As promised in our presentation, we are releasing ahead of time the ruleset of the Sonic Hacking Contest. All major changes made have been clearly highlighted.

Feel free to come talk to us, if you'd like to express your feedback on the rules as they stand! The best place to do so would be our Discord server!

Read here

TL;DR:

• As announced earlier, we are adding Unleashed Recompiled, Sonic 1 Forever, and Sonic 2 Absolute, among the list of entries eligible submission at the Sonic Hacking Contest;
• For the ROM Hack category only, we are extending additional leniency for homebrew entries that still borrow many core engine parts from existing Sonic games, explaining also why we're going through with it, and where our boundaries stand;
• We have added separate lists of rules and concessions for each category of submission;
• We have significantly adjusted how we intend to treat offsite updates released during the Contest Period;
• We have integrated into the ruleset some of the changes involving the "Mature" label for entries, instated last year;
• We have put in writing our stance with regards to entry deletion requests (TL;DR: Unless compelled or required, we will not delete your past entries);
• We have put in writing some of the changes announced during the SHC2025 presentation;
• The ROM Hack category's Quality Control Criteria has been revamped;
• Updates have been made to the Entrants' Code of Conduct (TL;DR: don't lie to us when we're trying to enforce the rules, and try to keep the Media Panel notes short);
• The Judges' Code of Conduct has been updated.