I played it to death at the time. Beat it like 5x in a row. The frame rate was awful, but it had a strange charm to it.

Would be interesting if someone could fix the frame rate of this game. That’s the biggest problem I have. Even AVGN thought this game was okay.

I know it’s objectively awful but I love the “90’s multimedia” aesthetic of this game so much

The real tragedy of this is how ahead-of-its-time the idea was. It's a procedurally-generated open-world 3D ARPG (with roguelike elements) *in 1995!* If it had just run on a decent engine, it almost certainly would have done pretty well, or at least be looked back on favorably.

Today, I think people are harder on game reviews, because we all have SO much more to play. Back then I played the heck out of some 'bad' games because I only had one or two games. Trading your games to get something new was common.

I actually like the look of the graphics. If it ran at 30fps, I think it would be one of the better looking 32 bit games.

Virtual Hydlide is one of my favorite Saturn games, I've finished it many times, the only problem it has for me is the framerate in fact I love games that use two dimensional objects in a polygonal world, at the time it was clearly a workaround the limitations of consoles but for me it has an incredible appeal and in this game it simply reaches the top level. The introductory movie is brilliant and hilarious and immediately puts us in the right mood, also preparing us for the irresistible trashy atmosphere (but in a good way), the character who is a simply digitized ordinary man is too funny and I certainly identify with him more than in the super muscular heroes that we usually find in games. The settings are varied and detailed and even the colors are spot on, even the fights once you learn the various possibilities are fun and varied and on the sound side it's really well done, the music is always pleasant and suitable for the setting. It also has some truly innovative mechanics for the time, for example the fact that if we leave any object or equipment on the ground, we will always find it there even after hours of playing, or the fact that the equipment actually changed the aesthetics of the character (we are talking about 1995!!) or the fact that we can save at any moment and we will start exactly from that point, but above all the game world that is always generated different with each gameplay and if we want we can also take notes of the ''code'' of that world to replay it in the future, in this regard I have a criticism to make of what was said in the video and a curiosity that I discovered. Criticism: what was not said in the video is that dungeons are also generated in a procedural way and this enormously changes the experience with each gameplay, the same dungeon can be found once very short, with a very linear path and with few enemies and it can last 5 minutes, other times the same dungeon can be huge with many crossroads and secondary rooms full of treasures or chests and many enemies and it can last even an hour or more! Curiosity: The randomly generated world affects the framerate of the game A LOT, having finished it many times, on a couple of occasions I found myself playing at a framerate much higher than the average of the game, let's say at about 15 frames per second (I know it looks like a I'm joking but I'm serious and when the game runs like this it's much more enjoyable), so with a little luck if you start several games, you can find a world that has an above average framerate and if you take note of the code you can replay it several times, even if this obviously would make you lose the pleasure of trying different dungeons every time. Pro Tips: There are some tricks to make the game smoother and more enjoyable. 1) In the open world map, if instead of avoiding the enemies you encounter, you kill them all, the game will be much more fluid, the enemies you encounter even when they are no longer visible, are still ''calculated'' by the graphics engine, therefore the more you leave alive, the more the game will slow down. 2) make sure you don't exceed the carrying weight because when you are too heavy what the game does is deliberately slow down by further decreasing the frames per second to simulate your weight. 3) when it is not strictly necessary avoid running, this makes everything much more fluid and enjoyable, furthermore some animations make the game slower and jerkier, for example if you always walk with the sword drawn (as seen in the video) the game goes more jerky because it is the character himself who, being in combat mode, moves one step at a time and the camera simply follows those animations, walking in the dungeons without unsheathed weapons pulling them out only when we meet enemies makes everything much more fluid and enjoyable. In conclusion I really don't understand why so many people make fun of this game, for me what it lacks to be a small masterpiece is only 20 frames per second more, unfortunately at the time I didn't have a Saturn but if I had played it in 1995 surely I would have been enthusiastic about it, it's like a Skyrim from the 90s, there was nothing like it in those days. However, even if I only recovered it a few years ago, it's one of the games that most often makes me want to take out the Saturn to make a new run.

Kings Field series didn't look much better and everyone praises that. This game looks really cool for what it is. The music really sounds amazing, too.

This game was waaaayyyy ahead of its time. I'm not surprised it got good reviews.

