# My GB to GBC hack wishlist and my thoughts on existing ones



## SDA (Jun 26, 2021)

As I said in my latest profile post, colorization hacks for monochromatic Game Boy games are my favorite. So I've decided to let people know what I think of them and what games for GB I want to see in color.

*Super Mario Land 2 DX (toruzz)







*
Simply, and without doubt, my favorite of them all. This is exactly how the game would have looked if Nintendo actually released it - with all sprite tiles colorized individually, and it's even possible to play as Luigi with separate physics. Anybody who has a GBC must play this and not the original. For better experience I also recommend to apply a small patch that fixes a graphic mistake on Bunny Mario's sprite. Strange though, the hack is based on the 1.0 ROM rather than the 1.2 one which fixes some bugs.

For those curious out there, I have also added the title screen from the Japanese version.

*Super Mario Land DX (toruzz)*







This one is also my favorite. Yes, the Game Boy launch title has also been properly colorized and the graphics have been changed too, so for example Daisy now really looks like Daisy as in the original she looked more like Pauline. With the new update, it gained lots of fixes/improvements, redone sprites (especially the enemies, to look more like their official artworks), an options menu at the title screen which lets you choose between new and old graphics, difficulty mode (easy or hard) and, finally, you can now play as Luigi. There's even SRAM to save your high score and settings. Like Super Mario Land 2 DX, however, this hack is based on the 1.0 ROM rather than the 1.1 one.

Above, you can see how the title screen looks like with either Mario and Luigi.

*Metroid II - EJRTQ Colorization (EJRTQ)



*
What people wanted and tried for a long time (over a decade) and now have finally succeeded with this hack. One of the best 2D Metroid games now shines in full color and even colorizes Samus' helmet properly with the green visor instead of the same color as her armor. I strongly recommend to apply a patch that fixes the arm cannon graphic after switching from missiles and obviously the Canon Samus patch which gives a much better look to Samus' appearance in the good ending.

*Dr. Mario DX (marc_max)*




Even if I'm not a fan of Dr. Mario, I somehow got addicted to the relatively easy gameplay where you must align 4 or more pills/viruses of the same color: blue, red and yellow. The Game Boy port of the game wasn't really the best as it instead used monochromatic pills (shaded, black and white) that look odd, worse if you play on the GB green-matrix screen you may not be able to see them. So this is where this hack, made by a Spanish ROM hacker nicknamed marc_max, comes in. You now have the pills colorized properly and the virus' graphics have been altered to look more like the NES version. Yeah, this one is also one of my favorite colorization hacks. And unlike Super Mario Land 1 and 2 DX this hack is based on the Rev A ROM!

*Pokémon: Red Version and Pokémon: Blue Version Full Color Hack (Drenn)






*
First of all, let me say that _I am NOT a Pokémon fan_. The reason for this is that nowadays, everywhere I go I find Pokémon or something related to it (Pikachu, for example). It's basically one of the most overrated game series ever. Anyway... these you see above are the games that started it all and you've got them colorized as if they were official releases. As for the battle sprites, they have been colorized and even replaced with those from the Gen 2 games, making it look like you're playing Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal instead! Of course there is also a patch that leaves the Gen 1 sprites intact (the backsprites are still from Gen 2, however).

Shame though that this colorization was made exclusively for the English ROM, when these games were also translated into five other languages including mine (Italian).

*Kirby's Dream Land DX, Kirby's Dream Land DX Revised and Kirby's Dream Land DX - Fluffy Repair Service (respectively GreenAndACat, ShadowOne333 and minucce)*




...Oh _god_. *pants heavily* The horror. This one is not a colorization hack, it's nothing but a total abomination. Yeah, at least some stuff was colorized, mainly Kirby's sprite, but it's not used in the best way ever, so some stages (e.g. Green Greens) either have wrong colors or uncolored objects, and the transition effects are also ruined. Let's not mention King Dedede who absolutely hasn't got the right colors and is half-corrupted in battle and in the credits. I do not recommend to play this hack at all and instead keep playing the original monochrome version in the hope that someday a skilled romhacker decides to colorize this Game Boy masterpiece _properly and decently_.

A patch released by minucce fixes all of the corruptions that were in the original DX hack and adds some stuff like a SGB border (unnecessary since this is Game Boy Color), but this colorization is still horrible because of the overly bright color palettes. I still do not recommend it!

*Donkey Kong Land: New Colors Mode (Specialagentape)*




Okay... I have to admit this is the most impressive colorization I have ever seen. It quite does its job, giving color to both levels and overworld, but it doesn't end here. There's a time attack mode, the level names from the manual displayed on the overworld map, a reserve Kong icon like the sequels have and unused songs restored in-game. And the best of it all - a new menu that features a complete level list, the possibility to change your character's palette and a "speed hack" that lets the game run faster. Which, unfortunately, also corrupts out the game when playing on accurate emulators and real hardware (this also happens with the original). Honestly, I don't know if I can recommend this hack or not because of that. Maybe the author will update and fix it in some way?

*Kirby's Pinball Land DX (kkzero)*




Woah, surprisingly well done. The first of the Kirby spin-off games ever released has been colorized so finely that it looks official, and the palettes for the three stages of the game are also nice (like Kracko's stage for example). And Scarfy is also orange instead of pink. With a recent update it also gained color improvements, all graphic garbages fixed (i.e. when pausing the game), the usage of the GBC's extra CPU and even an error screen for when this is played on the original Game Boy. All in all, it's a real great colorization. Perhaps this hack could be the inspiration to color Kirby's Dream Land in the right way...

*Alleyway DX (MojoDodo)*




Another one of the games that, back in 1989, launched the Game Boy, it's just Breakout with a Super Mario Bros. feel to it. Not only this patch gives the game full color, but also throws in various improvements like a 5-digit score, a level selector on the title screen, the possibility to change the blocks' style with the Select button and, most importantly, high score saving. It's even DMG compatible, which makes it pretty versatile even if you don't have a Game Boy Color. My only complaints: some colors are excessively bright, certain in-game stuff (like Mario himself) should be graphically improved and I also wish the background was white instead of the color you see here.

*Arcade Classics No. 3 - Galaga & Galaxian DX (MojoDodo)*




1979 and 1981 were the years in which we saw the release of two iconic shoot 'em ups: Galaxian and Galaga. This little package for the Game Boy contains them _both_ and is even compatible with the Super Game Boy. From it, this colorization hack comes out and does a pretty good job on Galaxian (even though the background is a very dark gray instead of black). As for Galaga... it's a completely different story, it is left with the unfitting SGB palette and the sprites aren't even that accurate to the original arcade, which is a true shame. I don't think I will recommend this hack until MojoDodo gets back on this and gives color to Galaga. Sorry, but unfinished colorizations are not my favorite.

That was pretty much it. Now I'll tell what games I want to get a DX treatment.

Yoshi (JP: Yoshi no Tamago, EU: Mario & Yoshi)
Yoshi's Cookie
Atomic Punk (JP: Bomber Boy, EU: Dynablaster)
Adventure Island I and Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise
All Mega Man titles for Game Boy, from Dr. Wily's Revenge to IV
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Dig Dug GB
Street Fighter II
Bubble Bobble and Bubble Bobble Part II
All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles for Game Boy (Fall of the Foot Clan, Back from the Sewers, Radical Rescue)
Pac-In-Time (SGB Enhanced)
Mario's Picross (SGB Enhanced)
Contra: The Alien Wars (SGB Enhanced)
Adventures of Lolo (SGB Enhanced)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Donkey Kong '94 (SGB Enhanced)
Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman (JP: Bomberman GB) (SGB Enhanced)
Bomberman GB (JP: Bomberman GB 2) (SGB Enhanced)
*RED TEXT:* a game that has been colorized but is terrible in quality
*GREEN TEXT:* a game that is currently being worked on to DX.

What GB games would you like to see colorized?


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## BlazeMasterBM (Jun 26, 2021)

Has anybody ever colorized Wario Land 1? I think that would be great, especially if they can actually get it to his real colors and not black and white like WL 2 and 3.


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## SDA (Jun 26, 2021)

BlazeMasterBM said:


> Has anybody ever colorized Wario Land 1? I think that would be great, especially if they can actually get it to his real colors and not black and white like WL 2 and 3.


I agree. Toruzz has already colorized Mario Land 1 and 2, why not do the same with Wario Land?


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## Titney (Jun 26, 2021)

I like this older, simpler Super Mario Land Colour hack, it's far less polished than Toruzz hack, but I like the original sprites.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1187/

My top wish is the one Toruzz is already working on, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru.
I'd also like to see Gargoyle's Quest and the sequel, and Kirby's Dream Land 2 colorized.
Also, I don't know how realistic it is, but the Final Fantasy Legend/SaGa games.


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## SDA (Jun 27, 2021)

Titney said:


> I like this older, simpler Super Mario Land Colour hack, it's far less polished than Toruzz hack, but I like the original sprites.


Well, actually it's also possible to import the sprites from the monochrome game and import them into the new DX hack, then recoloring them so that they display correctly in-game. I did that with Tile Layer Pro and it worked for the most part.


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## Titney (Jun 27, 2021)

SDA said:


> Well, actually it's also possible to import the sprites from the monochrome game and import them into the new DX hack, then recoloring them so that they display correctly in-game. I did that with Tile Layer Pro and it worked for the most part.


Nice! I think Toruzz background colorization is far more sophisticated, so that+original sprites might be the ultimate colorized SML for me.

Also, forgot to mention in my last post, but another one of my favorite color hacks is the Pokemon Red/Blue Full Color Hack
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1385/


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## SDA (Jun 27, 2021)

@Titney Yeah, that one's also one of my favorite colorizations despite I don't play Pokémon at all. Someone should make a color hack of Pokémon Blue too.


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## Titney (Jun 28, 2021)

SDA said:


> @Titney Yeah, that one's also one of my favorite colorizations despite I don't play Pokémon at all. Someone should make a color hack of Pokémon Blue too.


Even though the title on romhacking says just red, the download includes a patch for blue as well. I actually played the blue version when I played this hack.


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## SDA (Jun 28, 2021)

Titney said:


> Even though the title on romhacking says just red, the download includes a patch for blue as well.


Huh, I never knew that before. It's pretty much a surprise for people expecting a color patch for Red only.


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## SDA (Jun 29, 2021)

There are some more games I want to see in color, for example Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. Apparently Pit isn't popular anymore as some years ago.

Check the first post on the thread for info.


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## Titney (Jul 10, 2021)

A new challenger appears, @Specialagentape on twitter working on a Donkey Kong Land color hack
I wanted to hold off on announcing it til it was done, but I figured I'd announce it a bit early in celebration of #DonkeyKong40 I've been working on a colorization patch for the original Donkey Kong Land! It should be out quite soon (within a few weeks, likely) pic.twitter.com/ei064QJw4F— Andrew (@SpecialAgentApe) July 9, 2021


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## AmandaRose (Jul 10, 2021)

I would like to see

Final Fantasy Legend 1/2/2
Final Fantasy Adventure
Dragon Quest I & II
Dragon Quest Monsters 1&2
Rolans Curse 1&2
Great Greed
Knight Quest
Mysterium
Sword of Hope 1& 2
Ultima: Ruins of Virtune I &II


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## Titney (Jul 10, 2021)

AmandaRose said:


> I would like to see
> 
> Dragon Quest I & II


This one is in color already (I've been playing through them in color on a gameboy color) I think it's dual mode though, so maybe you played them in black and white?


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## AmandaRose (Jul 10, 2021)

Titney said:


> This one is in color already (I've been playing through them in color on a gameboy color) I think it's dual mode though, so maybe you played them in black and white?


