Format: Cartridge
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: TESoft
Publisher: Sega

Relative to what the Genesis is capable of, Super Hydlide ranges from utterly unremarkable to downright poor, with tiny, poorly-animated sprites, and a simple, no-frills menu system. Compared to competing RPGs on the platform, such as Phantasy Star II or Sword of Vermillion, Super Hydlide is from an earlier era completely. To defend the game's artists, at least the aesthetics have that quality that successfully induces the player's imagination-- and there is something to be said for that.

Super Hydlide's soundtrack as technically superb, with almost Yuzo Koshiro-like samples and composition. Stylistically, its strange blend of funk and jazz is certainly easy on the ears, but not nearly as atmospheric as Phantasy Star II's amazing score. Sound effects are extremely minimal, and are NES-like in quality.

Take the early Ys games, switch them to an overhead 3/4 perspective, add inventory weight, banking, and daylight cycle systems, and you've got Super Hydlide. These mechanics added to what is otherwise a vanilla action RPG means that the player has to plan his dungeon trips around the character's sleeping schedule, and balance which items to bring against their weight. The impressive overworld map and dungeon designs are marred somewhat with a drab combat system.

Super Hydlide's biggest problem is that progression is dictated by the player's discovery of extremely esoteric things-- a random tombstone leading to a town, an innocious tower window leading to a new area, and even a part with a mundane chest needing two examinations to reveal its required passageway. Without a walkthrough, the game is almost unplayable, and even with one, the game's constant weight and sleep subsystems harry the gameplay more than they add fun to it.