM patches the ROMs will still work fine.
Note however that despite the inclusion of these patches we are NOT primarily concerned with making any hack's game design 'better' or otherwise fixing bugs that would've been present when playing the original hack on ZSNES.
We simply thought a lot of people might enjoy or appreciate some of the extras that they provide, because I certainly did at least.
The contents of the ASM patches are basically up to our whims, so we're not really open to suggestions. If you want to write your own and share them, we're not stopping you of course!
Oh, and in case you didn't know, BPS patches can be applied using a program called FLIPS, found here:
https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a ... s&id=11474
All BPS patches will need to be applied to a headered ROM of the USA version of Super Mario World.
I'm sure you know the deal: we can't and won't provide you with the SMW ROM itself, nor with any places to download it and all that jazz.
We would like to thank all original authors of the various ASM patches we applied and included in our works. Specific credits are included in the ZIPs.
On top of that, most of the downloads below will also contain a couple of ASM patches you might be interested in applying to your rom.
Some of these are extras such as lag-reducing FastROM or the aforementioned translation notes, others have to do with some more ambiguous compatibility fixes which we would prefer to leave to the player's discretion.
In the interest of preserving the authenticity we've made all of these optional, but don't worry: we've set it up so applying the patches is a very simple and short process that requires no knowledge of ASM coding, and it shouldn't get messed up if you just follow a couple of basic instructions.
You will find more information about these patches as well as a step-by-step explanation on how to apply them to your game in the specific readme file of the hack.
And of course, even if you don't bother with the ASM patches the ROMs will still work fine.
Note however that despite the inclusion of these patches we are NOT primarily concerned with making any hack's game design 'better' or otherwise fixing bugs that would've been present when playing the original hack on ZSNES.
We simply thought a lot of people might enjoy or appreciate some of the extras that they provide, because I certainly did at least.
The contents of the ASM patches are basically up to our whims, so we're not really open to suggestions. If you want to write your own and share them, we're not stopping you of course!
Oh, and in case you didn't know, BPS patches can be applied using a program called FLIPS, found here:
https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a ... s&id=11474
All BPS patches will need to be applied to a headered ROM of the USA version of Super Mario World.
I'm sure you know the deal: we can't and won't provide you with the SMW ROM itself, nor with any places to download it and all that jazz.
We would like to thank all original authors of the various ASM patches we applied and included in our works. Specific credits are included in the ZIPs.
Thanks go to the original authors; this is meant as a tribute, and we hope their works can live on this way.
Now without further ado, onto the hacks!
========
The VIPs:
========
First of all, a note on the VIP translations:
The VIPs:
========
VIP 1, 2 and 3 were previously translated by Horikawa Otane quite a number of years ago now, but she has since distanced herself from her work on them, and the English versions we'll be putting up here will have been completely redone by our team.
We would like to thank Horikawa for her efforts back then, but to say the least both she herself and I are of the opinion that her older translations have not aged well, and that these entries in the series are deserving of a complete localization revamp. Although Ryrir and I started and largely finished work on redoing the VIP 2 translation on our own before we got into contact with her, she's been aware of our project for a while now and been very supportive of it. We'd like to thank her for that as well, and we hope that the stuff we'll be putting up will be a suitable replacement.
We would like to thank Horikawa for her efforts back then, but to say the least both she herself and I are of the opinion that her older translations have not aged well, and that these entries in the series are deserving of a complete localization revamp. Although Ryrir and I started and largely finished work on redoing the VIP 2 translation on our own before we got into contact with her, she's been aware of our project for a while now and been very supportive of it. We'd like to thank her for that as well, and we hope that the stuff we'll be putting up will be a suitable replacement.
Vip & Wall Mix 1
2ch Community, 2006
78 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Let's be honest: When going back to hacks created in the early 2000s, very rarely will you find one that still holds up to this day. Most of them seem very, very dated by today's standards, as they appear to be based on the assumption that the player is going to use savestates, featuring antiquated level design tropes such as item babysitting or enemy spam. While I'm certainly not saying that VIP 1 is free of these issues, I will go out and say that they're less appalling here, as flawed levels and ideas are placed right next to ones that are interesting and exciting to play, even today. Even independent of the fact that this hack is an important piece of SMW hacking history, I say that if you are going to play a hack from this era, you might want to make it this one.
