It sure was! I remember being dumbfounded when it was discontinued! For me at the time the system was better than ever & right in the middle of it's best times! I never understood it... I absolutely LOVED the Dreamcast at that time!
The thing that I think unfairly led to the Dreamcast not selling so well in the UK, was A. The Sega CD/32X/Saturn were basically flops, and B. People wanted the PS2. I know I told my brother to save his money to buy a PS2 instead of a Dreamcast, but he didn't and I'm glad he didn't, because the Dreamcast was great. Also @andrewvrba9670 I loved the Dreamcast controller, it had BOTH analog TRIGGERS and and ANALOG Stick, was GREAT for Racing games, where you could have Analog Acceleration/Braking and Steering at the same time. Even the DualShock couldn't manage that with two analog sticks, sure you could use the left analog stick to steer analog, but you couldn't simultaneously accelerate and brake(left foot braking) with only the right stick, you were either accelerating or braking*, not BOTH *or don't touch it to coast I guess. Although I agree only having 4 face buttons instead of 6 was a step back from the Saturns 6 + LR. Also the TWO slots on the controller made sense, ONE for the Vibration pack, and ONE for a memory card, which didn't make as much sense on the original Xbox, since A. the Xbox controller had rumble built in, B. The Xbox had a hard drive for save games, I mean one slot would have made sense, just for copying saves, and playing them on your friends Xbox.
Despite the bad frame rate on PS1, the actual graphics look vibrant and pretty detailed for PS1. Also noticed reflections in the water, which I think may have been missing on the N64 one?
I remember playing this in a random arcade somewhere and really enjoying the experience! So much so, I bought the Dreamcast version and I still have it!! A great racer, and a great BotP Mark!
Nice. This is one of the very few Midway games I genuinely enjoy. I loved the follow up on the 360. Then again, that wasn't by Midway. This game is very good though.
@@RetroCore the 360 follow up is great, I've had hours of fun with that too! I know what you mean, for all the games Midway put out, I only really like 1 or 2. They had some very overrated games!
i first played the arcade at a chuck-e cheese eons ago, i never thought id ever get a chance to see it at home! when i was still playing killer instinct on ma damn super Nintendo!
Got this with my Dreamcast at launch, what a game, played well, looked like an arcade over RGB scart on my 29" Sony 4:3 crt at the time, a truly great machine and game when it came out.
I freaking LOVED the Dreamcast port back when it 1st came out! What a system it was. I was completely dumbfounded when it was announced that it was being discontinued! To me it was better than ever at the time!
Hydro Thunder, with its sibling games Artic Thunder and Offroad Thunder, was a big sell at my local mall arcade with Rush 2099, the Cruis'n duo, and Daytona. They all lined one wall with House of the Dead 2, Star Wars Trilogy, Jurassic Park 2, and Time Crisis on the left end with Marvel vs Capcom 1&2, Darkstalkers, Killer Instinct 1&2, and Tekken tag team & 3 on the right end.
There's a channel called Tech Tangents which very recently uploaded 2 videos about the arcade version, explains in detail how it works and has some direct video capture from the arcade.
3:40 Especially if you bought your Dreamcast after Sega announced they were pulling the plug! In the US, stores were dumping their stock at stupid low prices. That's the point I slid in and got one. Moving up from the PS1, it was next gen gaming at bargain bin prices. Original MSRP for a new in box Dreamcast $200 USD. Fire sale price for that same Dreamcast $80.
Still havevmy Dreamcast version of this baby. I remember being blown away when i picked it up back in 99 at how close it was to the arcade. Whole Dreamcast launch season was just amazing for a gamer back than
Yes, I have the PS1 version of this, didn't get it for as cheap as I wanted to, but it compliments the PS2 version on Midway Arcade Treasures 3 that I also have. No, it's not a great version, but it maintains the fun at least when I'm in the rare mood to play this game.
