Is ROM Hacking losing popularity?

CM30

CM30

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Seems like it's gotten very quiet over on the likes of SMW Central, and I worry that a combination of Super Mario Bros X and Super Mario Maker may be what finally finishes off SMW hacking for good.

But what do you think? And if it is less popular, how best can it be revived?
 
Mario rom hacks may be losing popularity, but there's still Pokemon rom hacks. There's tons of em, and I'm sure there's people making more.
 
I don't think they're losing popularity it's just the fact that so many things have already been done that it is hard to come up with new ideas. Take the Sonic ROM hacking community for example, when I first started to follow it there were things people deemed simply impossible to do. As the years rolled those things became possible and tools were released to make hacking the game much easier.

By that point people were releasing very good ROM hacks almost every month or so. People were one-upping each other constantly in a friendly competition to see who could make the best hack. Eventually they either grew bored with it or going any further would be so complex that you might as well make your own game from scratch. All the while they were teaching the community how to do the things they were doing.

Now a days it's hard to just start a project with the intention or doing something people haven't seen before. There are still lots of guys out there that enjoy doing this stuff and they're still releasing great hacks and tools for other people to use. Maybe the ROM hacking forums are less active but I don't think the guys that have been doing it for some time are any less active than usual.
 
CM30 said:
How's their popularity compared to a few years ago?
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I'd say it's still fair. I mean those who have the itch to play Pokemon but don't want to restart have a ton of options. It's also very popular when it comes to Let's Plays since Poketubers won't run out of games to play.
 
Mega Man said:
I don't think they're losing popularity it's just the fact that so many things have already been done that it is hard to come up with new ideas. Take the Sonic ROM hacking community for example, when I first started to follow it there were things people deemed simply impossible to do. As the years rolled those things became possible and tools were released to make hacking the game much easier.

By that point people were releasing very good ROM hacks almost every month or so. People were one-upping each other constantly in a friendly competition to see who could make the best hack. Eventually they either grew bored with it or going any further would be so complex that you might as well make your own game from scratch. All the while they were teaching the community how to do the things they were doing.

Now a days it's hard to just start a project with the intention or doing something people haven't seen before. There are still lots of guys out there that enjoy doing this stuff and they're still releasing great hacks and tools for other people to use. Maybe the ROM hacking forums are less active but I don't think the guys that have been doing it for some time are any less active than usual.
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I guess you might be right, although it does seem weird that the minute the tools got really, really good, people stopped. I mean, you can port music with a click of a button now. The possibilties for that alone are nearly endless!
 
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