Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Developers who have changed the magic into a dream.

In the foreign Bao Ke Meng community, there is a special group called "Pokemon Rom Hacker". They are not literally "Bao Ke Meng data hackers". On the contrary, the work of this group of "Rom Hacker" is closer to that of a group of peer enthusiasts:

Based on the classic works, new creative content is created by modifying the file data of the game, and such works are also known as "revised games".

Although this is a kind of secondary creation similar to "magic reform", for Pokemon fans, these versions with greater freedom, more unusual themes and easier to listen to players' feedback make up for the regrets in the official works to some extent.

In addition to putting the classic versions of the past into modern devices and adding more features to optimize the experience, on the other hand, the authors of "Power with Love" always have to face potential copyright attacks from Nintendo's legal Department. it also got this group into a lot of controversy.

1 in the game field, "Rom Hacking" has many different forms, from the basic modification of text, pictures, sound effects, to complex level materials, map structure and character values. As long as the creativity can keep up, the author can almost make any changes to the game.

This effect is similar to Mod in PC games, which is a means of modifying game files to achieve some unofficial function. In the domestic Pokemon circle, the unofficial Chinese version with strange translation was born in the early years because of the limitation of document characters, which can actually be regarded as a kind of "Rom Hacking" that only modifies the text.

"Fatty makes a fist" has mistakenly become a famous get for old players, just like these revised works in Chinese are to solve the problem that there is no official Chinese in the game. The motivation of foreign authors to carry out "Rom Hacking" is also to improve the game and provide some players with a better experience.

A common reason is "the integrity of the map". According to the multi-version of the game released by each generation, each version has the tradition of providing Pokemon specially. If you only buy a single version of the game without online exchange, you will not be able to complete the complete collection of the map.

The corresponding "modified version", by adjusting the game files, added Bao Ke Meng data that could not be obtained in the game, so as to complete the collection of maps in a single game. This is also one of the most common features in today's Pokemon game "Rom Hacking". Basically any revision will include all Pokemon as a regular content.

In China, "Emerald 386" is a well-known folk revised game featuring the realization of "full map collection". The number "386" in the version name refers to the total number of Pokemon in the game at that time.

Although games such as Emerald 386 also include some original stories, due to material and technical limitations, it is still impossible to design unique plots and scenes for each special Pokemon (such as ancient immortals and beasts). As a result, they can only appear randomly from the grass in the wild, lacking a lot of sense of ritual.

After meeting the basic needs of "map collection", many folk writers began to add some settings that now seem more "trendy" to the old version of the game 20 years ago.

For example, the game "Crystal Clear" released in the player community in 2019 is based on the official version of "Bao Ke Meng: Crystal". As one of the most famous versions in the foreign community, the author boldly modified the handheld game released in 2000 into an "open world" model.

Not only can "Crystal Clear" go to any area of the map at the beginning and choose a challenging dojo, but it also adds a "character customization" feature, which can modify the appearance and skin of the character at any time, and you can even change the character to "Mario":

While maintaining the GBC screen, the game adds a lot of new functions. In addition, the author simplifies some problems existing in the game mechanism, such as the occurrence probability of Pokemon and the training process of ability value.

As a folk version of the same person's work, "Crystal Clear" can even interact directly with the official game. According to the author's introduction, the work can communicate with the official original game, thus realizing the functions of Pokemon transmission and war, so until now, the special "Crystal Clear" of this theme has been frequently mentioned in foreign revised games.

And another very famous game "Rocket Edition" (Rockets version) has made a subversive change in the way it is played. In the game, players instead play a member of the classic villain "Rockets" and improve their strength by robbing other trainers of Pokemon, eventually defeating the protagonist Red of the original game.

The game's exclusive "theft" option is different from "Crystal Clear". The Rockets version of the game is based on the "Pok é mon Fire / foliage Green" released on the GBA platform in 2004, so the picture is much better than the previous work.

In addition to the change in the perspective and platform of the game, it has also added a "moral value" system that has never appeared in Pok Dream. Although players play villains, they can still choose to do good deeds and accumulate moral values, thus leading to different branch endings.

Special versions like the Rockets are not only popular among players, but because of the different plot branches and the inherent dramatic effects of "playing the Bad", they become great material for anchors and video writers. For example, on the oil pipeline platform, there are a lot of flow and parody videos about the "Rocket Edition" version.

In short, a variety of revised games not only bring optimization of play and mechanism, but also increase the sense of existence of the old version of Pokemon game from other aspects.

2 if you try to type "Pokemon Rom Hack" in the search box, whether it's a web page or video, you will find a large number of inventory of the best revised game of the year every year, which shows that there are still many game writers who continue to contribute to Pokemon's game form.

For copyright reasons, none of the game authors can get paid for such modifications. According to them, making such works is purely "generating electricity with love", but for ordinary enthusiasts, such free creation naturally has corresponding advantages.

"you can do what Nintendo didn't do."

Drayano, a developer who has worked on many "Rom Hacking" projects, originally wanted to add all the existing Pokemons to the game, but this is obviously a relatively difficult task for the Pokemon series, which is about to exceed 1000 images.

However, authors like Drayano are also well aware of their advantages over official development work, such as "there is no development time limit and corresponding audit standards; as long as the conditions permit, you can add any content and play you want to the game."

It also won them a group of loyal fans, but Drayano responded calmly to fans' comments that the revised game is better than Pokemon Sword and Shield or more creative: "compared with the official series, this is still a fairly small project. I understand that people will naturally support the weak side, but they also ignore the improvement of the official game."

3 in addition to dealing with feedback and comments from players, the real problems facing a Rom Hacker are more from the legal level.

Although most developers do not add paid content to their work and do not intend to make a profit, as long as Nintendo officials believe that such a form involves "infringement" and other legal issues, developers will still be forced to take their work off the shelves.

In 2016, officials stepped in and stopped a piece called Pokemen Prism, which is also well-known in the community because of its high-quality original plot and maps.

Pokemon Prism also has a "custom look" feature. Although the game was officially forced off the shelves, a new team of developers took over the unfinished game and cobbled together a runnable game because the game's source code was subsequently leaked on the anonymous forum 4chan.

The story sounds a little bit "against authority", but for developers who are still persevering, the legal issue is still an insurmountable hurdle. Drayano has said: "although it is reasonable to understand the official decision, as the party that does not charge any fees, I still think this is a bit too much."

Although there has been a precedent of being taken off the shelves, in more cases, the official attitude is more like "turning a blind eye", acquiesced in the development of the relevant revised game to a certain extent. This has also led to the upcoming release of a series of new works, there are still a large number of high-quality works in the community.

"one of the most interesting parts of making a revised game is feedback and collaboration from the community." One author who is still insisting concludes.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: game Research Society (ID:yysaag).

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