Romhack
|
This article describes a subject that is or may be outside the core Zelda canon. |
A romhack is a fan game which is built by hacking a backup of an existing official game (called a "rom" after the Read Only Memory which cartridges stored data on). Similar modifications of newer games, such as Breath of the Wild, are often simply called mods.
The Legend of Zelda romhacks
The Legend of Zelda: Outlands
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
NES | ||
| Credits | ||
Developer | GameMark24 | |
Plot
The Thunderbird, a horrible guardian encountered by Link in the Great Palace of The Adventure of Link, has somehow survived and is out for revenge. Having lost the Triforce of Courage at the hands of its adversary, it has stolen the Triforce of Power and flown to the vast neighbor of Hyrule, the Outlands. In a world similar to yet completely different from The Legend of Zelda, Link must track down the captured Tetrarch Fairies and, with their help, break open Ganon's secret golden vault where the creature now resides.
Link will face dangers and traps unlike anything Ganon had ever devised. His adventure will span 18 new dungeons hidden within a completely unfamiliar terrain. Zelda herself will make appearances to help the hero, providing items and sage advice crucial to the new journey. Link has become very skilled in his familiar world of Hyrule, but skill alone is his only advantage -- the land of the Outlands is a beautiful yet deadly world bearing no resemblance to his own cherished kingdom.
Download
- Download patch from Romhacking.net.
Shin Zelda Densetsu
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
NES | 18 January 2004 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Lord Steak | |
Shin Zelda Densetsu is a complete hack of The Legend of Zelda. In a novel twist, the player must guide Princess Zelda on a quest to rescue Link from the forces of evil.
The overworld is completely revamped, with few if any recognizable landmarks or routes from the original game. It is superbly designed, and won't bore the player.
The same goes for the dungeons. Instead of numbered levels, the dungeons are identified by symbols of the zodiac, another interesting twist.
This hack was made by one Lord Steak years ago. It was released 18 January 2004. It's a very well-made hack, and would have made a worthy sequel to the original game if it had been done back in the day.
The original version of the hack was perfect except for one game-breaking bug – it was impossible to finish Level 3 in the first quest. That's been fixed, so the player can now complete the hack in its entirety.
Download
- Download patch from Romhacking.net.
References
- https://armageddongames.net/showthread.php?88259-Another-zelda-question-this-time-a-hack
- https://tinycartridge.com/post/50088143516/the-legend-of-zelda-starring-princess-zelda-shin
A Link to the Past romhacks
The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds
Plot
You are a treasure hunter from another land. You moved here with your friend, in order to find treasure of course!
A lot of things started to happen not long after you moved here.
Seven people has "appeared out of nowhere" and begins questioning about the Parallel Tower and the inhabitants of Kakariko Village. The Parallel Tower was situated in the Sky Islands northeast of the village. The legend behind the Parallel Tower was long lost, and only the elders knew the legend.
Word begins to spread out about the Parallel Tower, and people started to learn about the legend again. The legend says it was a by product of a war long ago and a power, known as the Triforce, existed at the top of it. It is said that nobody knows about the clues as to how to get to the top of the Tower. The seven people are said to know about these "clues" to the Tower.
The king was notified of these seven people and he invited them to the castle to find out what they wanted with the tower. Just the night before the seven people are to have an audience with the king, the king's assistant, Draegor, eliminates the king and claims the throne by default.
The seven people walked right into an obvious trap. Draegor, who people believe is a power hungry person, caught all 7 people and forces them to tell him what they know about the Tower.
When the people learn of the king's fate, a rebel force is gathered in secret to plot against Draegor. The rebel force learns that 2 out of 7 people who Draegor caught are still alive and imprisoned in the guardhouse. They quickly rallied anyone who may be interested in the Tower and the locals to help these last 2 people.
You and your friend heard about this plan and are willing help the rebels against Draegor.
The night of the operation begins the story...
Download
- Download Original Version (harder) from Romhacking.net
- Download Re-modeled Version (easier) from Romhacking.net
References
Ocarina of Time romhacks
Zelda's Birthday
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | December 30, 2008 | |
This game was released in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64.
Download
- Download patch.