This Eye o' Mine:
Of all the VIP games this one probably has the fewest memes in it, which made translation quite a bit easier than the other entries I've worked on so far, though there was still some wordplay to deal with. Something to keep in mind is that this one was originally developed without all of the ASCII art sprite swaps, and the version with them was added later on. Just in general levels in the VIP series tend to go back and forth on whether they're taking the vanilla (Mario) graphics or the ASCII (Boon) graphics to be 'canon', but the levels in this entry make practically zero assumptions about the player character being Boon, and any time the text refers to the PC as 'Boon' it was made that way by us for the sake of consistency and avoiding confusion (it's not like there's any plot points that hinge on this issue anyway). Still, all of this is something to keep in mind when a joke in the hack seems confusing, specifically the moment where
Anyway, this hack has nothing wrong with it technically as far as we know. This is basically just a version that was retranslated and is known to be compatible with the ASM patches we provide.
78 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Let's be honest: When going back to hacks created in the early 2000s, very rarely will you find one that still holds up to this day. Most of them seem very, very dated by today's standards, as they appear to be based on the assumption that the player is going to use savestates, featuring antiquated level design tropes such as item babysitting or enemy spam. While I'm certainly not saying that VIP 1 is free of these issues, I will go out and say that they're less appalling here, as flawed levels and ideas are placed right next to ones that are interesting and exciting to play, even today. Even independent of the fact that this hack is an important piece of SMW hacking history, I say that if you are going to play a hack from this era, you might want to make it this one.
This Eye o' Mine:
Of all the VIP games this one probably has the fewest memes in it, which made translation quite a bit easier than the other entries I've worked on so far, though there was still some wordplay to deal with. Something to keep in mind is that this one was originally developed without all of the ASCII art sprite swaps, and the version with them was added later on. Just in general levels in the VIP series tend to go back and forth on whether they're taking the vanilla (Mario) graphics or the ASCII (Boon) graphics to be 'canon', but the levels in this entry make practically zero assumptions about the player character being Boon, and any time the text refers to the PC as 'Boon' it was made that way by us for the sake of consistency and avoiding confusion (it's not like there's any plot points that hinge on this issue anyway). Still, all of this is something to keep in mind when a joke in the hack seems confusing, specifically the moment where
Boon actually makes an appearance in the hack as a seperate character from the protagonist (Boon's Trick House).
Anyway, this hack has nothing wrong with it technically as far as we know. This is basically just a version that was retranslated and is known to be compatible with the ASM patches we provide.
2ch Community, 2006
103 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
The second installment of the VIP series, and the first to include custom sprites! This hack mostly expands upon the foundation laid by the first one: Innovative level design ideas, never-seen before exploitations of the SMW engine as well as diving deeper into various 2chan memes and injokes truly make this hack a milestone for all further works of the series.
While the custom sprites do mix things up nicely, this hack is widely regarded as one of the hardest of the bunch. Be sure to bring a good deal of patience and resilience with you while you set out to find just who might be behind the mysterious Shrinking-Jello...
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack was still largely vanilla, so there weren't many things to fix in terms of emulator compatibility. I don't think the original hack has any major problems running on newer emulators, but I did find a couple of things in the custom sprite code that didn't take real hardware behavior into account, so I went ahead and fixed those. For all we know that code's never actually run in-game, or perhaps the error wouldn't have any noticable effect, but better safe than sorry!
103 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
The second installment of the VIP series, and the first to include custom sprites! This hack mostly expands upon the foundation laid by the first one: Innovative level design ideas, never-seen before exploitations of the SMW engine as well as diving deeper into various 2chan memes and injokes truly make this hack a milestone for all further works of the series.
While the custom sprites do mix things up nicely, this hack is widely regarded as one of the hardest of the bunch. Be sure to bring a good deal of patience and resilience with you while you set out to find just who might be behind the mysterious Shrinking-Jello...
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack was still largely vanilla, so there weren't many things to fix in terms of emulator compatibility. I don't think the original hack has any major problems running on newer emulators, but I did find a couple of things in the custom sprite code that didn't take real hardware behavior into account, so I went ahead and fixed those. For all we know that code's never actually run in-game, or perhaps the error wouldn't have any noticable effect, but better safe than sorry!
2ch Community, 2007
100 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
The third installment of the VIP saga, widely regarded as somewhat of a turning point for the series. The hack has noticeably more custom elements than its predecessors, including one of the first ever instances of custom music in any SMW romhack! On the level design front, things have been moving as well: A lot of levels on the main path through the game are shorter and easier compared to VIP 1 and 2, even though you'll encounter difficult and somewhat unreasonable levels on some of the sidepaths and especially the endgame as well. Make sure to check out the patch folder for this one, as some game-crashing bugs were ironed out!