That walking animation is by far the best walking animation i have ever seen in any video game.

even if they fixed the performance of the game and made it run at a higher framerate, there aren't any in-between animations, so the only two options are to make the character and enemy's movement have low FPS (hold animations for multiple frames) or to have the animations speed up (which would lead to the entire game being way too fast). Unless someone would want to create extra pixel-art inbetween frames the game itself would always present to be a stuttery mess or run way too fast. Great video though! I like the objectivity and I've always thought that the game was really underrated despite its visuals. Even the original Hydlide was ahead of its time, and so was this.

It would be interesting to hear from the developers of this game. What they thought about using a golf engine and what they thought about the final product.

This game has that mid 90s FMV charm that is hard for me to describe. It's so evocative of its time and I love that.

The visuals look great to me, especially for 1995. The problem with Virtual Hydlide is the framerate as you mentioned. If that wasn't there, I think that the game would have gotten much more love.

I honestly think the visuals have aged well. It has a charming retro look. The frame rate is a killer though.

Honestly, I don't think it looks THAT bad. It looks dated, to be sure! But it's got an interesting style that goes really heavy on mood and atmosphere, and in that sense, I kind of like it. It feels gritty and spooky. If not for the framerate being as awful as it is, I'd actually give these visuals a fairly solid score, personally.

As bad as the game was, it did have glimpses of something special. This game is a example of under developed. If this game could of had one more year in development it could have been a great game. Everything that is wrong with this game had to do with budget and timing. One more year could have added level up mechanics and some frame rate improvements. I liked the graphics but it felt broken.....The game could have been great.

I guess I must be crazy, but I think this game looks amazing for 1995 and I think the digitized graphics actually look good. I fully understand the complaint about framerate though, because its atrocious. I... actually kind of want to play this...

I dont know, the game looks pretty cool to me. That soundgrack is great.

It's important to take account that most people who played this game just transitioned from 16 bit systems so for us this game was quite impressive graphically regardless the framerate.

I remember trying this out and thinking it looked worse than a bad 3DO game. Makes sense now.

Hydlide was once a big franchise in Japan.The original 1984 PC 8801 was a huge inspiration on both Zelda and Ys.

I remember renting this game back in the late 90's and while I didn't hate it.. it often felt overly frustrating to play because of the visuals. I had no idea it used a golf game engine... it all makes sense now lol

Great review! I actually don’t mind the graphics, I even find them quite good for the time; the low frame rate and the muddy presentation add to the creep factor as well. The music ties is it all together nicely. I think I want to play this lol

I remember seeing this on AGDQ's Awful Block. The frame rate and difficulty were simply mind-boggling. Still a fun run to watch, though just to see how to "optimize" this game.

I remember my brother buying this for my Saturn when we went to a game rental shop going out of business. This title was just so confounding on every level.

For some reason I cannot hate on this game. It has some odd charm

Played this when it came out. I was 10. Me and my beat friend stayed up all weekend playing this. Miss those days. Amazing game at the time for two 10 years old who love fantasy RPGs games

My mom brought me to the rental store, I rented this on my Saturn, and hated it so much that I walked back 3 miles on a highway to return it. This game can burn in hell. lol

so glad I wasn't the only person to play this lol

I have this, it's a cool game despite being whacky/awkward (the music is dope). Apparently they used a golf game engine which explains the odd movement and player sprite. Biggest issue is the frame rate, I couldn't play it for more than an hour, I wish there was a burnable rom of this with fixed FPS.

Amo este juego. Viva la Saturn.

This looks like a super-early Souls game.

That graveyard scenario is gorgeus, really spooky atmosphere. Such a pity that abysmal framerate

Based on the footage, I don't think the game is ugly at all. It's definitely not smooth though. But back then we didn't have high expectations for smoothness.

Rented this gem at Blockbuster and beat it in one weekend. Felt like playing breath of the wild in the 90s, so much fun.

Thank you for the video. I wonder what the reception would have been if they had done this in a more traditional style, maybe something with the 3D exploration with visible enemies but then a traditional turn-based combat system. It wouldn't have been Hydlide as it originally was, but I think given the limitations of the engine, it probably would have turned out a bit better.

