Editorials
Hacking Horror: Horror-Themed ROM Hacks for Classic Video Games
All the talk of BillyTime!Games‘ ROM hack of Ghostbusters on the Sega Genesis got us thinking of other horror-themed ROM hacks that you may not be aware of. Obviously, the topics of ROM hacking and video game emulation are reserved for a different website, but that shouldn’t stop us from touching on them for this specific purpose. After all, the creativity of fans is shown time and time again when it comes to modding on PC, so why not consoles?
Here are some reworkings of games by fans that either offer a whole new way of playing a game with a horror makeover, or just enhance the original game to add that something that was “missing” from the original release.
Just as a legal note, none of the links in this article lead to the actual ROM images. We are not hosting the ROM files. Google is your friend if you’re looking for more information on emulation, using these hacks, and so on.
EarthBound Halloween Hack – EarthBound (SNES)
Created by Toby Fox (of Undertale fame) back in 2008, this hack creates an entirely new story for the classic SNES RPG, EarthBound. Taking place in an alternate timeline several months after the end of EarthBound where Ness doesn’t return to Onett, you play as a bounty hunter named Varik (of Brandish fame). Varik is hired by ex-mayor B. H. Pirkle, now campaigning on a law & order platform, to track down a mysterious creature who mutilated and ate a little girl’s parents in Twoson. Along the way, Varik encounters increasingly horrible things.
Probably one of the more infamous ROM hacks, the EarthBound Halloween Hack plays much the same as in the original EarthBound, but with a decidedly darker tone in terms of the visuals, humour and story. For this hack, Fox created new enemies (including tentacle-faced dogs, reanimated Starmen corpses and zombies), new areas to explore, and new music. The song “MEGALOVANIA” eventually made its way into Undertale. The hack is also much more difficult than the original game, requiring you to grind quite a bit.
Castlevania: The Holy Relics – Castlevania (NES)
Taking place after the events of Castlevania, Lord Ghulash, a Necromancer and old acquaintance of Dracula, has retrieved six of seven relics of power from the ruins of Dracula’s castle. Using the power of the relics, Lord Ghulash has begun terrorizing the countryside, resurrecting the souls of vile creatures and wicked men. Simon Belmont, himself in possession of a seventh relic, must once again deliver his homeland from the forces of evil.
The Holy Relics hack revamps the original game, adding five new stages that you can visit in any order (a la Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge for the Game Boy), with new enemies, bosses, and reworked music. Alongside that are new subweapons and items, but the biggest gameplay change is the addition of the holy relics, with each one obtained by beating a boss. The relics each have their own unique abilities, including health restoration, temporary invincibility, and more. They also have their own set of charges, so you’ll have to be smart about using them.
Doom: PC Doom Total Conversion – Doom (Game Boy Advance)
As impressive as Doom on the GBA was (questionable music quality and cutbacks on some levels, notwithstanding), you knew that someone would try to tweak the game to bring it that much closer to the original PC experience. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what Kippykip‘s PC Doom Total Conversion hack does.
This patch completely converts the game from using the Jaguar Doom engine, and switches it over to a new homebrew port that’s based on doomhack’s PrBoom port for the Game Boy Advance. This literally gives the game much higher quality sounds, the full set of maps (no cut or scaled back levels here), a more consistent framerate, improved graphics and, thankfully, better music. Plus, all of the music now plays in the correct order. The only thing missing from this hack is the multiplayer, which was present in the original version.
Metroid: Spooky Mission – Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance)
Created for the Metconst 2017 Fall Contest (which it won), Spooky Mission sees Samus up against Imago. Imago is threatening the very existence of Halloween, and it’s up to Samus to stop it. Getting to Imago is no simple task, however. It has infiltrated a massive space pumpkin and sealed off all entrances. Legend says that every Halloween, three holy beings appear in the physical realm. Samus will need their help in order to gain access to the pumpkin and save Halloween.
Admittedly a little on the lighter side rather than cranking up the pure horror aspect, it’s easy to see that Spooky Mission was a labour of love (if the readme for the hack is anything to go by). Featuring revamped graphics (including some ripped from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow), new gameplay mechanics such as implementing a tractor beam like in Prime series and new music, there’s also a surprising amount of non-linearity with this one. The creators even managed to include a hidden ending, though achieving it is “near impossible” unless you know the criteria. And no, they’re not telling you what it is.
Pokémon Snakewood – Pokémon: Ruby Version (Game Boy Advance)
Set a few years after the events of Ruby, you are the younger sibling of Ruby‘s protagonist. You awaken in a destroyed Littleroot Town with no memory of what has happened. It soon becomes apparent that the Hoenn region has become infested by zombies. Working with Professor Birch, you set off to find your brother Landon and Birch’s daughter, May, both of whom had set out to find the source of the plague, and have since gone missing.
