Homebrew Breathing New Life into Classic Games?Adding in new pokemon animation?

[jrk190]

Alright, to start off with, I'm here to learn. I'd like to know if it is possible to edit the roms of old Gameboy and Gameboy color games, to change or add color. It would be great if we could add color to old pokemon games, or even port them to become .nds Roms. Adding in new features, etc. Would be nice. I know this should probably be in the ROM editing category, so feel free to move, if needed.

 

[Sora de Eclaune]

To port a GB/ game to be a NDS game would take months of work and the source code of the game.

Adding color to GB games has already been done, but the color would only be applied in GBC/SGB mode.

 

[AlanJohn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxluUqFgk1U

 

[Rydian]

In order to port something, you need the source code (not just a compiled/finished/ROM version).

Nobody outside Nintendo has the source for any of the mainstream pokemon games.

 

[LeRodeur]

In order to port something, you need the source code (not just a compiled/finished/ROM version).

Nobody outside Nintendo has the source for any of the mainstream pokemon games.

I assume you misred what he was asking for, he wants to color old gameboys pokemon, which is in fact more than possible, if you understand a bit french you can read tutorials here http://www.playeradvance.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13874
You can easily changer the palettes of the game by using ini and pal files with pc emulators, and I remember one of ds emus doing it correctly, though i dont remember which one
old pokemon roms had already be modded in the past so its possible but you will need to have the specific tools.

 

[Rydian]

I read more than that.

Coloring was only part of what he mentioned, and was already covered by somebody else.

 

[Deleted-236924]

http://hax.iimarck.us/topic/77/

 

[Sora de Eclaune]

In order to port something, you need the source code (not just a compiled/finished/ROM version).

Nobody outside Nintendo has the source for any of the mainstream pokemon games.

I assume you misred what he was asking for, he wants to color old gameboys pokemon

No, he didn't misread. In addition to colorizing the older games, the OP also wants to port them to the DS.

Alright, to start off with, I'm here to learn. I'd like to know if it is possible to edit the roms of old Gameboy and Gameboy color games, to change or add color. It would be great if we could add color to old pokemon games, or even port them to become .nds Roms. Adding in new features, etc. Would be nice. I know this should probably be in the ROM editing category, so feel free to move, if needed.

 

[iSubaru]

Colorizing is not that difficult depending what results Author of thread wants
Porting them to NDS with better colors...well...
Pokemon Silver (II Gen) GBC -> Pokemon Soul Silver NDS
Nintendo did it by themselves
Pokemon Red (I Gen) GB -> Pokemon Fire Red GBA
Again

So porting is maybe out of sense because You just develop a wheel anew but colorizing idea is pretty much good

 

[Majorami]

Animations for 2D is different for 3D.

3D animations is complicated, while 2D animations are just sprite pallettes. You can "add" animation by replacing old sprite pallete with revised ones. Its how you could make Pikachu look like a 8 bit penis, rather than Pikachu.

You don't really need source code if you're just swapping sprites/textures. Though it should be noted that I'm not even sure old-gameboy games even used sprites. It could just be a serries of 1's and 0's or hexidecimal to determine which and what pixel is on/off on an LCD screen, to make it appear as a sprite. Course thats just a theory as I don't plan to google and confirm how they actually worked. But if that was the case, I wouldn't begin to imagine how you convert that into NDS.

And why even convert/port to NDS? You still need a flashcart, and flashcarts run gameboy emulators. Who the hell would bother with such tedious, pointless work arounds when one can just simply download an already completed emulator, and then run the rom?

 

[iSubaru]

3D animations is complicated, while 2D animations are just sprite pallettes. You can "add" animation by replacing old sprite pallete with revised ones. Its how you could make Pikachu look like a 8 bit penis, rather than Pikachu.

I prefer hamburger

And why even convert/port to NDS? You still need a flashcart, and flashcarts run gameboy emulators. Who the hell would bother with such tedious, pointless work arounds when one can just simply download an already completed emulator, and then run the rom?

For fun, no other reason found so far

Animations for 2D is different for 3D.

DS by default works in 2D mode so we are safe at this point

 

[loco365]

I think there was a Pokemon Red disassembly project. I think it was to break it down into it's source files, Aaaand yup, I found it. It's the source but I'm not sure if I can post a link as it's copyright.

 

[Rydian]

To be fair most "disassembly" isn't to get the actual original source, but rather any source that, when compiled, makes the same program. The feasibility of porting such code isn't something I can say though.

 

[PolloDiablo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAek6wYkHH0

 

[iSubaru]

I think there was a Pokemon Red disassembly project. I think it was to break it down into it's source files, Aaaand yup, I found it. It's the source but I'm not sure if I can post a link as it's copyright.

I'm pretty sure that such disassembly itself is law-break, because of touching copyright work which was supposed to be sold only as ready-to-run cartridge for GameBoy and no other way
It's like changing game content, I don't remember the professional sentence but it's about changing content law-break

 

[maxd]

You guys do not know what you are talking about. I'm sorry it comes off as blunt, but you are all regurgitating what you have read before.

You will not succeed. If all you want is better graphics and music, find a remake for another Nintendo handheld. The Pokemon games for the Gameboy (Color) were written in ASM for a imited iteration of the Z80 processor. Palette hacking the whole game is daunting. Reprogramming it or porting it for a different system is beyond stupid. Only recently has there been a large collaborative effort to disassemble the ROM and the task is being done by hand with a hex editor, unlike the Sonic the Hedgehog disassemblies made with IDA Pro. Programming is not easy to learn. Assembly is not an easy programming language to learn. The Z80 is not a friendly processor to work with. The Pokemon games pushed the Gameboy hardware to its very limits.

Playing the original games with these suggested "enhancements" that break one of the key elements that seperates them from their predecessors. Pokemon Red with better graphics and music is simply an unbalanced and glitchy FireRed version. Silver or Crystal with better graphics and music still pales in comparison with their Nintendo DS remakes due to the more balanced gameplay, better battle mechanics, and compatibility with current generations. The other appeal is the ability to play these games on the limited vintage hardware.

Yes, Gameboy (Color) games can be emualted on the Nintendo DS and many other devices. However, the Nintendo DS does not have the complete iteration of the Z80 processor, and currently emulation cannot correctly emulate the WAV and noise sound channels. Even with "enhancements," no emulator in its current state could support these extra resources you would program. Extra room in the ROM and RAM for art, as well as more channels for music, are not feasible. Someone would have to program an emulator that could support these elements, and most Gameboy emulator developers have no desire to expand upon the original device's abilities.

If you want to play the games original RBY games in color similar to Yellow's palette: go get an N64, a transfer pack, original GB game, and Pokemon Stadium. The Gameboy Tower has natural color enhancements similar to those in the Yellow ROM. Hell, it can even be emulated. However, getting an emulator to play nice the the transfer pack function is a little tough. Get your toes wet with that if you must.



tl;dr If you are not familiar with disassembly, the Z80, or assembly language I strongly advise you shut your mouth and play Pokemon FireRed/SoulSilver or what have you. I hope you still enjoy Pokemon despite how it looks or sounds.