Turbanization

What is this?

People should see themselves in the games they play.

Their character's challenges, defeats and victories should be theirs as well. People need to know they can be the hero of a story, so they can be the hero of their own stories, too.

This is an attempt to add a little diversity to games we loved as kids. We hope that it will help other kids see themselves in these games like we did.

Specifically, we're aiming to add turbans to character sprites. This is a small act that can make a game more welcoming to cultures all over the world.

Show me the games!

Super Mario Bros.

Download the .IPS file: smb1-turbans.ips

The Legend of Zelda

Download the .IPS file: zelda1-turbans.ips

Final Fantasy

Download the .IPS file: finalfantasy1-turbans.ips

Ghosts 'n' Goblins

Download the .IPS file: ghostsngoblins-turbans.ips

What do I do with these files?

These are not the games themselves; they are small files that patch an existing game. You must own a copy of the original game. Some emulators know how to use these directly, otherwise you can take these .ips files plus the original game ROM, and make a new ROM out of them. This webpage makes it super-easy: drag the two files and get back the patched game. We don't give out the original games here.

The patched roms run on a NES emulator. There are many options available.

License

The .IPS patch files are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons License

Can I contribute a game?

Yes! Please get in touch with Ryan and sort out the details first!

Who did this?

The ROM edits and pixel art were done by the talented Crappy Blue! You can find her on cohost and tumblr.
The person running this page is Ryan. He's on twitter and cohost and mastodon.


Page maintained by Ryan C. Gordon.