This Eye o' Mine:
The system used to insert custom music into this hack was very simple, which ironically made it one of the more involved ones to fix. As a result this hack required a bit more ASM trickery than usual to make it work, but I think the result should work pretty well. Although we've tested it thoroughly to make sure it works, please let us know if anything goes wrong anyway. Like Ryrir said, there's a couple of optional crash fixes (they were present on ZSNES as well), as well as a patch to make a certain infamously broken level work the way the author (likely) intended when designing it, so you can beat it without cheesing it. If you're interested, the details are in the zip file.
100 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
The third installment of the VIP saga, widely regarded as somewhat of a turning point for the series. The hack has noticeably more custom elements than its predecessors, including one of the first ever instances of custom music in any SMW romhack! On the level design front, things have been moving as well: A lot of levels on the main path through the game are shorter and easier compared to VIP 1 and 2, even though you'll encounter difficult and somewhat unreasonable levels on some of the sidepaths and especially the endgame as well. Make sure to check out the patch folder for this one, as some game-crashing bugs were ironed out!
This Eye o' Mine:
The system used to insert custom music into this hack was very simple, which ironically made it one of the more involved ones to fix. As a result this hack required a bit more ASM trickery than usual to make it work, but I think the result should work pretty well. Although we've tested it thoroughly to make sure it works, please let us know if anything goes wrong anyway. Like Ryrir said, there's a couple of optional crash fixes (they were present on ZSNES as well), as well as a patch to make a certain infamously broken level work the way the author (likely) intended when designing it, so you can beat it without cheesing it. If you're interested, the details are in the zip file.
2ch Community, 2008
114 Exits
Download
(Update 1)
Super Maks 64:
It has been over a year (since 31/05/2018), but it's finally finished.
This one differs a bit from the version raocow lp'd and also has been done by a reliable person, so not me.
Ryrir:
It's everything the former hacks in the series did, but cranked up to eleven! More ASM gimmicks, more custom music, more awesomness! Catching your breath is hard while playing this one, as the game gets more and more demanding as it goes on.
Considered by many to be one of the best of the series, VIP 4 combines puzzly aspects with traditional platforming challenges, as well as innovative ideas and trusty 2chan humor to create a truly memorable experience.
This Eye o' Mine:
Thanks go to lion for doing a translation of this before I came along and (hopefully) improved upon it with Ryrir's help. This release is a thorough update of the one played in raocow LP in 2018. The fix has been redone using newer techniques, the custom ASM has been made fully console compatible, and the translation has had a number of mistakes fixed and awkward wording reworked.
114 Exits
Download
(Update 1)
Super Maks 64:
It has been over a year (since 31/05/2018), but it's finally finished.
This one differs a bit from the version raocow lp'd and also has been done by a reliable person, so not me.
Ryrir:
It's everything the former hacks in the series did, but cranked up to eleven! More ASM gimmicks, more custom music, more awesomness! Catching your breath is hard while playing this one, as the game gets more and more demanding as it goes on.
Considered by many to be one of the best of the series, VIP 4 combines puzzly aspects with traditional platforming challenges, as well as innovative ideas and trusty 2chan humor to create a truly memorable experience.
This Eye o' Mine:
Thanks go to lion for doing a translation of this before I came along and (hopefully) improved upon it with Ryrir's help. This release is a thorough update of the one played in raocow LP in 2018. The fix has been redone using newer techniques, the custom ASM has been made fully console compatible, and the translation has had a number of mistakes fixed and awkward wording reworked.
2ch Community, 2011
100 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
VIP 5 is the latest officially released entry of the series, and I think it's fair to say that it marks the moment all the colorful ideas of the earlier installments come to their logical conclusion. Featuring awesome gimmicks, great custom music, a breathtaking overworld and interesting level design that, while certainly being challenging, never outrights becomes frustrating or overbearing (granted you know your way around these sort of games). Even though it was released quite some years ago at this point, in my opinion it still holds up even to this day in most aspects - as one of the greatest SMW hacks out there. Highly recommended!
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack is curious for featuring advanced custom ASM, while also having been developed late in an era where nobody considered it problematic to develop and test hacks on older emulators like ZSNES and SnesGT. As a result the hack had a lot of problems to fix from an emulator compatibility point of view, and while I'm fairly confident the result here is pretty close to how the hack would run on ZSNES, there are a couple of minor imperfections still left. This version is based on version 1.05 of VIP 5, and also fixes a couple of bugs that were introduced in updates to the original hack, including ones that made the game crash.
