Hydro Thunder (Arcade)
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Hydro Thunder
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| Publisher: | Midway |
| Developer: | Eurocom? |
| Alternative Title: | |
| Release date: | JP: NA: 1999 EU: AU: |
| Genre: | Arcade Racing |
| Number of Players: | 1-4 (seperate cabinets hooked together) |
| Rating: | ESRB - PEGI/ELSPA - CERO - |
| Platforms: |
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| Media: | ROM |
| Online Functions: | No |
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Description
Take a power boat, super charge it and then race on diverse and, sometimes, ferocious courses and you have the beginnings of a superb game. Add to this incredible 3D graphics (for its day) and effects, Hydro Thunder truly shines. The depth of thought of attention to detail is superb and you'll find yourself noticing things missed on numerous previous occasions.
Originally designed and built from scratch, Hydro Thunder was released in the arcades during March 1999 and was initially ported to the Sega Dreamcast later that year in September along with the PC version. Due to the success of these versions, the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 ports were announced on 6th March 2000 backed by a $3.5 million marketing campaign by Midway. The campaign concentrated on TV advertising, picking peak spots such as "South Park" and "The Simpsons".
In terms of the game's background story, the home versions of the game have little introduction other than the standard blurb tucked near the beginning of the manuals.
"The H.T.R.A.
"So, you have your own boat you say? You've tapped out your bank account and spent endless months building it out of state-of-the-art racing materials. You'e tuned the specialized motors, refind the hull shape to perfection and won more races than you can count. You're at the top of the international boat racing game. Nobody comes close. You long for a challenge.
"Then one day that challenge comes to you in the form of a sealed envelope with no return address. Only the words Hydro Thunder Racing Association mark the envelope. You open it. Inside, a single sheet of blue paper, with your name written upon it, simply states, "You have been chosen as a permanent member of the H.T.R.A." Below, a map and date are printed. The next secret race location!
"Now, you've certainly heard of the H.T.R.A. There is no signing up with these guys. Nobody even knows who they are or on which watery location they'll race next. But if you're good enough and have what it takes to be one of them, don't worry, they'll find you. This underground clan of adventurous racing renegades doesn't let anything get in the way of their racing. No place is too sacred. No time is too dark. No unexplored waterway is too dangerous. No guidelines. No restrictions. No manners. No law. These guys are deadly serious and have only one goal: Do anything to cross the finish line first."
Gameplay
Hydro Thunder's gameplay is that of a fairly typical racer, albeit with the added difficulties water brings. You steer your high speed power boat along the narrow waterways that make up the tracks and have to compete against 15 opponents to the finish line. Hydro Thunder steps beyond most racers not just because it's water-based: there are many secrets and different pathways to uncover. The handling of the boat at first seems simplistic: there are no gears (and of course no brakes as it's a boat!) and steering can appear sluggish in the initial boats available. During each race, however, are many obstacles and items to avoid or utilise to achieve a high placing and good race times.
Most notable of the obstacles and items are booster packs littered throughout each track. These can be picked up and enable the Hydro Boost feature your boat houses. Once enabled, hitting the booster button will propel your boat forward easily making ground on your opponents. Additional skills are enabled with the boosters too: Mighty Hull and Hydro Jump. Mighty Hull allows your boat to knock obstacles and opponents clear out of your way while Hydro Jump lets you boost out of the water - a simple notion, but the key to winning in this game. Just be careful though: your boost time is limited!
A Brief Critique & Comparison
Arcade
The original. Does not contain the Catacomb & Castle Von Dandy tracks. Some of the tracks are hidden from normal play also and codes are required to access them.
Sega Dreamcast
Control of the boats is not always good & sometimes they don't respond to turning even if you go at a snails pace - really frustrating when you don't get the angle right when heading for an obscured boost. Only thirteen tracks are in the game, not the mis-printed 14 that is in the manual (the 'test' track got pulled before release). Lighting on some levels makes for difficult visuals, but realistic. This version has the most annoying name entry system for high scores as the control is via the control pad's left & right with no auto-repeat and the game does not remember the last name entered - but that's the only downfall to an otherwise superb port of an arcade game.
IBM PC
Again, a visually superb port and control of the boat is responsive. Record entry is the easiest as the developers took into consideration the keyboard being present so you can simply type it in. Some great visual effects in terms of lighting but this can make some areas of the game difficult to navigate until you are used to the course.
