The homebrew and romhacking scene keep pushing the boundaries of what the original retro consoles were capable of, with features like MSU-1, which adds CD-quality audio to these classics, to the more recent SuperFX3 chip included in the recent 2025 release of Doom for the SNES.

Now, thanks to the rumble specification created by Randal Linden for the 2025 SNES release of Doom, and with help by him as well, it is now possible to add rumble effects to SNES titles, to add to their immersion, and the very first romhack to do so is the newly released Star Fox: Shindou Edition by romhacker Kandowontu:

​

This hack includes multiple patches for the different regions of the game, alongside custom boxart for NTSC-U and NTSC-J versions.
While the romhack enables rumble support for Star Fox, it's important to note that not all SNES emulators have support for it, as right now only the Mesen 2 emulator is the one that has rumble support.

Additionally, Rumble does work on real hardware, but SNES controllers that have rumble support are also scarce, if not non-existent, as this hack was made with a prototype SNES controller that had rumble motors, but Kando does mention that the BlueRetro adapters might include rumble support for cases like this.

The second SNES game to get rumble support by romhackers is actually not a native SNES game, but rather an NES game ported over to the SNES by romhacker Rumbleminze, who has previously worked on other NES to SNES ports like Kid Icarus, Double Dragon I & II, Super Dodge Ball, and now, the first Castlevania game from the NES, complete with a bunch of new features to go alongside this new NES-to-SNES port:

• 3 Difficulty Levels - Easy (Famicom difficulty), Normal (NES difficulty) and Hard (VS. Arcade difficulty)
• 14 palette options
• 6 MSU-1 Soundtrack options
• Use A or X to throw subweapons
• Swap between 2 subweapons
• Rumble support

People interested in trying out Star Fox: Shindou Edition can download the patch from Romhack Plaza, while people interested in the Castlevania SNES port can do so by following Rumbleminze's Bluesky account.

Star Fox: Shindou Edition romhack at Romhack Plaza
Rumbleminze Bluesky profile

 

[doorbell8423]

.

 

[Osha]

I understand Star Fox and could see it being neat, but why Castlevania ? Is it just for the sake of saying "yeah it's been done" ? Because I can't see the game feeling more immersive in any way thanks to rumble. If anything it'd probably get more in the way than anything

 

[x65943]

For those not in the know, in Japan there were re releases of games to take advantage of the rumble pak on the N64 that bore the same moniker, that is shindou edition

(Shindou meaning rumble)

In Japan they got Super Mario 64: Shindou Edition - but it never released in the US on an N64 cart (but was available later via emulation)

 

[ShadowOne333]

I understand Star Fox and could see it being neat, but why Castlevania ? Is it just for the sake of saying "yeah it's been done" ? Because I can't see the game feeling more immersive in any way thanks to rumble. If anything it'd probably get more in the way than anything

Now you'll really feel that Belmont knockback in the palm of your hands!

 

[yankii]

Try a real game like Mario Kart, maybe.

 

[Exnor]

Not a fan of those games but i do appreciate all the efforts of the homebrew community.

Thank you to all.

 

[Scriber]

I understand Star Fox and could see it being neat, but why Castlevania ? Is it just for the sake of saying "yeah it's been done" ? Because I can't see the game feeling more immersive in any way thanks to rumble. If anything it'd probably get more in the way than anything

Why any game?

It's Rumbleminze's hack/port. He can do what he wants with it. Besides, it's a toggleable option.

 

[Osha]

Why any game?

It's Rumbleminze's hack/port. He can do what he wants with it. Besides, it's a toggleable option.

You're right let's not have any discussions ever, sorry for being curious about the implementation of a feature, and for daring to post in a forum of all places, I shall now flagellate myself for my sins. As a matter of fact, mods, could you please lock the thread, master Scriber deems it unnecessary to speak about things.

 

[SDA]

Saw the Star Fox rumble hack on RH Plaza. Gee, now what's the next SNES game that will have this function?

 

[raxadian]

Unfortunately neither the 3DS or Vita have rumble. And while there is a GBA slot rumble pack for DS; running a SNES game in a flashcard in a DS has slowdown issues.

So I literally have no use for this because I hate rumble on the Wii, although if used the Classic Controller maybe it would be fun?

Actually, does any SNES emulator for Wii support rumble?

 

[nmagod]

I can't wait for the Castlevania II version where every text box rumbles for 23 minutes and 14 seconds due to the horrifically bad translation job they did overflowing into the rumble function's memory space!

 

[bonkmaykr]

People interested in trying out ... the Castlevania SNES port can do so by following Rumbleminze's Bluesky account.

Tying this to a social media platform and encouraging (let alone requiring) people to be registered is a bad idea. These need to be cataloged on a personal website or some kind of ROM hacking forum, not a Bluesky account. Thankfully the account is public but what if it suddenly isn't one day? And why specifically Mega folders? I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and saying this is just how he likes to distribute his work, but I find it questionable.

They did this shit with Slayer's Testaments over Discord to prevent archiving and gatekeep people they didn't like from playing, and nobody cared, great to see nobody has woken up yet...

 

[Blasingame]

Rumble support would be awesome on the SNES' classic RPGs. Imagine the rumble when Crono does one of his sword techs ...

 

[Dakangel]

Unfortunately neither the 3DS or Vita have rumble. And while there is a GBA slot rumble pack for DS; running a SNES game in a flashcard in a DS has slowdown issues.

So I literally have no use for this because I hate rumble on the Wii, although if used the Classic Controller maybe it would be fun?

Actually, does any SNES emulator for Wii support rumble?

The Wii classic controller does not have rumble function, only using the Gamecube pads you can feel it, unless you strap a wiimote to a classic controller similar to how you would use it to play splatoon on Wii U.
Or if the emulator is compatible with the Wii U pro pad.

For now there is no variant of the snes or retroarch emulators that add the vibration option to the games but curiously the Wii GBA emulators do have vibration options for compatible games, whether Color or Advance.
(Playstation and N64 emulators also have rumble function)

 

[LoggerMan]

This would be good for Analogue Pocket, you can plug a rumble pack into the gameboy slot and use it when playing a rom off SD card.

 

[KanaKonpaku]

My friend can play Star Fox practically blindfolded so it's cool to see the game getting rumble support. I've never been keen on rumble in games to the point of turning it off in most cases, but it's still cool to see this being done.

 

[SDA]

I can't wait for the Castlevania II version where every text box rumbles for 23 minutes and 14 seconds due to the horrifically bad translation job they did overflowing into the rumble function's memory space!

Uh, dude... I may be crazy but I think there's a retranslation hack out there... care to give it a shot?

 

[Robert Newbie]

Interesting. I'm glad the SNES is getting attention, and I can't argue with rumble support. I still remember the days of the N64, and Star Fox 64 releasing with the Rumble Pak was such a big deal. It's nice to see Rumbleminze still hard at work, I just recently found out about his NES->SNES ports.

Also, for those interested in finding all of Rumbleminze's work, it's scattered between "Rumbleminze" and "Rumbleminze_nes" on that website that archives things.

 

[lordelan]

Not only fantastic news on its own but also well summarized by @ShadowOne333
I wonder if this would work on the MiSTer. Have to give it a shot, when I find some spare time.