Young me (and current me too) was always blown away by the Game Genie on the NES. Simple piece of tech that could do so much with so many games.
Super Mario 64 that added lugi as co-op
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Unofficial Patch by Wesp5.
That game was already broken at launch, and has become more broken as operating systems advance. Furthermore, Activision shuttered Troika almost immediately after VTMB was released, so there has really never been any official support. But, Wesp5 has been working on the Unofficial Patch since shortly after the game came out in 2004.
It fixes the game to a completely playable state, which is a miracle for VTMB. He basically just finished the game for them.
Furthermore, there was some controversy over some of the changes that the patch started implementing, so he split the patch into two versions. You can download the True Patch, which fixes the game to a playable version of its release state, but Wesp5 also offers the Plus Patch, which restores all content cut from the game before release. He reimplemented character backgrounds, real-world weapon names, multiplayer, quests, locations, music, and the list goes on.
It’s arguable if the Plus Patch actually represents the original vision of the creators, since we don’t know why all of the content was cut. A good bit was cut for time, but there were some things that were dropped earlier in development. Either way, the Plus Patch went feature-complete last year, so what we have now is a fully working version of the game containing absolutely everything that was ever planned during its development.
I don’t know if anything like that has happened before, and the only other thing like this that I can think of is the Saints Row 2 patch that IdolNinja was making before he died.
Mods that add stuff are great, but it’s hard to beat a mod that lets you play one of the greats.
I love restored cut content, more often than not with these tragic projects it’s literally because they ran out of time to polish the stuff, I also like to replay New Vegas with that mod that makes it a true open city, that was impossible since the 360 and PS3 couldn’t handle it.
I can think of another example with KOTOR 2, it also has one that restores the cut content fully, though I don’t know if that was a buggy mess since I have yet to play it, it’s called TSL Restored Content Mod.
Man, all of these games we’re talking about relate in some way to the OG Black Isle team. I think their development is just cursed.
That reminds me of all the effort that was being put into rebuilding SWG. I loved that game, I hopped on and played the rebuild a few times over the years, I should check out if it was ever completed.
For me personally it has to be certain rom hacks from before the era of decomps and creation kit style tools.
I was fairly active in the gen 3 Pokemon hacking scene on the pokecommunity forums back in the day. And hex editing and trial and error was one thing but real wizards were the ASM hackers that could completely out of the box stuff like adding in new move effects or character customisation functionality or day and night systems, to games that had none of these.
Those were actually the trailblazers that led to all the decomps we have today that have made it so easy.
Cursed Halo.
I believe it was a passion project by one guy that took 5 or 10 years but holy shit it’s a masterpiece.
Star Trek New Horizons for Stellaris. Best Star Trek game I’ve played.
Fallout UK
Fall from Heaven II. It’s a fantasy themed overhaul mod for Civ IV. Has extraordinarily deep lore and unique game mechanics. I’ve never actually played the unmodded version of Civ IV. I only bought the game to play this mod.
Strawberry jam for celeste. It’s a huge collaborative project that introduces 100+ levels (base game has 25) with a really wide range of difficulties, graphical styles, new mechanics, original music and ideas on par with the quality from the base game. Definitely a must play if you like 2d platformers
On the Switch 1(or emulated), a Mario kart standalone mod call CTGP.
It’s basically all the maps from all the MarioKarts and even a bunch of fan made maps on 1 game.
There are a TON of legit and amazing S.T.A.L.K.E.R mods like Misery, but my favorite is Anomaly. The mod team took assets across the three original Stalker releases, took alpha/beta builds, and combined all of these with a ton of other mods to make an ultimate OG stalker trilogy playground that is open and full of immersive experiences. Almost to the point where you can randomize starting characters and basically never play the same game again with how the NPCs have full independent routines.
Of course this means that a random quest giver can totally just get zeroed out and die before you ever even meet them, but that’s part of the experience lol.
Removed by mod
Now I’m interested.
Since someone already mentioned Fallout London, then I’ll recommend Shutoko Revival Project for Asseto Corsa, a full blown open map in the speedways of japan with online support and even functioning traffic so the illegal racing isn’t a breeze.
Hell yeah, I drove literally thousands of miles on those tracks in VR during Covid. Miss my little DIY sim rig so much. :(
What happened to your rig?
Had to sell it, but hope to rebuild it even better at some point. It was a race-seat/metal chassis thing, Thrustmaster wheel, Logitech pedals, I added left/right rumble in the seat, Quest 2 headset. Not the most bleeding edge, but still the greatest video game experience I’ve ever had. It felt like the future every time.
DSfix
Single-handedly made an awful PC port playable.
And watchdog making the cheating problem in multiplayer as close to solved as possible.
Witchery for Minecraft. Start out, building your altar room, find as many unique living things as possible and put them within 100 blocks of your altar. Mid game, make sleeping tonics to visit the spirit realm and try not to die from nightmares. Create voodoo dolls, and other nice high level gear, craft some powerful pvp oriented spells. Late game create a ritual room to summon demons to trade with. Don’t forget your protection circles because they move really fast and kill you almost instantly. Late game, become a vampire or werewolf or hybrid. Become nearly invincible outside of fire and sunlight.
