Ok, so I decided to make a thread about my hack because it doesn't really have a home right now.

The hack name is Obscure Kingdom and is a darker, grittier take on SMB3. It's somewhat loosely based on my fanfic of the same name, also aiming to make the Mario universe a darker, more horrific reality; as if the story was being told as it would occur in real life.

Though, with the NES, always having a dark and gritty setting would limit me artistically, because of the limitations of the system, so you will see some brighter areas here and there.

Technically, the hack itself will be a regular SMB3 hack; there will not be any ASM hacks that change how the game plays from the original. However, there will be many technical ASM hacks to enable limitations to be lifted with the ROM itself. One, is to allow it to be expanded and used wit Reuben. The second is to be able to add songs into the game, along side the originals.

I do not take any credit for these ASM modifications as they will be applied as patches made by DahrkDaiz and JaSp to use their editors and utilities.

So, let's get on with some screenshots and videos!

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This is the title screen of my hack, which will likely change before its final release. Small amount of ASM was used to move he position of the selection arrow.



This video shows one of the first levels I have made before the advent of Reuben. You will see this level in a more glorious Reuben form in the hack!



This video, again, shows the title screen, but it also shows most of World 1. All of the levels in this video will be in the hack, but they will be re-made to better take advantage of the new level format used by Reuben. I may reuse the map screen.

The video also showcases minor edits to music sequence data and instruments. This was the beginnings of the music hacking JaSp has allowed me to perform.



This is when I first started messing with Reuben and making test levels. I wanted to see what could be done. Needless to say, this video shows the potential of what can be done but at the same time barely scratches the surface. I may or may not bring some of these levels back.



This video showcases the differences between the Original SMB3 level format and DD's new Reuben format. Also has a new music track (Zelda 2 Caves/Action) I imported using JaSp's music inserter.



This video shows the hack in its most complete form, as of the day after Christmas, 2009. It has several new levels and new music tracks. And, a nifty Super Mario Land 1-1 remake.

Here's a screenshot of Septic Sanctuary. This also got an overhaul.

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The hack itself is currently on hold until I can get DD to fix a bug in the current beta build (1.4) not allowing me to add new palettes.

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Yeah, I kinda have to make sure that the lead channel of the song isn't the same channel as the sound effects. I believe they use both square channels so there's no getting away from that...

I've been working on a remake of level 5-3 in the original. Eventually I'm gonna have to show this off because it looks absolutely amazing! The idea to remake 5-3 spawned the idea to take it further and make a whole world in my hack remakes of original levels. Each level will have an extra special secret in it!

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I know the pipe in the beginning is changed, but vertical pointer pipes don't work right now so I'm stuck with horizontal ones. Weird bug, but whatever.

Anyway, I plan on making an entire world of original level remakes, so if anyone wants to suggest a level they'd like to see in this hack to appear in this world, drop them here!

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Two vids in one day! Nice~



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A little somethin' I've been working on lately...



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I've spent the last couple days workin' on some ASM to change the gameplay mechanics of the game. I'm using the coins as the basis of the hack, where they allow you to reach certain areas you normally can't get to. I'm not finished with it yet, so when I have something to show, I will update you all!

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Yeah, I thought that as well. Lots of aspects of this hack are in an unfinished state, and they will eventually be taken care of through means of self-discovery or constructive criticism of others. I also plan to make some less dithered graphics as well as de-dither some existing graphics. I'm finding out that dithering isn't all the rage these days...

Still, though. I think this set of ASM hacks is what is going to make my hack truly unique, on top of what Reuben can offer. I'm learning a ton of other stuff as well along the way, such as being able to troubleshoot my code and learning all of the operands and what they do.

Syntax, y'know.

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