How to Hack NES Games: Editing Colors 

For those editing palettes in NES: DO NOT USE Palette $0D or any other black besides $0F, Because anything other than $0F as black can ruin something about the graphics or VBlank, I think!

Looks like I'm gonna be fixing Luke's red light saber on empire strikes back

Really appreciate you putting these videos up. Always wanted to try my hand at rom hacking and you've given me a good simple tutorial that isn't bloated with worthless crap. BTW, really enjoyed your Balloon Fight Iwata tribute hack. Fun stuff.

Finding this series extremely interesting. The hello kitty looks really good! Keep these coming :)

YES!!! I can finally change the pallet so my custom sprite looks AMAZING!!! thank you so much!!!

Hey man, incredible stuff again I wasn't aware you were doing a series like this since I had only seen your Iwata video but WOW this is really cool stuff and you make it incredibly accessible!

just discovered your channel man and i gotta say great vids! they're very unique and creative, even inspiring! well done sir!

Another flawless video. Thanks John Riggs. I kinda feel like sending you my rom hack. It's done but I want you to see how much these videos helped me out and how I applied it to my game.

Thanks for making these videos. For Easter, instead of chocolate, my mother gave me one of those Mini NES with 620 games and I've fallen in love with Donkey Kong Junior, but he doesn't appear in many games so I thought it'd be cool to create more games for the DKJ by importing him into other games. I didn't think much editing could be done on games of that era, but then also on the same system, someone had taken a Tiny Toons game and replaced Buster Bunny with Mario which was really fun. I've edited Xbox 360 games before, but that's quite a different process, but this looks simple enough and I'm pretty sure I have some kind of emulator on the 360 (or I could just play them on the PC).

I'm so glad that i found your channel and that you do stuff like this, cause growing up in a small town and being the way i am i don't worry about being picked on or made fun of cause of the way i am. Now if i need help with something and ask no one will come to my sport and break my stuff or take it away. I don't bother people they just don't understand i don't hit on them. It feels good to go to the bathroom and i can come back with out worry about nothing. Only if school could be as cool as your channel. Thanks man for your time on uploading.

If you want to edit the tiles in a sprite, open the PPU viewer to find the tile IDs, then search for the IDs of the tiles in the sprite (left to right, top to bottom), then you can edit those to any of the tiles.

Hey john! I love your videos and this was the first one I watched. AND now I'm addicted to your "open cart Surgery" videos!

Thanks for sharing your rom-hacking skills!!

Thanks for these very elucidating tutorials! I just needed some neat imagery for my upcoming video and this did the trick!

Thanks so much man! Ive been lookingg all over for a person who does this simply!

Umm, so I tried editing Link's sprite from the original Zelda to be pink instead of green, but after editing every 29 in a "29 27 17" sequence to be a 24, Link's signature green tunic is still unchanged... So I started going through changing every 29 to a 24 and still nothing... I mean, now the old man soft locks the game with endless text and the Octorocks slide around and spin like crazy, but still no pink tunic... So... What the heck? What am I doing wrong? Edit: Ok, so after a lot more changing of random bits, and more weird enemy behavior, turning Link into a zombie with zero hearts, turning the game over sequence into a weird creepypasta scene where the environment flashes weird colors, and even breaking the start button on the title screen, I finally found the bit for Link's palette! If you want to change Link's green tunic yourself, the full line Link's green is on is "22 49 03 24 24 01 FF *_29_* 32 16 20 25 E6 A5 13 20" Don't ask for where Link's skin and hair colors are stored though because I have no idea... Or where his red and blue tunics are stored... his other tunics _might_ be stored in the 32 and 16 after the 29 since those look like the bits for blue and red respectively, but I haven't checked yet...

I have been looking for this all day but now I am working on making it look like a game boy game

i can't edit the colors... the editor just puts 18 when i type 30... i need help

What should I do if the hex instantly reverts itself on some games?

Do you know of a way to do this on mac?

Sweet! And the Rom with edited colors works on other emulators too! Keep up the good work!

My only question is if you can increase the color palette for character sprites. Such as giving Megaman a different colored helmet compared to his body.

Do you think maybe you could look into Mega Man 2, because it changes Mega Mans colors back to the ones he had before editing them whenever I open up the game or pause it?

I Am Hacking Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu And I’m Trying To Find The Chinese Warriors Pallete is 37 1D 14 I Tried Searching It But It’s Keep Giving Me A Error So Please Help Me.

