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Hydlide Series (Love it or HATE it)?

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
Ever since I was stupid one day in Toys R Us and chose Hydlide for the NES instead of Final Fantasy I have had a sort of angst about this game. It certainly didn't warm me up all that well towards Ys either. Oh, I even called the Nintendo hotline once to finish the game due to the retarded wizards having the fairy if you hit both with wave spell. Funny, Nintendo said they couldn't help me. It was wasted money on a call and mere luck and deduction or me just wanting to hit both at once.

I never played the second game and could hardly stomach the rom Super Hydlide. Now I know they were on other platforms and even had a 3D version. There are lots of videos on youtube on this game with vitriol usually but occasionally some love. Its an odd action based RPG and one that just didn't warm on me with this attack/defend mechanic. The music was awful. Those unfamiliar (though this is the jrpg section so I'm sure you are ALL familiar with this game can look here: Hydlide
Moby Games - Hydlide Series
Hardcore Gaming 101 - Hydlide
Hardcore Gaming 101 - Hydlide II - Shining of Darkness
Hardcore Gaming 101 - Hydlide III - The Space Memories or Super Hydlide
Hardcore Gaming 101 - Virtual Hydlide

Gamefaq - Hydlide
GameFaq - Hydlide II - Shining of Darkness
GameFaq - Hydlide III - THE Space Memories (Super Hydlide)
GameFaq - Virtual Hydlide

Hydlide Shrine
VG Maps MSX Hydlide II - Shining of Darkness
VG Maps (Super Hydlide down on S)
Hydlide - Strategy Wiki
Super Hydlide - Strategy Wiki


That's all nifty but what shocked me recently was the little known PC release that what remastered and had original MSX versions (I guess its MSX). Here's a few videos on this:


And here is the music which is NOT horrible.


Here is the supposed patch that is supposed to fix the language barrier. RomHacking Hydlide Windows

Because I guess its a Demo its ok to give a few links. I got the iso from Adventure Legends. I don't like the site at it has a lot of shitware floating around. Still if you want to risk it until I can get this 400 meg fucker uploaded you can go there. If you want the package already unpacked from iso and you just have to hit the exe then get it from my own box *HERE* & for some reason the patch Again HERE. So, I guess DL at your own risk. I have webroot security and it didn't detect shit. Scan it I guess. The music can be ripped out of the files and most assets are in various files. The museum and manuals and shit are all in Japenese and they open even offline. I can't read them so fuck.

T&E Soft 2001
25376.jpg

A PC compilation disc that includes the PC-88 versions of all three Hydlide games, an early Japanese RPG series first started in 1984, as well as the remakes of the first and third game. It also includes a museum with various data and interviews. Incidentally, this version uses the cover art from the third game rather than the first game. It seems like the package for the first game bared too much resemblance to a scene from the movie The Neverending Story (minus the gigantic tower). Loosely inspired by the original Ultima games, it’s a simple action RPG where a lone player character runs around a game world, ramming into enemies to attack, finding items, and gaining levels. While it’s well regarded in Japanese circles as a true classic, it’s largely been deemed a joke by the English speaking audience. The original Hydlide features a hero named Jim, who inhabits the magical world of Fairyland, the setting of all future Hydlide games. It’s his job to rescue the fair princess Anne, who was split into three fairies by the demon Varalys/Boralis, who shows as a major villain in all of the other games. You must rescue the fairies, then defeat the evil demon. There’s not much text or story, other than what’s listed in the manual. The player has to explore vast wilderness areas, descending into dungeons and eliminating enemies on the way. Combat system is similar to the one implemented in Ys series: attacking enemies requires the player to "bump" into them, at the same time preventing them from attacking the playable character from the sides and the back. The player can change between defensive and offensive stances by pressing a single button. Magic spells can also be used to dispose of the enemies. The player character grows stronger and gains better parameters as he advances in the game.

Hydlide II In a different space a wonderful world existed, called Fairy Land, which was dominated by swords and magic after the times of domination by monsters and evil had ended. The people of Fairy Land were intoxicated with peace. At that time an incident occurred. A Consciousness filled with evil awoke and it created new monsters, brought the dead back to life, and wanted to dominate Fairy Land again. The monks were one of the first who noticed this and warned the people about it but they didn't listen and left the monks disappointed. The monks prayed to God and asked Him if there was a Savior. God, impressed by the monks prayers warped the space-time of Fairy Land with the human world and selected an innocent boy who lived there. The player controls the innocent boy, who must roam the lands of Fairy Land and free it from evil. The player has to create a character before beginning the quest, customizing his parameters - life, strength, and magic. As in the previous game, the player slays enemies by "bumping" into them or using magical spells. It is possible to change between attacking and defensive stances on the fly. The hero can become stronger and gain additional powers. In the villages there are shops where the protagonist can buy and sell weapons, armor, and items.