References
The Legend of Zelda: Voyager of Time
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | May 1, 2013 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | giadrosich | |
About
Voyager of Time takes place after Majora's Mask, but it is not a direct sequel. Link has come back to the Kokiri Forest to try and find peace after his last adventure. It is implied that he has had a third adventure in Termina, but with the fairy Tael instead of Tatl. The younger brother of the feisty Tatl is a bit more subdued, but also more brave than what we've seen in Majora's Mask. He can hold his own and he and Link have grown to be great friends.
The game starts out with Link having nightmares of his past adventures. The Deku Tree Sprout, descendant of the Great Deku Tree, has summoned Link because he has sensed great evil growing lately. Link is sent on a quest to help out with the growing problems in Hyrule.
Along the way, you find that the Door of Time has been broken again by the evil villain, Ganondorf, and you must find a way to stop his rampage once more. There are some twists and turns along the way, as Link's items are spread out in an unfamiliar way. Link also has to face some major problems that hit a little too close to home.
The game features heavy time travel as well as side stories that highlight the problems with time traveling in general. Many places are transformed over the period of seven years that Ganondorf was in rule, and Link has to deal with the problems of his closest friends. On top of that, there may be another problem Link and his friends don't realize until it's too late...
The overworld is changed quite a lot from the original Ocarina of Time. There is an attempt to make each village and section of the map seem more lively and have more character than ever before. NPCs are useful to talk to, and they give hints to the world around you. There are small stories they tell you of history, and even new side quests you can accept.
The biggest change is the difference between the child and adult sections. The child sections are meant to feel more innocent and alive, and the adult sections are meant to showcase the utter destruction of Ganondorf. This is not to be intentionally dark, but just to show a realistic change that would happen over seven years.
Download
- Download patch from Romhacking.net
References
The Fate of the Bombiwa
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | 01 April 2020 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | DezZival | |
You have been tasked with aiding the Bombiwa Tribe with the missing person’s investigation. What will this task lead you to? The fate of the Bombiwa is in your hands.
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Star Fox 64: Survival
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | 01 January 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | /Zel/ | |
A brand new Ocarina of Time ROM hack in a new setting: You play as Fox, where your Arwing has crash landed on an unknown planet. Do you have what it takes to survive?
Recently fixed issues (v1.4, released 01/01/2021)
- Crashing in the ending cutscene on Everdrive and various emulators seems to now be resolved.
- New game plus has been reworked, now you retain all of your items, rupees, ammo, and upgrades, and gain a new heart container after each cycle.
- Changes have been made to the enemy pool.
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Dawn and Dusk
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 (DD) | September 21, 2019 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Captain Seedy-Eye | |
Created by CDI-Fails (also known as Captain Seedy-Eye), Zelda 64 - Dawn and Dusk is largely credited as both the first fully custom romhack of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, as well as the first Nintendo 64 romhack compatible with the 64DD, a failed Nintendo 64 add-on.
Story
Make your way from the peaceful forests and rivers of the Dawnside to the harrowing chasms and caves of the Duskside in a grand quest to defeat evil.
Download
References
Ocarina of Time Reloaded
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 emulators | (Unknown) | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | ||
This is an HD texture pack for Ocarina of Time designed for GLideN64 by GhostlyDark.
Download
- Download the texture pack
- GitHub link
The Legend of Zelda: Nightmare
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | 01 January 2008 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Punk7890 | |
A new challenge awaits in the land of Hyrule. Nothing is as it seems. Items are placed in different locations and the whole world feels much darker. Can you overcome all the new dangers?
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The Missing Link
Release Date | July 2020 | |
| Credits | ||
|---|---|---|
Developer | Kaze Emanuar, CDi-Fails, /Zel/, rankaisija | |
Art Director | Ostrealava02, CDi-Fails, /Zel/ | |
Concept & Design | Ty Anderson, Aurora-Xatu | |
Composer | Zerovolt0v, A6stringthing, Saurean, Badub, DezZival | |
An ambitious romhack, where the creators crafted new environments, graphics and music. During Link's quest you’ll find a new item and gameplay mechanics that go along with it.
Unfortunately, it was targeted with a DMCA by Nintendo in October 2020[1], resulting in the official website and repository being taken down.
Story
This mini-adventure is set in between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. It follows Link on his quest to find Navi, his fairy companion from the first N64 Zelda game.