Yep totally forgot it had duel mode


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## marc_max (Jul 10, 2021)

I'm working on a Mega Man V colorization hack:


Also, looking for some graphic artist to colorize Ninja Gaiden Shadow. I've got all routines done already, but need someone into pixel art.


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## SDA (Jul 10, 2021)

marc_max said:


> I'm working on a Mega Man V colorization hack:
> 
> 
> Also, looking for some graphic artist to colorize Ninja Gaiden Shadow. I've got all routines done already, but need someone into pixel art.



You're the author of Dr. Mario DX! You have all my thanks for making one of my favorite puzzle games in color.
Wait a second though, isn't the hack supposed to be for the USA version (Mega Man V) too? The one shown in the video is the Japanese version.


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## marc_max (Jul 11, 2021)

SDA said:


> You're the author of Dr. Mario DX! You have all my thanks for making one of my favorite puzzle games in color.
> Wait a second though, isn't the hack supposed to be for the USA version (Mega Man V) too? The one shown in the video is the Japanese version.


The one shown in the video is the USA/Europe version ;-)


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## SDA (Jul 11, 2021)

marc_max said:


> The one shown in the video is the USA/Europe version ;-)


That's the Japanese version (Rockman World 5) but with the logo altered to say "Megaman". The USA/Europe version has this titlescreen.




There is a huge difference between this and the Japanese one.

Since you're colorizing a game that had a Super Game Boy function, I recommend to find a way to remove the SGB palettes to make more free space for the GBC palettes. If making a patch for the American and European versions with the original MMV logo, my advice is to import the logo and colors from the NES version of Mega Man V, to make it closer to the aforementioned game.


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## SDA (Jul 14, 2021)

Another couple of games has been added to my wishlist! It's Bubble Bobble and Bubble Bobble Part II for the GB.


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## SDA (Jul 18, 2021)

Oh man, lots of titles have been just added to my wishlist.
Who does remember for example Mario's Picross? Yes, that game is one of the most popular on the GB and deserves more than a simple Super Game Boy palette.


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## Kwyjor (Jul 18, 2021)

The colorization process is often difficult and non-trivial, so it's hard to imagine why anyone would proceed with some of these.  Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie both have NES ports. (Also, Yoshi isn't really very good.)  Castlevania II famously got a GBC release in Konami GB Collection Vol. 3. I guess GB Street Fighter II has a few unique things to offer, but did anyone really like that one..?



AmandaRose said:


> Final Fantasy Legend 1/2/2
> Ultima: Ruins of Virtune I &II



Final Fantasy Legend might be best enjoyed in its Wonderswan Color port; the DS remakes of the other two games might arguably be a little too different.  Runes of Virtue II had a SNES version.


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## mightymuffy (Jul 18, 2021)

Monster Max lads.... one of my fave Rare games, certainly their finest hour on the GB ...but the amount of work that would involve - nah best to leave it as is I suppose...(if anyone fancies a challenge though?!)


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## ShadowOne333 (Jul 18, 2021)

Both of the Castlevania Adventure games already have colorized ports for GBC under the Konami Collections Vol. 1 & 4. Castlevania Legends is the one that doesn't have a color version, I'd love to see one for it.
Aside from those, I'd also love to see proper colorizations of Sword of Mana (or FF Adventure iirc, one based on the Wonderswan port), Kirby's Dreamland 2, Wario Land 1 and Donkey Kong (the one based on the arcade game, not the Land series).

I think only with Dreamland 2, Wario Land 1 and Donkey Kong I'd be happy.
All the main Nintendo games from that era should have a proper colored version.


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## Kwyjor (Jul 18, 2021)

ShadowOne333 said:


> Donkey Kong (the one based on the arcade game, not the Land series).


But why, when you could play it in SGB mode? (Yes, SGB mode wasn't so great for most games, but that is the singular case where SGB mode was employed for maximum effect.)


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## ShadowOne333 (Jul 18, 2021)

Kwyjor said:


> But why, when you could play it in SGB mode? (Yes, SGB mode wasn't so great for most games, but that is the singular case where SGB mode was employed for maximum effect.)


Well, the same can be said for a lot of other GB titles on SGB.
Dreamland 1, Mario Land, Donkey Kong, Metroid 2, etc., but nothing beats having a proper defined palette per asset on the screen.
Even with Donkey Kong having some color on SGB, the game still has a lot of dull levels and colors. Just look at the backgrounds being mostly white, it gets really boring after a couple of levels.


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## Kwyjor (Jul 19, 2021)

ShadowOne333 said:


> Well, the same can be said for a lot of other GB titles on SGB.
> Dreamland 1, Mario Land, Donkey Kong, Metroid 2, etc.


No, none of those were made with the SGB in mind. Donkey Kong is unique in that regard.



> Just look at the backgrounds being mostly white, it gets really boring after a couple of levels.


Multicolored backgrounds would make things harder to see. (They would also be extremely time-consuming to colorize.)


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## SDA (Jul 19, 2021)

Kwyjor said:


> The colorization process is often difficult and non-trivial, so it's hard to imagine why anyone would proceed with some of these. Yoshi and Yoshi's Cookie both have NES ports. (Also, Yoshi isn't really very good.)


Did you know? I actually _don't_ like monochromatic games, I like them being in color. Even if those games have already a NES port, and I know that, I like playing the GB ports more. With the fact that sprites can have up to four colors instead of three, and that tiles can be colorized individually (also with 4 colors per tile), graphically-wise GB colorizations would look much better. Take a look at Mario's sprite in the Yoshi puzzle game for NES - he has got a white face, which definitely doesn't suit him at all.





With proper colorization programming on the GB, you would be able to make Mario's face in the natural color, and the overalls blue instead of black. Same thing goes for Luigi, who looks even worse with 3 colors only.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jul 19, 2021)

Kwyjor said:


> No, none of those were made with the SGB in mind. Donkey Kong is unique in that regard.


What do you mind "weren't made with SGB in mind"?
If they weren't made with SGB in mind, why do they have special palettes when played on SGB?
All of those games I mentioned have special code/palettes exclusive for when they're being played on the SGB.

Metroid 2 (SGB):


Spoiler











Kirby's Dreamland (SGB):


Spoiler













Kwyjor said:


> Multicolored backgrounds would make things harder to see. (They would also be extremely time-consuming to colorize.)


The fact that a lot of GBC games use different colored backgrounds just makes that point mute, and being time consuming is pretty much the Modus Operandi of every hacker out there.
That's one of the perks of having a properly-colorized GB game, having an abundance of color to choose from or glance at.
I mean, just look at this:


Spoiler










That looks awful and really bland, almost everything is filled with white, and the only other colors aren't much better either, and that's already the Super Game Boy running Donkey Kong. The only parts where the game looks decently colorized is in the menus or in the level selection, but in the actual game, it's absolutely horrible.

Here's a comparison that really shows why SGB colorizations doesn't really give justice to a lot of games, compared to a proper colorization hack:
Super Mario Land (SGB) VS. Super Mario Land DX (toruzz) [Yes, the 2nd image is the actual colorization hack he made]:


Spoiler











[.spoiler]


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## Kwyjor (Jul 19, 2021)

ShadowOne333 said:


> What do you mind "weren't made with SGB in mind"?


How could they have been programmed with the SGB in mind when they were developed years before the SGB was released!?



ShadowOne333 said:


> If they weren't made with SGB in mind, why do they have special palettes when played on SGB?
> All of those games I mentioned have special code/palettes exclusive for when they're being played on the SGB.


They have exactly one palette that the SGB is programmed to apply when the SGB recognizes the game. This is absolutely not the case for Donkey Kong.



ShadowOne333 said:


> Super Mario Land (SGB) VS. Super Mario Land DX (toruzz) [Yes, the 2nd image is the actual colorization hack he made]:


But neither of those have multicolored backgrounds either.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jul 19, 2021)

Kwyjor said:


> How could they have been programmed with the SGB in mind when they were developed years before the SGB was released!?
> They have exactly one palette that the SGB is programmed to apply when the SGB recognizes the game. This is absolutely not the case for Donkey Kong.


Perhaps for Donkey Kong yes, it does have specific palettes for certain stuff, but the in-game still suffers from the same bland palette most of the time, and it's still far from being on-pair with a GBC or DX release of the same game.



Kwyjor said:


> But neither of those have multicolored backgrounds either.


I think this one is a misunderstanding.
I didn't mean multicolored backgrounds as in a sole background with multiple colors, I meant variety in the background colors from level to level, or in different parts of the game, like in the SML DX image, where the underground parts have black background, and the main level has blue back, like that.


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## SDA (Jul 19, 2021)

@ShadowOne333 I agree. Super Game Boy palettes aren't way too advanced in color. I remember Tetris Attack for Game Boy which has a palette that consists of brown scale colors, which isn't the best.

So this is the reason I want several monochrome games to be colorized - simply because the Game Boy Color hardware is much more capable of the SGB hardware. Plus, if you play a GB-only game on a GBC console, there will be four colors (shades of orange for Nintendo games and green and blue for other games) slapped on every sprite. Like here in Yoshi's Cookie:




Seriously, would you ever play a game that is supposed to be monochromatic and instead has got shades of a single color planted everywhere? The default GBC palette is even poorer in colors than SGB's.


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## Titney (Jul 22, 2021)

Titney said:


> A new challenger appears, @Specialagentape on twitter working on a Donkey Kong Land color hack
> https://twitter.com/SpecialAgentApe/status/1413466648015560711


This has now been released!

"Description:
This is a GameBoy to GameBoy Color conversion for Donkey Kong Land. It also includes some new features: A Time Attack mode, level names from the manual displayed in the corner of the screen on the overworld, unused music restored, and quality of life updates: an icon now appears in the bottom right of the screen when you have a Kong in reserve, and you can change your Kong’s palette. Some new features are accessed by pressing Select on the overworld. Please see the readme for more details."

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6076/


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## SDA (Jul 22, 2021)

Titney said:


> This has now been released!
> 
> "Description:
> This is a GameBoy to GameBoy Color conversion for Donkey Kong Land. It also includes some new features: A Time Attack mode, level names from the manual displayed in the corner of the screen on the overworld, unused music restored, and quality of life updates: an icon now appears in the bottom right of the screen when you have a Kong in reserve, and you can change your Kong’s palette. Some new features are accessed by pressing Select on the overworld. Please see the readme for more details."
> ...


I'll try it right away.


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## marc_max (Jul 24, 2021)

SDA said:


> the fact that sprites can have up to four colors instead of three.



That's wrong.


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## Titney (Jul 24, 2021)

New hack I didn't even know I needed, Kirby's Pinball Land DX by kkzero:











https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6079/


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## Titney (Jul 25, 2021)

Titney said:


> Nice! I think Toruzz background colorization is far more sophisticated, so that+original sprites might be the ultimate colorized SML for me.


Looks like my dreams might come true:

Oh yeah, that's the new Mario sprite I'm using for the upcoming version of Super Mario Land DX. It's the same size as the original, but you'll be able to choose the original sprites if you still don't like it.— Iván Delgado (@toruzz) July 24, 2021


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## SDA (Jul 25, 2021)

Titney said:


> Looks like my dreams might come true:
> 
> https://twitter.com/toruzz/status/1418909767800659978


I do also like the new Mario sprite though, so I hope there will be separate patches, one with the original sprite.
Wait, is Toruzz active? I need to report some bugs like the glitching spacecraft in the ending cutscene and this mistake:




The pyramid in the background in that section is like, colored incorrectly. *EDIT:* No, that cannot be fixed. Oh well!


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## Titney (Jul 25, 2021)

SDA said:


> I do also like the new Mario sprite though, so I hope there will be separate patches, one with the original sprite.
> Wait, is Toruzz active? I need to report some bugs like the glitching spacecraft in the ending cutscene and this mistake:
> 
> 
> ...


