WE ARE BACK!

Just like we did last year, we're doing another presentation going over what you can expect from this year's edition of the Sonic Hacking Contest! It's going to take a while for us to be able to update the website with this new information, so please pay attention to the contents of what's shown here!

You may watch the video below:

If you're short on time though, here's a quick tl;dw of what's new:

• Mods for Sonic Advance 2 based on the recent decompilation are being allowed in the contest, though currently only ones compiled for GBA. We will reconsider our stance on PC when we get a proper release of the decompilation, as it is still in development.
• Judge applications for the SHC are open right now! We're currently prioritizing specific games right now, but everyone is welcome to apply right here!
• The Mega Drive Music Competition returns over on our Discord server, organized once more by NiphFM!
• Any mods made for the recently released Unleashed Recompiled are being accepted at the SHC in both judged and unjudged forms!
• Entries based on both Sonic 1 Forever and Sonic 2 Absolute are now able to be submitted as judged entries going forward! Do keep in mind we're going to also be writing guidelines on what qualifies games like these to be in the contest as well, as to not confuse people.
• We've been working on a rules rewrite, and we will be releasing the ruleset before opening submissions way in advance.
• Due to most entries being created by a team nowadays, we will be dropping the Chaotix trophy going forward. We will keep you up to date on new trophies that may make it to the SHC2025.

And the big two...

• Contest Period is from October 4th to October 12th! We brought back the 9-day experiment from last year since it was really well received last year! Results and evaluations won't be released immediately after the period ends, though, as we need a bit more time to prepare evaluations, ensure judged votes are weighted properly, and ensuring our staff doesn't get burnt out. We may even use the extra time to prepare something fancy, though no promises on that last one. Regardless, the results and evaluations will be released on October 18th, 2025. Submissions will close on August 24th, 2025, and will be opened in the second half of July.
• The Sonic Hacking Spotlight is back once again, as everyone seemed to LOVE it last year!! Applications for the spotlight are open until June 29th right here!

So with that out of the way...

Ready...

Set...

PROCRASTINATE!!