100 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
VIP 5 is the latest officially released entry of the series, and I think it's fair to say that it marks the moment all the colorful ideas of the earlier installments come to their logical conclusion. Featuring awesome gimmicks, great custom music, a breathtaking overworld and interesting level design that, while certainly being challenging, never outrights becomes frustrating or overbearing (granted you know your way around these sort of games). Even though it was released quite some years ago at this point, in my opinion it still holds up even to this day in most aspects - as one of the greatest SMW hacks out there. Highly recommended!
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack is curious for featuring advanced custom ASM, while also having been developed late in an era where nobody considered it problematic to develop and test hacks on older emulators like ZSNES and SnesGT. As a result the hack had a lot of problems to fix from an emulator compatibility point of view, and while I'm fairly confident the result here is pretty close to how the hack would run on ZSNES, there are a couple of minor imperfections still left. This version is based on version 1.05 of VIP 5, and also fixes a couple of bugs that were introduced in updates to the original hack, including ones that made the game crash.
2ch Community, 2012-present (still in development)
98 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
VIP 6 is the latest installment of the series, beginning production soon after the release of VIP 5 in 2012. However, the development of the hack seems to have been troubled almost from the beginning and unfortunately came down to a complete standstill over the last couple of years - which is why we have decided to translate the latest available beta version of the hack. Even though the only thing that appears to be missing is the final boss of the Special World, please note that anything in this beta version might still be considered "unfinished" in the eyes of the creators and is subject to change should a definitive version of the hack ever come to fruition.
As for the hack itself, it certainly continues right where VIP 5 left off, featuring many creative level gimmicks and themes. Please note that the difficulty is significantly harder than its predecessor though! I would hesitate to recommend this hack to people unfamiliar with some of the harder SMW hacks out there, but if you are the type of player who enjoys a good challenge... VIP 6 might be right up your alley!
98 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
VIP 6 is the latest installment of the series, beginning production soon after the release of VIP 5 in 2012. However, the development of the hack seems to have been troubled almost from the beginning and unfortunately came down to a complete standstill over the last couple of years - which is why we have decided to translate the latest available beta version of the hack. Even though the only thing that appears to be missing is the final boss of the Special World, please note that anything in this beta version might still be considered "unfinished" in the eyes of the creators and is subject to change should a definitive version of the hack ever come to fruition.
As for the hack itself, it certainly continues right where VIP 5 left off, featuring many creative level gimmicks and themes. Please note that the difficulty is significantly harder than its predecessor though! I would hesitate to recommend this hack to people unfamiliar with some of the harder SMW hacks out there, but if you are the type of player who enjoys a good challenge... VIP 6 might be right up your alley!
================================
And now some other Japanese hacks:
================================
8 Powers
And now some other Japanese hacks:
================================
Mizuno, 2012
62 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Older version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
A little known hack created by the solo author Mizuno in 2012. While the game is easy-going early on, it cranks up the difficutly bit by bit as it goes on, without ever posing an overly difficult challenge. Standout features include an interesting overworld map that lets you choose your own path, as well as a vast assortment of custom bosses. This hack might be a nice challenge for people who find the more well-known hacks a bit too difficult for their taste.
This Eye o' Mine:
I started work on translating this way back when I first joined the talkhaus, because it was on raocow's coming-up LP list. Didn't really imagine at the time that I'd get this involved in fixing it up as well though.
Also, thanks go to vgperson for doing a translation of the WIP version that raocow played back in 2012. Not that I based my work on it (since I initially didn't even remember that it existed), but getting translations out like that in time for the LPs back then is always admirable, so I thought it was worth an acknowledgement.
Also thanks to Xeno DX for doing some additional testing.
62 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Older version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
A little known hack created by the solo author Mizuno in 2012. While the game is easy-going early on, it cranks up the difficutly bit by bit as it goes on, without ever posing an overly difficult challenge. Standout features include an interesting overworld map that lets you choose your own path, as well as a vast assortment of custom bosses. This hack might be a nice challenge for people who find the more well-known hacks a bit too difficult for their taste.
This Eye o' Mine:
I started work on translating this way back when I first joined the talkhaus, because it was on raocow's coming-up LP list. Didn't really imagine at the time that I'd get this involved in fixing it up as well though.
Also, thanks go to vgperson for doing a translation of the WIP version that raocow played back in 2012. Not that I based my work on it (since I initially didn't even remember that it existed), but getting translations out like that in time for the LPs back then is always admirable, so I thought it was worth an acknowledgement.
Also thanks to Xeno DX for doing some additional testing.