Hydlide 3 Character creation allows the player to choose one of the four character classes: Warrior, Thief, Priest, and Monk. In combat, the protagonist uses melee or long-ranged weapons or casts magic spells. Unlike the previous games in the series, the player is required to press the attack button during melee combat, instead of simply "bumping" into the enemies. There is an internal clock in the game, which makes it necessary for the protagonist to sleep periodically and regain his strength. The main character also has to eat from time to time, otherwise his hit points will gradually decrease. The morality system from the previous game returns: killing friendly creatures will reduce the player's morality level, which will eventually have an effect on one of the game's most decisive battles.
 
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Repressed Homosexual
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Ottawa, Can.
Hydlide III was starting to become a good game. Hydlide I and II are too primitive and not very fun.

I don't understand why T&E Soft never made sequels based on the gameplay and system of Hydlide III.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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California
Hydlide was for sure the first game I was able to perceive as poorly designed, and it has remained probably the most poorly designed console game I ever played. (Arguably, Rise of the Robots for the SNES, which shipped with completely un-fun, constant lag, might vie with it, but I doubt it.) The basic controls were terrible, and the game's structure was unfun. I gather that if you were in Japan and played it in 1984, when it was first released on various non-NES systems, it would've been groundbreaking. But in the U.S., it was released on the NES three years after The Legend of Zelda, and the same year as Dragon Warrior, and it felt like a hideous mockery of those games.
 

Nutmeg

Arcane
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I heard that NES Hydlide is worse than the PC88 original and that accounts for it's poor reputation in the West.

No idea if that's true but I'd be surprised if there isn't some quality in these games given that I recently played Dragon Slayer 2 (Xanadu) and was surprised by how good it was.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
From what I've learned on a few Ys fansites is that the NES hydlide is a special edition adding magic from Hydlide II; rather a new system actually. I guess the MSX versions of the first game has no magic. Indeed, in the windows enhanced demo, you have no magic so getting 3rd fairy seems to be troublesome.

The second game looks sort of like a mishmash clone world of the first but more dungeons, NPC system with karma of sorts, and a few shopkeepers to buy (maybe sell), and level up attack and spells. Raw xp levelling only gives HP.

Hydlide 3 is where they were starting to expand the game into a more recognizable rpg with classes etc etc.

Yeah, gameplay is a little frustrating. 1 is simple, 2 is simplish (what I've played), and 3 I died so much it made 1 look good.

I guess Hydlide II got an enhanced mobile port. Kind of odd the CD didn't get a better mode or that all versions weren't put on it for a complete collection.

The enhanced does sound better and look more appealing imho. I couldn't stand thr NES music.

I still can't get the english patch to work but played up to killer octopus which i don't recall nes having.
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CX4ZYlE.png

xQvcDTL.png

NlDFIe4.png

I don't need enhanced graphics but sound has to NOT make my ears bleed else I mute it all.
 
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zwanzig_zwoelf

Graverobber Foundation
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デゼニランド
I like Hydlide (PC-88) for its 'simple yet fun' attitude and it could work as a modern game if it had a portable version, but IIRC the NES version is not a good game. Haven't played 2 and 3, but I do remember than 3 has pretty good music.
Virtual Hydlide is worth a try at least once -- it's a good concept, but the execution is rather meh, but in the end it still manages to be pretty fun.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
I want the AVGN character as my avatar in the Virtual version though. Maybe some cut screen expressions and naturally voice acting. Virtual Hydlide - AVGN edition.


Some spoiler on the graphics
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Endgame pics
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mj70632.png

I'm sure they were using some other game for inspiration here. Still, game 2 was more or less the original with no touch-ups. It was functional but I can't read the dialogue from npcs.
 
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Nutmeg

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Ok, so I just completed the first Hydlide. I also completed the PCE version of Druaga the other day and watched a nice annotated playthrough of the original arcade release too. Xanadu I haven't completed, but I played quite a bit recently and Zelda I completed a very long time ago.

The games were released in this order Druaga, Hydlide, Xanadu, Zelda, between June 1984 and February 1986.

Druaga was the first of these and established the "game".