Agree with the majority of your video (very well made by the way - you earned a like and subscribe from me!) - however, I would say that everyone does indeed deserve to try this game at least once. While most will loathe it, some will find the random seeds very enjoyable as it's a (somewhat) different experience each time. And it has speedrunning qualities too - how many action RPGs can you finish in just over a half an hour? Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better for spending months playing this in order to have gained the Any % World Record. ;)

Now i'm wondering what happens if the timer reaches 99:99:99, if it just goes to 100 or if the game bugs out and corrupts your save

the way this game looks is making me think Night Trap, set in the midevel times. this makes me wonder what THAT game would look, and be like if Night Trap itself WAS released on the Saturn.

I love your vids on obscure pieces of SEGA history. Would you consider doing an alternate history vid / deep dive into SEGA's failed merger with Bandai? Thanks SLX

The funniest thing about Virtual Hydlide is the enemies speech is all random Japanese audio clips in reverse T&E Soft had in their collection. Like one of the bosses says "Please insert Disc 2" before fighting you!!! 🤣

Great video - I think your review was fair. I remember the hype before the 32 but generation when this was being shown. I think the reviews of the time were mostly about right as to be fair lower frame rates were much more accepted then coming off the back Super Fx titles etc Also games often got slightly higher marks if they were something that couldn’t be done on the previous, 16 bit, generation of consoles. Conversely often 2D titles got docked points for not being a significant enough use of “next gen” hardware. Always felt this title often gets a bit of a rough ride - it was an early title for a new generation of hardware when everyone was still finding their feet. Unlike some games of this time while it obviously could do with a lot of polishing it is fully functional and not broken. It’s also massively ambitious and in some ways ahead of its time. 3D action adventure with random world generation. It would have been super interesting if this game had a sequel or a more refined game engine as the use of the hardware was in many ways ideal. Use VDP 2 for the floor, sprites for objects (but better defined sprites), better texture mapping and draw distance for the geometry, increase the frame rate, then tie it into the Golden Axe series with a choice of Tyris, Ax or Gilius and it would have filled a good spot in the library.

"Your hero looks like one of the developers cosplaying..." That's exactly what I thought when I first saw this. If they hired an actor he'd probably look more buff or fit, this guy looks like he works in a cubicle.

There is a reason that Virtual Hydlide is the only RPG on the Saturn available on the market at a reasonable price. Also, the Saturn in the West didn't get as many RPGs as it did in Japan and this is because of Bernie Stolar's anti-RPG bias when he was heading Sega of America. It was during this console generation that RPGs broke into the mainstream of gaming with the massive success of Final Fantasy VII, so this was a huge missed opportunity and is another way that Bernie Stolar's decisions killed the Saturn in the West.

I've never played this having never owned a saturn 😢 Watching the footage I feel like a button dedicated to a 180 spin would change the game completely

I remember seeing this one at Kmart back in the day. Strangely enough, when I look at this gameplay footage, something deep down is calling for me to play this. It's got that "it's so bad it's good" element to it.

the over world theme still haunts my life.. popping into my head at random!

Looked into this for @PandaMoniumReviews, nothing from the game files show that Hydlide is built off of the PB Golf Links engine. They may have used some bits of source code like how things are rendered, but that is it.

This is one of my favorite bad classics. It and Virtua Fighter were my first and only Saturn games for a while, so I played it way more than I probably would have. Eventually became a master of it’s weird procedural logic and kind of speedrunning it. It was like my proto proto Dark Souls.

Hard to disagree with anything you've said but I have some really fond memories of this game. Sometimes the thought of times gone by outweigh the technical deficiencies of a piece of software. Having said that, I still chuckle at the memes this game is responsible for 😄👍👍.

This game is awesome. It's like if a kid was playing a video game in a tv show it would have been this.

Well, since they used the Pebble Beach Golf Links engine here, I suppose that at the very least we can be thankful that Craig Stadler didn't show up as a boss. "Think you can get it inside mine?"

at least it's better than Superman 64

Greatly enjoy your perspective and your videos

I dig this. The music is awesome, the visuals remind me of Mansion of Hidden Souls in a good way, and I have a small crush on that princess. Pretty cool looking game. I've never played it (heard a lot about it), but I'm going to look up a long play.

