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Various Zelda: A Link to the Past Hacks
Aug. 7th, 2013 06:07 pmThis is a collection of various hacks that I attempted and did not finish, either because they were too difficult or because poor programming made that impossible. All of these are available on romhacking.net, just FYI.
Zelda: The Ruins of Rockvan - Another romhack of A Link to the Past, following many of the common tropes thereof: Extensive period of enemy-dodging before you get a sword? Check. Significant map changes without editing the map screens? Check. Increased difficulty evident from the very beginning? Check. Less-than-perfect playtesting leading to numerous "unwinnable" conditions? Check.
( It's a killer. )
Zelda: Bruce Campbell Vs. Ganon - Poorly done and vulgar, I suspect that if Mr. Campbell knew anything about this he'd sic lawyers on the creator. The hack is apparently very unstable, as falling in any hole traps you in an unwinnable state, so the author recommends save-stating often. I played for the better part of an hour and saw virtually no Evil Dead references; but the telepathic messages from Zelda were replaced with the author of the hack swearing at you. Skip it.
Zelda: Shards of Might - More impressive that many hacks, this one features a working name input screen. It doesn't drag out the swordless section, and seems to try hard to have a coherent new plot (the Wizard's Council has split the crystal into seven shards and stolen them away).
However, the initial section of the castle ("elder's house") seemed very familiar; I even recognized one of the puzzles, though it definitely wasn't in the original game. I started thinking that maybe parts of this were reused from or for another hack that I've played? Ahah! Yes, because this was remade as Zelda: Goddess of Wisdom, to remove several bugs, including the one where Zelda doesn't appear in the guardhouse so the game is unwinnable. (And apparently, even if you hack past that point, the forest dungeon is also unwinnable.) So....see below.
Zelda: Goddess of Wisdom - Take the same intro paragraph from Shards of Might. This was apparently the result of numerous hackers all working in sequence to fix various game-breaking bugs and each add their own flair to the game.
( I spent the most time on this one by far. )
Overall: I think it says something when PuzzleDude's Quest, which was only middling and made no effort to change the story, was the best of the hacks I've played. Hackers seem to think that what makes a good ALttP sequel is incredibly difficult enemy gauntlets, pixel-perfect tightrope walking, and either tedious or incredibly obtuse puzzles. I think we may be forced to wait until the new 3DS sequel comes out and Nintendo shows how its done.
Zelda: The Ruins of Rockvan - Another romhack of A Link to the Past, following many of the common tropes thereof: Extensive period of enemy-dodging before you get a sword? Check. Significant map changes without editing the map screens? Check. Increased difficulty evident from the very beginning? Check. Less-than-perfect playtesting leading to numerous "unwinnable" conditions? Check.
( It's a killer. )
Zelda: Bruce Campbell Vs. Ganon - Poorly done and vulgar, I suspect that if Mr. Campbell knew anything about this he'd sic lawyers on the creator. The hack is apparently very unstable, as falling in any hole traps you in an unwinnable state, so the author recommends save-stating often. I played for the better part of an hour and saw virtually no Evil Dead references; but the telepathic messages from Zelda were replaced with the author of the hack swearing at you. Skip it.
Zelda: Shards of Might - More impressive that many hacks, this one features a working name input screen. It doesn't drag out the swordless section, and seems to try hard to have a coherent new plot (the Wizard's Council has split the crystal into seven shards and stolen them away).
However, the initial section of the castle ("elder's house") seemed very familiar; I even recognized one of the puzzles, though it definitely wasn't in the original game. I started thinking that maybe parts of this were reused from or for another hack that I've played? Ahah! Yes, because this was remade as Zelda: Goddess of Wisdom, to remove several bugs, including the one where Zelda doesn't appear in the guardhouse so the game is unwinnable. (And apparently, even if you hack past that point, the forest dungeon is also unwinnable.) So....see below.
Zelda: Goddess of Wisdom - Take the same intro paragraph from Shards of Might. This was apparently the result of numerous hackers all working in sequence to fix various game-breaking bugs and each add their own flair to the game.
( I spent the most time on this one by far. )
Overall: I think it says something when PuzzleDude's Quest, which was only middling and made no effort to change the story, was the best of the hacks I've played. Hackers seem to think that what makes a good ALttP sequel is incredibly difficult enemy gauntlets, pixel-perfect tightrope walking, and either tedious or incredibly obtuse puzzles. I think we may be forced to wait until the new 3DS sequel comes out and Nintendo shows how its done.
