ROMhacking.net Site Closing Down

Nightcrawler, the administrator of the ROMhacking.net website that is home to fan-made rom translations, patches, hacks, tools, and documentation, announced the site is closing. It was founded in 2004, following the launch and demise of a previous site called The Repository (ROMhacking.com). 

People will still be able to access existing tools and rom patches for homebrew games, hacks, and fan translations for the time being. Backups of those and the site database are also at Internet Archive. People can also still visit and read for the time being, and the forums are active. However, only news submissions will be accepted. 

In the announcement, Nightcrawler noted a desire to close at the end of 2023 and considered handing it over to other individuals. The statement claimed those who would have taken over would have cut the administrator out and share their personal information. It is then that the decision to close the site and cut out social media and Discord.

ROMhacking.net was known for being a home for documentation, utilities, fonts, an online patcher and hasher, and of course the ROM patches for homebrew and translation updates. For example, the last two fan translations shared on July 31, 2024 were an English patch for the Game Boy title From TV Animation One Piece: Yume no Luffy Kaizokudan Tanjou by Parmentation and an English patch for the PC98 game Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes by NLeseul. 

It is unknown how long files will remain posted on ROMhacking.net proper.