Hey, I read the relatively careless review of Hydlide. For one, I found it misplaced at a site called NintendoFans because clearly this fellow doesn't even seem to like to explore the nooks and crannies of the NES library. Having read the other reviews he/she submitted, it's obvious they have no interest in games they missed. I gather they probably played the game for about 10 minutes (that's being extremely forgiving) and put in Blaster Master for the hundredth time instead. So I'd like to submit a REAL review...this review being from someone who has actually COMPLETED the dang game.

Hydlide for NES. One of those games that everyone probably saw at the store or at a rental store, but never checked out as it wasn't all that popular (it still isn't). The story revolves around a princess (or some other royalty of female persuasion) being kidnapped by an evil sorcerer/demon and turned into 3 fairies and hidden throughout the land. With the kingdom minus a ruler, a brave hero sets forth (that's you) to reunite the fairies, restoring the maiden to her true self and defeating the big bad guy.

An RPG, of sorts, that's actually realtime rather than turn based. While nowhere near the elegance of the Zelda series released around the same time, it has it's own subdued charm. While walking around, your character is on the defensive, making you less vulnurable to an attack from enemies. Pushing A puts you on offensive which increases your ability to hit an enemy, as well as your vulnerability to an attact as well. Standing still in an open area (like a field) will restore your character's hit points and spell points, since there are no inns and the only hp restore potion in the game is gained near the end of the game and used most effectively against the last boss. Simple, but for the most part effective. After playing for a little while, you'll realise that your attacks are most effective if you attack from the monster's back or side, allowing you a free hit or two before they retaliate.

Your character's stats include hit points, magic points, strength and experience. Each time your experience bar reaches max, your hp, mp, and st increase. When you have enough mp, you can cast one of 5 spells, which each have their own uses (and are used to find one of several secrets in the game).

I first played this long after the NES was dead (picked up a copy with box and manual off ebay for $3 USD) in 2000 with a mixed reaction. I am a very avid NES player with a little goal of trying to complete every game that has an ending, sometimes spending a whole weekend trying to plow through a game if there's nothing better to do. An occasion like this was when I tried Hydlide. At first, I wanted to skip over it and lie to myself that I actually conquered it, but after quickly dying several times, I got this urge to show the game who was boss. That's when I discovered that this game is actually fun if you get past the poor play control and REALLY REALLY REALLY annoying 30 seconds of background music (which plays the ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE GAME!).

The world isn't so big (which is not evident at first until you notice the entire world 'wraps around') but the puzzles are difficult to figure out, which is really the heart of this game, aside from lots of mindless fighting to build up your stats. The precious few items each have a very specific reason for being in the game and figuring out what they're supposed to do is the game's saving grace. Coupled with the secrets (try finding the invisible monster with footprints the size of your character), you can get sucked into this one, wandering around forever wondering what in the world a cross is for...until you accidently run into a vampire while running around aimlessly.

Having gone through the entire game, I'd say if you knew what you were doing (and set the game speed to fast), there's probably only about 5 hours of gameplay in this one. It's a neat diversion if you want a different styled RPG. It's definately not for everyone (especially those who rely heavily on first impressions of a game when forming their opinions of it), but for those who stick around until the end will find it's not a complete waste of an NES cart.

As a side note, there are quite a few sequels for this game in Japan, one of which made it to America on the Sega Genesis as 'Super Hydlide', which I believe was the 3rd in the seriesl. In all, there are 4 2-D Hydlide games (all released on the MSX computers) and the 3-D (and much hated) 'Virtual Hydlide' for Sega Saturn. Each one added more depth (Super Hydlide has 24 hour clock progression...enemies get stronger at night, shops close up, etc. as well as a complex system where you have to 'train' on a weapon to weild it effectively) and length to the games while retaining the original feel. If you liked the original, you'll probably like the sequels.

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