I love me some Hydro Thunder: it's my 2nd favorite favorite of Midway's own-branded racers behind Cruis'n World. Along with a handful of other games, We had a Hydro Thunder cab the movie theater I worked at part-time for a few months in fall '99. Though I spent more off-work time and quarters on NBA Maximum Hangtime, Guantlet Legends, and Harley Davidson and LA Riders, I still played a decent number of games of Hydro Thunder, mroe than I did Fighting Bujutsu, Deer Hunter USA, and Police Trainer, which are the only other 3 I can remember us having off hand. I had a friend as well as a cousin pick this up for the N64, so I ended up playing that version quite a bit with them and other friends/family in multiplayer, plus I borrowed it a couple of times. Two friends had the PSX port too. I ended up getting the Dreamcast port; however, not until fall '01. I definitely prefer DC over N64 and PS1, but it majorly sucks that it doesn't have a 4-player mode. Even with the N64 version being slow in speed and with a fairly lower framerate, that 4-player was a lot of fun though I wish it was 3rd-person and not 1st-person view though I'm sure the fps would be even lower. If just playing with 1 or 2 players, I'd take the Dreamcast any day over the N64 though. Between the PSX and N64, I feel the N64 looks better in some areas but in other areas the PS1 seems to have more detail, so I think graphically between those two it comes down to if you like the N64's anti-aliasing and filtering or prefer the raw-er look of the PSX and don't mind the texture warping. But, neither run great at times. Hydro Thunder was a popular game while I was still in the college dorms in '01 and '02 when my roommate, I, and a couple of our nearby neighbors would hold some game nights/tournaments in the common room. Then again, the racers+vehicle-combat games we had for my DC (and Game Cube after its launch...Super Monkey Ball was exceedingly popular with everyone) and his PS2 in general were the most popular with many of the more-casual and non-gamer types that would show up, and fighters and 1st-person shooters were more of the domain of those of us with more practice (Fur Fighters was surprisingly popular though). Still, Hydro Thunder and Rush 2049 with there sheer, raw arcade fun were very popular due to their pick-up-and-play nature. I do also have Midway Arcade Treasures 3 though only for the PS2. I flipped multiple times between getting this on PS2 or XBox, since the XBox version seemed better in terms of performance in reviews and supported 480p. But, I had bought the MAT 1 and 2 games on the PS2, so I stuck with it. There are some bits of performance issues in the games, but it's not terrible on PS2...still probably should have bought it on the XBox. All in all, Hydro Thunder is great fun. Hurricane is also pretty fun on the 360 though I prefer the original. I never did play the snowmobile one though.
I'm sorry, did you say you had Fighting Bujutsu? That's a pretty rare and expensive game. Y'all were lucky to have it, but why your arcade would purchase it over Virtua Fighter 3 or Tekken 3 is a mystery. It did look pretty nice for its day though.
@@jktwice8235 The theater didn't purchase it. There was a regional distributor of arcade, pinball, and other amusement games like skee ball etc. They provided the machines at no cost with a 50/50 coin share. They would swap out machines occasionally with new cabinets if ones were not performing well in the location. I'm not sure what their full distribution range was (at least across the mid and southern part of my state), but there were many other locations in my area (they always had their cabinets and equipment labeled) that had their machines. Later, they moved Fighting Bujutsu from the theater to a wal-mart local to that town. In the front part of that Wal-Mart, they also had Sega's The Lost World, UMK3, NFL Blitz, Vapor Trx, Cops, and Namco's Rapid River, probably others I don't remember. I know the guy in charge of the amusements distribution company died years ago, but I had saved the phone number of his son (I had thought about buying an MK2 machine in the early 00s) and gave that to Anthony from Video Games Esoterica, but I don't believe he had any luck tracking any of those down. I would love to see and play another Rapid River cab it: it was cool. But, I think that's unlikely at this point.
There's a recent video of the Arcade version on Tech Tangents, he shows the internals of the cabinet including the PC with a Voodoo2 graphic card installed, interesting stuff, Loved the original game & Hydro Thunder Hurricane on Xbox 360 was solid especially when playing online. Now if only someone would port the Hydro Thunder 2 arcade sequel (titled H2Overdrive) to PC / Console.
I really do miss these silly, over the top arcade racers. Even though I have the Gamecube version, I often play the N64 version because of easy of use and I still have a lot of fun with is. The sequel on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One & PC is also very fun.
Here's a fun fact. The "Lost Island" soundtrack has a tribal chant which was ripped from the 1995 film that very few people are afraid to admit they've seen, "Congo."
I find it quite interesting, with this game being a late release in the previous generation, that we get to see a comparison, not only of opposing systems, but between systems by the same company as well.
I’m still playing this on my N64 on a CRT. I like how this version is on a cartridge. I enjoy the scanlines and crisp picture I get with this game on my Trinitron.
I've played both the arcade and Dreamcast versions quite a bit. One thing I've noticed, which I think is different from all of the home versions, is that in the arcade version the splashes behind the boats look better. I think either the images they use for the splashes are at a higher resolution, or possibly there are more of them on screen at one time.
An absolute classic in my mind. Also, special shoutout to Hydro Thunder Hurricane - that game ranks high on the list of XBLA games I've sank much time into.
I havent played too much hydro thunder but I think I really liked what I played of it. I did feel something looked odd with the graphics even for 99. while I have yet to play either n64 or playstation version, I will say graphically the ps1 version looks really good, but yeah the slowdown is really apparent in some areas. I dont mind the blur effect on the n64 version, but it does seem to make the game look a whole lot darker. The mono audio and low bitrate though are extremely questionable decisions though
Yeah, the audio on the N64 version is a very odd choice. