[Hack of the Year] Results and Judging Round - 2009

Yay controversy! :D

Congrats to Azure Horizons; also to Ruby Destiny and Light Platinum. Being one of the top three hacks here is something of a feat.

Aww... I wish LP would've won... oh well, well done and good luck to Frosbite, Wesley and DJG... And congrats on winning frostbite!

People need to relax. Every review and judging panel is biased. Everyone is biased. The other hacks lacked in certain areas, which AH had more substance to in. Again, leave it.

Really If you played over all 3 hacks you would know why they picked Azure Horizon. Azure Horizons may be one of the least known hacks that made it to the finals but it was one of the best hacks I have ever played. It had everything a pokemon hack should have.

* Pokemon Themed Story
* Nintendo styled Maps
* Amazing scripting
* Original FR tiles
* Has a balanced level of difficulty

So if you would take the time to play AH Im sure you will find out why it Azure Horizons won. Congrats to Frostbite~

Chibi Robo said:

* Original FR tiles

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Although I esteem Frostbite and congratulate him thoroughly, I don't think this can be considered as a point to note. Everyone else apparently does. Yes, it's great that Azure Horizons won, and every other area you mentioned is true, but I just disagree that a hack should gain points because it used original Fire Red tiles. It's not as if any effort went into them, is it? I just think that if a hack uses Fire Red's original tiles, that aspect should be ignored. But sincere congratulations to Frostbite, because it's one of the best hacks I've ever seen.

Anthony La said:

Oh trust me; I've been through such a time already. Left and right, mediocre mapping, or other terrible FireRed graphics-based hacks. Or a clash and mix of styles. What I'd look for though is a hack that uses a style nobody has used before - preferably one that the graphics designer opted NOT to share with every darned ROM hacker - and then see it executed in the hack in a way that made it really awesome. Until then, any attempts have been mediocre. (This is my own opinion and not of the judges, of note.)

The only hack I was remotely aware of before the Hack of the Year was RD:LoG.

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Yup, I get what you mean. However, presonally, since the FR style is underused, I like seeing it in hacks, that can pull it off correctly. I don't find custom tiles bad if, like you said, they are all one style. I was just trying to make the point that this is what I've been seeying for a while: Custom tiles (whether they suck or are overused) = Popular hack that's "4W$UM3!

Codec said:

Aww... I wish LP would've won... oh well, well done and good luck to Frosbite, Wesley and DJG... And congrats on winning frostbite!

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Well, there's a reason why it didn't.

Anthony La said:

Some of the posts seem to be under the presumption that popular = better.

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A point that I've been talking about with people on MSN for a while. I'm sick of it.

giradialkia said:

Although I esteem Frostbite and congratulate him thoroughly, I don't think this can be considered as a point to note. Everyone else apparently does. Yes, it's great that Azure Horizons won, and every other area you mentioned is true, but I just disagree that a hack should gain points because it used original Fire Red tiles. It's not as if any effort went into them, is it? I just think that if a hack uses Fire Red's original tiles, that aspect should be ignored. But sincere congratulations to Frostbite, because it's one of the best hacks I've ever seen.

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I don't thing the judges rate on custom tiles. If they did, Azure Horizons wouldn't have got the high score it did. I think they rate in one how consistent the style is, if they are overused tiles and if the tiles are used properly.

You could present a hack full of mismatched rips and revamps and I doubt in this competiton it'd get a high score, even if it was all custom tiles.

giradialkia said:

Although I esteem Frostbite and congratulate him thoroughly, I don't think this can be considered as a point to note. Everyone else apparently does. Yes, it's great that Azure Horizons won, and every other area you mentioned is true, but I just disagree that a hack should gain points because it used original Fire Red tiles. It's not as if any effort went into them, is it? I just think that if a hack uses Fire Red's original tiles, that aspect should be ignored. But sincere congratulations to Frostbite, because it's one of the best hacks I've ever seen.

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True. However, I think the point is not that Frostbite chose to use Fire Red tiles but that he was able to effectively emulate the Nintendo style, which, in my opinion, he does flawlessly.

.com said:

People need to relax. Every review and judging panel is biased. Everyone is biased. The other hacks lacked in certain areas, which AH had more substance to in. Again, leave it.

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Everyone is somewhat biases, but when all the judges are biases towards one side then the judging is biases. But I agrue althought they gave points to AH that AH didn't devise they did the same for LP. I saw in my opinion they where trying hard to give Lp the benefit of the doubt in some of it's lacking areas.

Chibi Robo said:

Really If you played over all 3 hacks you would know why they picked Azure Horizon. Azure Horizons may be one of the least known hacks that made it to the finals but it was one of the best hacks I have ever played. It had everything a pokemon hack should have.