Final, 2011
17 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
S. Mario is a somewhat unusual hack in that it straddles the line between very hard and downright kaizo levels. Every stage is based around a seemingly simple ASM gimmick or custom sprite, however the obstacles quickly evolve to become a matter of learning the layout of the level by heart. While the author states that the game might be "hard for beginners", personally I would only recommend this hack to SMW veterans.
17 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
S. Mario is a somewhat unusual hack in that it straddles the line between very hard and downright kaizo levels. Every stage is based around a seemingly simple ASM gimmick or custom sprite, however the obstacles quickly evolve to become a matter of learning the layout of the level by heart. While the author states that the game might be "hard for beginners", personally I would only recommend this hack to SMW veterans.
Japanese SMW Twitter Community, 2015
53 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Super ASPE Mario very much feels like a spiritual successor to the VIP series: A fascinating collab hack filled to the brim with interesting gimmicks and off-the-wall ideas. Each level very much has its own identity and style and while some pull off their concepts better than others, the overall experience is still very enjoyable. Note that the hack is definitely aimed at players of a high skill level!
This Eye o' Mine:
Though this is a 'modern' hack, there were a couple of notable bugs that popped on a real console, notably one that caused the game to lock up on boot up half the time. This release also fixes those bugs.
53 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Super ASPE Mario very much feels like a spiritual successor to the VIP series: A fascinating collab hack filled to the brim with interesting gimmicks and off-the-wall ideas. Each level very much has its own identity and style and while some pull off their concepts better than others, the overall experience is still very enjoyable. Note that the hack is definitely aimed at players of a high skill level!
This Eye o' Mine:
Though this is a 'modern' hack, there were a couple of notable bugs that popped on a real console, notably one that caused the game to lock up on boot up half the time. This release also fixes those bugs.
Wagokoro, 2013
29 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
SUPER is a very hard hack, focusing on tight platforming and somewhat trolly traps to keep you on your toes. In my opinion it's pretty difficult to convey humor through level design alone, but I found this to be one of the instances where the trickery is funny instead of overbearing (your mileage may vary of course). The hack includes quite a number of custom assets and mechanics as well, which are always engaging and keep things interesting as you go along. Be aware that some stages, especially towards the end of the game, are very long and are definitely going to test your endurance and patience as well as your platforming skills. Beating this type of marathon levels can be quite rewarding, but that sort of thing is definitely not for everyone. Overall I would highly recommend this hack to skilled players who are up for the challenge!
This Eye o' Mine:
Here's a hack that's overall well-designed, but it has a lot of sections that prey on the player's expectations about what's coming up.
You could apply the category 'Kaizo' to it, though with the qualifier that for the majority of its runtime it's the kind of Kaizo that enjoys making you die a couple of times to silly traps fairly early in the level for the sake of a laugh, with the rest of the stage just being plain skill-based difficult rather than requiring insane precision. As long as you're at least somewhat genre savvy, you're probably not going to have any BS unpredictable deaths at the end of a grueling section.
Well, most of the time anyway. There are one or two stages that just go full-on Kaizo, so consider this your warning. If you can look past that and you enjoy high difficulty, then this might be something to check out.
As for fixes, this hack had some minor compatibility bugs that only appeared on BSNES/a real console.
29 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Ryrir:
SUPER is a very hard hack, focusing on tight platforming and somewhat trolly traps to keep you on your toes. In my opinion it's pretty difficult to convey humor through level design alone, but I found this to be one of the instances where the trickery is funny instead of overbearing (your mileage may vary of course). The hack includes quite a number of custom assets and mechanics as well, which are always engaging and keep things interesting as you go along. Be aware that some stages, especially towards the end of the game, are very long and are definitely going to test your endurance and patience as well as your platforming skills. Beating this type of marathon levels can be quite rewarding, but that sort of thing is definitely not for everyone. Overall I would highly recommend this hack to skilled players who are up for the challenge!
This Eye o' Mine:
Here's a hack that's overall well-designed, but it has a lot of sections that prey on the player's expectations about what's coming up.
You could apply the category 'Kaizo' to it, though with the qualifier that for the majority of its runtime it's the kind of Kaizo that enjoys making you die a couple of times to silly traps fairly early in the level for the sake of a laugh, with the rest of the stage just being plain skill-based difficult rather than requiring insane precision. As long as you're at least somewhat genre savvy, you're probably not going to have any BS unpredictable deaths at the end of a grueling section.
Well, most of the time anyway. There are one or two stages that just go full-on Kaizo, so consider this your warning. If you can look past that and you enjoy high difficulty, then this might be something to check out.
As for fixes, this hack had some minor compatibility bugs that only appeared on BSNES/a real console.