Well he did say people can choose, so I guess it should be either separate patches or some way to choose within the game (like how you can pick Luigi in his SML2 hack)


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## SDA (Jul 25, 2021)

Titney said:


> Well he did say people can choose, so I guess it should be either separate patches or some way to choose within the game (like how you can pick Luigi in his SML2 hack)


I understand. I also have reported the bugs in the DX hack, he said they will all be fixed. Except what I mentioned above, obviously.


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## Titney (Aug 2, 2021)

Another DX hack from kkzero, Faceball 2000. The colors look pretty intense in the screenshots but they look fine on original hardware.















*Description:*
This is a color/enhancement hack of the technological marvel that is Faceball 2000.

FEATURES:

HIGHER FRAMERATES - This hack takes advantage of the GBC’s extra hardware to increase the speed of gameplay.
FULL COLOR - Multiple palettes have been utilized to add some color variety to the game.
FIXED AUDIO - Sound channel 3 now actually gets a waveform loaded, making the music sound as intended.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6107/


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## SDA (Aug 2, 2021)

@Titney I already noticed it on RHDN. And there is also a new upcoming colorization:


Spoiler



Donkey Kong Land 2, made by the same author of the DKL color patch.


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## MikaDubbz (Aug 2, 2021)

Man, how do you make this thread and not mention my number 1 Game Boy game that I wish received this treatment before any of the others we've seen so far??!?!??  Freaking Donkey Kong '94, where the hell is the colorized version of that one alread?!!!?

And people saying that we got the Super Game Boy colorization of the game, so we don't need one, clearly don't recognize how bland that "colorization" really is.  If anything I just view that as like playing the game on a Game Boy Color with palettes that are optimized per level.  Not the same as a full proper colorization like what we've seen lately.


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## SDA (Aug 2, 2021)

I don't think a color patch for that exists, no offense.
Also, @MikaDubbz, I think you should calm down yourself a bit.


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## MikaDubbz (Aug 2, 2021)

SDA said:


> I don't think a color patch for that exists, no offense.



That's my point... he lists all these games he wants to get such colorization from the OG Game Boy, but doesn't list what should be the top contender?!  Especially with all the other titles that have already seen the treatment.


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## SDA (Aug 2, 2021)

MikaDubbz said:


> That's my point... he lists all these games he wants to get such colorization from the OG Game Boy, but doesn't list what should be the top contender?!  Especially with all the other titles that have already seen the treatment.


What are you even trying to get from me, huh?


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## MikaDubbz (Aug 2, 2021)

SDA said:


> What are you even trying to get from me, huh?



?  You mad at me?  I'm just asking how OP's list of games that they want to receive such a colorization doesn't include possibly the greatest OG Game Boy game, Donkey Kong 94?


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## SDA (Aug 2, 2021)

MikaDubbz said:


> ?  You mad at me?  I'm just asking OP's list of games that they want to receive such a colorization doesn't include possibly the greatest OG Game Boy game, Donkey Kong 94?


That OP you're talking about is ME.
I didn't include Donkey Kong '94 because everyone was wishing already for that game to be fully colorized. Putting that obvious title in the first post would be a waste of time in my opinion.


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## MikaDubbz (Aug 2, 2021)

SDA said:


> That OP you're talking about is ME.
> I didn't include Donkey Kong '94 because everyone was wishing for that game to be fully colorized. Putting that obvious title in the first post would be a waste of time in my opinion.


Oh Ok, just curious why it wasn't in the list.  I personally would include it for my personal list even if it is the most obvious choice ever, doesn't change the fact that it is indeed what I would love to see all the same.

Since you got me talking about it here is my short list:

Donkey Kong '94
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Kirby's Block Ball
Warioland 1
Pokemon Yellow (Like a full proper colorization, I know it's technically considered a Color game, but get it looking more like Gold and Silver with it's color than how it's currently programmed)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Game and Watch Gallery 1
The Mega Man games

Those are my main desires, I'm probably missing something, I'll add any if I think of any.


----------



## SDA (Aug 2, 2021)

@MikaDubbz some of those are also in my wishlist. Kid Icarus and all MM titles, for example.


----------



## Titney (Aug 5, 2021)

Titney said:


> Nice! I think Toruzz background colorization is far more sophisticated, so that+original sprites might be the ultimate colorized SML for me.



Dreams do come true 
Thanks to @toxic9 
https://gbatemp.net/threads/super-mario-land-dx-mod.592360/

Still a bit buggy but I already like it better than the modified sprites.


----------



## ShadowOne333 (Aug 5, 2021)

Titney said:


> Dreams do come true
> Thanks to @toxic9
> https://gbatemp.net/threads/super-mario-land-dx-mod.592360/
> 
> Still a bit buggy but I already like it better than the modified sprites.


I did something similar way back when SML DX recently released.
I created the Mario sprite to be similar to the original SML, but with the color scheme of SMB on NES.
The problem Toxic has with the jumping frames is due to the sprite Toruzz made being separated into two 8x8 sprites, and each one having a unique palette.
The bottom 8x8 sprite uses white, red and blue for the colors, while the top 8x8 sprite uses beige, red and blue, and given how Toruzz's new sprites are taller than the original SML sprites, when changing the sprites back to the original size, you end up with Mario's head having to fit into the bottom 8x8 sprite, hence the white face on some frames.

One way I fixed this was by giving both the top and bottom sprites the same palette, but the downside of this is that certain items that share the bottom 8x8 sprite palette also get modified. Another way is to still keep both body and head separate, and move the head sprite lower in a tile editor.
An easier way to do this would be to give Mario's bottom 8x8 sprite the same palette as the top one through sprite attributes, I'm sure that should be easy to do, but sadly not something I have the expertise to do. Perhaps Toruzz himself could give an insight as to where to look for this.

However, it's better to wait it out already, Toruzz is close to finishing 2.0 of SML DX, and he will be releasing a method of switching back to the original sprites.


----------



## SDA (Aug 6, 2021)

Have you seen the Twitter post Toruzz has made? Well, just look at this screenshot.





One of the features the 2.0 version of Super Mario Land DX is going to have is a brand new *options menu*!!


----------



## osaka35 (Aug 6, 2021)

Love this thread. that metroid II and pokemon one have been my favorites in the past. Nothing like a good quality rom hack, especially ones like this which add that extra special sauce.

I like working on nes roms, personally (zelda II is my current project), but this stuff? this is good stuff.


----------



## SDA (Aug 7, 2021)

Another new feature: LUIGI as a playable character!


----------



## SDA (Aug 26, 2021)

Notes about the new update! There will be (apparently) an alternative palette for Superball Mario/Luigi, a proper 1-Up sprite, and (also apparently) a new graphic for when Mario looks up.

I'll be honest, I _don't_ really like the new Superball coloration.


----------



## SDA (Sep 15, 2021)

Remember when I said that it's not a good idea to play monochromatic Game Boy games on a Game Boy Color? Well, look at this screenshot from Kirby's Dream Land 2.




The colors are, without any shadow of doubt, _really horrible_.


----------



## hippy dave (Sep 15, 2021)

SDA said:


> Remember when I said that it's not a good idea to play monochromatic Game Boy games on a Game Boy Color? Well, look at this screenshot from Kirby's Dream Land 2.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Did you try holding different buttons on boot to get different palettes?


----------



## MikaDubbz (Sep 15, 2021)

hippy dave said:


> Did you try holding different buttons on boot to get different palettes?


This.  There are many palettes you can swap between for OG GB games on a GBC by holding different button combos when you turn on the GBC with the game inserted.  That palette looks bad for Kirby 2, but I bet there are a few that look great.


----------



## SDA (Sep 15, 2021)

hippy dave said:


> Did you try holding different buttons on boot to get different palettes?


What button combinations should I perform? Can you give me some examples?


----------



## MikaDubbz (Sep 15, 2021)




----------



## Titney (Sep 15, 2021)

SDA said:


> Remember when I said that it's not a good idea to play monochromatic Game Boy games on a Game Boy Color? Well, look at this screenshot from Kirby's Dream Land 2.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Kirby's Dream Land 2 is one of a few games that have custom palettes built into the GBC bios.
https://tcrf.net/Notes:Game_Boy_Color_Bootstrap_ROM#Assigned_Palette_Configurations

The Gambatte emulator should be able to run it in properly in GBC mode using the bios palettes. Or  you can run the game on actual hardware in a way that the GBC sees the Kirby header when the game starts.

This was the only screenshot I was able to find and most people seem to screenshot it in SGB mode.




https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/gzozsn/sameboy_vs_gambatte_a_comparison_using_kirbys/


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## ScarletDreamz (Sep 15, 2021)

Probably not a "GB TO GBC" but there was a "FAN" project for MMX2 recolor on the idea of "What if the Specs for the GBC were doubled", and its by far, my most favorite thing that could exist as a project, take in consideration that MMX2 (for the gbc) is my favorite game on that system:


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## Titney (Sep 16, 2021)

SDA said:


> Remember when I said that it's not a good idea to play monochromatic Game Boy games on a Game Boy Color? Well, look at this screenshot from Kirby's Dream Land 2.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here are some (crappy) pics to give an idea of what it looks like on real hardware. Looks like whatever emulator you're using might be going overboard with the slight yellow tint of the white on the real GBC screen.


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## SDA (Sep 16, 2021)

@Titney I’m using VBA-M.


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## Titney (Sep 16, 2021)

SDA said:


> @Titney I’m using VBA-M.


Maybe try using Gambatte instead, with a real GBC bios file. It's available as a core on Retroarch:
https://www.retroarch.com/
https://docs.libretro.com/library/gambatte/


----------



## Mikef1 (Oct 27, 2021)

This needs color...


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## SDA (Oct 27, 2021)

Mikef1 said:


> This needs color...
> 
> View attachment 281849


I was thinking the same exact thing!


----------



## Bonny (Nov 1, 2021)

*Tail Gator* would bo cool in color... or *Shadow Warriors, Garfield Labyrinth, Fortified Zone...*


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## SDA (Nov 4, 2021)

To all the people playing the 1.0 version of Super Mario Land DX, did this happen to you?




It crashed when I was hitting a multi-coin block and while equipped with the Starman. I already reported this bug to Toruzz and I hope it will be fixed in the imminent 2.0 version.


----------



## SDA (Nov 30, 2021)

Review list updated! Check it out...


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## Thee_Stranger (Dec 12, 2021)

Uh, yeah. Donkey Kong '94. Put it on the list. Doesn't matter if it's "obvious". If it's so obvious, why hasn't it been done yet? The more that people clamour for it, the more likely someone will put in the work, gift it to us, and it'll happen. To my knowledge, no one is even working on it. Yet we got a colorization of WHAT? _Faceball 2000_?? Really? And Donkey Kong Land, a notoriously crappy game. Not to knock the hard work of these hackers, but they should really get their priorities straight. 

Donkey Kong '94 is the absolute best game for the original Gameboy, next to The Return of Samus. I got it with my Super Gameboy back in the day. It was real cool in 1994, but the SGB colors are  crap outside of the menu screens.

Then someone can get on colorizing the TMNT trilogy. I had those games as a wee one as well, so it would be nice to see them in color.

But, priorities. Start with the obvious, and then work backwards. Want to play this in color on my 3DS or GBA. 

Thank you in advance for the honorable hard work to which ever hacker takes on this project.


----------



## SDA (Dec 12, 2021)

@Thee_Stranger someone already complained with me about that I didn't put Donkey Kong '94 on the list.
Also, I think you misunderstood my last post because when I said "review list" I meant the list where I personally review the already existing colorization hacks. You were likely looking at my wishlist where I instead put games I want to see colorized but no such hacks for them exist yet.

