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YK's Silly Little Earthbound Hack

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YelseyKing
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YK's Silly Little Earthbound Hack

Post by YelseyKing »

I posted this in another thread, but I guess it probably deserves its own here? I dunno.

Back in December of 2015, I downloaded PK Hack, an Earthbound editor, and tweaked a bunch of stuff in the game... I was going to just keep it for myself, and maybe a few friends, but I thought maybe there might be some other interest in it, so... I'm posting it here for greater exposure or something.

YK's silly little Earthbound hack!

What this "hack" does:
* Completely redoes the item drops and drop rates. Now the lowest drop rate is 1/32, and I've changed nearly every enemy's dropped item. Some now drop items that cure status ailments they cause (such as the UFOs and robots in Peaceful Rest Valley dropping Cold Remedies), some drop equipment that's better than what's currently available in stores, and others were changed to drop items that normally came in limited numbers in the normal game (such as Bag of Dragonite). The biggest change is that the Sword of Kings is no longer dropped by Starman Super *period*. I changed it to a 100% drop from the Starman Deluxe. So no more grinding for that thing. Yay. I also moved the Gutsy Bat to someplace outside of the "end dungeon of no return". I did all this because I never felt like getting super rare drops was all that satisfying... it's just pure tedium, as far as I'm concerned. And combined with the general uselessness of many of the existing drops, well...

* Redistributes the usage of battle music somewhat. I felt like one particular song was *extremely* overused, while a few others were under-represented. This is more of a personal choice, but it makes some later fights feel less... dreary? I dunno.

* Changes the item names from "sentence case" (i.e. only the first letter capitalized) to "title case" (every important word capitalized). For instance, "Bottle of water" becomes "Bottle of Water". Another personal stylistic choice. I just always thought the way it was done looked kind of weird. Not everyone is going to *agree*, but they don't *have* to, either. :P

* Changes the Rust Promoter DX into an infinite use item, ala the Xterminator Spray, and removes it from all shops that sold it, as well as the one chest you could find one in. It's now a drop from one particular enemy. Though again, only 1/32 at worst.

* Adds the two buyable Magicant items (Earth Pendant and Magic Pudding) to the shop that opens in Saturn Valley late in the game, so you don't feel obligated to load up on them if you wanted them while Ness is alone. Since that shop doesn't open until *after* the Magicant events, it kinda felt tailor-made for those extra items.

* Makes a few unsellable items, such as some of Jeff's lasers, able to be sold. They're unique, yeah, but they're absolutely useless once he finds better, and just take up valuable real-estate in storage.

And that's essentially it. Just a sort of clean-up thing. It doesn't modify any maps, text, or gameplay. Just a little thing I felt like doing. That said... I never had a chance to test it, so I don't know if there are any bugs. This is my first time creating a patch and also really seriously hacking a ROM. So I honestly have *no* idea how well this'll work. Try it at your own risk, I guess. :| (And if anyone *does* try it, let me know if anything blows up, or if there's something you think I should change.)
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Zha Hong Lang
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Re: YK's Silly Little Earthbound Hack

Post by Zha Hong Lang »

Thanks for posting it! I might try it out once I have free time.
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BurntTenda
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Re: YK's Silly Little Earthbound Hack

Post by BurntTenda »

Oh man, a nice improvement hack.
Something goes here sometime.
Oh yeah, I have a Youtube channel
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