Brief History of Perverted Dragon Warrior ROM Hacks
Brief History of Perverted Dragon Warrior ROM Hacks is a very short look at four (4) perverted NES ROM hacks spanning 1997-2016 (the last of which is my own). My first encounter with Dragon Pervert (1999) around 2002 or 2003 has led me through an almost two decades long vortex of transgressive literature, art, and games.
I could write about these hacks forever, so don't read this as a complete or absolute text. I've tried to be extra short with my criticism and description. If the text were to be expanded, it'd be important to speak a bit more about the era and what these hacks' goals were in more clear language, and to better map the hacker family tree. I briefly address some of the language in the hacks, which I consider an open dialogue on several things: games culture, teen culture, hack culture, perversion in general and perversion as theme... I truly admire how many things turn into penises in Dragon Pervert, lol.
It's an RPG Maker MV game, and it's available for download as well as in-browser play. There's maybe ten minutes of "content." Please let me know if you have any questions or comments or complaints. If you remember playing any of these hacks, PLEASE contact me : )
Further reading (as if you haven't heard enough from me):
Video Games: A Gnostic Metaphor
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amazing play on the virtual gallery space and a view of a world i never knew. i come from punk so i value any honest look at the complexities of its value system. the oaths of permanent adolescent masculinity. i was also touched by the hints of vulnerability and anticipation in the presentation; you know the kinds of reactions you'll typically get. thank you for putting it out there
Very good thoughts. There are probably strong parallels here with any adolescent art space on line, but my brain goes to the 90s ZZT community before anything else... there's something really special and unique about these sorts of old splintered art spaces online, the kinds of expression you get there.
Thanks for putting this display together! I always find stuff like this super fascinating. I was too young at the time, when hacking communities like these sorta built their histories (like, pre-social media era, I guess), but as a sprouting RPG Maker user I was dimly aware of communities like these. Like, building both significant and/or irreverent/subversive things out of largely tweaked, hacked, and pirated assets on a largely-pirated piece of software? All while different communities and forums rose, played out their dramas, and splintered apart or fell into nothingness. I love reading about that kind of history whenever I can, and this display adds a whole piece of the picture, so thanks again for putting it out there ^^
That was interesting. I've usually avoided this type of hack but I'm a pretty heavy supporter of the idea of trying to find interesting aspects in anything people create, so it's cool to see you've found such interesting angles in a medium like this. It's not at all the same sort of thing, but I'm curious if you'd enjoy the confusing art in CHIKO's Luckyman Rockman hacks.
I suspect that in general these cases of heavy "boy's club" "alt-right-y" type media filling the fields are the tragic results of marketing, unfair societal policies on who gets access to technology and support in doing so, and the simple realities of highly aggressive technological communities. I remember I essentially left the chiptune community entirely because it was too close to people I felt uncomfortable being near due to their right wing views. It upsets me a lot to think about how even today so many of these things are barely changing. I hope some day there's a more egalitarian world in these fields - it makes me sad to think of all the things that have brought me joy that essentially are forced into being straight white male zones because of shit communities or policies, when they really don't have any inherent reason they'd have to be.
I appreciated the art design and writing for this a lot. Good job. Also intriguing to think about using MV for expressing ideas in this form, I'd never considered doing that before.
Thanks for making it.
hi NARF : ) thanks for the wonderful comment & thoughts ~
yeah, it's a difficult lineage to unpack, and i think it reads differently for different audiences - i always get lots of laughs when i have screenshots of bad hacks in my powerpoints at university, for instance, but someone in our community who has more context about where something like that may have come from would read it completely differently, etc... it's tricky to talk about but it also feels super vital and has been with me for a very long time. it's also a lineage that has so many ramifications throughout many digital communities for the past 20 years -__- I'm glad you checked it out !