But this search for a missing friend quickly turns into an urgent rescue mission. And if Link doesn’t find Navi soon, the entire world will be at risk.
Download
References
- https://web.archive.org/web/20200924130842/https://tml.z64.me/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVuYuq2zEM#
- https://n64today.com/2020/07/29/legend-of-zelda-the-missing-link/
Zelda Spaceworld ‘97 Experience
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 (compatible with original hardware) | November 21, 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Main developers: Zel, Fig, MrCheeze. See https://github.com/z64proto/sw97#credits for full credits | |
An attempt to recreate the demo of Ocarina of Time as seen at Space World 97, based partly on the "overdump" found on an F-Zero X development cartridge and the 2020 "gigaleak" of internal Nintendo information.
It requires a USA 1.0 ROM image of Ocarina of Time to patch to.
Download
References
Ocarina of Time Redux
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 emulators | 24 November 2020 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Maroc | |
This hack aims at improving the original experience of Ocarina of Time by adding some QoL improvements by applying the ASM patches provided by the Ocarina of Time Randomizer project by Roman971 and its contributors.
NB: Use an Ocarina of Time US 1.0 ROM for patching. Main Features:
- Text speed now goes 2 times as fast as the original, matching Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time 3D.
- Text revamp, restored and revised based on subsequent releases of Ocarina of Time.
- Fixed graves behaviour like in subsequent versions.
- Properly center the “Navi” text in the C-Up button.
- Collecting Gold Skulltulla Tokens no longer freezes the player but allows it to continue moving. This is similar to what happens in Majora’s Mask spider houses.
- D-PAD can be used to quickly access ocarina and iron/hover boots.
- Rupee color of the rupee count indicator now changes in color to reflect the wallet upgrade possessed.
- Stone of Agony now works even without rumble. An icon will appear over the rupee count when in proximity of a hidden grotto.
- Farore’s Wind does not get dispelled through time travel and can be used independently by child and adult Link.
- The bunny hood now works like in Majora’s Mask boosting movement speed when worn.
- Bombchu Bowling prizes now appear in fixed order instead of random (Rotation being: piece of heart, purple rupee, bomb bag capacity upgrade, bombs).
- Fishing made easier by guaranteeing biting, but keeps the fish size RNG from the original game.
- Biggoron has you wait 2 days instead of 3 to forge the Biggoron Sword.
- Default Z-targeting is automatically set to HOLD by default.
- Burning Kakariko cutscene now starts by entering Kakariko from any entrance instead of only the main one.
- Song of Storms cooldown is removed, additionally it can be used in every ambient.
- Warp songs and Farore’s Wind can now be used inside Gerudo Training Grounds and Ganon’s Castle.
- Lab diving heart piece can now be obtained at all times.
- Increased speed of block pushing.
- Subscreen delay fix
- Extended draw distance.
- Requires All Medallions to unlock the bridge for Ganon’s Castle (original game only requires Shadow and Spirit).
- Unlocked Tunics for Young Link.
- Updated Young and Adult Link 3D models. Young Link is based on his MM 3D model, and Adult Link is a custom MM Adult Link 3D model made by SkilarBabcock
- All other vanilla features (Rewards, Cutscenes and Animations) are retained.
Master Quest Redux:
- Same features as Ocarina of Time Redux by default
- All Dungeons set to Master Quest layouts
- Custom Master Quest title screen
- MQ text dialogue colors
- Change Button Colors: GC OoT Button Colors
- Censored Fire Temple song from v1.2 and GC releases
- Censored Gerudo textures from v1.2 and GC releases
- Censored blood (Green) from v1.2 and GC releases
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Master of Time
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | March 8, 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Don Camilo | |
"After saving both Hyrule and Termina, Link found himself without a quest. He journeyed long and far without knowing what to do. He thought a lot about the time manipulation he had done and asked himself if he was the real hero or if he was just a victim of these stories.
The more his obsession of time had grown, the more it felt that time was slowing down… Until it froze completely, condemning his journey to an endless day… Just before passing out from exhaustion, Link finally found a new country…
Master of Time is a new story in a completely new world, Abello, where Link must restore the flow of time. Abello is a big and dangerous world, but Link can count on the help of Nite the fairy.