Anyway, here you go. I added Donkey Kong '94 to my wishlist. -_-"


----------



## Thee_Stranger (Dec 12, 2021)

SDA said:


> @Thee_Stranger someone already complained with me about that I didn't put Donkey Kong '94 on the list.
> Also, I think you misunderstood my last post because when I said "review list" I meant the list where I personally review the already existing colorization hacks. You were likely looking at my wishlist where I instead put games I want to see colorized but no such hacks for them exist yet.
> 
> Anyway, here you go. I added Donkey Kong '94 to my wishlist. -_-"


Yes, I know. I read the entirety of your OP, as well as the entire thread. I didn't misunderstand anything; the title of your thread is literally *"My GB to GBC hack wishlist and my thoughts on existing ones"*. Though your actual OP has the wishlist at the end, the actual title of your thread begins with it.

Somewhere along the way, after whichever user complained about it, you replied that you didn't include it simply because it was too obvious a choice. I simply don't agree with that logic. I mean, I was basically being a tad hyperbolic with my last post, and it's perfectly OK if you personally don't really care to see Donkey Kong '94 colorized above other titles, but I think if it really, genuinely was such an obvious choice, it would have already been done by now. And I don't think being an obvious choice is a good reason to omit it from the list.

Then someone else chimed in that such an undertaking would basically be superfluous since Donkey '94 already received an elaborate color treatment with the Super Gameboy. I think anyone under that impression is simply going off screenshots like this:


When the actual _gameplay_ looks like this:

Which is only a slight step up from this:

When it _could_ look like something this:

I'll miss those sweet SGB borders, though.

Anyway, I thank you for acquiescing to, and appeasing us DK '94 complainers here, and I feel like we should keep this thread and discussion going to raise awareness and build consensus among the community for the GBC color hacks we want.

This is obviously my #1.


----------



## kkzero (Dec 12, 2021)

Hi, I made the color hacks for Kirby's Pinball Land and Faceball 2000.


Thee_Stranger said:


> If it's so obvious, why hasn't it been done yet? The more that people clamour for it, the more likely someone will put in the work, gift it to us, and it'll happen. To my knowledge, no one is even working on it. Yet we got a colorization of WHAT? _Faceball 2000_?? Really? And Donkey Kong Land, a notoriously crappy game. Not to knock the hard work of these hackers, but they should really get their priorities straight.


Please do not chastise people for not doing color hacks of the games you want. People are generally motivated to hack the games they feel like hacking, not what they get asked to make. That's not to say your requests aren't considered at all, but this is a free-time process, people have their moods. And yes, I agree wholeheartedly that Donkey Kong 94 needs a GBC hack, and I even started technical research on it a while ago. But I suggest you show a little more respect for the people who make these hacks.

With Faceball in particular, I decided to do a GBC hack of it because I'm weird and really like that game. I was always fascinated by how it was an FPS on the Game Boy out of all systems, and one that came the year before Wolfenstein 3D at that. The main issue with it is its abysmal framerates, so I felt I could take advantage of the GBC's extra hardware to help fix that. And for the most part, it helped. Albeit with me having to make a version with the original game's slower renderer, because the new one didn't play well with certain hardware revisions (still got more speed either way though).

Anyway, I want you to know that I appreciate the demand for color hacks for more monochrome GB games, because I enjoy working with this system, and said demand does help me with where I want to go next with my hobby. However, I found your tone here very off-putting, because, again, you're putting down people for hacking games they find interesting, but you don't.


----------



## Thee_Stranger (Dec 13, 2021)

kkzero said:


> Hi, I made the color hacks for Kirby's Pinball Land and Faceball 2000.
> 
> Please do not chastise people for not doing color hacks of the games you want. People are generally motivated to hack the games they feel like hacking, not what they get asked to make. That's not to say your requests aren't considered at all, but this is a free-time process, people have their moods. And yes, I agree wholeheartedly that Donkey Kong 94 needs a GBC hack, and I even started technical research on it a while ago. But I suggest you show a little more respect for the people who make these hacks.
> 
> ...


Hi. I'm sorry I offended you. If you had read my second post, I already stated that I was being _hyperbolic_ in my first post. In other words, in regards to my off-putting tone, it was never meant to be taken seriously or _literally_.

At the end of the day, we're talking about ROM hacks for damn near 30 year-old Gameboy games. So, when I say such a thing is a _"priority"_, or that "hackers need to get their priorities straight" by hacking the games that _I_ want hacked, I would figure such a statement is patently ridiculous on its face. That's because it was _supposed_ to be interpreted as me just being silly. Though I'm well aware that intended sarcasm doesn't necessarily transmit well through text.

While I would certainly like to see Donkey Kong '94 receive a proper DX treatment, I certainly don't feel a sense of entitlement to it, and I'm certainly not of the belief that you _should_ be doing anything other than what you _want _to be with your own free time. I certainly admire the time, talent, work, and wizardry that goes into these type of things, and the fact that they are made available for free to guys like me.

That said, while I'm sure the three people that are actually playing your Faceball 2000 color hack are really enjoying it, a lot more people would be playing your Donkey Kong '94 hack, and you're wasting your talent. And life. xD

... I'm _kidding!_ Relax.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.


----------



## kkzero (Dec 13, 2021)

@Thee_Stranger Thank you for your response. I guess it was hard for me to parse the extent of your sarcasm. I wouldn't say I was offended, more just felt it would be beneficial for me to provide insight to how the whole color hack thing works. But it seems like you were pretty well aware to begin with, and just opened up with the more hyperbolic side. I appreciate your clarification on this.

No hard feelings from me.


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## SDA (Dec 24, 2021)

Two more games added to my wishlist. Bomberman GB is one of my favorite games of all, and it has even got a Super Game Boy function. However, the way this SGB palette is done is like, strange, ala Donkey Kong '94. You've got some wonderfully colorized screens like these...
















...and then, when it comes to the game itself, you get _these_?!










No, this cannot be any serious.


----------



## Thee_Stranger (Dec 28, 2021)

SDA said:


> Two more games added to my wishlist. Bomberman GB is one of my favorite games of all, and it has even got a Super Game Boy function. However, the way this SGB palette is done is like, strange, ala Donkey Kong '94. You've got some wonderfully colorized screens like these...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Huh. I was never aware that any other game ever got the Super Gameboy DK'94 kind of treatment. DK'94 is generally considered to be the only SGB title that they actually put and time or effort into, or that wasn't half-assed.

However, yeah. I'm pretty sure they were still limited to 4 colors with that thing. So, they could do some nice things with static images or menu screens, but that's where it begins and ends. Gameplay, they just had to try and choose the best pallet.

Sidenote: I have now downloaded and played Faceball 2000. Definitely a marked improvement over the original Gameboy version. So, I believe I have now downloaded and played all the homemade, homebrewed Gameboy DX hacks that have been produced so far.


----------



## SDA (Dec 28, 2021)

Thee_Stranger said:


> Huh. I was never aware that any other game ever got the Super Gameboy DK'94 kind of treatment. DK'94 is generally considered to be the only SGB title that they actually put and time or effort into, or that wasn't half-assed.
> 
> However, yeah. I'm pretty sure they were still limited to 4 colors with that thing. So, they could do some nice things with static images or menu screens, but that's where it begins and ends. Gameplay, they just had to try and choose the best pallet.
> 
> Sidenote: I have now downloaded and played Faceball 2000. Definitely a marked improvement over the original Gameboy version. So, I believe I have now downloaded and played all the homemade, homebrewed Gameboy DX hacks that have been produced so far.


Well, Donkey Kong '94 wasn't the only game to be "colorized" in this way. Hudson Soft also had to give Bomberman GB slap-dash palettes on the game field when it came to enhancing it for the Super Game Boy.

Maybe there are other Game Boy games with an SGB function out there that do the exact same thing, but I'm not sure. And - this has some spoilers - I've seen that not only kkzero is going to update Kirby's Pinball Land DX but has also started working on a colorization for Kirby's Dream Land 2.


----------



## SDA (Jan 1, 2022)

I've added a new review on the first post of the thread!


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## Titney (Jan 2, 2022)

MojoDodo over at the Romhacking boards is working on an Alleyway DX color hack. You can download the WIP patch at the thread over there and also leave feedback:
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=34035.0
I tried it and it looks great already to me.

Also there *might* be a color hack in the works for Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu? ? The thread is about a FFA hack that aims for colorization, but maybe/hopefully there will be a color hack for the original too.
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=34054.0


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## SDA (Jan 2, 2022)

@Titney Ah, one of the first titles for the Game Boy. We also had Arkanoid which is basically the same game.


----------



## SDA (Jan 16, 2022)

Titney said:


> MojoDodo over at the Romhacking boards is working on an Alleyway DX color hack. You can download the WIP patch at the thread over there and also leave feedback:
> https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=34035.0
> I tried it and it looks great already to me.


This has now been released.


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## Titney (Jan 17, 2022)

SDA said:


> This has now been released.


Tried it and it's really great imo, a lot of tweaks and improvements over the WIP version (which was already good.) It's truly "DX" now.


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## SDA (Jan 17, 2022)

Titney said:


> Tried it and it's really great imo, a lot of tweaks and improvements over the WIP version (which was already good.) It's truly "DX" now.


Yeah. Shame that the left and right buttons won't work on VBA-M (the original also has this issue).


----------



## Titney (Jan 20, 2022)

Just saw this on twitter


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## SDA (Jan 20, 2022)

Titney said:


> Just saw this on twitter



I don't even think anyone is going to care about this game. Well, unless they've read Peanuts comic strips before (they've been re-publishing them in color in recent times)...


----------



## SDA (Jan 26, 2022)

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, now for your Game Boy Color.


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## zfreeman (Jan 27, 2022)

Galaga & Galaxian DX


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## SDA (Jan 27, 2022)

Galaga & Galaxian DX. Seeing that it gained a negative review already on RHDN, I don't think I'm going to play it. Not all colorization hacks are good, you know.


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## Titney (Jan 27, 2022)

SDA said:


> Galaga & Galaxian DX. Seeing that it gained a negative review already on RHDN, I don't think I'm going to play it. Not all colorization hacks are good, you know.


Well, if you're using emulators there's really no point to playing a GBC port over the original arcade games on MAME or something. As someone who plays on an actual GBC I appreciate these DX hacks, and I don't get what that review was even complaining about.


----------



## SDA (Jan 27, 2022)

Titney said:


> I don't get what that review was even complaining about.


After watching a gameplay of this hack on YouTube, I found out that only Galaxian was colorized. Galaga still has the Super Game Boy Colors instead.

So this colorization is basically _incomplete_. Now I understand why that reviewer on RHDN is not recommending it.


----------



## Titney (Jan 27, 2022)

SDA said:


> After watching a gameplay of this hack on YouTube, I found out that only Galaxian was colorized. Galaga still has the Super Game Boy Colors instead.
> 
> So this colorization is basically _incomplete_. Now I understand why that reviewer on RHDN is not recommending it.


There is no such thing as "having super game boy colors" on a GBC. The colors have to be hacked in manually in GBC mode and that is what this hack does. Again, as someone who uses a GBC I appreciate the work that goes into making games colorized on a GBC, even though those who use an emulator may not even notice a difference.


----------



## SDA (Jan 27, 2022)

Titney said:


> There is no such thing as "having super game boy colors" on a GBC. The colors have to be hacked in manually in GBC mode and that is what this hack does. Again, as someone who uses a GBC I appreciate the work that goes into making games colorized on a GBC, even though those who use an emulator may not even notice a difference.


I meant that MojoDodo only added color and detail to Galaxian, making it look like the arcade. Galaxian looks like this in the SGB game:




Pretty weird, isn't it? And here's how Galaga is seen in the SGB game.




