What is the difference between all these games?

[admiralsullivan]

Ok, I inhereted all of my cousins old roms.... THOUSANDS of them (all NES) and browsing through the cd's I find that there are many types of the same game... what would the difference be between games such as: Crystalis (U) [a1].nes
Crystalis (U) [a2].nes
Crystalis (U) [b1].nes
Crystalis (U) [b2].nes
Crystalis (U) [o1].nes
Crystalis (U) [o2].nes
Crystalis (U).nes

Its very annoying to have to browse through these roms.... not to mention the hacked ones. Any insight would be appreciated.

-Dave

[Lefteris_D]

There are very small differences but they are all in the code, not the game.

[montpics]

Okay these will show some little difference among those roms. Basically all are the same. :)


[a]
This is simply an alternate version of a ROM. Many games have been re-released fix bugs or even to eliminate Game Genie codes (Yes, Nintendo hates that device).

[b]
A bad dump often occurs with an older game or a faulty dumper (bad connection). Another common source of ROMs is a corrupted upload to a release FTP.

[b][f]
A fixed game has been altered in some way so that it will run better on a copier or emulator.

[h]
Something in this ROM is not quite as it should be. Often a hacked ROM simply has a changed header or has been enabled to run in different regions. Other times it could be a release group intro, or just some kind of cheating or funny hack.

[o]
An overdumped ROM image has more data than is actually in the cart. The extra information means nothing and is removed from the true image.

[t]
A trainer is special code which executes before the game is begun. It allows you to access cheats from a menu.

[!]
Verified good dump. Thank God for these!
Hope these will solve your tiring problems. ;)

[Techman]

Thanks mont.

I thought those meant alpha, beta and omega versions. :D

[Lefteris_D]

Detailed info are available in a text file within the Good tools downloads... in most of them anyway.

[montpics]

I know, but better leave this to any newbie who wants to ask about the same thing again. :)