ROM Hack x and z coded NDS roms?

[Tom-B]

Can anyone tell me what the x and z prefix in front of certain rom IDs means?

Are these unofficial roms?

A lot of x roms are demos but some are labelled "Kiosk".

Z roms seem to be alternative versions of existing games and bad dumps. Others appear to be real games e.g.
z107 - Jewel Match 3 (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Nl).nds and
z109 - Pillow Pets (USA).nds


Why are there z coded games?

 

[DSoryu]

Short Answer: Nothing special at all, just timescale ordering purpose.

Long Answer: Back in the DS scene days, some sites/databases tried to share/put release numbers but it varied depending on some autoproclamed parameters made by the scene release groups. Not every rom got a number (the ones you are asking for for example, because those weren't workable full retail dumps, or where just demos, betas, non retail software/hardware).

In short, release order/group/crack status defined the number or sufix of a release number.

There are some cases involving releases with intro screens/animations that didn't include a release number and ended having just a plain XXXX, or a sufix to indicate that it is a "dirty" dump as those had to be modified to avoid AP measures beforehand.

The truth is, that the scene itself does not use numbering by a standard parameter, as it serves no real purpose other than a vague release order/timescale, and the one being used at as a "final oficial number" tends to be the most popular around them.

 

[Tom-B]

Short Answer: Nothing special at all, just timescale ordering purpose.

Long Answer: Back in the DS scene days, some sites/databases tried to share/put release numbers but it varied depending on some autoproclamed parameters made by the scene release groups. Not every rom got a number (the ones you are asking for for example, because those weren't workable full retail dumps, or where just demos, betas, non retail software/hardware).

In short, release order/group/crack status defined the number or sufix of a release number.

There are some cases involving releases with intro screens/animations that didn't include a release number and ended having just a plain XXXX, or a sufix to indicate that it is a "dirty" dump as those had to be modified to avoid AP measures beforehand.

The truth is, that the scene itself does not use numbering by a standard parameter, as it serves no real purpose other than a vague release order/timescale, and the one being used at as a "final oficial number" tends to be the most popular around them.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Having noticed that games seemed to have the same ID on every rom site I visit I'd assumed that the ID came from the cartridges themselves and were assigned by Nintendo.

 

[Ryccardo]

As said, it's not any official scheme, but No-Intro's DS one goes this way:

First the easy to explain XB series - bootroms and firmwares (the latter cannot possibly have a verified dump in the conventional meaning of "multiple independent byte-exact copies" since they include wifi calibration for the specific wireless card it's stored on)

Then it should be said that, probably for historical reasons, No-Intro (well, the DS section) discriminates between "independent" dumps (these are in the Z series) and the scene-recognized dumps (these are in the main series for retail and the X series for demos/betas/distributions/flashcards and other complex accessories)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I'd assumed that the ID came from the cartridges themselves and were assigned by Nintendo.

What is commonly called an ID does indeed come from the rom (ie ASMP01 for european Mario 64 DS) or at least the sticker (NTR-ASMP-EUR), but the release numbers are 100% unofficial and indeed mostly deprecated, however for the most part they're widely agreed on (many trust Advanscene as the authority)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Can anyone tell me what the x and z prefix in front of certain rom IDs means?

Are these unofficial roms?

A lot of x roms are demos but some are labelled "Kiosk".

Z roms seem to be alternative versions of existing games and bad dumps. Others appear to be real games e.g.
z107 - Jewel Match 3 (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Nl).nds and
z109 - Pillow Pets (USA).nds


Why are there z coded games?

Kiosk games are ones used in demo units at stores etc. Sometimes they can have noticeable differences to the retail release, but usually they are near indistinguishable from the final versions AFAIK.
There is this thing in the scene called nuking which is how releases often end up with the "XXXX" numbering. If a release doesn't conform to the scene rules, or is bad/inferior in some way to another release, anyone in the scene can nuke it. Nuking doesn't actually do much besides display the release as such in release lists.
The "z" prefix I'm actually not sure about. I think that's just an alternate numbering scheme someone thought of later on for non-retail or abnormal dumps rather than just give them the XXXX numbering.

 

[skubbe]

X should be like demo, hardware and none retail games and so
Z should be not released by the Scene like private dump, found on the web and so