We all like retro games. But in the 21st century, it can be quite difficult to find nice old-school games and stable emulation software that would allow us to play these games on modern computers. But we’ll bet you already have a couple of nice Nintendo ROMs downloaded from our website and an emulation tool wherewith you can run these ROMs. What you may also find useful are hacked games that have been modified in the way that allows you to play completely new games.
The games that have never been translated officially or even enjoy monochrome titles in color! Hacks also make it possible to diversify the gameplay, change default settings, and/or utilize some cheats. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? But using hacked games can be tricky, especially if you’re new to emulation. But you shouldn’t get upset. From our today’s article you’re going to learn how to apply patches to the games created for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console.
What is Patching?
You probably know that patches are applied to various programs to enhance their productivity and fix bugs. As for the patches applied to game ROMs, they serve a bit different purpose. They are lightweight programs that are used to create working English ROMs or make some other changes to the original ROM file. Being afraid of legal persecution, hackers often refrain from tweaking original game files.
They prefer to roll out standalone patches wherewith users can patch any particular game on their own. More often than not, patches come bundled with readme files containing the instructions on how to apply this or that patch appropriately. When applied to the original Japanese ROM, a patch produces the English-translated ROM you can subsequently play using your NES emulator. As we’ve noted, a standard patch is lightweight, which makes it perfect for sharing. Patching software on its own is completely legal, but it’s useless without a copy of a ROM.
Where to Get the Right ROM for Patching?
Make sure to read the instructions that come with the patch you’ve downloaded. Thus, you’ll know what kind of ROM is required for the patching process to run smoothly. Also, note that in the majority of cases, it’s required that you obtain iNES headers to emulate hacked NES games. So, you want to look for the ROMs that already include such headers. It’s a wise idea to visit our website and check out a huge collection of NES ROMs that are perfectly suitable for patching. By downloading our ROM, you’ll save yourself the trouble of dumping your game yourself. There are also other websites offering game ROMs, but you need to be cautious not to download malware to your computer.
Automatic Patching
If you can’t venture to apply patches to your ROMs manually, you may rely on the emulators that have build-in patching software. The only reliable tool that can help you with patching NES ROMs on the fly is FCEUX. This emulator may apply the patch automatically during the gameplay. The only condition you need to comply with is to put the downloaded ROM file in the same folder as your patch.
Manual Patching
If your emulator doesn’t support auto-patching, you may want to create a proper ROM yourself. In this case, you should be ready to deal with the two common patching formats.
The first one is IPS. Almost every second ROM you download comes in the IPS format. IPS patches are just perfect for small ROM files that don’t exceed 16 megabytes. For larger files you need to opt for the UPS patching format that’s doesn’t have any size limitations.
If you want to apply a patch to an .ips ROM file, download the Lunar IPS Patcher. This program will help you generate a translated ROM out of your original untranslated ROM. Note that you won’t be able to undo the changes made to your file. So, take care to create a backup copy of your original ROM, just in case.
Patching With Lunar IPS
Unpack the .zip file containing your newly downloaded Lunar IPS tool and save its contents to your desktop.
Open the program by double-click it and hit the “Apply IPS Patch” button.
In the “Select IPS File to Use” window, choose the folder containing your patch. Click the file and select “Open”.
Select the ROM you want to translate and click “Open.” At this point, the program should start patching your ROM.
Patching With USP Tools
Download the UPS Patcher and click the “UPS Patcher.rar” file. Open the file that corresponds to your operating system. For example, for Mac PC open the “Mac” file.
Double-click on the icon inside the folder. Select the “Apply Patch to Existing File” option.
Then click the top “Browse” button and pick the patch you want to apply. Then hit the bottom most “Browse” button and choose the clean NES ROM you want to modify.
Hit “Apply Patch.” When the patching process is complete, click “OK.”
We sincerely hope that our guide will help make your gaming more engaging and enjoyable!