ROM Hack Oldies Project Tiny Toons Adventures DX for Game Boy : colorization project

[Brand Newman]

I happen to own the Tiny Toons on DVD. The quality is not great, but at least I can go through the episodes when I can't find the sceneries I want on the Internet. Here's a screenshot from the episode "Journey to the Center of Acme Acres", which I believe was very popular. I could find shades of blue and purple that I tweaked, and while nothing is definitive (I'll see if the colors are too dark for a small screen), I believe this is the right direction. As for the tile on the background, I never really could tell if it was grass or cracks, but I modified it a bit, so it would look more like the latter, making the background look less "bland".

 

[SDA]

The cave colors look pretty fine to me. They should look good on the GBC screen as well.

 

[Brand Newman]

The cave colors look pretty fine to me. They should look good on the GBC screen as well.

Thanks! However I'll probably use it later in the game, when you enter the underground of the haunted forest : I was thinking of taking the colors from Buster's burrow for Dizzy's cave.
Right now I'm working on the bonus game, and let me just say the Toxic Revenger will be in full colors!

 

[Brand Newman]

Using overlay on bonus level caused such shimmering that I had to rely on transparency for Max and the mice. Meaning Roderick will have ginger hair, like he did in the cartoon. Also altered Hamton's sprite: they did him dirty by not giving him a costume. This has bothered me for 30 years!

Post automatically merged: Apr 1, 2025

Quick update for Hamton, as I found another picture that shows the form of the hat better.

 

[SDA]

Also altered Hamton's sprite: they did him dirty by not giving him a costume. This has bothered me for 30 years!

The hat on his head would technically count as a costume, right? Since you added it in.

 

[Brand Newman]

The hat on his head would technically count as a costume, right? Since you added it in.

Yes, that's what I meant : I usually try to modify the sprites as little as I can (some projects do that very well, like with Super Mario World, but that a totally different kind of project), but in that case, I always thought Hamton was "missing" some costume, and therefore would never play with him when it came to the Montana Mash bonus game.

At first I wanted to do a chef's hat, but I simply didn't have the room for that (tiles issue) ; then I thought about a suit, or a super hero costume with a mask just like Plucky had : but apart from the difficulty of it, I had the feeling it would have changed the game a little bit too much, so I went with something simpler, yet capable of restoring the balance, while remaining faithful to the original.

 

[SDA]

Yes, that's what I meant : I usually try to modify the sprites as little as I can (some projects do that very well, like with Super Mario World, but that a totally different kind of project), but in that case, I always thought Hamton was "missing" some costume, and therefore would never play with him when it came to the Montana Mash bonus game.

At first I wanted to do a chef's hat, but I simply didn't have the room for that (tiles issue) ; then I thought about a suit, or a super hero costume with a mask just like Plucky had : but apart from the difficulty of it, I had the feeling it would have changed the game a little bit too much, so I went with something simpler, yet capable of restoring the balance, while remaining faithful to the original.

Sprite edits are always welcome as long as they aren't too much. Like Super Mario Land DX, which was criticized because Mario's new sprite was too large and caused collision issues (even though that wasn't true), so the 2.0 version offers the option to switch between old and new graphics through an in-game menu.

 

[Brand Newman]

I swear it took me almost 10 days to restore this fading effect, without the bottom of the screen going black... Palette swap is something that is undeniably easier on original Game Boy, but now I should be able to restore the effects later in the game, like when you go underground in school, or when you enter the tunnel in the train.

 

[SDA]

I swear it took me almost 10 days to restore this fading effect, without the bottom of the screen going black... Palette swap is something that is undeniably easier on original Game Boy, but now I should be able to restore the effects later in the game, like when you go underground in school, or when you enter the tunnel in the train.

I know how having to restore effects to the game feels.

Notably, the exact same thing happens in Mega Man IV where in Bright Man's stage there are enemies that dim the whole room to a black screen when shot at. When that happens, the HUD turns completely black, and you can't see your energy meter and lives left in the meantime.

Fortunately, the DX colorization remedied this issue so that the HUD still stays on-screen even when the stage is pitch black.

 

[amosjerbi]

Well done!! Reminds me of super mario 6 skin which relied on the tiny toon game of the nes. Would love to play your dx version whenever it becomes available

 

[Brand Newman]

Last few weeks were dedicated to find a solution to make transitions "smoother", by switching the screen off at appropriate time (vblank).

No more "curtain" effect when displaying a new screen, except when entering the pause menu, and a new level.

The reason for this is that turning the screen off will make the music stutter or, at the very least, slow down for a sec.

I'm guessing this has to do with the sound being tied to screen refresh, so as a form of "lesser evil", I blocked the "scrolling effect" at the beginning of levels, to give it a sort of "Sonic effect", which I believe makes things a bit less amateurish.



Time for me to have a look on that tunnel effect in the train level, and the fact that the parallax scrolling currently disappears when changing the scene!

 

[lordelan]

Very nice!

 

[Brand Newman]

Even the tiniest scene can use some overlay when possible.

 

[SDA]

Even the tiniest scene can use some overlay when possible.

I mean, Gogo Dodo's got some color too, right?

Of note, this is one of the games where the game over screen doesn't have Calamity Coyote chasing Little Beeper (the second Tiny Toons game for the Game Boy does have them).

 

[Brand Newman]

I mean, Gogo Dodo's got some color too, right?

Of note, this is one of the games where the game over screen doesn't have Calamity Coyote chasing Little Beeper (the second Tiny Toons game for the Game Boy does have them).

Fun fact : the game is also loading Sneezer's sprite on this screen, but I could never make it show (maybe some unused content?)

I tried the Japanese version to see if there was a difference, but apart from the password composed of items, I couldn't find any.

But that game is sometimes strange : for example it also loads ingame objects (like the boxes), and even the title screen, when it's obvioulsy not needed here.

Still, I try to be extra cautious and not forget any graphical resource, in case something gets rarely triggered that I haven't discovered yet (although I've played that game more than my share as a kid!)

 

[Jayro]

(although I've played that game more than my share as a kid!)

Me too, but I only ever made it to Montana Max like 4 or 5 times, and couldn't ever do damage to him and never beat the game.

 

[Brand Newman]

I managed to dig up the unused "Slot machine" mini game that was only accessible by using a game genie code on the Japanese version of the game. Turns out it has always been on the US cartridge, and translated nevertheless! My patch will restore access to this game.

 

[lordelan]

I managed to dig up the unused "Slot machine" mini game that was only accessible by using a game genie code on the Japanese version of the game. Turns out it has always been on the US cartridge, and translated nevertheless! My patch will restore access to this game.

View attachment 508682View attachment 508683

Looking good!

 

[SDA]

I managed to dig up the unused "Slot machine" mini game that was only accessible by using a game genie code on the Japanese version of the game. Turns out it has always been on the US cartridge, and translated nevertheless! My patch will restore access to this game.

View attachment 508682View attachment 508683

Heh, now I wanna see how the racing minigame looks like.

 

[TeleTubby666]

Still, I try to be extra cautious and not forget any graphical resource, in case something gets rarely triggered that I haven't discovered yet (although I've played that game more than my share as a kid!)

I am willing to participate in some beta testing as I have a Gameboy Color here and some rewritable cartridges