I tried following this and I've had some success but i'm trying to change a specific enemy (bot's) color (nes color 27) in Zelda 2 and for whatever reason it won't change. I glad you made these. I already used the sprite edit tutorial to change stuff. Thanks

Now... after so many years... I PLAY AS TOAD IN SMB! :D

OH MY GOD! YOU TURNED MARIO INTO JUMPMAN! YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY AWESOME!

what are the colors for a goomba in the overworld? i can't seem to get it to work

I am using a game that was already hacked to make a new one and I changed level 1 1/2 level 4-1 in the SMB utility and my title screen went green I've tried using the message you sending this video but it won't let me there is an some kind of an error message something like bbit or something how do I fix this now if I bring level one one back to where it was at the title screen goes back to normal

I doing a Super Mario Bros 3 rom hack. I am changing some colors and then when I go down a pipe, the colors reset. Can you help me?

Hi! Is it possible to change color palettes on Famicom Disk System games? I'm trying to change Mario's brown to blue like you except on Super Mario Bros. 2 the Lost Levels. But when i search the hex editor for 16 27 18, it doesn't find that string of numbers. I can find them when i use PPU but then Mario's blue reverts to brown when he gets hit or the title screen demo ends.

Great video, i don't make rom hack so i change the palette via 'cheats' which does the same thing pretty much. Pretty sure your method would work in Snes9x and VisualBoyAdvance too (I once changed Knuckles in Sonic Advance to blue for no reason).

now how edit powers !

Hello! Im wondering, whenever I upgrade the graphics, Hex or Char I need to start the entire game over for the effects to work. So that means I have to play the ENTIRE game over and over again to check if things looks right. is there any way to come around this? savestates obviously works as screenshots on the entire game at a precise moment so whatever changes I do after saving will be reset upon loaded. its really frustrating and I cant find any good answer so please help. :)

Thanks AGAIN for your tutos :)

Is there a way to change palette placements? For example EarthBound Zero Ninten has TWO palette sets one has red, the other has blue the red is for the top part and blue is for the bottom so is there any way to do that in Super Mario Bros.?

I can't get it to work for me. I wanted to try changing the color pallete for Link's sprites in the original legend of Zelda ROM, and found the hex codes for a few of them and changed them for the default green to a slightly darker green....but the color won't change, and when I try to relocate the hex codes for the color I want to change it keeps giving me "String not found". I try resetting the game, closing it, closing and reopening the emulator and nothing works.

I tried to edit bowser's colors and it didn't work, sad

Hey, man. I love your videos and I just have a quick question. I am hacking the first zelda game and I'm trying to change Link into the Fierce Deity from Majora's Mask by editing the colors. However, when I change his suit from green to white, it stays green. Help? I have some custom Fierce Deity sprites but i don't think they would work considering they have more than three colors on each sprite. If you have any suggestions or if you could tell me how to import a sprite with more than three colors that would be great. Thanks!

Hi John, I tried changing the player color in Tank 1990. It worked. But the AI tanks with same color as the player also changed colors. How can I change the color of only the player tanks? I need your help.

i've been wondering: in mega man, mega man's main color is the same color as the sky. if they are the same color, is it possible to change the color of mega man without changing the sky's color?

Hey John. I desperately need to know how to turn all the background colors in SMB to black, for accessinility reasons.

Now this is more like what I love game mods

is the mario game you're using already hacked? the sky is blue instead of that purple color

is it possible to replace background pieces: to add furniture to the cabins at friday 13th for better navigation? (smaller at far, bigger at closer, looking straight it is from left, looking left it is from right...)

Hi John!! I've a question for you.... It's possible to add some free space in a NES ROM (FF) to put more text, an use it with pointers?

Is this a permanent hack (including the color text picture editing)? Like if you reset the game does the rom revet to normal? Or can you like save the rom?

how do you change the mushroom? color its transparent when I change the color

Three questions, #1 Is there any way to tell what exactly you're changing the colors of? like if i want to change a certain sprites color and i search its colors in the hex editor, how do i know that's the correct sprite? #2 I've tried several games but the color changes i make don't seem to save, the only game i tried that worked was super mario bros where i changed the color of his overalls. #3 Is there any way to lay out all the sprites in order and put together so you don't have to piece them together in the arranger? it would make things so much easier.

Will the same process work for SNES games?

thank you for the tutorial Mr.Riggs it seems that it worked for me (the color changing part) but when saving the rom then openning it the colors are then set to default

Can you explain the coding to change a sprite color that’s linked to an item pick up? (I.e: Link turning Blue when he gets the Blue Ring)

I use Nestopia for my emulator will that still work?

You rock man! REALLY!!! Had a rom out in a week after watching these vids! Check out Godzilla Save all monsters and let me know what you think.

John i need help! when i type in the new value for the cover it just keeps the old one no matter what? i am confused

If I want to change the colours of a character at the end of the game, do I have to beat the game everytime to check my work ?

I would have made batman blue or grey. You make this look so easy thats for the video.

