by 
A new patch has just been released for Software Creations' 1990 NES game Silver Surfer, which overhauls the famously challenging game, reducing the hitbox, increasing shot damage, and granting the player infinite lives to try, try, and try again.
If you've ever read a list online of the most difficult games for the NES, the chances are Silver Surfer will typically be positioned somewhere towards the top of said list, situated alongside other great yet challenging titles such as Ghosts 'n Goblins, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Battletoads.
This reputation has arguably been helped along over the last couple of decades by the rise of YouTube and popular videos from the likes of the Angry Video Game Nerd, but does technically date back further than that, with critics commenting on its intense difficulty in the months following its original release.
In a review, GamePro's Slo' Mo, for instance, called the cart “easily one of the toughest shooters around,” labelling it “an NES marksman’s nightmare”, and highlighting “the endless wave of tanks, monsters, mutants, ghosts, bats, and robots” that typically attack in groups and take several hits to destroy.
They weren't alone either, with Electronic Gaming Monthly's Sushi-X stating in their review that, “Real precision is required in order to succeed in this challenging action effort.” As a result, the general consensus that has developed around the game, therefore, is that you either need to be an expert or have a masochistic streak to enjoy the punishing superhero experience — something that still seems to baffle one of the game's original developers, the coder Kevin Edwards, who insists it isn't as hard as it is being made out to be online, and is likely the result of word-of-mouth.
The new patch is the work of BillyTime!Games, who is perhaps best known for their work on the Ghostbusters: Special Edition hack for Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, and is one in a long line of patches the ROM hacker has released as part of a big summer blowout, alongside an overhaul of the cancelled Tetris Mega Drive port and updates to X-Men 2: Clone Wars and Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems.
You can grab the patch now from the ROM Hack Plaza.