It's the exact same as in the original on here, except for some palettes correlated to the text.


----------



## Titney (Jan 27, 2022)

SDA said:


> I meant that MojoDodo only added color and detail to Galaxian, making it look like the arcade. Galaxian looks like this in the SGB game:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And here is Galaga arcade. What do you expect him to do aside from increasing the screen resolution of the GBC?


----------



## SDA (Jan 28, 2022)

Titney said:


> And here is Galaga arcade. What do you expect him to do aside from increasing the screen resolution of the GBC?


The Boss Galaga doesn't have the right coloration in the GBC version. And some of the enemies aren't colored like in the arcade.

To make it short, the Boss Galaga in the DX hack is red and white, the identical colors as when played on a Super Game Boy. And the spaceship you control could have been redrawn slightly to add some more detail, like the blue pixels on the sides. Nope, MojoDodo didn't really do much on Galaga in this hack.


----------



## Titney (Jan 28, 2022)

SDA said:


> The Boss Galaga doesn't have the right coloration in the GBC version. And some of the enemies aren't colored like in the arcade.
> 
> To make it short, the Boss Galaga in the DX hack is red and white, the identical colors as when played on a Super Game Boy. And the spaceship you control could have been redrawn slightly to add some more detail, like the blue pixels on the sides. Nope, MojoDodo didn't really do much on Galaga in this hack.


Well, he's got a thread up here:
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=34199.0
If you can give some details on what's off compared to the arcade he might be able to fix it.


----------



## SDA (Jan 28, 2022)

Titney said:


> Well, he's got a thread up here:
> http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=34199.0
> If you can give some details on what's off compared to the arcade he might be able to fix it.


Is there an alternative way to contact him? I am permanently banned from RHDN since the end of 2019 so I cannot post nor submit anything there.


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## Titney (Jan 30, 2022)

SDA said:


> Is there an alternative way to contact him? I am permanently banned from RHDN since the end of 2019 so I cannot post nor submit anything there.


You're on your own there, I only know of him from the romhacking site.


----------



## Jayro (Jan 30, 2022)

I still want the first Wario Land colorized.


----------



## SDA (Feb 1, 2022)




----------



## EddieEddie90 (Feb 1, 2022)

marc_max said:


> I'm working on a Mega Man V colorization hack:
> 
> 
> Also, looking for some graphic artist to colorize Ninja Gaiden Shadow. I've got all routines done already, but need someone into pixel art.



This is truly amazing, it's awesome how colorizing the game breathes new life into it. It even feels like a legit NES game.


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## SDA (Feb 2, 2022)

Here's a little mock-up I've done for the title screen of the "Bomber Man" mode in Atomic Punk (this is the Japanese version named Bomber Boy). This is how it would appear if the game was colorized.

Tell me what do you think about it. For me, it turned out great!


----------



## City (Feb 2, 2022)

I just want Fifa 98


----------



## hippy dave (Feb 2, 2022)

SDA said:


>



I still get that music in my head regularly 
Probably the first game I ever beat, maybe I'll play it again when this is released. The colourisation looks beautiful.


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## SDA (Feb 2, 2022)

hippy dave said:


> I still get that music in my head regularly
> Probably the first game I ever beat, maybe I'll play it again when this is released. The colourisation looks beautiful.


I can tell! I'm also waiting for this new version to come out.


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## SDA (Feb 7, 2022)

A new review was added on my first post. Check it out.


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## GammaPhonic (Feb 7, 2022)

City said:


> I just want Fifa 98


Lol, I bought that game back in the day. It was awful.

I'd like Top Ranking Tennis colourised. It might be my favourite GB game. Not holding my breath though.


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## SDA (Feb 14, 2022)

Yes, it's fun, but unplayable indeed. I don't think people are going to like this 200cc mode.


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## SDA (Feb 24, 2022)

What a shame!


----------



## SDA (Mar 3, 2022)

Alleyway DX has been added to my review list.


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## SDA (Mar 10, 2022)

Looks like Snoopy's Magic Show DX has just been released.


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## SDA (Mar 18, 2022)

Galaga & Galaxian DX has been put in my review list. With it, I'm also including some nitpicks for the author to improve this hack:

First, the background color should be pitch black, and not blackish-gray like in Super Game Boy mode. It should be exactly like in Pac-Man: Special Color Edition (here is a comparison between the title screens of both games).








Also change the Namco logo's palette to not be that dark red? And of course, finally give proper color to Galaga, taking reference from the original arcade version.

Please report these to MojoDodo on RHDN if possible. Thank you!


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## SDA (Mar 19, 2022)

I refuse hoping that an hack like this will be ever released.


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## SDA (Mar 24, 2022)

Oh yeah?
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6683/


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## MikaDubbz (Mar 25, 2022)

Looks like Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 has been the next Game Boy game to get colorized! http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6683/ This completes the the Mario Land series in terms of each game having a color version.  Now I'm just hoping someone will do Donkey Kong '94 next, that would really make me happy.


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## SDA (Mar 25, 2022)

MikaDubbz said:


> Looks like Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 has been the next Game Boy game to get colorized! http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6683/ This completes the the Mario Land series in terms of each game having a color version.  Now I'm just hoping someone will do Donkey Kong '94 next, that would really make me happy.


Yes, but beware of some bugs (like at the final boss) reported in this review: http://www.romhacking.net/reviews/8644/#review
I will keep the game in my wishlist because this hack is not a primer-quality colorization like Super Mario Land 2 DX. It doesn't even colorize the status bar to black like SML2DX does.


----------



## hfmets (Mar 26, 2022)

This stuff is super cool to me. I had never seen any of these. Is there a way to get cart versions of this stuff and play on something like a GBA or do you have to go through emulation for it?


----------



## hippy dave (Mar 26, 2022)

hfmets said:


> This stuff is super cool to me. I had never seen any of these. Is there a way to get cart versions of this stuff and play on something like a GBA or do you have to go through emulation for it?


The usual way is a flash cart, you copy the modified games onto a micro SD card, put it in the flash cart and you can play that on the GBA. Good ones for Game Boy games are EZ Flash Jr or Everdrive, tho I don't know if the latter is available since the guy had to shut up his online shop.


----------



## EvilJagaGenius (Mar 26, 2022)

hfmets said:


> This stuff is super cool to me. I had never seen any of these. Is there a way to get cart versions of this stuff and play on something like a GBA or do you have to go through emulation for it?


Best bet is to get a GB/C flashcart and run the games through there.  You can run them through the Goomba Color emulator (or my fork, Jagoomba) on a GBA but compatibility can be hit-or-miss.  Wario Land, for example, doesn't work yet.

Emulation should work though, I haven't had a problem running these in mGBA.


----------



## hfmets (Mar 26, 2022)

hippy dave said:


> The usual way is a flash cart, you copy the modified games onto a micro SD card, put it in the flash cart and you can play that on the GBA. Good ones for Game Boy games are EZ Flash Jr or Everdrive, tho I don't know if the latter is available since the guy had to shut up his online shop.


Just looked into this, didn’t realize everdrives were Ukraine based. I will look into the EZ Flash jr for the time being as well as emulation. Hopefully Krikkz can get his family and team out of the country soon, no rush on my end. What they are dealing with goes beyond video games.


----------



## Kwyjor (Mar 26, 2022)

hfmets said:


> Just looked into this, didn’t realize everdrives were Ukraine based. I will look into the EZ Flash jr for the time being as well as emulation. Hopefully Krikkz can get his family and team out of the country soon, no rush on my end. What they are dealing with goes beyond video games.


The other alternative worth mentioning is the El Cheapo SD (that's what it's called). And there's something called the USB 64M, but that's much older and doesn't have much space (and is probably not so easy to find anymore).


----------



## Titney (Mar 27, 2022)

hfmets said:


> Just looked into this, didn’t realize everdrives were Ukraine based. I will look into the EZ Flash jr for the time being as well as emulation. Hopefully Krikkz can get his family and team out of the country soon, no rush on my end. What they are dealing with goes beyond video games.


Krikzz posted on twitter that him and his family are safely in Spain now.
twitter.com/krikzz/status/1503753707346927626
I have two GB Everdrives and they're both excellent, so if you can find existing stock or a used one I highly recommend them.

Also, since you mentioned playing on GBA, keep in mind the difference between flashcarts for the original Gameboy that run GB/GBC games natively, and flashcards for Gameboy Advance that can emulate GB/GBC games on the GBA.



Kwyjor said:


> The other alternative worth mentioning is the El Cheapo SD (that's what it's called). And there's something called the USB 64M, but that's much older and doesn't have much space (and is probably not so easy to find anymore).


I have a USB 64M and can confirm they're very basic compared to modern microSD based flashcarts. Might be worth it if you find one very cheap.

Another option is inside gadgets, but they're mostly good if you want very specific hardware features (like rumble or rare mappers) and they also seem to be suffering from chip shortage a lot lately.


----------



## Titney (Mar 27, 2022)

SDA said:


> Yes, but beware of some bugs (like at the final boss) reported in this review: http://www.romhacking.net/reviews/8644/#review
> I will keep the game in my wishlist because this hack is not a primer-quality colorization like Super Mario Land 2 DX. It doesn't even colorize the status bar to black like SML2DX does.


Yeah, I tried the hack, and while it is a step up from black and white, it does have a lot of glitches. I saw several other reviews over on romhacking mentioned that too. Hopefully korxo will be able to polish it further.


----------



## SDA (Apr 1, 2022)

I'm speechless.


----------



## hippy dave (Apr 1, 2022)

SDA said:


> I'm speechless.



FINALLY


----------



## Titney (Apr 2, 2022)

hippy dave said:


> FINALLY


Yes! For those who want to play it on real hardware, Inside Gagets just released a flash cart supporting the Wisdom Tree mapper. 
https://shop.insidegadgets.com/product/gameboy-2mb-wt-mapper-flash-cart/


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## SDA (Apr 13, 2022)

Hype yourself, everyone.


----------



## SDA (Apr 19, 2022)

Another mock-up I've done for Atomic Punk (Game B). I've used the stage palette from Bomberman II for the NES, the battle stage that is.
Of course the player sprite will NOT look like that (it must be replaced with that from the original game) and the enemies should be graphically updated. That's what the DX hack would feature if I'll ever be able to make it one day.


----------



## SDA (Apr 20, 2022)

It's finally OUT!!!


----------



## Jayro (Apr 20, 2022)

BlazeMasterBM said:


> Has anybody ever colorized Wario Land 1? I think that would be great, especially if they can actually get it to his real colors and not black and white like WL 2 and 3.


This exists now, but it feels rushed, the colorization is lazy, too dark, and overall just looks crap. I'll wait for Toruzz's version.


----------



## SDA (Apr 20, 2022)

Jayro said:


> This exists now, but it feels rushed, the colorization is lazy, too dark, and overall just looks crap. I'll wait for Toruzz's version.


I'm afraid you'll have to wait a LONG time for it because he still has to release Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru DX first.


----------



## hippy dave (Apr 20, 2022)

SDA said:


> It's finally OUT!!!



Looks amazing, can't wait to try it out


----------



## Jayro (Apr 20, 2022)

SDA said:


> I'm afraid you'll have to wait a LONG time for it because he still has to release Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru DX first.


That's okay, I'm a patient person. It might release when I get my Analogue Pocket in late 2023, lol.


----------



## SDA (Apr 24, 2022)

There's somebody on ROMhacking.net who is giving color to Mega Man III for the Game Boy (and is working on it since 2019, too):
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=29541.0

Sadly, he stated he's doing this with the GB Colorizer, and you know what that means. I'll rather wait for a more official-like DX version, maybe by marc_max who is currently colorizing Mega Man V.


----------



## Jayro (Apr 24, 2022)

Looks good for a Colorizer, except for the MegaMan sprite. That blue face is the death of me. They better hop into some assembly language to fix that.


