Modders Turn Canceled GBA Game into Reality

The existence of DX ROM hacks that colourize the original black-and-white Mega Man Game Boy titles was mentioned in passing in our post about how to play the complete Mega Man franchise on a single handheld.

Today, modders made public the most recent DX ROM hack for the fourth Mega Man game, Mega Man IV, for the Mega Man Game Boy games (also known as Rockman or Mega Man World).

The games were known as Rockman World in Japan, although the titles had a more ambiguous format in America. Even though the title screens included Roman numerals, the original classic series was known as Mega Man 1, 2, 3, etc. for the NES releases. The Game Boy games are distinct in their own right and are titled using Roman numerals.

Brief History of Mega Man Mania

Capcom released the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the PS2 and GameCube in 2004 to commemorate Mega Man's 15th anniversary (Xbox followed in 2005). At the same time, Capcom announced that Mega Man Mania, a similar compilation, will be made for the Game Boy Advance.

Similar to the Anniversary Collection, the GBA version of the game was supposed to have colourized versions of the first five Game Boy titles in addition to a ton of "extras" that could be unlocked.

But the game would never become a reality. Magazines and interviews talked about it, but Capcom says they lost the source code somewhere along the line.

There was also a report that the game was lost because of the switch from GBA to DS. Given the significant transition from 2D-pixel art to a handheld device with 3D graphics and twin displays when it was released in late 2004, it was obvious to use the extra power the DS would have offered.

In any case, the game was never seen. Since Capcom wouldn't require the original game's source code to colourize it, the precise cause is still unknown, but it's plausible that they misplaced the source code for the GBA game they made. Restarting work at that stage may have been viewed as a total waste of funds, which would have ended the project.

Mega Man Mania: Fanmade DX ROM hacks

Today, however, things have changed. Thanks to the work of Marc Robledo (the man behind Rom Patcher JS), SpecialAgentApe, purple, and Kensuyjin33, all five of the original games have been fully colourized.

In addition to the complete colourization, each game has minor adjustments and enhancements to correct any issues that might have been in the first editions. A few more redone animations and sprites are scattered throughout the collection.

Although the games aren't packaged as a single GBA game, the base ROMs would provide a superior visual experience on any vintage handheld.

Best Experience?

The Game Boy and Game Boy Color resolution was 160 x 144, whereas the GBA's was 240 x 160. In other words, unless extended to fill the full 3:2 aspect ratio, the viewable area would be somewhat smaller with black bars on each side.

Since many handhelds are compatible with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, you could already have the ideal means to view these DX ROM hacks. Game Boy games can be made to appear their finest through software emulation thanks to a variety of devices, including the Powkiddy RGB20SX and RGB30, Anbernic RG Cube and RG Cube XX, Game Console R46S, and R36MAX having displays with 1:1 aspect ratios. The default resolution of these devices is 160 x 144.

Even though the ratio of 160 x 144 isn't quite 1:1, the black bars appearing on the above devices would be at their lowest point ever.

While the frequently criticized Analogue Pocket boasts an impressive 10x integer scale on the same collection of games, the FPGBC, for FPGA users, enables 4x integer scaling of GB and GBC games. With the right lighting system, even the more recent ModRetro Chromatic's 160 by 144 backlit screen provides a "perfect" depiction of Game Boy games.

The original games seem completely different with the help of these Mega Man World DX ROM hacks. Honestly, these colourized DX hacks make the original games seem outdated, which is one of the main reasons I don't play the original Game Boy. When Link's Awakening DX and Tetris DX were replaced by the Game Boy Color in 1998 and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe the following year, Nintendo partially intended to phase out the original Game Boy for the same reason.

Downloading the DX ROM Hacks

However, the ROM hacking community has created DX ROM hacks for years. All of them seek to provide games that would otherwise be limited to the DMG Game Boy's green-light-green colour scheme, the same colourized enhancements that the official DX titles did.

It simply shows how committed people are to the series and the gameplay itself and that fans and modders alike are working to bring Mega Man Mania's core to life. Thanks to the creation of colourized versions, young and old players may enjoy fantastic games like never before. Some older games fail to hold players' attention due to their lack of colour, depth, and playability.

The following links will take you to all of the Mega Man Mania ROM hacks:

  • Mega Man World GBC (Dr. Wily's Revenge DX)
  • Mega Man World 2 GBC (Mega Man World II DX)
  • Mega Man World III DX
  • Mega Man World IV DX
  • Mega Man World V DX

If you need assistance applying the ROM hacks, our instructions can help. Marc Robledo's entries for each hack include an on-page patcher that requires the original ROM.