Hydorah - indie shooter that actually does things right

[MathU]

So far I've got only the astronaut and the pink elephant. Has anyone found any other secrets?

[moonblood]

Wonderful game First boss reminds me of this Eliminate Down mid-boss

[Ruldra]

First boss reminds me of this Eliminate Down mid-boss

The first boss is based on the 3rd boss of Gradius II.

So far I've got only the astronaut and the pink elephant. Has anyone found any other secrets?

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31721

[Klatrymadon]

The miniboss on the second stage is very similar to the one from Thunder Cross II's second stage, as well. The music on the bug-infested one is a total rip-off of the Spore Spawn's theme from Super Metroid.

[monkeyman]

Wow really loving this. It was 16 bit era horis that really got me into the genre so it's nice to see a really good homebrew game that isn't a vert bullet hell.

Graphics are pretty top notch, they have that pixelly charm yet I see there's a few flashy effects here and there, and the music is especially awesome (Vermillon(?) stands out so far).

Only problem I am having is that the collision feels a little off with backgrounds, there's a few times I've died and not really been sure what I hit. Guess the hit box is a little bigger than I expected.

If nothing else though, Spanish accents in shmups should be industry standard going forward!!

[linko9]

The music on the bug-infested one is a total rip-off of the Spore Spawn's theme from Super Metroid.

Yeah, I noticed that too. The entire game's got some Metroid inspiration, what with the collecting permanent weapon upgrades after boss fights (BTW the five main weapon upgrades resemble the main weapons in Super Metroid, minus the ice beam), some of which are optional and some manditory.

And the Spanish accent is awesome.

[Ghegs]

Found a small bug/trick: On the very first stage, before the very first enemies, if you position yourself almost all the way to the right of the screen and destroy the first row of enemies the moment they appear, you get double the amount of green orbs. You can do this for the second one too, so you'll get four green orbs right off the bat. Easiest way to do it is to destroy the first row, immediately go down the screen to catch the second row and then collect all four orbs afterwards.

Yes, the bug/trick is of very limited help there...but maybe it can be used somewhere else in the game for greater benefit.

[Elaphe]

Maybe the best euroshmup I've played so far. I'm really impressed about the fact that the levels are short and non-repetitive, like in most euroshmups. Technically, the game is very well made, with great gameplay and very good taste for the design. I'm also experiencing problems of blur. I suppose it's the graphic card that is scaling the low res. I've also tried it with my ArcadeVGA, setting the desktop res to several res modes and there's not way to show real native pixels. It would look superb in real low res.

[Klatrymadon]

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but doesn't pressing F2 on the screen settings menu change anything for you?

[linko9]

Maybe the best euroshmup I've played so far. I'm really impressed about the fact that the levels are short and non-repetitive, like in most euroshmups. Technically, the game is very well made, with great gameplay and very good taste for the design. I'm also experiencing problems of blur. I suppose it's the graphic card that is scaling the low res. I've also tried it with my ArcadeVGA, setting the desktop res to several res modes and there's not way to show real native pixels. It would look superb in real low res.

I'd certainly never call this a euroshmup. Euroshmups (though it's not a terribly well-defined term) are generally defined by health bars, underpowered weapons, high-resolution graphics, etc. Hydorah is most clearly inspired by Japanese horizontal shmups. In the words of the developer:

"The whole game takes obvious influence from Gradius, Castlevania or R-Type, but also from other classics treated worse by the time: Turrican, Enforcer, Space Manbow, Hellfire, Guardian, Hydefos, Armalyte and many others..."

[moonblood]

The first boss is based on the 3rd boss of Gradius II.

Oh I need to play more Gradius, haha

[Obiwanshinobi]

I like the "small ship rather than just small hitbox" way of doing things (because, let's face it, having a small hitbox looks ridiculous, whereas flying in a small ship doesn't).
By the way, I was playing it in 320x240, when suddenly it switched the resolution to something out of my monitor's reach. I had to restart the system. After that, everything went back to normal.

[Dandy J]

this game is really cool. only complaint is that it feels like theres a bit of input lag if you use a gamepad/stick. its feels much better on kb even though i suck w/ kb

[ZOM]

Finally gotten around to play this: Brilliant game! It looks gorgeous, plays very good even if there appear to be still some collision issues here and there, but nothing that can't be avoided after falling for it once or twice. Oh, and the music is absolutely great.

The only thing I miss is a way to enter Initials/Scoreboard.

[MathU]

Playing for score is kinda pointless with the save system (and no penalty in using it) in place.

[bob]

Real man don't save!

Great game. The second horizontal shooter I played recently that I really enjoy.
(And the second one that has an asteroid field in leve 1! )

Maybe I should play some more horizontal shmups again!
But for the time beeing I have enough to do with the two I'm currently playing.

The man/team who did this deserve some attention and some donations!

[Ruldra]

Playing for score is kinda pointless with the save system (and no penalty in using it) in place.

Also, there are some places you can milk enemies forever. Like the room before the final boss.

[Gungriffon Geona]

Playing for score is kinda pointless with the save system (and no penalty in using it) in place.

Also, there are some places you can milk enemies forever. Like the room before the final boss.

and potentially the plant boss, if you really feel like risking getting super close to the walls to destroy the flowers. that room can be a bit of a clusterfuck though.

[ZOM]

I think the milking already starts at the 3rd boss and his red blobs he spits after destroying his head.
Not that that would be worth much points tho.

Am I the only one who got hit by the few lone blobs from that boss-explosion? I felt pretty dumb after that.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if you can time that to kill you right after you already get the points for destroying the boss...

Playing for score is kinda pointless with the save system (and no penalty in using it) in place.

