After 20 years of hosting community-made alterations for classic games, ROMhacking.net has stopped taking submissions. Nightcrawler, the creator and runner of the site, announced that it will now focus solely on posting news.

🔧 ROM hacks varied widely, from minor sprite changes to extensive modifications like Mario Builder 64, allowing users to create their own levels for Super Mario 64, reminiscent of the Super Mario Maker series.

Related:

- [Super Mario Maker 64 exists, thanks to a new ROM hack]

- [Super Mario World receives the widescreen emulation mod it deserves]

Contributors regularly submitted tweaks for game ROM files, including bug fixes, new features, and translations for games never released in certain languages. Notable mentions include the reverse-engineered source code for NES Metroid and translations for Sailor Moon and Samurai Showdown games.

Nightcrawler revealed that the entire collection is now available on The Internet Archive, encapsulated in an 11.7GB zip file. The forum will stay active, and downloadables will remain accessible for now, but the site is now in read-only mode.

Why the change?

Nightcrawler cited “24/7 use, endless queues, and an endless inbox,” alongside “legal burdens.” He also accused a group offering to take over the site of doxxing him and plotting against him. One member of the group denied these accusations on X.

Stay tuned for more updates on this significant shift in the classic gaming community.