----------



## Titney (Apr 26, 2022)

New DX hack, Bomb Jack DX by MojoDodo:







https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6781/


----------



## SDA (Apr 26, 2022)

Titney said:


> New DX hack, Bomb Jack DX by MojoDodo:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah, he's back. I hope he will finally give color to Galaga in Galaxian & Galaga DX.


----------



## SDA (Apr 27, 2022)

Wild Amazing Penguin DX appeared!


----------



## SDA (May 4, 2022)

SDA said:


> Another mock-up I've done for Atomic Punk (Game B). I've used the stage palette from Bomberman II for the NES, the battle stage that is.
> Of course the player sprite will NOT look like that (it must be replaced with that from the original game) and the enemies should be graphically updated. That's what the DX hack would feature if I'll ever be able to make it one day.


Have you seen my above post, by the way?


----------



## Titney (May 5, 2022)

SDA said:


> Wild Amazing Penguin DX appeared!



and it's been released:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6797/


----------



## hippy dave (May 5, 2022)

Titney said:


> and it's been released:
> https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6797/


Thanks! Never played this game before but it looks like something I might enjoy, and I've said it before - any game where you get to play as a penguin is a good game


----------



## MikaDubbz (May 5, 2022)

Still dying for Donkey Kong '94 DX. 

Pretty great that the whole GB Wario Land trilogy is now all in color, along with the 2 proper Mario Land games, essentially completing that series for the GBC.  What's great is that it would seem this really can be done for any Game Boy game, and we're only really seeing releases like this over only the past 3 or 4 years.  It's only a relatively recent thing that's starting to see more and more interest in the hacking scene.  I have to imagine that in a few years, the majority of all great Game Boy games will have received such a DX treatment.


----------



## SDA (May 9, 2022)

The colorization for Mega Man III is still going but it's horrible because it's done with the GB Colorizer. See, even the Robot Masters' portraits aren't any accurate to the original, being done on their own when you can just take them from Mega Man III for the NES.





Spark Man, Snake Man, Shadow Man and Gemini Man are all here and ready to use, so are the palettes for the sprites. This technique should be also used on Mega Man I, II (along with several graphic fixes/improvements due to the game being BADLY DONE) and IV.

Also, why not add weapon icons to the HUD and pause menu to the other games, like it's been done on Mega Man V?


----------



## Titney (May 9, 2022)

Someone on reddit created a list with links of existing DX hacks:


----------



## SDA (May 9, 2022)

Titney said:


> Someone on reddit created a list with links of existing DX hacks:



Supergamerguy has already made one on ROMhacking.net, plus a list of WIP colorization hacks, Konami Collection autoboot patches and GBC/GBA Enhanced mode patches. It even includes things that aren't really needed.

EDIT: And it looks like even the guy on reddit realized about that. Good.


----------



## SDA (May 12, 2022)

To confirm I'm supporting the Mega Man V colorization hack, I've made this.



I've redone slightly the icon for Neptune's Salt Water weapon as the drop was a bit weird-looking.
*Please, send this to marc_max so he can insert it into the game, and also update the icons for Rush Coil, Rush Jet and Tango to how they look in Mega Man Maker.*


----------



## SDA (May 19, 2022)

About Mega Man World 5 DX:

I am eagerly following the colorization project but I have seen some minor graphic mistakes that bother me. These are:

Neptune's Salt Water icon has got an unnecessary outline pixel.
The bullet in Mars' Photon Missile icon should be moved upwards by one pixel.
The block in Uranus' Deep Digger icon isn't fully outlined.
Rush Coil, Rush Jet and Tango icons can be graphically improved to match how they look like in Mega Man Maker.
Mega Man's sprite when he gets hurt has another unnecessary outline pixel (which is also in the monochrome original and does not happen in the NES games).
I'm begging you all, contact the author and ask him to address these issues in the hack, please. _Please._


----------



## SDA (May 25, 2022)

Finally updated the Super Mario Land DX review! Check it out, because it's completely different now.


----------



## SDA (May 28, 2022)

Donkey Kong Land II is now colorized.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6866/


----------



## SDA (Jun 23, 2022)

I know I'm very late BUUUUT... just look at Mercury, Neptune and Venus. And Dr. Light's lab.


----------



## SDA (Jun 27, 2022)

So what do ya think of this?


----------



## Kirä69 (Jul 7, 2022)

Article in Input Mag with an interview with *toruzz*. With a very important news, I quote: "he's been hired to officially colourize a game that will be commercially released soon". I'm really glad his work is recognised at this level, he's one of a kind (with *marc_max*'s permission).

https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/tor...lorizing-game-boy-games-rom-hacking-interview


----------



## SDA (Jul 26, 2022)

Get yourself ready...


----------



## SDA (Aug 22, 2022)

The Pokémon Red/Blue Full Color Hack has now been ported to the German version of the game.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7072/

This is the first step on making this colorization accessible to more people. I hope they will do a patch for all remaining languages,


----------



## RockRiver (Sep 16, 2022)

.


----------



## SDA (Sep 17, 2022)

RockRiver said:


> Mednafen could supports Custom Palette VB.PAL
> But I cannot make a good vb.pal file .
> Anybody please would update a good example file of vb.pal ???
> Then we can edit that file and put new 4 colors to VirtualBoy monochrome


Who in the world would ever play Game Boy games with a Virtual Boy palette?


----------



## RockRiver (Sep 27, 2022)

.


----------



## Jayro (Sep 27, 2022)

I'd love to see Solar Striker in color... Maybe invert the sky color to black with white stars like the GBC BIOS does automatically. And then color the different sprites. It's a fairly simple game, so I wouldn't expect it to even take very long to do.


----------



## SDA (Sep 27, 2022)

Jayro said:


> I'd love to see Solar Striker in color... Maybe invert the sky color to black with white stars like the GBC BIOS does automatically. And then color the different sprites. It's a fairly simple game, so I wouldn't expect it to even take very long to do.
> 
> View attachment 328943
> 
> ...


Another launch title that definitely deserves a DX treatment, like it happened with Super Mario Land and Alleyway (the latter is not that good tho).

What about Yakuman, which was never released outside of Japan? Combined with Marvo's English translation would be a good version to play.


----------



## SDA (Sep 27, 2022)

RockRiver said:


> Sorry SDA , I didn't explain me correctly.
> That I want is to play Virtual Boy in Color, with Mednafen.
> But asking here too,  because I'm thinking is very similar fact to play with colorized monochrome GB.


No, that is not possible at all. It's better to ignore Virtual Boy unless you want to get an headache.


----------



## SDA (Oct 1, 2022)




----------



## lordelan (Oct 14, 2022)

SDA said:


> Street Fighter II


As much as I love almost every Street Fighter game (some more, some less), I really won't bother with the Game Boy entry. It doesn't do the series justice imho, probably due to hardware limitations. I'm glad I had this as a kid but honestly, I won't ever play it again I think. If I'm about to play any handheld fighting games, I'd stick to the Neo Geo Pocket (Color).


SDA said:


> All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles for Game Boy (Fall of the Foot Clan, Back from the Sewers, Radical Rescue)


Oh god *YES PLEASE*! Especially Radical Rescue is one of my GB all time favorites!


SDA said:


> Adventures of Lolo (SGB Enhanced)


Another big "Oh god YES PLEASE!" here. It's my favorite handheld puzzle game. Never heard of it until a friend gave this to me when I was young and I just fell in love with this. Everyone should have played this or one of the NES games. Absolutely lovely.


SDA said:


> Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3


It got a fix in July I think addressing a few of the issues. While it's still far from matching the quality of SML 1 & 2 DX, I still think this is now at a state where I would prefer this over the monochrome version.

Great thread btw. I'm totally in for those colorization hacks. I adore SML 2 DX so much. Not only turns it SML2 into one of the most beautiful GBC games ever but also gives me the chance to play as Luigi (my fav from the Mario characters). I played half through this on my hacked Nintendo Switch but eventually stopped to enjoy this again as a whole to the fullest when my *Analogue Pocket* arrives. I think the Analogue Pocket and Super Mario Land 2 DX were born to meet each other. 

	Post automatically merged: Oct 14, 2022



AmandaRose said:


> Dragon Quest Monsters 1&2


Huh? Those are actually already native GBC games.

Btw @SDA seeing your signature, what is it that you hate about romhacking.net so much?


----------



## SDA (Oct 14, 2022)

lordelan said:


> As much as I love almost every Street Fighter game (some more, some less), I really won't bother with the Game Boy entry. It doesn't do the series justice imho, probably due to hardware limitations. I'm glad I had this as a kid but honestly, I won't ever play it again I think. If I'm about to play any handheld fighting games, I'd stick to the Neo Geo Pocket (Color).


Well that's what several fighting-type games couldn't do on the monochrome Game Boy due to hardware limitations. They would just blur out if anything moves fast or slow down very horribly if there are many sprites on-screen. The Game Boy Color fixes these issues with its Double speed mode. Pretty nice, isn't it?


lordelan said:


> Oh god *YES PLEASE*! Especially Radical Rescue is one of my GB all time favorites!


I know. So many people play TMNT to this day... and with the recently released Shredder's Revenge, what better time could be to play the GB games too?


lordelan said:


> Another big "Oh god YES PLEASE!" here. It's my favorite handheld puzzle game. Never heard of it until a friend gave this to me when I was young and I just fell in love with this. Everyone should have played this or one of the NES games. Absolutely lovely.


I do wonder why Adventures of Lolo is so underrated. This is basically HAL Laboratory before Kirby.


lordelan said:


> Btw @SDA seeing your signature, what is it that you hate about romhacking.net so much?


And here's the thing everybody asks me about.
I've been active on RHDN from March to December 2019. My experience there was terrible to say the least - extremely strict forum rules, stuff that you can't avoid getting rejected at least once, very critical reviewers (I don't stand criticism at all) and, most importantly, rude and unhelpful people. After I wrote four negative reviews over patches for Mega Man Zero (one for each of the four games), an user responded with four reviews that recommended these hacks and told to ignore me because I am "crazy". I knew I was going to be disgraced so I went berserk on the forum and I wrote posts in all-caps where I said that I wanted to be banned permanently. So there, I can no longer access this site.

Now you see why I hate ROMhacking.net so much.


----------



## Thee_Stranger (Oct 14, 2022)

MikaDubbz said:


> Still dying for Donkey Kong '94 DX.


Seconded.


MikaDubbz said:


> Pretty great that the whole GB Wario Land trilogy is now all in color, along with the 2 proper Mario Land games, essentially completing that series for the GBC.  What's great is that it would seem this really can be done for any Game Boy game, and we're only really seeing releases like this over only the past 3 or 4 years.  It's only a relatively recent thing that's starting to see more and more interest in the hacking scene.  I have to imagine that in a few years, the majority of all great Game Boy games will have received such a DX treatment.


Yeah, we can only hope. But I'm not so sure about that. I think it's a pretty niche thing for a largely older crowd, and while I know the process has been streamlined, and is easier than ever with compilers and hex editors and the like, I imagine it's still a very complicated and laborious process.

And in regards to DK'94 in particular, I imagine that one would be a particularly massive undertaking due to there being over 100 levels, and quite varied in theme. I read an interview with the hacker who DX'd SML 1&2, and he said DK'94 is his favorite GB game. So, if that guy of all people hasn't bothered to touch it, I assume it's a really huge project. I just replayed it again via mGBA using the Super Gameboy enhancements, and while it's a lot nicer than the standard monochrome, it just makes me pine for a proper DX remaster even more.


