Hello everyone! I'm happy to announce the opening of SMB Arena! This website's aim is to create a portal where SMB1 enjoyers can find up-to-date tools, documents, hacks, and a place where they can host their own hacks easily. The website is maintained by StudsX, and it is going to continue developing while it's online. Please, if you have any feedback to share with me, don't be afraid to do so!
These are a lot of functionalities that I have envisioned so far, and some of them are already implemented. First of all, this site hosts all the mostly the entire archive of SMB hacks that Eden GT has collected over the last 10 years so far, around 3500+ of them (some hacks were decided not to be included due to their generally controversial nature, and can be found elsewhere!). If you find your own hack within the archive uploads, please make an account! It will be linked to your author page afterwards.
Alongside this archive, people are able to upload their own hacks. At the time of this article, there isn't a queue system, but you do need a manually verified account. Read more about how verification works here.
Once verified, you can easily upload a hack if you navigate to the Upload form through the navbar above (Hacks → Upload hack). Some of the fields are mandatory (Title, IPS patch, Cover Art), however the rest are not. You will have to put at least 1 tag on your hack. (Tags make it easier for people to search for specific kinds of hacks). If you really want to, you can include mirror downloads to other sites in the description.
If you search for hacks, you will notice a shiny S.O.Q. search button. S.O.Q. abbreviates to Seal Of Quality, which is a decoration higher quality hacks can earn. Everyone has the ability to apply for S.O.Q. through contacting staff. If your hacks is a full experience (changed levels, music, graphics, etc.), then you'll have a high chance of getting the S.O.Q., and be eligible for a custom hack download page by submitting static website files (optional, max 2MB).
On this site, you will be able to also learn ASM and the Studio Base! The Studio Base is an expanded version of the SMB1 source code, which makes ROM hacking a whole lot easier. At the time of this post, the documents are still being written.
Events such as the SMB Jam will also be held and processed on this site from now on. Participants, their accomplishments, their hacks will be hosted on here. Go check out the Hall Of Fame! (coming soon)
If you wish to be notified about new posts on this website, you will be notified on the e-mail account you provided upon registration. Of course, you can unsubscribe from e-mail notifications anytime. (In the time of this post, most e-mails might go into the spam folder, since it takes a bit of time until some email services marks us as trustworthy). If you're not a fan of e-mails, we will also notify people in the SMB Arena Discord server whenever we have a new post.
Right now, the site is running on a relatively cheap server. If the site ever feels too sluggish, we will try to upgrade to a better one. If you appreciate our work and want to support our site, leave a donation! Huge shoutouts to kandowontu for donating some money that helped us get this site up in the first place. I also want to thank Eden GT and Hellfire for helping with design and art.
That's it. Have fun everyone!
-StudsX
