The Best ROM Hack Website is Shutting Down After Nearly 20 Years (polygon.com) 16
ROMhacking.net, a prominent platform for fan translations and modifications of classic games, is shutting down after nearly two decades of operation. The site's administrator, who goes by the name Nightcrawler, said the website will remain accessible in a read-only format, but all new submissions have been halted and the site's extensive database has been transferred to the Internet Archive for preservation.
ROMhacking.net has long served as a crucial resource for gaming enthusiasts, according to Polygon, hosting a vast array of fan-made translations, bug fixes, and modifications for classic titles, many of which never received official localizations outside their countries of origin. The site's contributions to the gaming community include fan translations of Japanese-exclusive titles and even patches for long-standing bugs in popular games like Super Mario 64. Nightcrawler said the website ran into challenges including in managing the site's exponential growth and increasing copyright pressures, things that contributed to the decision to winding down operations.
ROMhacking.net has long served as a crucial resource for gaming enthusiasts, according to Polygon, hosting a vast array of fan-made translations, bug fixes, and modifications for classic titles, many of which never received official localizations outside their countries of origin. The site's contributions to the gaming community include fan translations of Japanese-exclusive titles and even patches for long-standing bugs in popular games like Super Mario 64. Nightcrawler said the website ran into challenges including in managing the site's exponential growth and increasing copyright pressures, things that contributed to the decision to winding down operations.
At least they are keeping it online (Score:4, Informative)
the site's extensive database has been transferred to the Internet Archive for preservation
At least they are doing the right thing, keeping everything available.
Re: At least they are keeping it online (Score:2)
Yes, kudos to them. This is the proper way to say goodbye with integrity and dignity. Too bad that examples like this one seem to be in the minority. Companies just pull the plug, letting the Internet Archive scramble to salvage the pieces, and take down whole swaths of the history of humanity with impunity.
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Nintendo does not like roms or even mods. (Score:2)
Nintendo does not like roms or even mods.
Sega is more open
Re:Nintendo does not like roms or even mods. (Score:5, Informative)
It's not a Nintendo or copyright thing. Nintendo basically can't do anything, since the ROM hacks are stored as delta patches to the original ROM. Although they can sure try:
Nightcrawler cited the challenge of sustaining ROMhacking.net as it grew “from an unknown fledgling site to an infinitely growing and globally known” one, and mounting copyright and takedown pressures.
No, this is good ol' fashioned Internet Drama, where someone got tired of the headaches of running a hobby project but couldn't find anyone to transfer it to:
Nightcrawler’s statement also accuses other unnamed persons, who they say volunteered to take over site operations, of doxxing and “deceitful plots [...] to cut me out.”
Re: Nintendo does not like roms or even mods. (Score:2)
If they do try it will be unaffordable to fight it.
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Other side of the story (Score:4, Informative)
Here's the other side of the story: https://bsky.app/profile/gideonzhi.bsky.social/post/3kypgqcah6k2p [bsky.app]
FWIW Nightcrawler has a history of throwing around some pretty accusations when he has disagreements with people.
Torrent Link (Score:5, Informative)
Link to the torrent from the Internet Archive
https://archive.org/download/r... [archive.org]
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I'm glad they zipped it up. There is an issue with Internet Archive torrents that they only include the first 100 files.
Just finding out (Score:2)
I didn't even know this existed. Very cool. Copyright pressures for dead games? Just have them sign a nonprofit agreement.
Low bar for "best" (Score:3)
romhacking.net (RHDN) has always had issues. They've always been somewhat arbitrary about which hacks they'll reject. They often force hackers to change or censor content they don't like. They won't publish negative reviews of hacks when the author is a friend of the administrators. They may have been the "best" ROM hack catalog, but only because it's a small field and the others are even worse.
They seem to be shutting down due to a combination of rising hosting costs and failure of succession planning.
challenges managing the site's exponential growth (Score:2)
I suppose that's why Amazon never took off, either. Too much growth.
This is actually possible and has destroyed companies before but, it's a sign of raving incompetence.