A new hack has just been released online that introduces the Star Fox 2 characters Miyu and Fay to the original Star Fox.

Miyu and Fay, in case you are unaware, are the two brand new recruits that joined the Star Fox team in the cancelled follow-up to Star Fox (which was eventually released via the Super NES Classic Edition in 2017). They resemble a lynx and a poodle respectively, and have since become popular characters among members of the fanbase despite having only ever appeared in a single game.

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A new ROM hack that represents "nearly three years" of work has just been released for Super Mario World, giving players a challenging new adventure to play through.

Simpatico is the result of a collaboration between the hackers BigRedBoy and RealBChin (with additional help from Stivi and Brakkie) and follows Mario's brother Luigi as he sets off on an adventure with his arch-rival Waluigi in tow.

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If you've been looking for an excuse to revisit Streets of Rage 2, then today's your lucky day.

The prolific ROM hacker and "retro mad scientist" BillyTime!Games has just released a brand new IPS patch for the classic 1992 sidescrolling beat 'em up, which adds a simple levelling system to the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis game to mix things up a bit.

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Hard-working Mega Drive / Genesis ROM hacker Billy Time Games has released a patch for Technosoft's beloved vertically-scrolling shooter Elemental Master which offers new features, cheats and the ability to save your high score.

The Elemental Master EXTRA patch features the following gameplay tweaks:

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A new website has just been launched for Super Mario Bros. ROM hacking online.

The site, which is called SMB Arena, is the work of the Super Mario Bros. ROM hacker StudsX (with help from fellow hackers Eden GT and Hellfire), and aims to "create a portal where SMB1 enjoyers can find up-to-date tools, documents, hacks"

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The retro gaming "mad scientist" BillyTime!Games has released his latest Mega Drive / Genesis ROM hack and this time he is focusing on giving an exciting overhaul to the beloved action "roguelike" classic Toejam & Earl.

Originally released in 1991, Toejam & Earl sees up to two players taking control of a pair of alien rappers who have crashlanded on a bunch of floating islands representing Earth.

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Recently, we reported on the sad news that ROMHacking.net was closing down, leading many people to ponder where such hacks and mods would be found online in the future.

We've got a bit of good news today, however, as it has been announced that the ROM hack site RHDO has changed ownership and has rebranded as RomHack Plaza, promising "a platform free of gatekeepers and mod intervention."

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A new fan patch has just been released for the Mega Drive / Genesis Jurassic Park Rampage Edition, introducing a bunch of new endings to the game, as well as various quality-of-life improvements to rebalance the overall experience.

The patch, which is called Jurassic Park Volcanic Edition, is the work of the ROM hacker BillyTime!Games, whose previous efforts include ROM hacks of games like Ghostbusters, Kid Chameleon, and Batman Revenge of the Joker, as well as the creation of the Sega Channel Revival Project, to name just a few. Jurassic Park Rampage Edition, meanwhile, is a sidescrolling platformer from the developer BlueSky Software and publisher Sega that was originally released in 1994. It is the second Jurassic Park game from this pairing, following 1993's Jurassic Park, which featured extremely similar gameplay.

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Popular ROM hack hosting site ROMHacking.net is closing its doors after 20 years, it has been announced.

Citing increased workload, legal pressure and abuse of resources, ROMHacking.net admin Nightcrawler has confirmed that the site database – minus user account information – files and images have been uploaded to the Internet Archive. Submissions have been closed, and all sections of the site will shift into read-only status. The forum will remain live, but social media accounts have been closed.

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A new patch has just been released for Atelier Double and Shogakukan's 1994 fighting game Ranma 1/2: Chougi Ranbu Hen, which reportedly sets out to fix the Super Famicom game's "catastrophic" frame rate.

Ranma 1/2: Chougi Ranbu Hen is the third fighting game released for the Super Famicom based on the Ranma ½ anime and manga series about a cursed teenager named Ranma who is training in martial arts, and her father who has been transformed into a panda. It is also the only one for the system that wasn't given a Western release in some form, with Ranma ½: Chōnai Gekitōhen being localized by Irem as Street Combat, while Ranma ½: Bakuretsu Rantōhen was released in the US as Ranma ½: Hard Battle and in Europe as Ranma ½.

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The Game Boy title Donkey Kong – also known as Donkey Kong '94 – was released in the same year as Donkey Kong Country and has been somewhat overshadowed by that fact – which is a shame, because it's one of the best entries in the entire series.

Loosely based on the original 1981 arcade game and its sequel, Donkey Kong Jr., it was co-developed by Nintendo EAD and Pax Softnica and benefitted from improved visuals when played on a Super Game Boy accessory.

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A team of talented ROM hackers and modders are coming together to create one of the most ambitious unofficial Super Mario games ever – Mario and the Multiverse.

The game is based on Super Mario 64 but sees the famous Italian plumber mixing things up with characters from a wide range of other franchises, including Pokémon, Splatoon, Spongebob, Harvest Moon, Doom, Rayman, Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot and even James Bond.

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A new ROM hack from LetsTalkGames blends Super Mario with Castlevania, taking the platforming action of the former and mixing it up with the music, visuals and rock-hard difficulty of the latter.