Pyua, 2009
60 Exits
Download
Super Maks 64:
Now humanly playable on non overclocked emulators or consoles!
Ryrir:
Playing this hack is a very interesting experience. Almost every level has a ton of custom graphics, custom sprites and custom palettes, all while the level design itself takes some twists and turns you really wouldn't expect as well. Couple all of that with an increasingly overwhelming amount of touhou references and you get a game that feels more like a fever dream than an SMW hack at times.
That's not to say that playing it is a bad experience though, especially if you take the time to patch out the huge amount of slowdown the original hack was burdened by. I don't think I've ever seen a hack quite like this one before, which makes it an interesting one to check out no matter what your preferences may be.
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack is a nice timepiece. It features a lot of custom assets such as ExGFX and music, most of which were made by the author himself. Unfortunately, while the hack as a whole is very creative, and I'd say the assets do look quite nice most of the time, their can be pretty lacking in spots too, and the same goes for the gameplay, which is really rough around the edges. As it stands, I'd play this mostly for remembering the excitement at the time of discovering what could be done with custom asset creation tools, not to find 'good' examples of their use.
The hack also suffers heavily from the tools that were available at the time, especially BlockTool, which causes insane amounts of lag with its inefficient implementation. Optional fixes are included for the lag and long loading times, and I very highly recommend using them if you don't want to feel like you're trudging through custard.
And as a final note, you can use Start + Select in any stage to clear it instantly (+ A for secret exits), by design.
Do with that info what you will.
60 Exits
Download
Super Maks 64:
Now humanly playable on non overclocked emulators or consoles!
Ryrir:
Playing this hack is a very interesting experience. Almost every level has a ton of custom graphics, custom sprites and custom palettes, all while the level design itself takes some twists and turns you really wouldn't expect as well. Couple all of that with an increasingly overwhelming amount of touhou references and you get a game that feels more like a fever dream than an SMW hack at times.
That's not to say that playing it is a bad experience though, especially if you take the time to patch out the huge amount of slowdown the original hack was burdened by. I don't think I've ever seen a hack quite like this one before, which makes it an interesting one to check out no matter what your preferences may be.
This Eye o' Mine:
This hack is a nice timepiece. It features a lot of custom assets such as ExGFX and music, most of which were made by the author himself. Unfortunately, while the hack as a whole is very creative, and I'd say the assets do look quite nice most of the time, their can be pretty lacking in spots too, and the same goes for the gameplay, which is really rough around the edges. As it stands, I'd play this mostly for remembering the excitement at the time of discovering what could be done with custom asset creation tools, not to find 'good' examples of their use.
The hack also suffers heavily from the tools that were available at the time, especially BlockTool, which causes insane amounts of lag with its inefficient implementation. Optional fixes are included for the lag and long loading times, and I very highly recommend using them if you don't want to feel like you're trudging through custard.
And as a final note, you can use Start + Select in any stage to clear it instantly (+ A for secret exits), by design.
Do with that info what you will.
Pyua, 2011
41 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
This sequel to Scarlet Devil Mario in many ways takes off right where the first installment ended. The combination of quirky aesthetics, unusual gameplay elements and an abundance of Touhou references might feel off-putting at first, but you get used to the flow and the charm of the hack surprisingly quickly. While I'll be the first to admit that some of the custom bosses have not aged particularly well, I do think that the game overall is a marked improvement over its predecessor.
I'd recommend this hack to anyone looking to experience this very particular and exciting time in the history of SMW romhacking, with all the usual warnings and caveats that entails.
lion:
Well, well, well.
Coming from Pyua once more, here's Scarlet Devil Mario 2. This time trying to portray stages 3 through Extra of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil as though they were SMW worlds, the hack promises a lot of challenge and strange ExGFX and gimmicks for the player.
Again the multiple difficulty versions of levels gimmick returns, however they are different stages this time so there's much more variety to be expected rather than just some of the remixed stages from the first game.
It's overall a step up from the original, but still retains that special "amateurness" that makes it so charming to play.
This Eye 'o Mine:
This hack maintains the quality forward thinking shown in its predecessor by keeping the debug feature of allowing you to skip levels with Start + Select intact.
41 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
This sequel to Scarlet Devil Mario in many ways takes off right where the first installment ended. The combination of quirky aesthetics, unusual gameplay elements and an abundance of Touhou references might feel off-putting at first, but you get used to the flow and the charm of the hack surprisingly quickly. While I'll be the first to admit that some of the custom bosses have not aged particularly well, I do think that the game overall is a marked improvement over its predecessor.