The game is:
1. Travel from maze (like) area to area
2. But first do X (where X can be anything) to reveal treasure, then get it
3. Lest you have to go back

There are enemies you can overlap with to damage at the same time as they damage you, you can block projectiles and and you can also break walls. There's a time limit for each area.

Although the guy who made Druaga had played Wizardry, and he later worked on the Japanese Wizardries (ports of the Western ones only?), he explicitly set out to make the game of Druaga nothing like the game of Wizardry, even though he wanted to make a game out of the same thing -- an adventurer diving into a dungeon to complete some task.

Specifically he wanted no (visible) stats, and he wanted the game to play something more like Pacman. On the first question at least he seemed to have changed his mind cause the later PCE Druaga has player allocable stats.

Next is Hydlide.

Hydlide is the exact same game, with some twists. Dropped is the wall breaking and the projectile blocking. You get stronger independently of treasure gain, some treasures are immediately visible, and you can move freely from screen to screen (but can't scroll) and enter separate dungeon areas. In Druaga, you could go back to earlier screens, but it's a matter of getting zapped by the boss to first missed treasure area. There's also no time limit.

The biggest change there is how you get stronger -- by killing enemies for XP. Items too, but there's only 2 in the game that affect your attack and defense respectively. In Druaga, you mostly avoided enemies, unless you suspected they might be part of the trigger for revealing the treasure (usually involves killing them in some order, or killing some enemies while leaving others alive). Hydlide employs the same trick, notably to get the shield and regen ring, but the main impetus for attacking enemies is the XP they yield. In some more maze like areas, especially when trying to push forward onto new frontiers, enemies return to the role of Pacman ghosts.

Xanadu is the most complex of these 4 games numerically, and also the largest.

Again, it's the same game as Druaga, differing on the specifics. Same as Hydlide, there's no wall breaking or projectile blocking, you can't overlap with enemies, and there's no time limit. However unlike Hydlide, scrolling returns. The perspective here is different in the "overworld", which scrolls, and there's a jump button. Dungeons and combat however, are the usual "top down", and are by screen.

In addition to XP making you more powerful, gold can as well. You buy stat increases, which determine your chances of success performing certain actions. Some treasures may also be bought. You level up explicitly at a temple, and choose between two classes. Leveling up is quite consequential as it quite significantly up your resource consumption.

Like Druaga and unlike Hydlide, enemies come in limited number.

Even though these changes are important, the most important, IMO, as it most affects the game which Druaga established, is the fact that all treasures are either already revealed, or revealed by the exact same rule -- minor treasures on every enemy killed, major on every last enemy on screen (unless killed with magic, in which case, no treasure). Gone are the cryptic triggers. Also (mostly?) gone is the cryptic relationship between treasure and the non-combat progress "gate" they unlock -- they're all keys and they're all (literal) gates.

Finally, the other big addition is that now navigation is much more complex, but remains rules based. There are many teleporter puzzles that play on screen symmetry and world wrapping, as well as one way tiles and tile patterns that you pass through using specific platforming techniques. It's no longer just 4 cardinal directions with some tiles blocking.

Zelda sits somewhere between Druaga and Hydlide, with some elements from Xanadu.

Like in Druaga you can block projectiles, and bombs are sort of similar to the pick axe, but mainly used against outer not inner walls.

Like Hydlide, there's no time limit, and you traverse freely from screen to screen.

Like Xanadu, you proceed through dungeons with the help of keys, and you assign an item to an item use button.

Treasure triggers are less cryptic than in Druaga, they mostly follow a pattern, but even so are well hidden e.g. many are found by bombing a tile, but which tile? Even Hydlide's fairies were at somewhat unusually behaving scenery e.g. trees with wasps.

Zelda takes Hydlide's kill enemies to power up system, and combines it with Druaga's power up by revealing treasures system, by making some treasures shop keepers, and enemies sometimes drop currency. This is the logical AND to Xanadu's logical OR.

The Lost Woods is effectively a teleporter puzzle.

Its other innovation is an attack button (rather than, I guess, mode, as in the other games).

One thing I prefer in Zelda in comparison with Hydlide and Xanadu, is its more varied (and aggressive?) enemy behaviors.
 
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Tweed

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The only one I ever played was Super Hydlide on the Genesis. It was okay, the food and rest system meant having to plan ahead and having a banking system was neat and helpful considering how everything weighs something. Pretty good soundtrack too.
 
Joined
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The biggest issue of Hydlide's ill repute outside of Japan is because it was released after Zelda. It would probably be some sort of cult classic if this wasn't the case.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
I naturally bought it on GOG and the OST.
 

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