http://www.romhacking.net/docs/161/
http://www.romhacking.net/docs/162/
http://www.romhacking.net/docs/163/
(Also many other documents you can find through the links on the left bar on the site.)

These might give you an idea of the kinds of things you may need to do.

Basically what your trying to do is take a huge chunk of unknown, and figure out small bits of it. With these small bits, you hopefully start making connections with which you can identify other bits of data. When you find out where what it is that your looking for is, then you can figure out how it's used (through experimentation with the data or disassembling the code that uses the data.)


That help any at all?

You could always learn. ASM isn't hard. In fact the problem is it's so simple that using it becomes the complicated part. You have to fully break down each step in what you want to do into the absolute most basic components. However, since you seem to have no desire to program with it, all you'd need to know is how to recognize loading and storing of data, and what kind of compares and arithmetic is done.

The way I see it, without looking at what the code is doing, your left with corruption and experimentation. Change something in the rom and see what changes in the game. Once you have found something that is relevant, experiment to find out what it is and how it works. Good for finding stats and asset data, not so great for figuring out damage formulas and such.

Of course the first thing you probably will want to do is open the rom up in one of the graphic editors and find the part that looks like something. Then you know that at least that part is graphic data. You could also check Data Crystal and here to see if anyone has already documented something your looking for.


It's not that it more than what you can handle. It's more like, if you see it as a wall it will stop you; if you see it as a challenge, you can overcome it. There are no beaten paths to unexplored territory. Determination and curiosity will get you through. The red zone is for loading and unloading only. The Pen Tool is your friend. On Tuesdays the special is... Ok. Now I'm just being silly.

You can't generally say that (it depends a lot on the game), but the GBA hardware is easier to work with.

As KC already said, it varies from game to game, but in general, GBA games are easier to hack than NES or SNES due to the fact that the GBA came out AFTER the War on Drugsâ„¢, so programmers are less likely to be smoking crack while coding games.

The War on Drugs?