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https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking

An awesome list of epic resources related to romhacking for various games and consoles.
https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking

List: awesome-romhacking

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An awesome list of epic resources related to romhacking for various games and consoles.

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README 

        



# Awesome Romhacking

[![Awesome](https://awesome.re/badge.svg)](https://awesome.re)

[![Lint](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/actions/workflows/main.yml)



A list of resources for all your romhacking needs!





  




Romhacking is the practice of editing a video game's code — located in its *read-only memory*, or *ROM* — in order to modify the game.



**Legend:** 🐧 = for Linux, 🍎 = for Mac, 🪟 = for Windows, 💸 = paid software




## Contents

* [Where to Start](#where-to-start)

* [Subfields](#subfields)

* [Consoles](#consoles)

* [Prominent Games](#prominent-games)

* [Tools](#tools)

* [Assembly (ASM) Languages](#assembly-asm-languages)

* [General Communities](#general-communities)



## Where to Start

* [Getting Started](https://www.romhacking.net/start) - Romhacking Dot Net's page for beginners looking to get started with the various subfields of romhacking.

* [The Definitive Guide to Romhacking for Complete Beginners](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/blob/main/Media/The-Definitive-Guide-to-Rom-Hacking-for-Complete-Beginners.pdf) - A guide to romhacking that covers the basics of what romhacking is.

### Fundamental Concepts

* [Big Endian vs. Little Endian](https://www.baeldung.com/cs/big-endian-vs-little-endian) - An article on the concept of endianness.

* [Hexadecimal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCgTEzcUolk) - A YouTube video explaining number bases, binary, and hexadecimal.

* [Introduction to Programming Logic](https://dev.to/abbeymaniak/introduction-to-programming-logic-understanding-the-basics-of-coding-64a) - A short description of the basic mindset behind programming logic.

* [What is Debugging?](https://www.ibm.com/topics/debugging) - An explanation of debugging and the general debugging process.

### Advanced Concepts

* [Binary translation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_translation) - A Wikipedia page describing static binary translation, which is what static recompilations are.

* [Data Representation](https://cs61.seas.harvard.edu/site/2023/Datarep/#gsc.tab=0) - Harvard computer science course notes explaining how computers internally process data.

* [N64: Recompiled](https://github.com/N64Recomp/N64Recomp?tab=readme-ov-file#how-it-works) - A description of how recomps work for ROMs.

* [Reverse Engineering](https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20211202) - An article about reverse engineering and decompilation, which can be applied to ROMs.

* [Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/blob/main/Media/Eldad%20Eilam%20-%20Reversing%20-%20Secrets%20of%20Reverse%20Engineering.pdf) - A book about practices, strategies, and rationale for reverse engineering.



## Subfields

### Text Editing and Translation

### Graphics Editing

### Music Editing

### Level Editing

### Cheat Codes

* [Action Replay Code Types](https://gist.github.com/Nanquitas/d6c920a59c757cf7917c2bffa76de860) - A document describing the parts and technical meanings of Action Replay codes.



## Consoles

### Game Boy

### Game Boy Advance

* [GBATEK](https://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm) - More than everything you'll need to know about the hardware and software of the GBA, DS, and (to an extent) the 3DS.

* [FAST6196's GBA and DS Romhacking Guide (2016 Edition)](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/blob/main/Media/romhacking2016.pdf) - A thorough overview of GBA and DS romhacking with helpful examples.

### Nintendo Entertainment System

### Nintendo 3DS

### Nintendo 64

### Nintendo DS

* [The Ultimate Nintendo DS Romhacking Guide](https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-ultimate-nintendo-ds-rom-hacking-guide.291274) - A thread on GBATemp that goes over basic DS romhacking. Note that it uses some outdated tools.

* [Nitro Studio 2 Deluxe](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1639) - An all-in-one tool for editing music and sound effects in .sdat files. 🪟

### Nintendo GameCube

### PlayStation

### PlayStation 2

### PlayStation 3

### PlayStation Portable

### Sega Dreamcast

### Sega Game Gear

### Sega Genesis

### Sega Master System

### Sega Saturn

### Super Nintendo Entertainment System

### Wii

### Wii U

### Xbox

### Xbox 360



## Prominent Games

### *Doom* series

* [Doomworld](https://www.doomworld.com) - A forum for *Doom* discussion, including documentation and help with creating mods.

### *Pokémon* series

* [A Beginners Guide to Hacking Gen 3 Pokémon Games With Decomps](https://github.com/Bivurnum/decomps-resources/wiki#a-beginners-guide-to-hacking-gen-3-pok%C3%A9mon-games-with-decomps) - A guide with resources for hacking Pokémon with decompilations.

* [Pokecommunity Forums](https://www.pokecommunity.com) - A forum for sharing, discussing, and providing information on making Pokémon romhacks.

* [r/PokemonROMhacks](https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks) - A large subreddit for discussing and making Pokémon romhacks.