That is true. They should get rid of it. heh.



EDIT: Nevermind that about the red blobs - I was mistaken, they don't give any points,
but it looks like I got double the points for killing the boss and losing a ship at the same time.

[monkeyman]

Great game. The second horizontal shooter I played recently that I really enjoy.
(And the second one that has an asteroid field in leve 1! )

Can I ask what the other game was. Seems like decent horis are hard to come by these days.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

If memory serves its 8bit killer or 8bit something or other, its a sort of a classic doom clone that uses retro looking 2d sprites as the baddies.

[monkeyman]

Playing for score is kinda pointless with the save system (and no penalty in using it) in place.

Also, there are some places you can milk enemies forever. Like the room before the final boss.

and potentially the plant boss, if you really feel like risking getting super close to the walls to destroy the flowers. that room can be a bit of a clusterfuck though.

I'd considered milking that boss for extra lives, after all, with spread shot floor and ceiling flowers are no problem, I just figure it would take too long and I'd be burnt out by the next stage. (need all the lives I can get for the space battle stage)

Having tried mixing up weapons on different stages however, I feel this game desperately needs a retreat to level select option, more than once I've been done for because i went into a stage with the wrong weapon with pretty much no way out (has anyone managed to destroy the big laser gun with a powered down spread shot?)

[Ravid]

I got killed by the red blobs from that explosion.

Since playing for score is pointless, I'm having trouble seeing a reason to go back to this after having cleared it a few times and found all the secrets. Which is a shame, because I really love the game.

These things could be easily fixed by i) including a score attack mode with a scoreboard and no saving, ii) making all bosses time out (preferably at the same time as the music). More difficult to avoid is the fact that in many places repeatedly suiciding to abuse checkpoints would be a profitable scoring strategy; though this wouldn't exactly be game-breaking unless there were a segment where it was possible to score 50,000 points per run, which I don't think there is.

[Ghegs]

I'd considered milking that boss for extra lives, after all, with spread shot floor and ceiling flowers are no problem, I just figure it would take too long and I'd be burnt out by the next stage. (need all the lives I can get for the space battle stage)

9 is the max amount of extra lives allowed and you can easily have that much before you get anywhere near the space battle stage without any milking. There's 1-ups all over the place.

Having tried mixing up weapons on different stages however, I feel this game desperately needs a retreat to level select option, more than once I've been done for because i went into a stage with the wrong weapon with pretty much no way out (has anyone managed to destroy the big laser gun with a powered down spread shot?)

So the next time you play the stage just pick a different weapon. I tried that stage with the spread shot few times and it was much, much harder than with the laser, might not even be possible to destroy the big laser gun. As a general rule, after you've unlocked a better primary weapon there's really no reason to go back to the earlier ones. Also, Scort as the secondary weapon is pretty damn useful as the options cancel out bullets, lasers and destroyable scenery.

[bob]

this game is really cool. only complaint is that it feels like theres a bit of input lag if you use a gamepad/stick. its feels much better on kb even though i suck w/ kb

Having the same problem. When playing with stick the first game plays normal.
But starting with the second game when I shoot while moving the game slows down enormously.
The keyboard acts normal the whole time, but with stick its acting strange.

Also, there are some places you can milk enemies forever. Like the room before the final boss.

Hmm... I don't like that in generall when this is possible in a shooter...
But since I didn't finish it yet I still have reason to play it. But this is taking a little bit away from the otherwise good experience.

Can I ask what the other game was. Seems like decent horis are hard to come by these days.

Very different from this one, so don't know if you'll like it: Söldner X 2.
Here you can read why what I think about it.
Only an option if you own a ps3 though. If you do, you should give it a try.

[MathU]

These things could be easily fixed by i) including a score attack mode with a scoreboard and no saving, ii) making all bosses time out (preferably at the same time as the music). More difficult to avoid is the fact that in many places repeatedly suiciding to abuse checkpoints would be a profitable scoring strategy; though this wouldn't exactly be game-breaking unless there were a segment where it was possible to score 50,000 points per run, which I don't think there is.

Seems like a score attack mode without saving would help with replayability, but I think the long stage and weapon selection process is just barely irritating enough to break up the pace. I think multiple loops like Gradius would help a lot too (this game is practically begging for those).

This is a nice game, but as said, I don't think I'll be coming back to it much now that I've beaten it a couple times on all stages and with all secrets. Only sporadically every now and then after I've forgotten enough about it to enjoy the experience again. Making a realistic scoring system that's as simple as removing infinite milking and discouraging saving would go a long way.

[Schrodinger's cat]

I'm really loving this game so far. It definitely has the best atmosphere out of any indie shooter that I've played.

My favorite stage in the entire game so far has to be the Path of Scylla. Everything just seemed to come together perfectly for that stage... awesome music, great level design, and quite a few nice surprises. I had a big smirk on my face the first time the level started to collapse and expand because it reminded me of that cavern stage in Thunderforce III, which I like quite a bit. Those hydra things that come out of the walls in the last part of the stage were pretty damn nerve-wracking and made me crash into the walls a few times though.

I just wish that the game's weapons were more balanced. Once you get laser, scort, and stealth (or ancient sword)... there's no point in selecting anything else at all.

[Aguraki]

no miss run availaible on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOHOO6VV ... re=related
from indiegamescom (don't know the player)
all secrets explained too.
haven't watched yet but seen there are other run available(vicviper)

[Dandy J]

this game really owns

[Elixir]

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but doesn't pressing F2 on the screen settings menu change anything for you?

Doesn't do anything for me either. Game's still giving me problems, as it's even blurry when windowed. Stretching doesn't seem to help either.