----------



## MikaDubbz (Oct 14, 2022)

Thee_Stranger said:


> Seconded.
> 
> Yeah, we can only hope. But I'm not so sure about that. I think it's a pretty niche thing for a largely older crowd, and while I know the process has been streamlined, and is easier than ever with compilers and hex editors and the like, I imagine it's still a very complicated and laborious process.
> 
> And in regards to DK'94 in particular, I imagine that one would be a particularly massive undertaking due to there being over 100 levels, and quite varied in theme. I read an interview with the hacker who DX'd SML 1&2, and he said DK'94 is his favorite GB game. So, if that guy of all people hasn't bothered to touch it, I assume it's a really huge project. I just replayed it again via mGBA using the Super Gameboy enhancements, and while it's a lot nicer than the standard monochrome, it just makes me pine for a proper DX remaster even more.


I mean, it's not even a stretch to say that most of the biggest GB games have already received the fan DX treatment as it is: All the Super Mario and Wario Land games, all 3 Donkey Kong Land games, Pokemon Red and Blue, the original Kirby, and Metroid II.

What other non-color Game Boy games are the popular heavy hitters that haven't received the treatment? obviously games like Link's Awakening received the treatment officially, so that's off the list too.  In terms of the popular games that still haven't seen it, all I'm thinking of are Donkey Kong '94 and Kirby 2.  That's pretty much it. Maybe Kid Icarus 2?  Not exactly a heavy hitter, but a first party series with its share of fans I suppose.  I guess there are third party games like the Mega Man entries, but even the well-love OG Game Boy third party titles are few and far between.

Also, incidentally, while it isn't a color DX hack, there was the first complete rom hack of DK '94 that just came out the other day which includes over 25 new levels made by a community of fans of the original game.  Gonna have to give it a go shortly here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7213/


----------



## Thee_Stranger (Oct 14, 2022)

MikaDubbz said:


> I mean, it's not even a stretch to say that most of the biggest GB games have already received the fan DX treatment as it is: All the Super Mario and Wario Land games, all 3 Donkey Kong Land games, Pokemon Red and Blue, the original Kirby, and Metroid II.
> 
> What other non-color Game Boy games are the popular heavy hitters that haven't received the treatment? obviously games like Link's Awakening received the treatment officially, so that's off the list too.  In terms of the popular games that still haven't seen it, all I'm thinking of are Donkey Kong '94 and Kirby 2.  That's pretty much it. Maybe Kid Icarus 2?  Not exactly a heavy hitter, but a first party series with its share of fans I suppose.  I guess there are third party games like the Mega Man entries, but even the well-love OG Game Boy third party titles are few and far between.
> 
> Also, incidentally, while it isn't a color DX hack, there was the first complete rom hack of DK '94 that just came out the other day which includes over 25 new levels made by a community of fans of the original game.  Gonna have to give it a go shortly here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7213/


Well, I suppose... if all you ever did on the Gameboy was eat, drink, and sleep Nintendo. But there's a lot of good third party stuff. And this is the first I'm hearing that the Donkey Kong Land series were big, heavy hitters. I never thought that series was particularly revered outside of its novelty status. And not all DX/color hacks are created equal. The SML DX hacks, for example, are a far cry from Pokemon Red & Blue, which got a very barebones colorization. 

Anyway, as has already been mentioned, the TMNT GB trilogy was quite popular in its time. There was also an original Battletoads game tailored for it. Battletoads was quite popular in its day, and I have some nostalgia for that one. Bionic Commando also got an original Gameboy iteration. I know that series has more of a cult following, but it was pretty damn good, and I'd love to see it in color. And finally, there's Castlevania Legends, which is the only GB game in the trilogy that hasn't seen a color treatment. 

Anyway, thanks for sharing that link. I'll definitely check it out next time I get in the mood for some DK'94. ^^


----------



## MikaDubbz (Oct 14, 2022)

Thee_Stranger said:


> Well, I suppose... if all you ever did on the Gameboy was eat, drink, and sleep Nintendo. But there's a lot of good third party stuff. And this is the first I'm hearing that the Donkey Kong Land series were big, heavy hitters. I never thought that series was particularly revered outside of its novelty status. And not all DX/color hacks are created equal. The SML DX hacks, for example, are a far cry from Pokemon Red & Blue, which got a very barebones colorization.
> 
> Anyway, as has already been mentioned, the TMNT GB trilogy was quite popular in its time. There was also an original Battletoads game tailored for it. Battletoads was quite popular in its day, and I have some nostalgia for that one. Bionic Commando also got an original Gameboy iteration. I know that series has more of a cult following, but it was pretty damn good, and I'd love to see it in color. And finally, there's Castlevania Legends, which is the only GB game in the trilogy that hasn't seen a color treatment.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for sharing that link. I'll definitely check it out next time I get in the mood for some DK'94. ^^


Plenty of good third party stuff sure, but legit, not a lot of great popular third party OG Game Boy stuff.  My point was only saying that the biggest games that the most people want color versions of, for the most part already have them, and within a few years, the few remaining other big ones will likely get addressed too.  And yeah, some of the less hyped games will get the treatment too, but yeah I wasn't about to argue that all or most of those games would get done in that time.


----------



## Memfis (Oct 18, 2022)

It would be nice to see the following games in color / Super Game Boy (2) Color and possible to use as cia / in Virtual Console
Donkey Kong (GB)
Mole Mania (GB)
Mario's Picross (GB)


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## SDA (Oct 18, 2022)

Memfis said:


> It would be nice to see the following games in color / Super Game Boy (2) Color and possible to use as cia / in Virtual Console
> Donkey Kong (GB)
> Mole Mania (GB)
> Mario's Picross (GB)


Mole Mania is already being colorized by marc_max (the guy who is going to bring us Mega Man V to color).


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## yaketyJack (Oct 18, 2022)

"Trip World" is a beautiful Sunsoft game that deserves a DX treatment


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## SDA (Oct 18, 2022)

yaketyJack said:


> "Trip World" is a beautiful Sunsoft game that deserves a DX treatment


Never heard of that game. I only remember Sunsoft by the Looney Tunes GB game which was also officially released in color in 1999.

And let's not mention the mediocre games they made for SNES and Genesis (Desert Demolition, ugh...)


----------



## lordelan (Oct 18, 2022)

SDA said:


> Never heard of that game.


It's the predecessor to Kirby... in a way. I absolutely agree that a DX treatment would be great for it *if done right* (aka not making it too pink like the Kirby one).


----------



## SDA (Oct 18, 2022)

lordelan said:


> I absolutely agree that a DX treatment would be great for it *if done right* (aka not making it too pink like the Kirby one).


That's why you have to leave the job to real ASM experts like toruzz and marc_max. Wario Land 3 may have been fixed, yeah, but is still a lifetime away from Super Mario Land 2 DX. It has dark palettes and the same yellow color in various tonalities applied all over the place.

I highlighted that game in red in my wishlist for a reason.


----------



## yaketyJack (Oct 18, 2022)

SDA said:


> Never heard of that game. I only remember Sunsoft by the Looney Tunes GB game which was also officially released in color in 1999.
> 
> And let's not mention the mediocre games they made for SNES and Genesis (Desert Demolition, ugh...)


Check it out here. It reminds me more of "Gimmick!" on the NES. It's similar to Kirby in that you can fly if you want. And you can turn into a fish at any time:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/trip-world/


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## SDA (Oct 18, 2022)

yaketyJack said:


> Check it out here. It reminds me more of "Gimmick!" on the NES. It's similar to Kirby in that you can fly if you want. And you can turn into a fish at any time:
> http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/trip-world/
> 
> View attachment 332561 View attachment 332562


Turns out this game was never released in the US, only in Japan and Europe. Much like the four Konami Collection games where the two GB Castlevania games had full color.


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## Memfis (Oct 18, 2022)

SDA said:


> Mole Mania is already being colorized by marc_max (the guy who is going to bring us Mega Man V to color).


Could you give me the link please? Can't find it.


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## SDA (Oct 18, 2022)

Memfis said:


> Could you give me the link please? Can't find it.


I'm sorry, but it seems you misunderstood me. It's currently work in progress, there's just a notice on marc's Twitter page so far.


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## Memfis (Oct 18, 2022)

Ah OK, Thanks. Than I wait.


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## AkikoKumagara (Oct 18, 2022)

lordelan said:


> It's the predecessor to Kirby... in a way. I absolutely agree that a DX treatment would be great for it *if done right* (aka not making it too pink like the Kirby one).


It came out after Kirby.


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## lordelan (Oct 19, 2022)

AkikoKumagara said:


> It came out after Kirby.


lol you're right. Had to look it up.



yaketyJack said:


> It reminds me more of "Gimmick!" on the NES.


Hey thanks for the tip. Looks beautiful and indeed just like Trip World and Kirby.


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## eyeliner (Oct 19, 2022)

Is there any write-up on how to do such things? 
I'd like to know how to colorize.


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## SDA (Oct 19, 2022)

eyeliner said:


> Is there any write-up on how to do such things?
> I'd like to know how to colorize.


You need to learn Game Boy ASM to do that. It's not simple.


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## SDA (Nov 5, 2022)

marc_max showcased the Mega Man World 5 DX hack yesterday on Twitch! Just a shame I couldn't be there, because at the time of the stream I was already at sleep.


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## SDA (Nov 8, 2022)

SDA said:


> The Pokémon Red/Blue Full Color Hack has now been ported to the German version of the game.
> https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7072/
> 
> This is the first step on making this colorization accessible to more people. I hope they will do a patch for all remaining languages,


Now look what: someone just ported this colorization to the Spanish version of Pokémon Red/Blue as well!
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7282/


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## lordelan (Nov 8, 2022)

SDA said:


> Now look what: someone just ported this colorization to the Spanish version of Pokémon Red/Blue as well!
> https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7282/


Pretty nice that it's being translated to more languages now. I'm happy since I already got german. 
Btw do you know whether the colorization patch can be used together with other patches/romhacks?


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## SDA (Nov 8, 2022)

lordelan said:


> Pretty nice that it's being translated to more languages now. I'm happy since I already got german.
> Btw do you know whether the colorization patch can be used together with other patches/romhacks?


It doesn't work with other hacks unfortunately (e.g. Gen 6 Typing and Fast Red). And yeah, I do wonder when a patch for the Italian version will be made. DId someone even compile a disassembly for that ROM version?


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## SDA (Nov 14, 2022)

I cannot describe how much it sucks to announce something intended to release on a specific date, and later realize you don't have the time to do so on that time.


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## lordelan (Nov 14, 2022)

SDA said:


> I cannot describe how much it sucks to announce something intended to release on a specific date, and later realize you don't have the time to do so on that time.



Oh man 
I was hoping to get my Analogue Pocket before Christmas and play this game before going through Link's Awakening DX und the Seasons games of Zelda again.


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## SDA (Nov 14, 2022)

lordelan said:


> Oh man
> I was hoping to get my Analogue Pocket before Christmas and play this game before going through Link's Awakening DX and the Seasons games of Zelda again.


Yeah, I know that feeling.
At least we'll get Mega Man World 5 DX ready for the holiday season.


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## SDA (Dec 4, 2022)

Mega Man World 5 DX is about to get released!!! *hype intensifies*
_*I can't wait to play it!*_


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## SDA (Dec 10, 2022)

Don't worry if it's delayed. Look how amazing the new title screen is instead!


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## Jayro (Dec 10, 2022)

@SDA Toruzz is working on a colorization of For the frog the bell tolls, and then he's going to do WarioLand 1 proper.


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## SDA (Dec 10, 2022)

Jayro said:


> @SDA Toruzz is working on a colorization of For the frog the bell tolls, and then he's going to do WarioLand 1 proper.
> 
> View attachment 342273


As if I didn't know about that. Of course I do!
I'm not sure if he's going to do Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 as well, though.


