What does it mean when a ROM has [a1] in the name?
The GoodNES documentation says it means "alternate". But that doesn't say much. What is "alternate" supposed to mean?
Is this an actual alternate version of the game that exists as a real cartridge?
Or is it just a hack? (In this case, why isn't it called a hack? You don't see a random hack listed as "Super Mario Bros. (JU) (PRG0) [a164]", so when do they decide to name a hack [a1]?)
For example, there is "Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG1) [a1]". But Bootgod lists only two different hash values for the American version of the game: One for PRG0 and one for PRG1. So, what would "Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG1) [a1]" be? (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to check the contents of this ROM for myself. Whenever I find a ROM that's labeled like this, the GoodNES 3.14 renames it to something different.)
I understand bad dump and overdump or hack or tranlation. But the "alternate" label is really a mystery to me. Can somebody please clear up what they intended when they decided to label certain ROM version with [a1], [a2] etc.?
The GoodNES documentation says it means "alternate". But that doesn't say much. What is "alternate" supposed to mean?
Is this an actual alternate version of the game that exists as a real cartridge?
Or is it just a hack? (In this case, why isn't it called a hack? You don't see a random hack listed as "Super Mario Bros. (JU) (PRG0) [a164]", so when do they decide to name a hack [a1]?)
For example, there is "Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG1) [a1]". But Bootgod lists only two different hash values for the American version of the game: One for PRG0 and one for PRG1. So, what would "Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG1) [a1]" be? (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to check the contents of this ROM for myself. Whenever I find a ROM that's labeled like this, the GoodNES 3.14 renames it to something different.)
I understand bad dump and overdump or hack or tranlation. But the "alternate" label is really a mystery to me. Can somebody please clear up what they intended when they decided to label certain ROM version with [a1], [a2] etc.?