On Super Mario Bros, I was able to change the colors of his clothes and hair just like in this video. But when I reaced a Fire Flower to make Fire Mario so I could check those colors (37 27 16) and change them on the ROM too... it didn't work. For some reason I can only change the colors of plain Mario, not of Fire Mario...

is there a way to replace musics?

How do I change Luigi's colors? Every time I change his color pallete the game simply ignores it.

Hey, John. What would the hexs be for fire mario's colors?

When I change number game colour won't change I'm was changing same game as you

whats the command for looking in the file? i keep on pressing ctrl f but it never works

Doesnt nesticle have a color pallet editor?

your videos helped me a lot! also i have an question : can we add new animations to rom hacks? (like in smb 1 mario turns into pacman when he jumps)

can any1 do this for me for tmnt 3 nes all the turtles have the same bandana color on their icon picture and the 3 turtles next to it also have same colots i jus want the correct colors thas all please and thank you

Hello! I have been trying to edit a Mega Man 2 ROM to make his outfit red and black, and, if I search for the colours in the Hex Editor like you told me to, I can change the colour of his suit, but it reverts to the original even if I save the ROM, and, when I load a saved but already changed ROM, it's still in the original format. Can you please help me? By the way, love your videos.

lol now i want to play bomberman kitty is there a link to this game?

can you tell me what is code for fire mario in smb

So if I wanted to change Ganon's color on Zelda i have to be at the ending battle to be able to change his color?

Quick question John. I've changed the colors and saved the rom. When I re-open the rom I noticed it creates a dab file. Do you know what that's all about and how I can prevent it from creating the extra dab file?

I tried to change batmans color to something else like you did,but only worked sometimes,I followed your instructions,so,any guesses?

Can you make a tutorial on how to change enemy/object/weapon behavior? Like for example change the speed of megaman's bullets or change the angle of the bubble shot in megaman 2. I wanna start making a Megaman/Rockman 2 Hack This series is very helpful so far ^^

Being a Mac user I really don't know what is the best thing for me to use. I saw something called NES CHR Editor but changing things doesn't seem to 'save' despite saving it per the prog. I wish I could find a good guide on how to use that software. I have a fun and specific reason for wanting to edit.

it doesnt let me change the values in the hex editor

Is this any different for Famicom Disk System roms? I can't seem to get it to work with the FDS version of SMB.

Does this work for the N64 games more specifically Majora's mask

hola tremendo tutorial excelente!hay alguna manera de hacer algo similar en sega genesis de 16 bit?

How do you get the game onto your computer?

I'm currently trying to mod one of my characters into Dr. Mario. This really helps!

I tried to make batman colors like yours and it didn't work smh

John sent me, great video, I just subbed to your shhannel.

i cant zoom my tile arranger window , any suggestions?

there is an easy way to change the background color?

Can you show me how do I change my color on rad racer; pants on contra, and monster body on Godzilla?

Super cool series. Makes me want to hack some games lol

Hello, hum first of all thank you for your tutorial it really helps me ! I'll try my best to write you my problem (I'm french) and I hope you or somebody who will understand this will be able to help me... I follow your tutorial step by step with the Super Mario Bros Nes (european version), I tried to make Mario green instead of red but the first time the game loaded all in pink and cyan colors (like if it was "saturate" ? ) the second attempt fails too, now even if I edit in the rom's view of the hex editor nothing change but the code is well written and saved. I don't understand why despite my research. Sorry if I bothered you with this I didn't see an answer at this problem in the comment below. At least thank you a lot for what you're doing plus you are easy to understand :)

Bro, please help me to import a image in snes 16 bits

my ideas 1 change toad in SMB2 red 2 make Megaman's face in to kirby's and change his suit pink 3 change peaches pallet in SMB1 to the SMB2 pallet 4 make Mario shoot ice balls in stead of fire balls 5 in any Mario game for the nes changing Mario to Luigi 6 turn bowser in to dark bowser from M&L bowser's inside story 7 hack SMB the lost levels to trick the player in to thinking that a poison mushroom is actually a poison mushroom 8 make the Koopa troopas skin yellow (Like in the NSMB games and others) 9 Make a hack that is nothing but a pallet swap of everything in SMB1 to make it better resemble the newer Mario games and that's my list of idea's (sorry for being so long )

How do you save this to file?

thanks

can you explain it in a megaman game?

how do i change the color of a coin in mario?

nice tutorial, do you have a tutorial for PS1 change color palette

Thank u ur the best

so it only changes the colours for one "scene/stage" of the game?

You know how with the Fire Flower it just re-colors the same sprite? I want to know how to change that kind of colors.

What is the Luigi Palette

what are the mario sprite colours in super mario bros 3

For some reason, changing Samus' palette in Metroid is not working for me, but it works for other games.