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## Jayro (Dec 10, 2022)

SDA said:


> As if I didn't know about that. Of course I do!
> I'm not sure if he's going to do Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 as well, though.


I just didn't see the frog game in the list, so I thought i'd mention it. And if we're stuck with that god-awful Wario Land DX that we got, I hope someone can at least desaturate the colors like @Sono did with Link's Awakening DX.


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## SDA (Dec 10, 2022)

Jayro said:


> I just didn't see the frog game in the list, so I thought i'd mention it.


If you meant the wishlist I made, sorry but I'm not personally interested in that game.


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## SDA (Dec 25, 2022)

And Mega Man World 5 DX is *FINALLY RELEASED!!!*
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7413/

After so much time, I can remove a game from my wishlist. I thought that'd never happen honestly.


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## M4x1mumReZ (Dec 25, 2022)

SDA said:


> And Mega Man World 5 DX is *FINALLY RELEASED!!!*
> https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7413/
> 
> After so much time, I can remove a game from my wishlist. I thought that'd never happen honestly.


I knew you'd be excited for that.


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## SDA (Dec 25, 2022)

M4x1mumReZ said:


> I knew you'd be excited for that.


Now I'll wait for Dr. Wily's Revenge to be fully colorized!


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## JaapDaniels (Dec 25, 2022)

just a question, since i don't own a GBC but i do own a SGB2 and a snes, are there tools to enhance GB(C) games to SGB?


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## SDA (Dec 25, 2022)

JaapDaniels said:


> just a question, since i don't own a GBC but i do own a SGB2 and a snes, are there tools to enhance GB(C) games to SGB?


I don't know anything about that, sorry. There might exist, but I have no knowledge.


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## Jayro (Dec 25, 2022)

JaapDaniels said:


> just a question, since i don't own a GBC but i do own a SGB2 and a snes, are there tools to enhance GB(C) games to SGB?


I'm not aware of any, it might all be asm (assembly) modding.


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## JaapDaniels (Dec 25, 2022)

Jayro said:


> I'm not aware of any, it might all be asm (assembly) modding.


That ain't too bad, i do understand ASM a bit (dit have to program micro-controllers at school), but graphics in ASM as new.
A cheat sheet would be nice to start with.
I mean ASM differs a bit between consoles.
If someone could has somewhere to start  as to information that would be great.
(and i might need something to get roms back to sourcecode in ASM?
Never reversed a rom before.


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## _Snow_ (Jan 4, 2023)

I'm just naming these off the top of my head. Dunno if they have colourizations yet or not (will be checking):


Kid Dracula
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Bonk's Adventure
Dig Dug
Cave Noire
I saw some colour mockups on deviantart for Cave Noire. I think it would kick ass.


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## M4x1mumReZ (Jan 4, 2023)

JaapDaniels said:


> That ain't too bad, i do understand ASM a bit (dit have to program micro-controllers at school), but graphics in ASM as new.
> A cheat sheet would be nice to start with.
> I mean ASM differs a bit between consoles.
> If someone could has somewhere to start  as to information that would be great.
> ...


Here are some useful resources that I have found:

https://eldred.fr/gb-asm-tutorial/
https://gbdev.io/resources.html
https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Main_Page


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## lordelan (Jan 4, 2023)

_Snow_ said:


> Kirby's Dreamland 2


There's only a hack for Dream Land 1 unfortunately and it has that annoying specific pink color on Kirby.
I'd love to get KDL2 too as it's one of my favorite GB games.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 4, 2023)

Something good might come for KDL2 :^}
As for Kid Dracula, there's the NES version, but I don't recall if that one got a colored version or not, I want to think it did but I don't remember precisely.


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## lordelan (Jan 4, 2023)

ShadowOne333 said:


> Something good might come for KDL2 :^}


Amazing news mate. Since you've been involved in the DX hack for the first game, can you tell me if it's impossible to make Kirby's pink color match that from the NES game?


ShadowOne333 said:


> As for Kid Dracula, there's the NES version, but I don't recall if that one got a colored version or not, I want to think it did but I don't remember precisely.


Pretty sure there's no color hack but yeah, the NES version is basically just that or at least is a good indicator of what a DX would _have_ looked like.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 4, 2023)

lordelan said:


> Amazing news mate. Since you've been involved in the DX hack for the first game, can you tell me if it's impossible to make Kirby's pink color match that from the NES game?
> 
> Pretty sure there's no color hack but yeah, the NES version is basically just that or at least is a good indicator of what a DX would _have_ looked like.



Wait I'm confused, which DX game are you referring to?


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## lordelan (Jan 5, 2023)

ShadowOne333 said:


> Wait I'm confused, which DX game are you referring to?


Kirby's Dream Land 1
Edit: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5635/
*You* are the "released by" guy.


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## SDA (Jan 5, 2023)

@_Snow_ Dig Dug for Game Boy was already in my wishlist and it hasn't received a colorization yet.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 5, 2023)

lordelan said:


> Kirby's Dream Land 1
> Edit: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5635/
> *You* are the "released by" guy.



Oh that one 
That's a mere fork of DreamLand DX, I simply changed the title screen graphics to make it like in the original and have a better Kirby in the title 
I didn't have anything to do with the original DX release of it


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## lordelan (Jan 5, 2023)

ShadowOne333 said:


> Oh that one
> That's a mere fork of DreamLand DX, I simply changed the title screen graphics to make it like in the original and have a better Kirby in the title
> I didn't have anything to do with the original DX release of it


Yeah I figured as much but since you are here and I can ask you questions I figured I'd ask you how complicated (or even possible at all) it would be to change the annoying dark pink color of Kirby to that one of the NES.


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 5, 2023)

lordelan said:


> Yeah I figured as much but since you are here and I can ask you questions I figured I'd ask you how complicated (or even possible at all) it would be to change the annoying dark pink color of Kirby to that one of the NES.



Ah yes, changing Kirby's palette would be easily just a couple bytes change, you'd just need to find the proper values, find them in the ROM and change them to a color closer to the NES one.

Though, imo the GBC has much better colour choices and ranges than the NES, I'd dare say the NES Kirby has its colour limited by what the console was able to do (I think you only had like two pink-ish colours in the NES palette), and other official GameBoy Kirby titles do depict him in better colour palettes.


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## _Snow_ (Jan 5, 2023)

SDA said:


> @_Snow_ Dig Dug for Game Boy was already in my wishlist and it hasn't received a colorization yet.


Yea. Missed that. Glad you think so too. Dig Dug DX would rock tits. 



ShadowOne333 said:


> Ah yes, changing Kirby's palette would be easily just a couple bytes change, you'd just need to find the proper values, find them in the ROM and change them to a color closer to the NES one.
> 
> Though, imo the GBC has much better colour choices and ranges than the NES, I'd dare say the NES Kirby has its colour limited by what the console was able to do (I think you only had like two pink-ish colours in the NES palette), and other official GameBoy Kirby titles do depict him in better colour palettes.



Changing a couple of bytes is easy, but how difficult is it to find the address in the rom?


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## JaapDaniels (Jan 5, 2023)

M4x1mumReZ said:


> Here are some useful resources that I have found:
> 
> https://eldred.fr/gb-asm-tutorial/
> https://gbdev.io/resources.html
> https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Main_Page


Hi, thank you, i think i've found the information needed, it'll take some time before i get to it.
but most interesting read was:
https://imanoleasgames.blogspot.com/2016/12/games-aside-1-super-game-boy.html


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 5, 2023)

_Snow_ said:


> Yea. Missed that. Glad you think so too. Dig Dug DX would rock tits.
> 
> 
> 
> Changing a couple of bytes is easy, but how difficult is it to find the address in the rom?



Opening the patched DX ROM in something like mGBA, looking at the palette viewer, locating the palette row which corresponds to Kirby and then doing a Hex search in the ROM for those values should be enough to make the proper modifications.


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## SDA (Jan 6, 2023)

You might have heard recently that Specialagentape, the guy who colorized Donkey Kong Land and Donkey Kong Land 2, has started a project that brings Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge to color. It even includes weapon icons like Mega Man World 5 DX!

I would suggest to change the weapon icons to those from Mega Man Maker, but Specialagentape has fucking blocked me on Twitter for some unknown reason. The result is that I can't contact him anymore.

	Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2023

Nothing can stop marc_max!
He's already colorizing Donkey Kong '94!


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## ShadowOne333 (Jan 7, 2023)




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## SDA (Jan 7, 2023)

ShadowOne333 said:


>



Oh, come on. Coo could be colored better than that.


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## Jayro (Jan 7, 2023)

lordelan said:


> There's only a hack for Dream Land 1 unfortunately and it has that annoying specific pink color on Kirby.
> I'd love to get KDL2 too as it's one of my favorite GB games.


Yeah, they always colorize these things with too much saturation. Kirby's pink color is atrocious, and I wish someone would fix it and tone it down.


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## lordelan (Jan 7, 2023)

ShadowOne333 said:


>



I'm speechless. This is pure beauty and easily on par with Super Mario Land 2 DX. Any indication on how far the overall progress is?


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## zfreeman (Jan 7, 2023)

lordelan said:


> Any indication on how far the overall progress is?


Faceball 2000 DX took him 1 week. Kirby's Pinball Land DX v1.0 & v1.1 took him about 1 month each. I'm guessing he'll be done in a matter of weeks.


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## M4x1mumReZ (Jan 7, 2023)

I wonder how it is possible to colourise a Game Boy game. Any ideas?


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## zfreeman (Jan 7, 2023)

M4x1mumReZ said:


> I wonder how it is possible to colourise a Game Boy game. Any ideas?


"Everything other than the graphics changes was done through assembly code I wrote myself. Palettes were determined with the aid of YYCHR's PaletteEditor.exe, with YYCHR itself used to edit the graphics."
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/gameboy/patches/6079readme.txt


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## M4x1mumReZ (Sunday at 12:00 AM)

zfreeman said:


> "Everything other than the graphics changes was done through assembly code I wrote myself. Palettes were determined with the aid of YYCHR's PaletteEditor.exe, with YYCHR itself used to edit the graphics."
> https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/gameboy/patches/6079readme.txt


Okay, but how do I go to the effort of making a colorised ROM hack?


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## zfreeman (Sunday at 1:22 AM)

Most hackers on Romhacking would recommend to first learn Assembly.


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## SDA (Sunday at 9:58 AM)

zfreeman said:


> Most hackers on Romhacking would recommend to first learn Assembly.


Exactly. And the higher your ASM knowledge level is, the better your colorization hacks will be.


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## hippy dave (Sunday at 4:41 PM)

M4x1mumReZ said:


> Okay, but how do I go to the effort of making a colorised ROM hack?


There's this tool for making simplistic colourisation by editing palettes, won't give anything like the amount of control or quality you could get by assembly editing, but it's something you could play with straight away:

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/30/


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## SDA (Sunday at 5:37 PM)

hippy dave said:


> There's this tool for making simplistic colourisation by editing palettes, won't give anything like the amount of control or quality you could get by assembly editing, but it's something you could play with straight away:
> 
> https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/30/


Ah, yes. It's the infamous GB Colorizer.

We all know that this tool messes up the ROM very badly. I once tried using it on Yoshi (the GB game) and I got glitched results.


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## hippy dave (Sunday at 7:13 PM)

SDA said:


> Ah, yes. It's the infamous GB Colorizer.
> 
> We all know that this tool messes up the ROM very badly. I once tried using it on Yoshi (the GB game) and I got glitched results.


Ah, I did not know this. Thanks for the info.


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## SDA (Today at 8:37 AM)

The Mega Man World 5 DX hack has gained its first ever negative review. This user doesn’t recommend it just because “there is flickering and the bosses don’t have shading anymore”.

He probably does not know what technical limitations are.


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