Sony Playstation
Graphically the worst of the lot. Plays well with a good sense of speed. A little too dark in places though. As with the Dreamcast version, control of the boats is not always good & sometimes they don't respond to turning even if you go at a snails pace. Has two additional features to the basic 13 tracks: Time Trial & Circuit Mode.
Nintendo 64
Graphically OK. Plays very sluggish and gets far too dark in far too many places to really see what you're doing. No sense of speed in this version at all. Very big let-down compared to other versions.
Boats and Tracks
Hydro Thunder gives the player the choice of a number of boats and tracks depending on the codes entered (Arcade) or their prior achievements in the game (home versions).
To begin with on the home versions, the player will see only those tracks and boats deemed Easy. After placing third or better in each of these three races the player will unlock the Medium tracks and boats. The player will need to place second or first in each of the Medium tracks to unlock the Hard tracks and boats. For the Hard tracks the player will need to place first in each Hard track to begin unlocking the Bonus tracks. The Bonus tracks are unlocked in different orders & in different styles in each of the home versions. However, the one consistency is that first places are needed to achieve the unlocking.
 Damn The Torpedoes |
 Midway |
 Miss Behave |
 | Set in a huge stadium, Thunder Park is one of only four circuit tracks in the game. Despite being one of the shortest tracks it is filled with boosters, features and one or two secrets. |
 | Most likely the first race the gamer will use as it's the default in most versions. Lost Island introduces the gamer to the superb scenery they can expect throughout the game. Set on a forgotten island jungles, waterfalls, a volcano and even tourists eventually lead the gamer to a tunnel ending with a huge skull through the mouth of which the gamer is lead to the finish line. |
 | Penguins, polar bears and boating eskimos line the track at various places in Arctic Circle. Despite the name, the track is not a circuit but the gamer is treated to copious quantities of icebergs. Features some of the fastest points in the game if the gamer can find them. |
 Banshee |
 Tidal Blade |
 Thresher |
 | Greek Isles leads the gamer through a series of different settings and waterways. Secrets in this track are more subtle than many giving more of a straight race for the gamer to concentrate on how boost management plays a part in the game. |
 | The only track to lull the gamer into tighter-than-expected corners, Lake Powell features some long underground passages. Plenty of secrets can be found in this track culminating in a large bridge hiding a huge drop just prior to the finish line and a (at first) mysteryously inaccessible booster beyond the bridge. |
 | The Far East plays host to this track though the scenery in many places could be from any warm climate. The least featured track gives only a passing nod to it's name in some places. Still, large leaps and some very hidden secrets make this one of the better courses for gamers realising the different aspects of the game. |
 Cutthroat |
 RadHazard |
 Razorback |
 | Ship Graveyard features large quantities of ships for scenery, as can be expecting from the name. A dark track showing the forgotten wastes of shipping and aircraft. Upon completion, the racer is given a beautiful rendition of light breaking through the clouds. |
 | Set in a New York which has become flooded, New York Disaster takes the racer through scenes of destruction overground and through buildings and subway tunnels. NY Disaster features the biggest jump/drop involved in the game. |
 | Gondolas and houses rising out of the water are the locale here. Venice Canals gives the uninspired gamer a blatant look into how the game features short cuts and multiple paths to reach the goal. A very diverse series of options are available to the gamer, placing boosters atop islands in the middle of the canals and some of the shortest shortcuts throughout the game. |
 Tinytanic |
 Armed Response |
 Blowfish |
 Chumdinger |
 | In Catacomb the gamer races around a series of tunnels and vast catacombs. As one of the four circuit tracks in the game, the gamer must be cautious with their hoarding of booster. Plenty of little secrets and short cuts for the gamer to find. |
 | Castle von Dandy is a flooded castle reminiscent of Transylvanian legend, including an optional jump over a graveyard. Another in the circuit tracks, Castle von Dandy is littered with secrets. |
 | Back into a stadium, Hydro Speedway completes the quad of circuit tracks. As with Thunder Park and Catacomb, there's plenty of tricks to figure out despite the shortness of the track as a whole. |
 | The longest of all the tracks, Nile Adventure takes the intrepid racer through a plethora of Egyptian scenery. Nile Adventure is chock full of secrets and takes a dedicated gamer to achieve success. Oddly, on the Dreamcast version Nile Adventure is the first of the bonus tracks to be unlocked and needs to be completed in first place to unlock the next. Quite a hurdle for the Dreamcast gamers to overcome and thus prevents access to the other three bonus tracks. |
Formats
Additional Incarnations
Screenshots
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Credits
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Arcade - "Team Hydro"
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 Team Hydro |
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