With the annual Sonic ROM hacking contest’s deadline closing in, tons of prestigious, anticipated ROM hacks are getting new releases today! To name a few, we have:

Sonic 2: Advanced Edit:

A Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hack by Rika Chou, Sonic 2: Advanced Edit sports 5 brand new levels, three being entirely complete and fully playable. Each level has complete art and music revamps, and level design quality that far surpasses that of many amateur ROM hacks. New enemies, new gimmicks, as well as familiar graphics from other games (Quackshot being one of note) will face you as you play through this masterpiece. Definitely worth a look.

Sonic 1 Pixel Perfect:

A hack of the original Sonic the Hedgehog by JcFerggy and NovaWizard, Sonic 1: Pixel Perfect sports brand new level revamps, new music, and extremely comprehensive level design. Loops and curves have been placed into levels that did not previously have them in creative ways, and new boss arenas provide a refreshing look on an old classic. Highly recommended.

Sonic 2 Retro Remix:

Another Sonic 2 hack, this time by Thorn and DNXDelta. In the same reign as the previous two hacks, new levels and music are featured, but Retro Remix also contains new technical additions, such as a “field” level ala Sonic Advance 3 which allows the player to freely roam and choose which act of the current zone they wish to play. Each act has a different motif and theme song–for example, the first level in the game has an island/mountain backdrop in the first act, while the second act takes place inside a gigantic waterfall.

In addition, Retro Remix boasts the popular Jump Dash technique, as seen in Sonic Megamix and Sonic 2 Revamped. While not widely used, it adds a new degree of gameplay not seen in the original game.

More ROM hacks other than these three have been featured in the hacking contest submission thread. Check it out!

We all love it when something pretty highly-anticipated (Well, it was in my case) is finished, and so it delights me that Nineko has released the latest version of his awesome hack and XM3SMPS showcase, SoniNeko.

Though I’m generally a fan of layout and art hacks, this is a super-cool showcase of how the way you play Sonic can be drastically changed — try Panic Mode, or set the time limit stupidly-low, for example, and you’ll see what I mean.

Play it. Now.

Well, not quite. British member DAGarden has completed and released his hack Sonic the Hedgehog - Westside Island, which is a palette and layout hack.

“Is that all?”

Well, if you asked yourself that you’d be missing out on something awesome, because there are some truly inspired moments of insane genius in these layouts, and enough interesting alternate routes to justify repeated plays through. If you’re sick of Newbie Template Hacks, get this hack!