The Saturn was the only console I've ever owned that i returned. I think i only tried my hardest to like it for about a week before it went back

Anyone who hates on this game as the 'worst' or 'most laughable game ever' obviously didn't play it back in the day; they're judging it with a modern lens. As someone who owned it and played through it when it was new, there was nothing reprehensible about this game at that time. Haven't played this since, but I really enjoyed it back then and believe I still would. *Very, very few console games with 3d gameplay looked great in 1995, especially by today's standards.* Between snes and n64, this scratched that Zelda itch I had at the time (before Saturn had some more fitting choices like Legend of Oasis), and still felt like a step in the right direction. Exploration and getting new gear always kept my interest. The concept of starting a new randomized world (with *extremely* varied dungeons once you got to the castle) was a blast to mess around with, and like nothing I've seen before. And the music was fantastic. Sure it could've aged better, yet it still aged *way* better than most early fully-polygonal games on Playstation.

I’m so grateful for you and your channel. Such a dependable part of my KZfaq life.

I remember looking so forward to this game before release. The screenshots in the various game magazines made it look amazing!! But upon release it was a complete mess in the framerate department. I think what it had going for it was it's real world colors and lighting. The screenshots looked like your character walking through photorealistic woods, dungeons, etc. Playing it made seem like you were looking at screenshots 15 frames per second. Maybe it looks/runs better running on the MiSTer FPGA??

The framerate on this game is horrible but I still find it fun

Just look at stuff like 2022’s Unreal port - and then this. The Saturn didn’t have a hardware problem, it had a software problem. Never played this, maybe I will someday - but I remember seeing this in stores and thinking…. Nah. Even in screenshots printed in 1990s magazines, it was ugly. Not that graphics are the only point, and definitely I loved some of the biggest turds from back in the day(High Octane anyone?). So to those of you who picked this back in the day, and loved it - I salute you.

Ok, ok, Saturn was lacking in RPGs-- But! *BUT* ! Comparing it to N64 it had WAY more RPGs which is something very overlooked IMO.

If it were “Virtua” Hydlide it would have been a sega classic.

it dosent hold up these days but when i got this coming from my megadrive it was amazing, been able to go were ever i wanted in 3D was such a game changer for me from the 16 bit top down era the music really adds to the atmosphere, i remember been genuinely creeped out wandering around the mansion for the first time yes it ugly and runs like crap these days but 12 year old me going from 16bit to this was amazing

Yeah me, and my friends back in the day tried the game at our local GameXchange (different owner than today's) we were like "What the hell is this crap" after 10 minutes playing, and tried something else. We all read the reviews, but I remembered that if a video game magazine had adverts from developer/publishers they are not to be fully trusted. Gamepro taught me that lesson the hard way in the early 90's. My friends though trusted their reviews like it was gospel up until Virtual Hydlide, but thanks to that they saw the ugly truth so I have to give this game some credit in showing my friends that ugly truth.

One of the best channels on KZfaq!

I actually quite like the look of this game (never heard of it before) and I love pebble beach golf on the saturn!!👍

Love that you went in to this review unbiased, would like to hear what you think of Castlevania 64?

Super Hydlide Reminds me of one of those games ya got for Christmas as a kid. You knew it wasn't that great but played it anyways, finding something you enjoyed about it.

I’m going to make a weird comparison. I see Virtual Hydlide as a very early souls like game. They also use less storytelling and are more focused on action. The lifeless world of Hydlide wouldn’t be out of place in a Souls like game.

Never played this, but it looks good to me. Based on this video I would say the biggest issue is the terrible animation when walking, but it looks like the stance and inch by inch moving was a choice by the player as in other parts of the game the character appears walking and running just fine. So I assume that's a special stance which makes sense for the way he walks which shouldn't be used for walking all over the place. Again, I haven't played the game so I can't really know the details. The framerate is not high, but I don't see that as an issue for the game unless it actually creates sluggish and with lag controls. As far as I understand that is not the case. My point is, based on this video the game looks fine to me and I highly doubt I would have a problem having this game back in the day, if I had a Saturn. (I had a PC). It's a shame this game never had a PC port. Thanks for the informative video.

"You get Sword" "You get Knife" "You get Armor" "You get Bored"

I loved this game as a kid, there is no game that looked good as Hydlide, frame rate sure was awful, this was a groundbreaking first real open world with proper 3d graphics game never seen before in that genre of games and that made up for the awful fps. Sega made some of the best games during the 90s that are still to this day very much loved and enjoye. I had both playstation 1 and Sega Saturn and preffered Sega Saturn, Sega games were just so much more fun and the music composed was spot on too. Sega Saturn 10/10 and is one of the best gaming consoles ever made.

