Floating IPS (Flips) vs ROM Patcher

Floating IPS (Flips) patches IPS and BPS files. It provides Windows and GTK+ graphical interfaces, command-line support, and a command-line-only build, and is listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The GUI can apply multiple patches to the same ROM and create multiple resulting ROMs. For BPS patches, it can remember earlier ROM choices and reuse one when it determines that it matches. The GUI can also launch another program after patching, allowing an emulator to start after a BPS file is patched. The project says Flips creates very small IPS patches and the smallest BPS patches of any known tool, and that it is faster than comparable creators. It is free and licensed under GNU General Public License version 3.0 or higher. The project is in maintenance mode: bug reports and pull requests will be read, but feature requests are unlikely to be implemented. GitHub marks the repository archived and read-only since May 21, 2025. Releases are automated for each commit, with an erratic schedule that can include identical releases.

ROM Patcher is a free browser tool that applies patch files to a user's legally dumped game backup and produces a modified ROM. Common uses include fan translations, bug fixes and ROM hacks. It supports IPS, UPS, BPS, xdelta, APS, PPF and RUP formats, and the site includes a Pokémon-focused patching guide. No installation or account is needed. ROM and patch files are processed in the browser rather than uploaded, stored or transmitted by the service; the resulting ROM is generated there and offered as a local download. Patching runs in a Web Worker so the page does not freeze when handling large ROM files. The site does not provide ROMs, so users need to supply their own legally dumped backups. Verification differs by format: UPS checks source and result ROMs with CRC32, while BPS checks the source, target and patch. IPS is limited to files smaller than approximately 16 MB and has no built-in checksum, so using the wrong ROM can silently corrupt it. The patched output can be loaded in an emulator of the user's choice. The maker describes the rest of the site as an early, growing preview.