TOF is a group of romhackers that includes Russian romhacker TLT, known for creating a website romhacking.ru , and two brothers from Ukraine with the pseudonym Cari (aka BMB). These developers have created several hacks for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis based on popular franchises. Most of these hacks were commissioned by Kudos and Simba's Video Games and released on cartridges for SMD and Mega Drive Portable. However, among these hacks, there are those that, for unknown reasons, did not come out on cartridges. Some of them have long been published as ROMs, and some have been lost. But recently I talked to TLT and he provided me with a ROM of these hacks. He also said he didn't know why these hacks weren't released.
Forest Guardian[]
Title screen.
Лесной страж, which can be translated as Forest Guardian, or Forest Defender, is a hack of a prototype of an unreleased game Swamp Thing. It only changes the title screen and adds some text with the plot. The KDS logo appears on startup, suggesting that the hack was made for this company. This hack has not been published anywhere, and TLT personally provided me with the ROM.
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Kolobok in Egypt[]
Title screen.
Колобок в Египте is a hack of homebrew game Uwol: Quest for Money. Apparently, it was created by order of Simba's Video Games, but for some reason was not released on cartridges. However, TLT created another similar hack called Колобок Пирамида, which was released by Kudos on cartridges. Kolobok in Egypt was lost for a long time, but TLT provided me with a ROM.
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Smeshariki: Krosh's Adventure[]
Title screen.
Смешарики: Приключения Кроша is a hack of Mr. Nutz based on the Russian cartoon show Smeshariki (also known as Kikoriki in English). It was supposed to be released in 2010 for SMD and MDP, but the release never happened. Fun fact: Krosh's sprite was drawn by a Simba's member who was into drawing and designing covers. TLT and Cari created the animation for the sprite.
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Winx: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom[]
Title screen.
Винкс: Тайна Затерянного Королевства is a hack of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier based on 2007 film Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom. The hack adds a new title screen and plot text on a black background. The order of the levels is changed, and Yuko's sprite is changed, and her jump height is increased. Other similar hacks called Винкс: Клуб волшебниц and Winx Club 3D: Волшебное Приключение have already been released on cartridges from Kudos.
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More about TOF group hacks[]
These are all the unreleased but currently available hacks by TOF group. Detailed information about these and other TOF hacks can be found here.
Well-known ideas and developments[]
TLT also mentioned that he made a hack based on the movie Wall-E. But he doesn't remember which game it was based on. However, he did find a list he and Cari made of hack ideas. Here are some of them:
- Jelly Boy - WALL-E.
- The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond - SpongeBob (as you know TOF created a hack based on SpongeBob SquarePants, but it was a Cool Spot hack).
- Tinhead - Lilo & Stich.
- The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - Madagascar (as you know TOF created 2 hacks based on Madagascar franchise: a hack of Magical Hat no Buttobi Turbo! Daibouken and a hack of A Dinosaur's Tale).
- Russian translation of Prince of Persia 2 prototype (was released on cartridges).
- Cutthroad Island - Пираты Карибского моря 3: На Краю Света (was released on cartridges).
- Dick Tracy - Mafia (was released on cartridges).
- Final Zone, or Cyborg Justice, or Heavy Nova, or Exo Squad - Transformers (TOF created a hack based on Transformers franchise, but it was a Mazin Saga hack, and it's based on Transformers 3 and named accordingly).
- Chuck Rock, or Kid Chameleon, or Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama - Shrek (as you know TOF created 2 hacks based on Shrek franchise: a hack of Yogi Bear Cartoon Capers and a hack of The Ottifants).
- Dark Castle – Shrek or Harry Potter.
End of cooperation[]
At some point (probably 2013-2014), Cari and romhacker "CoolSpot" began making hacks on order in secret from TLT. These hacks used a pattern similar to later TOF hacks: first the title screen appears, then text on a black background, and then the game starts. Upon learning of this, TLT banned Cari and CoolSpot from common romhacking sites, and he made his last hacks on order alone. Therefore, it can be assumed that hacks such as Despicable Me 2, Planet Contra, Snow Queen, Avatar, Grand Theft Auto V, etc. were created by Cari/BMB separately from TLT, because he did not confirm that he was involved in them.