* Pokemon Themed Story
* Nintendo styled Maps
* Amazing scripting
* Original FR tiles
* Has a balanced level of difficulty

So if you would take the time to play AH Im sure you will find out why it Azure Horizons won. Congrats to Frostbite~

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That's not all I look for and some of those positives I see has negitives.
* Pokemon Themed Story- Only if it goes will with the hack which AH did, so thumbs up.
* Nintendo styled Maps- no, nintendo sucked at mapping XD It was square bland, bland and empty. But it is a stly so I don't see it as a positive or a negative.
* Amazing scripting- It wasn't that great now your just over exaggerating and losing creditability.
* Original FR tiles- How is this a pluse, it shoes they didn't take the time to make tiles and insert them. You can still gives off a nintendo feel with out using there hand me down tiles. In every new game Pokemon Comes out with (even if its still on the same platform) Had different stly's and tiles. Look at FR and Ruby.
* Has a balanced level of difficulty- fine I will give you that. XD

Anthony La said:

Some of the posts seem to be under the presumption that popular = better.

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They had to do something to get popular and in the real life a company would of released LP or AH. (all nintendo is out to do, is make as much money has possible.)

Pokepal17 said:

Yup, I get what you mean. However, presonally, since the FR style is underused, I like seeing it in hacks, that can pull it off correctly. I don't find custom tiles bad if, like you said, they are all one style. I was just trying to make the point that this is what I've been seeying for a while: Custom tiles (whether they suck or are overused) = Popular hack that's "4W$UM3!

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No, It's over used. Just the fact alone that nintendo used it made it overused. over millions of kids played that game and saw those graphics, do you think they want to see it again?
I my self beat FR 32 times and I am sick of looking at those tiles when I play a hack. I want to feel like I am playing something new, not old.

colcolstyles said:

Predictable, yet disappointing. Personally, I would have preferred to see Ruby Destiny win but given the judging lineup, I can't think of another hack that could've beaten Azure Horizons. Every single member of the judging panel has a hack that strives for that same style and Harry in particular is obsessed with Azure Horizons almost to the point of creepiness so I'm really not surprised. Still, congratulations to Frostbite for becoming quite possibly the most unrecognized HotY winner to date.

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I am in agreement! ,




in addition one of the evaluations that called more me attention was Grahpical presentation, therefore AH it obtained notes highest, exactly being made all on tiles of Firered, in addition, is perceived that OKutank has a certain arrogance with the LP, therefore had been the worse notes received with an absurd difference in relation to the other judges, I really I did not wait to earn, but also it did not wait this judgment, and as much difference enters the candidates the HoY, really disappointed with the JUDGMENT.


But,
congrast, for AH, I wait that it works sufficiently in hack, to prove that he is deserving of this victory, good luck

azul deserved it! =D Congrats!

I think Azure Horizons deserved to win. I noticed something, in LOG you get Kanto starters, in LP you get Johto starters, and in AH you get Hoenn starters. I like how I get to start with Torchic in AH, it was my first Pokemon when I played Pokemon Ruby for the first time.

Wesley FG said:

I am in agreement! ,

in addition one of the evaluations that called more me attention was Grahpical presentation, therefore AH it obtained notes highest, exactly being made all on tiles of Firered, in addition, is perceived that OKutank has a certain arrogance with the LP, therefore had been the worse notes received with an absurd difference in relation to the other judges, I really I did not wait to earn, but also it did not wait this judgment, and as much difference enters the candidates the HoY, really disappointed with the JUDGMENT.


But,
congrast, for AH, I wait that it works sufficiently in hack, to prove that he is deserving of this victory, good luck

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TRUE!!! LP is much better in graphic than AH, that's not fair, much of the Judges is Frostbite friend, AH is the best for they, but, LP is the best for we, LP win in the poll, right? that's strong evidence, LP fans is more than AH, so LP is the best for we! HotY is PC fav, not Judges fav, who with me?

I disagree with the above post. Fire Red/Ruby/Emerald tiles are better than edited tiles. The last year's winner had Fire Red tiles mixed with RSE. It was known as Rijon Adventures by Anthony La. I'm making a ROM Hack of Fire Red and I'm using the same tiles of Fire Red. Go Frostbite!

P.s. I like Wesley and DestinedJagold too.

The Doctor said:

LOL WHAT. Frostbite didn't win because the judges are his friends. Quite the opposite, Frostbite is a person who enjoys his secrecy. So, he doesn't converse with many people at all. Yeah, I wouldn't make assumptions like that, just because your hack wasn't good enough to win.

/itouch

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LOL.
pwned.
That is all.

Honestly, LP is only good to look at. That's all it is. The basically full graphic overhaul is nice, but it's not anything totally custom and new when it comes down to it, having trendy devamped fourth generation tiles and all. Even if AH did use FireRed default tiles, LP basically is just ripping off HGSS. Sure, he did the devamping and insertion and such, but it's pretty much the same thing--using an existing official game's type-tileset. What I'm saying is, LP doesn't really have anything fresh to offer graphically, just the what's-in/trendy look, and even what's-in/trendy gameplay-wise, so I can completely understand its ratings.

アルセウス said:

much of the Judges is Frostbite friend

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I absolutely have no personal acquaintance with any of the moderators or the judges whatsoever, so I wouldn't be jumping to conclusions so quickly if I were you.

Also, learn2grammar.