ROM Hack Ripping?

[DragonDePlatino]

What is the site stance on ripping sprites from ROM Hacks? I wasn't able to find anything about this in the submission rules...or the submission rules at all, for that matter.

Some awesome games like Rockman 4 Minus Infinity have their own categories, instead of submitting under the "Custom / Mega Man" category. On the other hand, there are lots of low-quality ROM Hacks out there and if the site allows creating categories for ROM hacks, I can see how this would be an immediate problem.

The reason I'm asking is because I recently finished my ROM Hack Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition and I'd like to create a game category for it. Here's a small sample of some enemy sprites from the game:

[Vipershark]

Don't quote me on this, but to my knowledge rom hacks aren't allowed. I think they generally fall under the same category as fangames. If the creator wants to submit their own sprites then that's probably acceptable but submitting for them isn't allowed.

[DragonDePlatino]

Wasn't that rule in place to prevent people from submitting their own characters? If a ROM Hack doesn't add any new characters or designs to the game, wouldn't it still follow the submission guidelines?

Really, I'd have to see the rules before I make any conclusions. Where did they go, anyways?

[Petie]

I can't comment on your actual question but I can point you to the guidelines you're looking for (incomplete as they may be).

The main rules are available at http://www.vg-resource.com/rules/ or from the Rules link in the header.

The submission rules are at http://wiki.vg-resource.com/wiki/What_Ma...Submission (with instructions with individual sites linked below) and should probably be linked to from the main rules as well...

[puggsoy]

There was a ROM hack of Puggsy called Wario Land 3 that was ripped from, simply because the main character's graphics were replaced by Wario. The sheet was ripped by Yawackhary while the sprites were made by Glorysun. However I think it's quite an old sheet so the guidelines for this kind of stuff might have changed by now.

[Shade]

I see hack submissions all the time, even recently.

[DragonDePlatino]

Well...so I guess the general consensus here is that while ROM hacks are discouraged, they're quite common and there's nothing in the rules specifically against them. I've decided to move forward with submitting Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition and see how this all pans out.

Thanks for the replies! But to clear up any future confusion, can could the rules be expanded a bit? It would also help future cases if a link to the rules were given whenever you attempt to make a submission.

[Petie]

We really should implement some proper submission guidelines. We have a good system in place on VGFacts which, now that it's been brought up, should be ported over here as well.

[Kelvin]

What about making it so that hacks need to have significant differences from the original? Like, just changing a characters color or hairstyle isn't worth ripping, but a hack that lets you play Megaman Zero as the classic version of X would probably work because that's a lot of effort.

I dunno about giving each game their own section, though, so maybe just put them in the custom sprites section? Otherwise, there could end up being a really huge list of the same game over and over just for one or two sprites, especially when you consider Sonic hacks.