Its a very good game, I finished it back then. And by far better than any Kings Field crap series (which were around the same time released). Also I think in their mind they had the step by step dungeon gameplay which is found in many games before it so they thought high framerate is not necessary. Check also Power Kingdoms on 3do, bad framerate but great game also.

It wasn't the type of RPG I was so accustomed to playing

I've wanted to play this game ever since I saw avgn review it. I really like the graphics style and this era of game consoles.

It was a great game, buried under an entire mountain of jank.

I don't think it looks ugly myself. The aesthetic is cool. The framerate is abominable however I'll grant you that.

It's no Shining the Holy Ark. Then again, Hydlide was attempting to be a more open world 3D RPG in the early days of Saturn.

Would a homebrew makeover do this game justice? The randomized layout will keep the game somewhat fresh. With its faults can be easily fixed. If an updated engine can clean up the presentation can preserve the integrity of the story. Any takers?

I feel like if i played this when it was new, id have loved it despite its flaws. Its a very ambitious game for the time.

Another great review of a "classic" SS title. To be fair, i remember UK Mean Machines Sega gave it something like 29% at the time....

I got this for free and played it quite a bit. The music really drew me in and kept me immersed.

I miss the old school GamePro, EGM, Diehard Game Fan etc magazines.

Honestly, as much as people dunk on this game, I feel like if they rebooted it today as a “modern Soulslike,” PEOPLE WOULD EAT IT UP.

Its not how the game played or looked its what the devs did with this game that did put its mark on the gaming industry it was one of the first ever procedural generated rpg's to come out and it did what no other game company at the time was doing. This is why this game is so well liked by so many compared to todays tech this might look horrid and play like garbage but at the time this was game changing.

One of the first games I got for my Saturn, love unique experiences on unique consoles

People like to dump on things once AVGN reviews them, like a bunch of easily lead automatons. This game fucking rules, my best friend and I have beat it easily over 300 times, not a word of a lie.

"Does virtual hydlide deserve the shit it got back in the day? In a word - Yes." (roll the credits)

Great review, the Saturn has some really amazing RPGs. I have most of them released both in English and Japanese, this is one i was never was interested in buying though. The graphics and gameplay just seem really unapealing. When i have tons of amazing JRPGs on Dreamcast, Saturn, PS1, PS2... there is little point in wasting time on a very mediocre RPG like this. I really enjoyed this review though. You gave it a fair shot and showed its not quite as bad as alot of us thought.

The original Hydlide was innovative in 1984 and laid the foundations for the action-rpg/action adventure genres in Japan, so it's important from that standpoint (the original Zelda was heavily inspired by it, as was Ys), but I can't say it's aged well at all. Super Hydlide made attempts at innovation that fell flat. And Virtual Hydlide...well, it's clear there was a degree of ambition behind it, but it also screams rush job. I'm guessing T&E didn't have many programmers on hand who understood the Saturn (did it even have documentation yet?) so they rushed this one so it would be finished in time to allow turnaround for the Western launches, and told the designers to make do with the engine they already had. I'm guessing this doesn't use VDP-2 for much, if anything, either.

I could maybe look pass the visuals but I don't know if I could deal with the chunky frame rate. Just watching you trying to slowly turn looks so uncomfortable.

I borrowed this game from a friend when I was young, and it was really fun

I think the systems and mechanics are solid and satisfying. 🤷‍♂️ I can enjoy the graphics ironically. Truly the Dark Souls of its time.

Don't know, I don't think the visuals are bad. They're kinda unique, interesting, have a dark gritty look, reminding of the early textured 3D gaming days, along the Hexen lines perhaps. Frame rate is the real issue, though (heh, almost like Hexen for PS1). Overall, this somehow looks like a 3DO game, it would feel at home there with such graphics and choppiness.

I remember looking at pictures from this game in video game magazines back in the 90s and thought it looked cool. I mean, way better than what the 16bit consoles could do so it seemed like quite a jump.

This game is so visually offensive, yet ambitious, that I have to give it some respect.

I played through this when it first came out. At the time there wasn't much like it on console and there wasn't much on Saturn full stop. It had atmosphere and I enjoyed my time with it. I do seem to remember it feeling short, but 10 hours doesn't sound that bad. Games are getting too long, though admittedly a 30 hour game is practically 20 hours off cut scenes. Anyway, it's one of those games where pretty much all of the criticisms are somewhat valid, but I got something out of it regardless.

one of my fav Saturn games back in the day, as a hardcore sega and RPG fan we took what we could get