Hydlide (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
104A playthrough of FCI's 1989 action-RPG for the NES, Hydlide.
The mere mention of Hydlide seems to provoke reactions of sheer horror from most NES fans. It regularly gets labeled as being one of the worst NES games alongside the likes of Heroes of the Lance, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Muppet Adventure, and is generally derided for its repetitive game play, difficulty level, sound design, and controls.
Are those criticisms deserved? I'd say that some of them are, but not all. Hydlide isn't a terrific game by any stretch, but I do enjoy many aspects of it. T&E Soft's original PC version of it was a best-seller and extremely popular when in came out in Japan in 1984. Kojima said at one point that it was the inspiration for the open-world in Metal Gear Solid 5, and the similarities in gameplay and mechanics between it and the Ys series (which came out a solid three years later) are pretty blatant.
The biggest problems with Hydlide on the NES is that, by 1989, it was OLD. Technology changed gaming pretty dramatically throughout the 80s, and by 1989, something from 1984 looked nearly prehistoric. The NES game was originally released in Japan in early 1986 (as Hydlide Special), and by 1986 standards, everything was up to par. Apparently FCI lacked the foresight to upgrade the game before releasing it as a new game again three years later in a new market. Compare that to how Enix and Nintendo handled the 1989 release of Dragon Warrior: like Hydlide, Dragon Quest was originally released in Japan in 1986, and Dragon Warrior was released in 1989. But, to bring the game up to standards with the more current titles, Dragon Quest received a massive overhall that improved the game a great deal. Oops, FCI. People expected a bit more at this point, especially when a game is marketed as a "new" game with a price point to match.
But, if you can take it as a 1986 console port of a 1984 PC game, it's not that bad. Like in most of the Ys games, combat is based on "bumping" an enemy from behind and to the sides in order to avoid taking damage. There are a number of items to find in the world, and a few short dungeons to bash and stab your way through. There isn't much in the way of hints, though, so it really leaves it up to you to explore and try things out - a lot like Zelda or Deadly Towers, if it's not too offensive to place those two titles together. The game is very difficult because the collision detection feels so wonky, but unlike the great majority of NES games, this one allows you to save anywhere. If you die, you can load the save up and jump right back in. It's not a battery-backed save (so it will disappear from memory when you turn the NES off), but it really is a much-needed concession that brings the difficulty level down to a manageable level. Ideally they should have rebalanced it a bit better to suit the console (dear God, the amount of grinding here is hilarious - the game would last ten minutes if you didn't have to level up!), but still, with patience and an acceptance of the game's prehistoric roots, it's doable - even fun. If you go into it convinced that it's a dog turd, of course it'll suck. Give it a chance, though, and you'll find something that's surprisingly mediocre and entertaining. It's an influential classic, so it at least deserves points for the foundation it laid for later games, and as such can be a pretty interesting play.
Why do we have to endure the theme from Indiana Jones over and over and over again? They could have at least used the whole song rather than this 14-second loop that repeats over the entire game. But no. And why not? Because they reserved the rest of the song for another short loop that plays once at the "ending", if you can call it that. The much hated "Congraturations" screen would be an improvement over this.
I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. Zelda, this is not. But for those that want to see something that, no matter how flawed, represents the origins of so many mechanics we see regularly in today's games, it's totally worth a couple of hours.
If you want to see something that's equally as dated but much more entertaining, check out the "remake" that came out on the Sega Saturn, Virtual Hydlide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1U1A83FapQ It's not perfect, but man do I love that game!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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