# Final Fantasy VII NES Hack Released, confirmed working on NesDS



## Another World (Nov 15, 2013)

ShenZhen Nanjing Technology is a company perhaps you may not have heard of. For years they have been releasing homebrew for the Famicom/NES. Their games receive physical releases, yet they are not officially licensed. Among their releases are such titles as Pokemon, Harvest Moon, and Golden Sun. In 2005 they released Final Fantasy VII, a game which was quickly dumped and dissected, and found wanting. Many aspects were missing, the story had problems, graphics weren't quite what gamers expected, etc, but the core elements were present. Sometimes, that is just enough to entice a journey of epic ROM-hacking proportions.

For more than 4 years the game has been hacked apart by Lugia2009. He set out to learn about the game and ended up reinventing it. The ROM-hacking community has been involved since the project was officially announced more than a year ago, by offering sprites, music, suggestions, beta testing, and more. The project posts read like a blog, containing all types of incredible information that help to paint the picture of exactly what this journey has entailed, and it is recommended reading!

For those who ever wished to play FF VII on the NES, this is as good as it is ever going to get, and it's rather amazing! The hack includes a full and updated English translation, a new title screen, new graphics, new music, new events, new areas, and much more. It requires mapper 163, so request support for your favorite NES Flash Kit or emulator. Our community will be happy to hear that the game has been reported working on NesDS. You will need to find the original, and unpatched, Chinese ROM. The ROM is usually called Final Fantasy VII (C) or [NJ063] Final Fantasy VII, and has a CRC value of E5BF8F0C. Remember, never ask for ROMs on GBAtemp.

The download contains two IPS patches, both of which are explained in the included ReadME. The translation patch is the original patch that added the run button (B) and translated the game into English. This patch was included as a nod to its original developer, as he greatly influenced this project. This patch should not be applied, and applying both patches will cause issues. Only apply the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (Finished Version).ips patch.

A special thanks must go out to everyone who was involved with this project. Now, stop reading and go get your retro game on!

 FF VII NES Patch Download
 Filetrip Mirror
 Project Post


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## 2ndApex (Nov 15, 2013)

brb playing FFVII on my GBA


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## Dartz150 (Nov 15, 2013)

Wow I did'nt heard of this before, and looks amazing, thanks for the info


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## Bobbyloujo (Nov 15, 2013)

Wasn't there already an English translation of this? I seem to remember there being one. This one sounds a lot more rounded, though.


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## Another World (Nov 15, 2013)

yes, but this is FAR more than just a retranslation. this is pretty much a demake of the PS1 game (minus a few things) to the NES.

-another world


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## Anorhc (Nov 15, 2013)

This is very impressive. I just finished the first reactor, beat the boss and on got on the train. Very faithful to the original so far.


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## GHANMI (Nov 15, 2013)

The sad irony is that all of this hard work is going inevitably to be put by this same bootleg Chinese company back in cartridges to be sold again... as Final Fantasy XVI NES probably. They would edit the title screen and that's it.


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## Prans (Nov 15, 2013)

2ndApex said:


> brb playing FFVII on my GBA


 
Wait... How do you do that? Do you use an NES emulator for GBA like PocketNes?


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## Prans (Nov 15, 2013)

Hackers never stop impressing us! Congrats to the team!


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## Pedeadstrian (Nov 15, 2013)

It's sad, really. These guys put more effort into Final Fantasy VII than Square Enix did with their re-release.


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## BORTZ (Nov 15, 2013)

Dude... 

Hey, AW, whats missing? Why did you say "minus a few things"?


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## Gahars (Nov 15, 2013)

A shame they chose VII. One more up and they could've called it Final Fantasy VIII-Bit.

Damn, hackers, get your shit together.


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## BORTZ (Nov 15, 2013)

Gahars said:


> A shame they chose VII. One more up and they could've called it Final Fantasy VIII-Bit.
> 
> Damn, hackers, get your shit together.


 
Thats... actually really clever... 

[flame container]
Too bad 8 is pretty bad
[/flame container]


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## PROTOBOY (Nov 15, 2013)

About nesDS its dead ???

No updates since long time ago???


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## JackSakamoto (Nov 15, 2013)

Pokémon on NES.. Brr,I remember.
Well,it seems awesome. Gotta try.


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## pasc (Nov 15, 2013)

Muhahaha, finally they released it on a platform of the Manufacturer they intented to all along.

And I figured it all out.

*Square Enix = ShenZhen Nanjing Technology  !*


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## loco365 (Nov 15, 2013)

So I used potions on Barrett and Cloud. Now I can't back out. Not sure if that's a bug or if I'm missing a button. I've hit B to no avail, unless FCEUX isn't compatible.


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## The Catboy (Nov 15, 2013)

it works on my Dingoo running the latest OpenDingux on the latest fceux, but does not work on nester. I am also running the dingoonity custom firmware with the Dingoo NES emulator 1.6 and it works on that as well.