Around 20 hours of gameplay in various areas and dungeons with custom cutscenes, songs and much more. Good luck finding all 100 skulltula tokens and 20 hearts!"
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Sealed Palace
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 | April 19, 2023 (v1.3) | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Jinnosuke9 | |
Composer | Col0Korn | |
"Lots of gameplay in various areas and dungeons with custom cutscenes, songs and much more. Good luck finding all 100 Skulltula tokens and 20 hearts! "
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Majora's Mask romhacks
Majora's Mask Redux
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 emulators | 24 November 2020 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | Maroc | |
Majora’s Mask Redux is a hack that aims to improve the original experience of Majora’s Mask by adding some QoL improvements by applying the ASM patches provided by the Majora’s Mask Randomizer project by Saneki and its contributors.
Documentation for the majority of the features can be seen here:
Main Features:
- D-PAD can now be used to access all three transformation masks and the ocarina, allowing a total of seven items to be accessible at all times. Note that this means that the map is no longer possible to toggle off. NB: In the download there are included two patches: both provide the exact same changes except for the position of the D-PAD HUD (left or right on the screen).
- When using the bow, magic arrows can be cycled in a similar fashion to Wind Waker’s magic arrows by setting one and pressing the “R” button.
- Ocarina can now be used underwater as Zora Link.
- Increased block pushing speed.
- Increased Mikau pushing speed to shore.
- Correct Purple and Gold rupee colors.
- Permanent Razor Sword.
- 4th Piece of Heart Sound Effect fix by ozidual (Fix Publicly available: [1])
- Mushroom Bottle Get Item fix by fkualol (Fix Publicly available: [2])
- Restored Title Screen colors to match that of the Japanese title screen (ZELDA in purple, THE LEGEND OF & MAJORA’S MASK in a yellow-ish color)
- Text script revisions and restorations from other MM versions (including Japanese v1.0, PAL and even from Majora’s Mask 3D)
- Retranslations for the Great Bay Turtle, Lulu’s Diary and Deku Butler’s texts, localized based on the Japanese release.
- Missing or misplaced Sound Effects that play alongside the script have been properly restored
- Unused Area titles missing in MM (U) v1.0 from MM (J) v1.0 have been restored, and well as new ones added back based on Majora’s Mask 3D.
- Uncensored Skull Kid face and beak ported from MM (J) v1.0.
- Cleansed Southern Swamp map object fixes ported from the Poisoned Swamp map data from MM (U) v1.0.
- Restored the Deku Palace grottos route, ported from MM (J) v1.0.
- Move the Bomber Kid when doing the Hide & Seek to be next to the bell in East Clock Town, ported from MM (J) v1.0.
- Zora Physics ported over from MM (J) v1.0
- Fix the Goht cutscene so he doesn’t run over Link, ported from MM (J) v1.1.
- Restore the Shop Music to have its full intro, like in MM (J) v1.0.
- Custom Troupe Leader’s Mask item name graphics (and text).
- Custom Romani Ranch fixed sign.
- Comma graphic fix ported from MM PAL.
- Ikana Canyon’s Fairy Fountain color fix by Dybbles.
- All vanilla elements (cutscenes, introduction and first cycle, rewards) are retained.
Download
Masked Quest
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 emulators | 01 April 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | ||
Majora's Mask Masked Quest is a romhack by Garo-Mastah. It aims to modify and rearrange dungeons and add a couple of quality-of-life improvements like form color coding, similar to the official Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Features:
- Some dungeons modified.
- A new map which replace the Lottery Shop named, “Town Museum”.
- Link and his forms have each individual colors.
- Difficulty increased.
- Sun´s song restored.
- The infamous Moon trial are not optional anymore, with some mask required, perfect for speedruns.
- The 3 MASKS are required for advance to the next trial to gets into the Final room (Majora), the moon field also requires 2 important items in the game To climb towards where is the Majora masked moon child to accept the final challenge of the game, and talking about of moon children, 10 masks are mandatory for gives to the moon children that reminds me the Ganon trials in the Ganon´s Castle in OOT.
- Beta enemies are back.
- Few Sub Bosses are more harder to fight.
- Some aesthetic changes in stages so do remember to its 3DS counterpart.
- Some text are changed and are added for the items, songs and swords.
