Hydlide

is an action role-playing game developed and published by T&E Soft. It was originally released for the NEC PC-6001 and PC-8801 computers in 1984, in Japan only; ports for the MSX, MSX2, FM-7 and NEC PC-9801 were released the following year. A Nintendo Switch port based on the PC-8801 version was released on December 21, 2023 by D4 Enterprise.

A Famicom version was released under the name ''Hydlide Special'' in Japan in 1986. Three years later, it was localized and released in English regions for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Fujisankei Communications International, known as simply ''Hydlide''. The game sold two million copies in Japan across all platforms.

The game spawned the ''Hydlide'' series, followed by the sequels '' Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness'' in 1985 and '' Hydlide 3: The Space Memories'' (''Super Hydlide'') in 1987. A 1995 remake was released for the Sega Saturn as '' Virtual Hydlide''.

Plot

In the kingdom of Fairyland, three magic jewels were enshrined in the palace to maintain peace in the kingdom. One day, an evil man broke into the palace and stole one of the three magic jewels. Without the third jewel, the two remaining jewels lost their magic sparkle. The magic spell that sealed the power of Varalys, the most vicious demon in the kingdom, was broken. During the turmoil which followed, the last two jewels were stolen. Varalys cast a special magic on Princess Ann, turning her into three fairies, and hid her somewhere in the kingdom. He then let loose a horde of monsters across the land and became the ruler of the kingdom. The young knight Jim stood up and took action to restore peace in the kingdom. He bravely made his way into the wilderness in full armor to fight the monsters.

Development

The game was created by T&E Soft's Tokihiro Naito. His idea behind ''Hydlide'' was to mix together action and RPG elements into a new "action RPG" genre. He was inspired by ''The Tower of Druaga'' and '' The Black Onyx'', especially the former, as ''Hydlide''s design leans more towards action than role-playing.John Szczepaniak (2016), ''The Untold History Of Japanese Game Developers, Volume 2'', pages 38-49 ''Hydlide'' essentially took ''The Tower of Druaga'' formula to a colorful open world,1982-1987 - The Birth of Japanese RPGs, re-told in 15 Games
Gamasutra and added RPG mechanics. ''Hydlide'' also borrowed the health meter mechanic from ''The Black Onyx'', and took it a step further with a regenerating health meter.

Naito noted that he was completely unaware of Western role-playing games like ''Ultima'' and ''Wizardry'' when he was developing ''Hydlide'', as he had never used the Apple II before. He said that he only became aware of two other Japanese action RPG projects, ''Dragon Slayer (video game), Dragon Slayer'' and ''Courageous Perseus'', while reading a magazine during ''Hydlide''s development, and was shocked to find that ''Hydlide'' was not the only attempt at the concept. He underestimated ''Dragon Slayer'' but felt threatened by ''Courageous Perseus'', believing the latter to be more visually impressive; ''Courageous Perseus'' turned out to be not as successful, whereas ''Dragon Slayer'' went on to become ''Hydlide''s biggest competitor, through subsequent sequels.

Reception and legacy

''Hydlide'' was well-received and considered an innovator when released in Japan in 1984. ''Hydlide'' was one of the first action role-playing games, along with ''Courageous Perseus'' and '' Dragon Slayer''. ''Hydlide'' was also an early open world game, rewarding exploration in an open world environment. It also had the ability to switch between attack mode and defense mode, quick save and load options which can be used at any moment of the game, and the introduction of a health regeneration mechanic where health slowly regenerates when standing still.

It sold 2 million copies in Japan, including 1 million for home computers (including the PC-88, PC-98, PC-66, Sharp X1, FM7, MSX, MSX2, and MZ-2000) and 1 million for the Famicom console.John Szczepaniak
History of Japanese Video Games
''Kinephanos'', ISSN 1916-985X It was the first computer game to receive a Platinum award from Toshiba EMI for a million sales. However, it failed to capture the same attention beyond Japan.

The game was influential on the action RPG genre, including titles such as '' Ys''. For example, ''Ys'' uses a similar health-regeneration mechanic. The recharging health mechanic first introduced by ''Hydlide'' in 1984 would, decades later, become a common mechanic widely used in many video games, (cf. ) including shooter games such as ''Halo''. ''Hydlide''s open world game design inspired Hideo Kojima, who designed '' Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain'' so that it captures the open-world feel he felt when he first played ''Hydlide'' on PC. PlatinumGames director Hideki Kamiya was inspired by the ''Hydlide'' series, which he cited as an influence on '' Scalebound'', a cancelled open world action RPG.

''Hydlide'' was initially released outside of Japan through the European release of the MSX version. Beyond that, 1989 saw the release of a localization of ''Hydlide Special'' for the NES, simply titled ''Hydlide'' itself. Unlike ''Dragon Quest'', which was improved upon for its US localization, ''Hydlide'' was left essentially unaltered beyond minor changes to the title screen and some prompts/messages. In North America, it was compared unfavorably to ''The Legend of Zelda'' (1986), which had improved significantly upon ''Hydlide''. The NES version of ''Hydlide'' became notorious in the West for its repetitive background music that bears similarity to John Williams' ''Indiana Jones'' theme or Disney's '' It's a Small World After All''.

In ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''s 1989 review of the NES version, Ed and Donn each scored it 6/10 while Steve and Jim scored it 5/10. Ed called it a "good" game with "average" graphics and "not too terribly annoying" music, and said it is "a good alternative to ''Ultima'', ''Zelda'', and other quest-oriented" RPGs; Steve said he's "not the biggest fan of RPG type games" and it is "a little tricky to get started" but has "some redeeming features" and many surprises despite "rough" graphics and sound; and Jim said the graphics are "not too good" but considered the gameplay as solid. Retrospective reception of the game has been generally negative in the West.

Series

''Hydlide'' had several follow-ups:
* '' Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness'' was originally released for the NEC PC-8801 in 1985 and then ported to the MSX in Japan. An official English version was released through the Dutch MSX games distribution platform WOOMB.net in late 2006, the first official release outside Japan. The game introduced a morality meter, where the player can be aligned with Justice, Normal, or Evil. Killing humans or good monsters lowers the player's morality, while fighting evil monsters increases it. If the player has an evil alignment, the townsfolk will ignore the player, denying access to certain clues, dialogues, equipment, and training. The game also introduced a time option, allowing the player to speed up or slow down the gameplay.
* '' Hydlide 3: The Space Memories'' was released in 1987 for the MSX in Japan; a Family Computer version (with the subtitle 闇からの訪問者 = yami kara no hōmonsha = visitor from darkness) was released in Japan in 1989. The game retains the morality meter of its predecessor and expands the time option with an in-game clock and a need to sleep and eat. The game uses four distinct character classes. This game was also re-released through the Dutch MSX games distribution platform WOOMB.net in late 2006, with an English translation. ''Super Hydlide'' is an updated port of ''Hydlide 3'' released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It was released in Japan in 1989, in North America in 1990, and in Europe in 1991.
* '' Virtual Hydlide'' is a 1995 remake of ''Hydlide'', still developed by T&E Soft but released exclusively for the Sega Saturn. It uses pseudo-3D graphics, a live action player character, and a system which creates a new game world for each game by randomly selecting from sets of pre-designed level maps.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Hydlide

1984 video games
Action role-playing video games
Cancelled Sega Genesis games
FM-7 games
MSX games
MSX2 games
NEC PC-6001 games
NEC PC-8801 games
NEC PC-9801 games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Nintendo Switch games
Role-playing video games
Sharp MZ games
Sharp X1 games
Video games developed in Japan
Windows games
Single-player video games
T&E Soft games