The continuing hunt for more Japanese SMB hacks/roms...

Yea I know, another post in such a short amount of time. Man, I really need to get my a## onto deviantART and write a new journal there. But since I'm here, and because Blogger lets you put pictures and full videos into your posts, I thought this would be a better place to discuss things.

Now if you read one of my final posts of 2010, you may remember I had my mind set on a Japanese hack of the ever-so-popular Super Mario Bros; entitled Mario Evolution True 2. Now believe it or not, there is actually many more hacks that originated from that region, with a handful of them featuring altered soundtracks. Unfortunately though, with the exception of the ones posted on this thread over at board2, it seems .ips download links for the other hacks remain hidden. I believe they are present on Japanese socializing site 2ch, but the site's suggested language make it very difficult to find the hacks, and even if I was to succeed in snagging them, the .ips would probably not work because the Japanese perhaps uses a different program that's not LunarIPS or MultiPatch to patch their hacks, and thus the .ips files are not compatible with the well-known American programs.

As I had stated with Mario Evolution True 2, the main reason why I am collecting these hacks is because, besides just enjoying the levels, I like ripping the music in .mp3 format so that it can be put onto a popular .mp3 player. This I have already done with several different Famicom titles not related to Mario, but since I want to keep my collection of .mp3s growing, these are my next big plan for updating the library.

The music rips are part of a series I like to call "Mario Hack Series Recordings", which as it's name implies, is a series consisting of custom BGM used in various SMB hacks, regardless of the original author(s) of the hack. Below is a link to download the current set of 11 songs in the series, featuring custom BGM from seven different (and well-created) hacks.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=94BJCSTX

Now what's in for the future of this series? Well as of now, these are the hacks I would like to rip/record the soundtracks of following the ones mentioned above (again, besides just playing them for fun).

*NEW*SUPER MARIO ABC!!!- A difficult puzzle hack where you basically play a level as Luigi and try to get into a pipe positioned inside the B. Interestingly, the letter Z is absent.

DESIRED RIPS- Overworld

*NEW*Transformers Mario- Based on the (well-hated) Famicom title "Transformers: Convoy no Nazo", this hack pits you in control of Mario trying to rescue Luigi. There is only one level, which is a re-creation of 1-1 from SMB, except the underground bonus area which is replaced by several rooms where the goal is to kill all enemies, then enter a pipe to go to the next one. Items and enemy behavior are adjusted, and music and sounds are configured to sound like Transformers: CNN. The game can end in three different ways, but only one of them is considered a "good" ending.

DESIRED RIPS- Title Screen, Overworld, Underground

STAR REMIX- A well detailed hack where you play as a star going to rescue a Fire Flower while avoiding different colored halos. Contains 4 levels.

DESIRED RIPS- Overworld/Underground, Underwater, Ending

ELEGANCE- A decent hack that starts of as a remake of the original SMB with minor edits to graphics and excellent BGM remakes, then evolves into a difficult hack that spans 8 levels, including a spooky ninth level achieved by entering a warp zone in the first stage.

DESIRED RIPS- Overword, Underground, Toad's Path, Toad's Greeting, The Spooky 9th World, Princess Rescue

NULLPO/NULL POINTER EXCEPTION-A single level hack with custom BGM that pits Mario against Shift_JIS characters that Mario kills instantly on contact. Features the same fake pass-through blocks as Sakura.

DESIRED RIPS- Overworld, Ending

AUTOMATIC- Probably the easiest Mario hack ever, where you are constantly locked in walking straight to the right. Four levels, and a somewhat random ending.

DESIRED RIPS- Overworld

NINJA MARIO SKY- An extremely difficult hack where Mario is re-colored black and blue, and is able to move faster horizontally. He can turn in mid-air at a sharper rate, and must abuse glitches to win. Features some custom graphics, and most importantly, an epic remix of the original castle theme from SMB.

DESIRED RIPS- Dungeon

SUSIE POPAI BOSS- An incredibly bizarre six-level hack where Mario is put up against enemies with his own image. Many should recognize the Underground theme as being Geno's Forest from Super Mario RPG, but I'm mainly focused on all the other songs in the hack. I should also mention it has two different endings, with the "bad" ending being very similar to the instant-death paths from the Kamikaze Mario series.

DESIRED RIPS- Into Level, Overworld, Dungeon, Underwater, Ending

ULTIMATE BRUTAL ALL-VERTICAL- a single-level hack which features a 8-bit rendition of popular Touhou project song U.N. Owen Was Her. You constantly ascend in one long vertical level with killer jump abilities and Koopa-like enemies that instantly wake up when you stomp them.

DESIRED RIPS- Overworld

Now yes, I know many of these hacks would be considered "hardcore," and I would have excessive difficulty reaching the chance to record some of them, but I can just input the Game Genie code "AETLTK" into the emulator and I can jump as high as I want.