"This ROM hack is inspired by the early Castlevania series and attempts to channel the spirit of ‘NES difficulty'," says the developer of Castlemania. "It’s designed to be a throwback hack of sorts – with instant-death blocks, secrets, and familiar enemies to fans of the franchise."

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A new patch has just been released for the Mega Drive / Genesis game Batman: Revenge of the Joker, introducing a new set of coloured costumes for Batman as well as a range of impressive gameplay improvements.

In case you've never heard of it, Batman: Revenge of the Joker is the 1992 US-exclusive remake of Sunsoft's Batman: Return of the Joker for the NES. It was developed by Californian developer Ringler Studios, and has a fairly negative reputation online, with many considering it inferior to its 8-bit counterpart and a missed opportunity to take better advantage of the Mega Drive / Genesis hardware.

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When we were playing Donkey Kong Country in the early '90s, we never expected there would come a day when we would be able to play the game as Mario.

But now, thanks to a hacker named RainbowSprinklez, it's finally possible to play as the iconic moustachioed plumber (specifically the version of Mario from Super Mario World), to see how he would fare against King K. Rool and his army of Kremlings (thanks CM30 for the spot!).

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A new DX patch has just been released for Mega Man III on the Game Boy that converts the game into colour (as spotted earlier today by the indie developer @Zeichi_Shorts!)

The new DX patch for the game is the work of the ROM hackers Marc_Max and Kensuyjin33, who were previously behind similar patches for games like Mega Man V, Dr Mario, and Spanky's Quest. It not only brings the monochrome visuals of the original into color but aims to remove slowdown, hitbox and animation errors, as well as introducing a new NES-style pause screen.

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Burning Rangers is one of those titles that isn't as well known as it should be with casual gamers but has become something of a classic for diehard Sega fans.

Developed by Sonic Team for the Sega Saturn in 1998, it was a dazzling showcase of what the console was capable of, and supported the Saturn's 3D analogue controller to amazing effect.

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References to Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken have been discovered in the Sega Saturn exclusive Fighters Megamix.

The discovery was made by @memory_fallen, who specialises in reverse-engineering Saturn games and coming up with cool hacks and patches to unlock hidden features.

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A new Rom Hack for Super Mario Kart has massively expanded the game 32 years after it originally launched on the SNES.

Created by gridatttack, Super Mario Kart Horizons offers eight new themed worlds, delivering 20 new circuits to race around. It also has four new Battle Tracks, new music, enhanced sprites, new modes and much, much more – and the best thing is, it all runs on original hardware if you own a flash cart.

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Over the past 15 or so years, Banjo Kazooie fans have been left waiting in vain for another new entry in the series to make an appearance.

There's been the occasional bit of good news to make things more "bear-able" during this long wait, of course, such as Banjo & Kazooie coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the original N64 classic getting reissued on Nintendo Switch Online. But, in 2024, it seems like we're no closer to getting a new entry in the series, with Rare and Microsoft primarily focused on supporting their multiplayer pirate adventure game Sea of Thieves and bringing their next big project Everwild to life.

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The Mega Drive / Genesis port of Sunset Riders isn't everyone's favourite version of the classic 1991 arcade game, due to being the less faithful of the 16-bit conversions. But, just in case you have a particular fondness for the port, we're here to bring you some pretty exciting news.

Almost 32 years after the Western-themed Run 'n Gunner was originally released on the console, the ROM hackers BillyTime!Games and spkleader have got together to introduce a simple S-RAM saving mechanism to the title to record your high scores. This means you can finally keep a tab on your best playthroughs to screenshot and share with your friends.

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Back in November of last year, we told you about a new ROM hack that introduced almost all of the stages from the GBA game F-Zero Maximum Velocity into the SNES original. Well, now it appears that a new group has also done the exact opposite, implementing all 15 tracks from the SNES game in Maximum Velocity's engine.

F-Zero Vintage Velocity is the work of two individuals — the project coordinator PowerPanda and the programmer Guy Perfect — and was released earlier today on Romhacking.net.

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The YouTuber Mark Kurko has just released an amazing new ROM hack for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that transforms Thwomp's Fortress from Super Mario 64 into an incredible Zelda-themed obstacle course. And better yet, it's playable on real hardware.

If you're at all familiar with Kurko's channel, you'll already know that this type of ROM hack is pretty much par for the course for him. In the past, he was one of the lead developers on the Zelda-themed Banjo Kazooie ROM hack The Legend of Banjo and has also spotlighted mods on his channel from other N64 hackers like Kaze Emanuar (who did something similar for Mario 64's Hazy Maze Cave and Shifting Sand Land).

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The Game Boy title Metroid II: Return of Samus has just received a colourful spruce-up thanks to the efforts of first-time modder Ryallasha N’vetay.

Metroid II: SGB Enhanced adds a Super Game Boy border and custom palette to the monochrome title, making it look a lot more lively and interesting.

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If you're a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, we have some good news to share. An exciting new fan hack for the Mega Drive / Genesis title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist has just been released online, adding a bunch of excellent new features to the classic Konami beat 'em up.

This includes the addition of a new survival mode, a new super difficulty setting (and difficulty randomizer), newly-introduced colours for the turtles (based on the classic Mirage comics), and the ability to save and record hi-scores using S-RAM.

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