I'd recommend this hack to anyone looking to experience this very particular and exciting time in the history of SMW romhacking, with all the usual warnings and caveats that entails.
lion:
Well, well, well.
Coming from Pyua once more, here's Scarlet Devil Mario 2. This time trying to portray stages 3 through Extra of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil as though they were SMW worlds, the hack promises a lot of challenge and strange ExGFX and gimmicks for the player.
Again the multiple difficulty versions of levels gimmick returns, however they are different stages this time so there's much more variety to be expected rather than just some of the remixed stages from the first game.
It's overall a step up from the original, but still retains that special "amateurness" that makes it so charming to play.
This Eye 'o Mine:
This hack maintains the quality forward thinking shown in its predecessor by keeping the debug feature of allowing you to skip levels with Start + Select intact.
Haimari, 2010/2011
105 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 2 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Super Maks 64:
Dear Victim
If you were looking for a hack that would be a great torture device then you've found it.
This translation replaces an old and inaccurate one made by cup years ago and also replaces my atrocious fix made with AMK 1.1.0 just before 2018. Anyways this hack is special, the author clearly has no regard to the player, but is also rather creative with how it tortures you, although at a certain point it just goes insane with the level length/checkpoint starvation.
This Eye o' Mine:
People have told me that this hack is somewhat difficult.
105 Exits
Newest version:
Download - Fix Update 2 Version
Old version:
Download - Initial Fixed Version
Download - Fix Update 1 Version
Super Maks 64:
Dear Victim
If you were looking for a hack that would be a great torture device then you've found it.
This translation replaces an old and inaccurate one made by cup years ago and also replaces my atrocious fix made with AMK 1.1.0 just before 2018. Anyways this hack is special, the author clearly has no regard to the player, but is also rather creative with how it tortures you, although at a certain point it just goes insane with the level length/checkpoint starvation.
This Eye o' Mine:
People have told me that this hack is somewhat difficult.
774, 2010
66 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Romancing Mario is a neat, lesser known Japanese romhack that keeps the player engaged through an innovative overworld system (inspired by the RPG series "Romancing SaGa") and fun level design. For the majority of the game the levels are a bit easier and more accessible compared to a lot of other hacks you'll find in this thread, though the final couple of stages do pack a bit of a punch. I'd recommend it to both inexperienced players trying out Japanese romhacks for the first time and veterans looking for a simpler experience for a change.
66 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
Romancing Mario is a neat, lesser known Japanese romhack that keeps the player engaged through an innovative overworld system (inspired by the RPG series "Romancing SaGa") and fun level design. For the majority of the game the levels are a bit easier and more accessible compared to a lot of other hacks you'll find in this thread, though the final couple of stages do pack a bit of a punch. I'd recommend it to both inexperienced players trying out Japanese romhacks for the first time and veterans looking for a simpler experience for a change.
Zero, 2010
17 Exits
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
Thanks to morsel/morceau for recommending this one.
SimFan96:
This hack is one of the lesser known Japanese hacks out there. It's short with 17 exits and 4 different worlds. Starting off easy like most Mario hacks do, its difficulty at times can prove a challenge! This hack is mostly vanilla with only some custom sprites, blocks, and music. Something Extra provides fairly linear experience with each world having 4 levels each, like the original Super Mario Bros. Some of the puzzles you'll encounter in the game will keep you guessing, so be sure to keep on the lookout for any hints you may find! From playing this game, I'd recommend this to someone who’d want more of a short, challenging, vanilla experience out of a SMW hack.
17 Exits
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
Thanks to morsel/morceau for recommending this one.
SimFan96:
This hack is one of the lesser known Japanese hacks out there. It's short with 17 exits and 4 different worlds. Starting off easy like most Mario hacks do, its difficulty at times can prove a challenge! This hack is mostly vanilla with only some custom sprites, blocks, and music. Something Extra provides fairly linear experience with each world having 4 levels each, like the original Super Mario Bros. Some of the puzzles you'll encounter in the game will keep you guessing, so be sure to keep on the lookout for any hints you may find! From playing this game, I'd recommend this to someone who’d want more of a short, challenging, vanilla experience out of a SMW hack.
Yuga, 2009
51 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
SMW Yeah is one of the more commonly recognized Japanese hacks, known for combining exciting custom sprites with level design more closely reminiscent of the vanilla Super Mario World. It features 51 Exits over five worlds, a secret reward for collecting all Dragon Coins and a sort of mini-puzzle spread over multiple levels, which you need to solve in order to gain access to the hidden special world.
The game is an interesting piece of SMW hacking history, as it was highly influential when it was released and is still considered to be one of the best hacks to come out of that time period.
