Hydlide

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hydlide
Famicom/NES, Nintendo Switch
Release
December 13, 1984
  • PC-6001, PC-8801
  • MSX
  • FM-7
    • JP: May 1985
  • MSX2
  • PC-9801
    • JP: November 1985
  • Famicom/NES
    • JP: March 18, 1986
    • NA: June 1989
  • Nintendo Switch
    • WW: December 21, 2023
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Hydlide

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.[6]

The game spawned the Hydlide series, followed by the sequels

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.

health meter mechanic from The Black Onyx, and took it a step further with a regenerating health meter.[7]

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 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.[7]

Reception and legacy

Original PC-8801 version

Hydlide was well-received and considered an innovator when released in Japan in 1984. Hydlide was one of the first

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.

Toshiba EMI for a million sales.[7]
However, it failed to capture the same attention beyond Japan.

The game was influential on the action RPG genre, including titles such as

Halo.[6] 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.[10] PlatinumGames director Hideki Kamiya was inspired by the Hydlide series, which he cited as an influence on Scalebound, a cancelled open world action RPG.[13][14]

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

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.[8] Retrospective reception of the game has been generally negative in the West.[5]

Series

Hydlide had several follow-ups:

  • 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.[5]
  • 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.[5] 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

  1. ^ Japanese: ハイドライド, Hepburn: Haidoraido

References

  1. ^ "Hydlide (PC88)". Famitsu. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "ハイドライド （MSX版） (MSX)の関連情報 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  3. ^ "ハイドライド （MSX2版） (MSX2)の関連情報 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  4. ^
    Gamasutra
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kurt Kalata & Robert Greene. "Hydlide". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e John Szczepaniak, History of Japanese Video Games, Kinephanos, ISSN 1916-985X
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h John Szczepaniak (2016), The Untold History Of Japanese Game Developers, Volume 2, pages 38-49
  8. ^ a b Steve; Ed; Donn; Jim (July 1989). "Hydlide". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 2. p. 13. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  9. ^ Kurt Kalata, Dragon Slayer Archived July 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Hardcore Gaming 101
  10. ^ a b @hideo_kojima_en (May 26, 2014). "However I was shocked when I first saw "HYDLIDE" on PC, which had the world there. I hope u can feel the same in open-world MGS GZ" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ "IGN India discusses game design: Combat in open world games". November 2, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Szczepaniak, John (July 7, 2011). "Falcom: Legacy of Ys". Games (111): 152–159 [153]. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2011. (cf. Szczepaniak, John (July 8, 2011). "History of Ys interviews". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved September 6, 2011.)
  13. ^ "Hideki Kamiya: Making Scalebound with a Western publisher | Life in Japan — an 18-part look inside Japan's game industry". Polygon.
  14. ^ "Scalebound is a different kind of Platinum Game". Eurogamer. August 7, 2015.

External links

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