Ruby has been overhauled to include a darker plot (obviously), new music, new areas, zombified versions of normal Pokémon (two of which are capturable), and “an indeterminate number” of fake Pokémon (known as Fakemon), and more. Snakewood also features a new classification of Pokémon known as the Denjuu with their own stats and moves, but they can talk. It’s certainly a darker take on Pokémon Ruby, but it still retains a “kid-friendly” tone, overall.
Eternal Champions – Special Edition – Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis)
In case you ‘re wondering, BillyTime!Games has been at this hacking thing for a while. With Eternal Champions, this hack overhauls the entire game, most notably its notorious difficulty to be a little bit more forgiving. For starters, the game’s Inner Strength System (which is the meter used to perform special moves) has been rebalanced so that most moves now require the metre, with some moves costing more than before (including taunts). The game’s timer has also been adjusted to count down slightly slower.
In addition, the game’s end boss, the Eternal Champion, is now playable in VS mode, whereas before you had to rely on a Game Genie code to unlock him. The only limitations are that as the Eternal Champion, you cannot resurrect in this mode, and you’re limited to 1 out of 1 win conditions. The hack also reintroduces a Hard Mode Contest Difficulty. Doing so will crank up the difficulty for your current playthrough all the way to Difficulty 7.
Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition – Mortal Kombat (Sega Genesis)
As superior as the Sega Genesis port of Mortal Kombat was when compared to the Super Nintendo version, there was still room for improvement. Namely, the graphics and sound of the Genesis version fell short when compared to the SNES. That’s been remedied with Linkuei‘s hack, which not only adds sound samples directly from the arcade version, but also revamps the graphics. Those revamped graphics also includes new background animations for stages like the Courtyard, Shang Tsung’s Throne Room, as well as remade bio and ending screens.
Linkuei’s hack doesn’t stop there at the graphics and sound. The hack also add a new SRAM system to save the name list for the longest winning streaks (thanks to BillyTime!Games), as well as giving players the option to listen to the original Genesis soundtrack (which is still awesome), or the original arcade soundtrack. You also now have the option to play as Reptile in the game, complete with either Scorpion or Sub-Zero’s movesets. Finally, some of the timing for the moves has also been reworked, as well as removing delays. And yes, there’s still more to discover! There’s even an enhanced version that tweaks the graphics, sound and animation even more.
Sonic.Exe – Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
No set of Sega Genesis hacks would be complete without Sonic.Exe, also referred to as “Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack”. Created by Cinossu, this hack plays out like a normal game of Sonic The Hedgehog until you’re transported to an alternate dimension, complete with a different colour palette and “odd” music. In this dimension, some enemies can’t be hurt, and you can only escape back to the “normal” dimension by hitting an item box.
That might seem easy, but keep in mind that item boxes aren’t exactly in plentiful supply as you progress further. Not only that, in this alternate dimension, you’ll be chased by “creepypasta” Sonic, complete with the music that plays whenever you’re running out of air as he gets closer. To add even more “fun”, these dimension flips can also occur during boss fights. Luckily, an item box will spawn in these instances, but you’ll have to get to it while avoiding the boss.
Contra: Hard Corps Probotector – Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
Longtime fans of the series know about the whole Contra/Probotector thing. For those who don’t know, Probotector is the European version of Contra that removes all of the human enemies and replaces them with robots. But what if you could have the characters from Probotector in Contra: Hard Corps, along with some new tweaks? That’s exactly what you get with this hack by IT.GAMER.
Along with an original story, this ROM hack now allows you to select from eight characters, with the Probotector characters having 3 HP, and the Hard Corps characters having 1 HP. You can also select the same character if you’re playing with two players. The hack also tweaks enemy health, as well as tweaks certain weapons for Brawny and Fang to be a little more balanced. Best of all, if you have the means, this hack will work on the Genesis/Mega Drive.
Zombies Ate My Roguelike – Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Sega Genesis)
Ever wondered what Zombies Ate My Neighbors would be like as a roguelike? BillyTime!Games did, and as a result, their hack changes the LucasArts classic into something inspired by The Binding of Isaac. The hack now randomizes the game’s 48 levels across five tiers before ending at the level “Monsters Among Us”. Starting you at a random level in Tier 1, the hack then chooses a random level from the next Tier each time you complete a level. To add to the challenge, you have to do it all on a single life.
There’s even more to the hack than just changing the structure of the levels. Boss health has been adjusted, as has the Purple Ants’ health in “Say it Ant So!” to make them slightly easier to kill. Your Squirtgun also has increased damage, and key pickups have been doubled. And in the latest patch, BillyTime!Games introduced a Mania Mode. This mode now randomizes the levels after completing the first Tier, as well as making the entire game an endless loop which ends only if you die.
Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.
Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.
Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.
It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.
At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.
It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.
As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.
Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.
Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.
Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.
I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.
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