- The transformation masks have special elemental powers in some attacks (ex. Goron Spikes have the ability to burn some enemies and the Fierce Deity Link is capable of kill enemies with his Sword Beam).
- The Scarecrow´s song, the powder keg and the Elegy are useful.
- Link and his all forms can do manual jump, in 2 different modes, forward and stand jump,
- The shield crouch stab is disabled.
- FD Link have the Adult Link´s size and can open lifting dungeon doors, and can be usable anywhere with no restrictions of any type, he finally can use regular items & weapons, but he can´t use the hookshot, bow and magic arrows.
- Goron Link have the walking speed to match with MM3D´s Goron Link walking speed.
- The hookshot range is lightly extended.
- Zora Link´s double cutters´ range is extended for long throw the fins.
- New Prizes from Romani cows and the rupee wallets.
- The normal wallet has a new digit.
- And new gossip stone hints.
- D-PAD can now be used to access all three transformation masks and the ocarina, allowing a total of seven items to be accessible at all times. Note that this means that the map is no longer possible to toggle off.
- When using the bow, magic arrows can be cycled in a similar fashion to Wind Waker’s magic arrows by setting one and pressing the C buttons + R
- New custom enemies add some unique feels and challenging battles and with new obstacles.
- Some enemies´ descriptions are restored.
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Majora's Mask N64 HD (MMN64HD)
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Nintendo 64 emulators (not compatible with original hardware) | Sep 30, 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | ||
MMN64HD is an HD texture pack for Majora's Mask by Nerrel. It was released on Sep 30, 2021.
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Project Restoration
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Platform | Date | |
Citra(3DS emulator) and original hardware | Jan 2, 2022(v1.5.9) | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | ||
Project Restoration is a fan patch for Majora's Mask 3D by Leoetlino which aims to add quality-of-life improvements and restore mechanics from the original Majora's Mask that the original remake unfortunately removed. Leoetlino considers it to be complete, although they are still fixing bugs and releasing new versions.
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Breath of the Wild mods
Second Wind
Second Wind is a large-scale expansion for Breath of the Wild that aims to add new content to the game in a similar way to official DLCs; as well as various overhauls, bug fixes, tweaks and new gameplay elements for players to explore.
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Relics of the Past
Relics of the Past takes BOTW and makes it much more difficult. Rather than buffing the enemies or just making weapons scarcer, Relics of the Past adds the difficulty through new map changes. To be more specific, it does so in a similar fashion to how the DLC adds newly placed objects and enemies. Relics does the same but on a full world scale. This in itself creates a brand new experience while staying true to the fundamentals of the original vanilla game.
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BOTW Randomizer Mod (MelonSpeedruns)
Platform | Wii U/CEMU | |
Prerequisite | Breath of the Wild (Wii U only) 1.5.0 | |
| Release | ||
|---|---|---|
Versions | Date | |
1.0 | November 20, 2021 | |
2.0 | December 9, 2021 | |
2.1.1 (final) | December 15, 2021 | |
| Credits | ||
Developer | MelonSpeedruns, emiyl, Miepee, simonthor | |
BotW Randomizer mod shuffles the location of items throughout the game (see below), and requires the player to obtain the Master Sword to fight Ganon, meaning 13 hearts are required to beat the game
It works by creating "graphic packs", which can be used to change where items are located in the CEMU Wii U emulator
BotW Randomizer Mod randomizes:
- Paraglider location (within Great Plateau)
- Spirit Orb locations (not obtained by completing shrines)
- Enemy Types, Levels, Weapons and Arrows
- Taluses
- Hinoxes
- Lynels
- Overworld & Shrine Weapons & Chest Drops
- Armors in Chests
- Armor Shops
- Food Shops
- Arrow Shops
Download
BOTW Randomizer (Waikuteru)
"As it happens to be a feature of Randomizers, this Randomizer will randomize items you will find in chests and be given by NPCs. Randomized enemy drops are included too. Additionally, warping via both the Sheikah Slate as well as going inside and outside of shrines has the chance of getting randomized too.
But... this was only the basic part. I aimed to expand the definition of a “Randomizer” for this legendary game... So I built a new system which I named “The Randomizer Cycle”. This cycle will trigger randomly and picks one of many, many options that will change your game on the fly."
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