The introduction of the Evaluations, gave detailed explanations and opinions on each enrty. We used to have judges look at everything possible – now they are split between three categories, for judging to be easily managed, and looked at in finer detail than ever before. We went from only offering a contest, to having an expo option where people can choose not for them to be judged. We went from deadlines being missed out and late results at times, to guaranteed set dates. We have gone from private entries being shown behind closed doors to judges only, to fully public entries where everyone can access them. The contest itself has changed in these last 20 years. There are more people making entries than ever before, no matter when they first started playing Sonic. But we also have 3D entries too, on many consoles and PC, and for the last few years, mods based on the Retro Engine Sonic games, with decompilations available and tools in the works, offering another way to mod games, rather than just the traditional 16-bit method.

Things have massively changed over these 20 years (and 19 contests), we have gone from binary ROM editing with a hex editor and a few tools, to split disassemblies and bringing more flexibility to game modification. The winner of that first contest in 2002 was Sonic 2 Delta…20 years later, the hack is still going, as Sonic Delta 40mb. Twenty years ago, the Sonic Hacking Contest started, run by Ayla for many years. note: The following is provided by the staff of Sonic Hacking Contest for the year of 2022.

Sonic generations crack only