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## Another World (Nov 15, 2013)

it seems a lot of users didn't read the readme and are just applying the patches. the english patch was included by the hacker as a nod to the guy who did the first english translation (and added the run button). if you apply both patches your rom could do some funny things, may not work on some emus, etc. i'll update the first post with this warning now.



BortzANATOR said:


> Hey, AW, whats missing? Why did you say "minus a few things"?



he used space in the rom to add things that were not in the original game. but there was not enough room to fit everything. i can't recall most of what is misisng, but i know there were a few posts in the lengthy project discussion [at romhacking.net] that will outline what could not be included. right off the start i do recall things like the first fights at the reactor are with random enemies that should not be there, yet there is no way to fix this yet. 2 characters were not included, yet. i think 1 event related to the chocobos was not included, but i'm not sure about that. like i said, give the project discussion a read. it is safe to skim by jumping to posts from Lugia2009.



Prans said:


> Wait... How do you do that? Do you use an NES emulator for GBA like PocketNes?



there does exist a build of pocketnes by maxzhou88 (k1 gba sp/k101 revo fame) that supports mapper 163. this port was used for the embedded version of pocketnes included with the k1 handhelds. it was originally listed on pocketheaven but removed because maxzhou88 only uploaded a compiled build that included the chinese rom. there is a build on maxzhou88 homepage in the GBA folder, perhaps this is the emu only? the page contains roms so i can't link to it, but a quick google search of his name should lead you to the directory structure.

one interesting thing is that if you google maxzhou88, you'll find references to him having worked for a FC chinese company. his bio says he lives in Shenzhen. could he have been working on the games that ShenZhen Nanjing Technology published? perhaps FF VII and that is why he made a pocketnes build with just that 1 game?

-another world


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## Walker D (Nov 15, 2013)

Awesome! I was watching this and his other pokemon project for some time ...Lugia2009 deserves some taps on his back 
(he once said that the Pokemon Yellow project was on hold until he was done with the FF VII ...hope to see it done soon too)


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## user64 (Nov 15, 2013)

Been playing this on NesDS, it's a really great demake/rom hack. Also seems to work well on fceugx.


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## zachtheninja (Nov 16, 2013)

Seems neat. I might lookup the pokemon hack later.


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## Razzyness (Nov 17, 2013)

Can't get this to work at all..


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## Another World (Nov 17, 2013)

Razzyness said:


> Can't get this to work at all..



did you follow the instructions and patch a clean rom? did you, by mistake, use both patches? are you using an emu with mapper 163 support?

-another world


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## user64 (Nov 17, 2013)

Another World said:


> did you follow the instructions and patch a clean rom? did you, by mistake, use both patches? are you using an emu with mapper 163 support?


 

Yeah, try a few different emulators. I tried the original and the english patched rom on nester mac, and they worked fine, but the full game did not work on that emulator. The same patched ROM worked on my DS and Wii, though.


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## Another World (Nov 17, 2013)

a few people are reporting that the final patch doesn't work on emus which previously supported it. there are some translation suggestions, materia name suggestions, and even a few bugs that have popped up. perhaps when those fixes are applied the patched rom/emu issue will get looked at.

-another world


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## Celice (Nov 17, 2013)

Another World said:


> a few people are reporting that the final patch doesn't work on emus which previously supported it. there are some translation suggestions, materia name suggestions, and even a few bugs that have popped up. perhaps when those fixes are applied the patched rom/emu issue will get looked at.
> 
> -another world


It may be a question of whether the patch is now abusing some inaccurate emulation, or perhaps has some new code which faulty emulators can't accurately follow up on.

Such is an issue when developing mainly with an emulator rather than hardware


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## DaniPoo (Nov 17, 2013)

It's impressive to say the least. But I lol'ed when I faced Tonberry's and Marlboro's before the first reaktor. They spammed Holy on me (it seems to be a low power spell in this game).
With all the work they've put into this, it's a litle bit of a letdown that they totally destroy the epicness of powerful enemies and spells by having you face them right on.
The music is not spot on but they have done a better job then what I expected with some tracks. But sometimes it's better to turn the sound off if you don't want an headache.


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## Zeliga (Nov 17, 2013)

Final fantasy 7 on the NES !! awsome.


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## ZAFDeltaForce (Nov 17, 2013)

It doesn't work on some emulators (Like Nestopia) which is unfortunate. It is confirmed working on Fceux though


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## the_randomizer (Nov 17, 2013)

ZAFDeltaForce said:


> It doesn't work on some emulators (Like Nestopia) which is unfortunate. It is confirmed working on Fceux though


 

That sucks, wonder why it doesn't work on Nestopia.