### *Metroid* series

* [Metroid Construction](https://metroidconstruction.com) - The hub for *Metroid* hacking and resources.

### *Super Mario 64*

* [Pannenkoek](https://www.youtube.com/user/pannenkoek2012) - A *Super Mario 64* YouTuber who makes in-depth technical explainer videos about the game's workings.

* [Kaze](https://www.youtube.com/@KazeN64) - A *Super Mario 64* YouTuber who creates mods and has optimized the entire source code.

### *Mario* series

* [New Super Mario Bros. Editor (NSMBE)](https://nsmbhd.net/download) - The main tool for modding *New Super Mario Bros.* (DS). 🪟

* [New Super Mario Bros. Hacking Domain (NSMBHD)](https://nsmbhd.net) - A forum for discussing everything about *New Super Mario Bros.* (DS) romhacking.

* [Super Mario World Central](https://smwcentral.net) - A community all about *Super Mario World*, but also may be relevant to other SNES hacking.

### *Super Smash Bros.* series

### *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time*



## Tools

### Patchers

* [beat](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/893) - Creates and applies BPS patches, a format which is a spiritual successor to the IPS format. 🪟

* [Lunar IPS](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/240) - Creates and applies IPS patches. 🪟

* [Online ROM Patcher](https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js) - An online app for applying patches of various formats. 🐧🍎🪟

* [XDelta](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598) - An app for creating and applying .xdelta patches. 🪟

### Hex Editors

* [Hex Workshop](http://www.hexworkshop.com) - A hex editor with many integrated tools, but doesn't do much more than free hex editors can do. 🪟💸

* [HxD](https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd) - A classic hex editor for disk, RAM, and file editing. 🪟

* [ImHex](https://github.com/WerWolv/ImHex) - A newer, modular hex editor for reverse engineering and programming, with features suited to romhacking. 🐧🍎🪟

* [WindHex32](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/291) - A hex editor with romhacking features, especially ones targeted for SNES games. 🪟

### Debugging Emulators

* [BGB](https://bgb.bircd.org) - A Game Boy and Game Boy Color debugging emulator. 🪟

* [FCEUX](https://fceux.com/web/home.html) - An NES and Famicom Disk System emulator including features for romhackers. 🐧🍎🪟

* [NO$GBA](https://problemkaputt.de/gba-dev.htm) - The "gold standard" emulator for working with GBA and DS games. 🪟

### Reverse Engineering Frameworks

* [Ghidra](https://ghidra-sre.org) - Free and open-source software by the National Security Agency for reverse-engineering binaries. 🐧🍎🪟

* [IDA Free](https://hex-rays.com/ida-free) - The free (and thus limited) version of IDA Pro, used for reverse engineering and development. 🐧🍎🪟

* [IDA Pro](https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro) - The fully-featured version of IDA Free. 🐧🍎🪟💸

### Graphics Editors

* [Crystal Tile 2](https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/818) - Contains many tools for DS hacking, but is also helpful as a general tile editor. 🪟

### Translation

* [Kuriimu2](https://github.com/FanTranslatorsInternational/Kuriimu2) - A "general purpose game translation project manager" for making fan translations. 🐧🍎🪟



## Assembly (ASM) Languages

### 6502

*Used by the NES.*

### 65816

*Used by the SNES.*

### 68000

*Used by the Genesis.*

* [68000 Assembly Programming for the Sega Genesis](https://www.chibiakumas.com/68000/genesis.php) - A detailed introduction to 68000 assembly.

### ARM

*Used by the GBA, DS, and 3DS.*

### MIPS

*Used by the PS1 and PS2.*

### PowerPC

*Used by the GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360.*

* [Basic ASM](https://www.wiicoding.info/basic-asm) - An introduction to assembly using PowerPC.

### x86

*Used by the original Xbox.*

### Z80

*Used by the Master System and Game Gear; the Game Boy uses a modified version called GBZ80.*



## General Communities

* [Romhack Dot Ing (RHDI)](https://www.romhack.ing) - A central site for sharing and finding romhacks, which also contains the hacks and utilities from the former hub romhacking.net.

* [Romhack Hispano](https://www.romhackhispano.org) - A romhacking community for Spanish speakers.

* [GameHacking.org](https://www.gamehacking.org) - A site dedicated to storing and creating cheat codes; includes a Discord server.

* [GBATemp Forums](https://www.gbatemp.net) - A large gaming forum with subgroups about romhacking on various consoles. There's a lot of valuable information here.

* [Game Banana](https://www.gamebanana.com) - A place to find (and upload) all sorts of game mods.

* [r/romhacking](https://www.reddit.com/r/romhacking) - A small subreddit about creating and playing romhacks.



## Contributing

[Contributions of any kind welcome, just follow the guidelines](contributing.md)!

### Contributors

[Thanks goes to these contributors](https://github.com/btelwy/awesome-romhacking/graphs/contributors)!