Ultimately, it's one of those seemingly rare hacks that feature both an accessible difficulty curve throughout the entire game and engaging gameplay at the same time. This makes it a worthwhile hack to try out, especially for people new to playing SMW hacks.
51 Exits
Download
Ryrir:
SMW Yeah is one of the more commonly recognized Japanese hacks, known for combining exciting custom sprites with level design more closely reminiscent of the vanilla Super Mario World. It features 51 Exits over five worlds, a secret reward for collecting all Dragon Coins and a sort of mini-puzzle spread over multiple levels, which you need to solve in order to gain access to the hidden special world.
The game is an interesting piece of SMW hacking history, as it was highly influential when it was released and is still considered to be one of the best hacks to come out of that time period.
Ultimately, it's one of those seemingly rare hacks that feature both an accessible difficulty curve throughout the entire game and engaging gameplay at the same time. This makes it a worthwhile hack to try out, especially for people new to playing SMW hacks.
Anisaki, 2015
13 Exits
Download
Skye:
Baldy Mario is a hack that's reminiscent of ~2010 Japanese hacks. It's short, filled with simple yet interesting gimmicks, and very difficult. However, the difficulty isn't so much a curve as it is a mountain range of tall and medium-height peaks molded together, as the levels are consistently hard, but some are much more difficult than others. Some of the later levels start to turn into tests of endurance, but nothing ever feels too unfair
As for the gimmicks, the hack isn't filled with over-the-top ASM or anything, but each stage has its own unique gimmick and does an exceptionally good job of playing around with it and providing an extremely fun but challenging experience.
Overall, if you're looking for a short and challenging choconilla hack, then this one's for you.
Ryrir:
This one is worth playing just for the memes I suppose. Hot tip: Those mysterious green coins you cannot collect act as a midway point once you've touched them! Also, don't let the difficulty of the very first level get to you, the hack has a somewhat wonky difficulty curve and does get easier after that one.
13 Exits
Download
Skye:
Baldy Mario is a hack that's reminiscent of ~2010 Japanese hacks. It's short, filled with simple yet interesting gimmicks, and very difficult. However, the difficulty isn't so much a curve as it is a mountain range of tall and medium-height peaks molded together, as the levels are consistently hard, but some are much more difficult than others. Some of the later levels start to turn into tests of endurance, but nothing ever feels too unfair
(except for the last stage. You'll be doing yourself a huge favor by using save states on that one.)
As for the gimmicks, the hack isn't filled with over-the-top ASM or anything, but each stage has its own unique gimmick and does an exceptionally good job of playing around with it and providing an extremely fun but challenging experience.
Overall, if you're looking for a short and challenging choconilla hack, then this one's for you.
Ryrir:
This one is worth playing just for the memes I suppose. Hot tip: Those mysterious green coins you cannot collect act as a midway point once you've touched them! Also, don't let the difficulty of the very first level get to you, the hack has a somewhat wonky difficulty curve and does get easier after that one.
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English hacks:
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Chaotic Realm v.1.22
English hacks:
============
anonimato, 2009-2010
10 Exits
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
This is a little hack that I fixed up for Pholtos, who was going to LP it. It was suffering from crashes in some levels due to the use of Romi's AddMusic. Overall, the hack works fine otherwise, so no optional ASM patches for this one. Just apply the BPS and it's ready to go.
If I had to give my opinion on it, it's a somewhat difficult but quite enjoyable hack if you like that sort of thing. As long as you don't try to beat a certain optional section legit that is. The biggest sticking point of this hack for most people is going to be its lack of checkpoints combined with somewhat long levels.
10 Exits
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
This is a little hack that I fixed up for Pholtos, who was going to LP it. It was suffering from crashes in some levels due to the use of Romi's AddMusic. Overall, the hack works fine otherwise, so no optional ASM patches for this one. Just apply the BPS and it's ready to go.
If I had to give my opinion on it, it's a somewhat difficult but quite enjoyable hack if you like that sort of thing. As long as you don't try to beat a certain optional section legit that is. The biggest sticking point of this hack for most people is going to be its lack of checkpoints combined with somewhat long levels.
RedToonLink, 2009
1 Exit
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
Another hack I fixed up for Pholtos. It's a one level hack with a Zelda and Christmas theme. This one was broken, but overall not suffering any technical problems besides that.
1 Exit
Download
This Eye o' Mine:
Another hack I fixed up for Pholtos. It's a one level hack with a Zelda and Christmas theme. This one was broken, but overall not suffering any technical problems besides that.
if you think. don't #Wisconsin 