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## Another World (Nov 17, 2013)

DaniPoo said:


> But I lol'ed when I faced Tonberry's and Marlboro's before the first reaktor.



apparently there is no way to control the random enemy placement. it looks like it would need an asm hack or something beyond the skill set of the current rom hacker. the level of difficulty in some areas is much higher than it should be due to this problem. i was headed to the second avalanche mission and got bombarded with 5 enemy fights all much more powerful than my weak party and their 15 potions.

-another world


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## Razzyness (Nov 18, 2013)

tried playing it on nesds but it doesnt work. I can't even play the original rom either.. Maybe I'm jut not getting the right download.
Really wanted to play on my ds.


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## Another World (Nov 18, 2013)

Razzyness said:


> tried playing it on nesds but it doesnt work. I can't even play the original rom either.. Maybe I'm jut not getting the right download.
> Really wanted to play on my ds.



i'm playing it on NesDS daily. the problem is something on your end. did you verify the rom by CRC as being clean? the two most popular names and the clean chinese rom crc value are in the first post. you must apply the patch to the correct clean chinese rom or it won't work. you must also be sure that you do not apply both patches found in the download. the author should not have included both patches, it is only confusing everyone.

-another world


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## NariIro (Nov 18, 2013)

So i didnt see this anywhere but what is the rom we must use to patch? im new to this whole thing and i really wanna play this.


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## NariIro (Nov 18, 2013)

NVM found it, just missed the OP post saying what it was


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## Razzyness (Nov 18, 2013)

I dont know whats wrong, I can't seem to run it on my nesds emulator, I was able to run the patched rom fine on my pc. It's just a black screen on my ds


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## NariIro (Nov 18, 2013)

Razzyness said:


> I dont know whats wrong, I can't seem to run it on my nesds emulator, I was able to run the patched rom fine on my pc. It's just a black screen on my ds


 
I just ran it fine on my ds running nesds. only thing is im missing the background when in battle and my letters seem to be cut off just a bit, and i cant run (used lunar patch with the final version patch.)


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## Razzyness (Nov 18, 2013)

then I have no idea whats wrong.. As I can run the patched rom fine on VirtualNESex. I can run the patched and clean file fine on my pc but patched/clean doesn't work on nesds, just a black screen pops up.


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## NariIro (Nov 18, 2013)

Razzyness said:


> then I have no idea whats wrong.. As I can run the patched rom fine on VirtualNESex. I can run the patched and clean file fine on my pc but patched/clean doesn't work on nesds, just a black screen pops up.


 
Did you check the CRC number before the patch?


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## Another World (Nov 18, 2013)

Razzyness said:


> then I have no idea whats wrong.. As I can run the patched rom fine on VirtualNESex. I can run the patched and clean file fine on my pc but patched/clean doesn't work on nesds, just a black screen pops up.



try toggling the pure soft mode off/on.

-another world


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## Razzyness (Nov 18, 2013)

How do I go about doing that?

On the touch screen i have the tabs INPUT DISPLAY FILE and DEBUG and i couldn't find soft mode..?

EDIT: Nvm, i just updated my Nesds to the latest version and it runs fine now ! sorry about that. Was thinking mine might have been outdated when you mentinoed the soft mode options so I looked for the latest version . thanks.


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## jastolze (Nov 18, 2013)

Hey does the English version go as far as the non-translated version, like length wise? I see that the non translated version is the only one that says "complete". Could they have forgotten to mention that the English one is finished, too?

Edit: NVM, I was just confused, I got it figured out now.


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## urbanman2004 (Nov 19, 2013)

they deserve a dinner on the house


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## Another World (Nov 20, 2013)

> Good news!  I uploaded a new patch to the RHDN database that changes the magic names, item descriptions, and an issue I found with 7 of the optional bosses in the game.
> 
> AND best of all! Dizzy9 has sent me a patch that not only adds damage animations to the battle system, but also fixes the issue this game has with the Nestopia emulator!
> 
> The new version is 1.1



everyone who loves nestopia should try the new patch. remember that nestopia 1.40 requires the on-the-fly ips patching. just drop the patch in the patch folder and let the emulator do the work. if you are patching the rom for a different emu, remember to patch the clean rom. do not repatch and already patched copy.

http://filetrip.net/oldies-downloads/nes/download-final-fantasy-vii-advent-children-11-f32498.html

-another world


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## NariIro (Nov 21, 2013)

Does anyone else have a issue when saving? i Saved my game after tifa joined my party and when i went to continue it started me right as i was fighting the two sets of guards as soon as you get off the train.


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## CorvoSol (Jan 10, 2014)

Hey, when I get to the first battle why trying to play this in the latest version of NESDS, it crashes. Has anybody else encountered this problem or has an idea as to why this might be happening?


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## user64 (Jan 11, 2014)

CorvoSol said:


> Hey, when I get to the first battle why trying to play this in the latest version of NESDS, it crashes. Has anybody else encountered this problem or has an idea as to why this might be happening?


 
Make sure you have the unpatched original rom to apply the patch to. Also make sure you're using the latest version of NESDS.


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