08-13-2019, 12:45 PM
To me, unofficial games are really three different things all lumped together; Fangames, Hacks, and Homebrews. Because of that, it makes it difficult to decide what the cutoff is for archival. In my opinion, the following should be taken into consideration;
1. Physical release. The NES in particular has several games that aren't official, but had cartridge releases, including Wally Bear, Bible Adventures, etc. There is also the Aladdin add-on that had its own series of physical games. While they're not officially endorsed by Nintendo, they are still included as part of the NES "canon" by several online sources. I think these have a place on TSR.
2. Notability. Some ROM hacks or Fan Games are notable to the internet at large. These include games like Kart Fighter, Somari, or the Earthbound Halloween Hack. I don't want to use the term "culturally significant," but I think they're well known and important enough to be archived.
What is "notable" is a sticking point. There is no hard definition for this and would probably have to be a game-by-game basis. If Vinesauce makes a game popular, does that automatically mean it needs to be on TSR? On the other hand, does a simple graphical hack of any old NES game deserve to be archived? That seems like a really low-effort way to get trash on the site.
There are also many foreign bootleg games that could be popular in other regions, but are basically unknown in US/PAL territories. This possibility also makes the physical release idea a bit more difficult since a LOT of bootlegs are given physical releases in China, but not necessarily in the west.
So yeah. I think it should mostly be a case-by-case basis, but notoriety counts for something, and simple graphical hacks like Rabbit King (NES), or Teletubbies (NES), or the Pony Hacks (SNES) probably don't need to be on TSR.
1. Physical release. The NES in particular has several games that aren't official, but had cartridge releases, including Wally Bear, Bible Adventures, etc. There is also the Aladdin add-on that had its own series of physical games. While they're not officially endorsed by Nintendo, they are still included as part of the NES "canon" by several online sources. I think these have a place on TSR.
2. Notability. Some ROM hacks or Fan Games are notable to the internet at large. These include games like Kart Fighter, Somari, or the Earthbound Halloween Hack. I don't want to use the term "culturally significant," but I think they're well known and important enough to be archived.
What is "notable" is a sticking point. There is no hard definition for this and would probably have to be a game-by-game basis. If Vinesauce makes a game popular, does that automatically mean it needs to be on TSR? On the other hand, does a simple graphical hack of any old NES game deserve to be archived? That seems like a really low-effort way to get trash on the site.
There are also many foreign bootleg games that could be popular in other regions, but are basically unknown in US/PAL territories. This possibility also makes the physical release idea a bit more difficult since a LOT of bootlegs are given physical releases in China, but not necessarily in the west.
So yeah. I think it should mostly be a case-by-case basis, but notoriety counts for something, and simple graphical hacks like Rabbit King (NES), or Teletubbies (NES), or the Pony Hacks (SNES) probably don't need to be on TSR.