RetroAchievements

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Achievements for ROM Hacks ​

RetroAchievements opens the doorway to include fun hack sets for players to enjoy. The issue arising in such a broad category open to world of creativity being "What is allowed, and what is not allowed to have a set at RetroAchievements?" This page will go over the various types of hacks that are not allowed to have their own set and whether or not they are allowed to be linked to a base set.

Quality Assurance Team Approval Requirements ​

Any hack or patch intended to be linked to a primary achievement set by anyone other than the original set developer requires approval from the Quality Assurance team in accordance with the Adding Hashes document to ensure the appropriate compatibility testing process is followed.

Game Trainer Patches ​

  • These are hacks that have integrated cheat features. For those familiar with GoodTool's naming scheme, ROMs with [t1], [t2], etc. in the title are examples of this.
  • These are not allowed to have their own sets or be linked to base sets under any circumstance. In fact, thousands of known hashes for these are linked to dummy game entries, such as this one.

Difficulty and Story Hacks ​

  • If a hack has sufficient enough differences from the base game insomuch that the hack can be considered an entirely different game, then yes, a unique set is usually acceptable. Linking these to the base set is not recommended since they will likely break the set.
  • If the hack does not have enough differences from the base game, but there are good achievement ideas exclusive to the hack, then consider doing a compilation of hacks or incorporating them into a bonus set.
  • Approval from Developer Compliance must be sought if a difficulty or story hack that bears close resemblance to the primary game is being considered for its own set.

Bug-fix, Re-balancing and Utility Hacks ​

  • Hacks that include development-level integrated utilities such as easily accessible level select, debug menus, menus that display information or provide testing features not normally accessible via the normal game, are almost never allowed to be linked to core sets or get their own set.
  • Hacks that offer gameplay utilities where it doesn't exist in the release version are allowed at the discretion of the active developer (or revision vote if the developer is inactive). Utilities such as easy weapon select, in-game maps, new minor upgrades or abilities, improved controls, faster movement.
  • Utilities and bug-fix hacks that improve or patch glitches found in the released version of games are allowed at the discretion of the active developer (or revision vote if the developer is inactive).
  • Cosmetic bug fixes which don't alter gameplay may be allowed in some circumstances, see cosmetic/sprite hacks.

Beta Release, Prototype and "Testing" Hacks ​

Usually not allowed

If a rom hack is incomplete or in a beta/prototype/testing state with potential game-breaking glitches, crashes, or bugs, intact as a result of hacking, it is usually not allowed.

Examples:

Translation Patches ​

Usually allowed

Translation patches may offer a significant player experience improvement and generally do not alter memory in the regions which achievements tend to evaluate.

Examples:

Cosmetic Hacks ​

Usually allowed

  • Cosmetic / Sprite hacks that do nothing to change the original game other than its graphics are not allowed to become their own set. They may be considered for addition to a primary set as long as they are still the same core game. When linked they are required to be linked to the primary set.

Examples:

Changelog

Released under the GPL-3 License. There are no copyright-protected ROMs available for download on RetroAchievements.

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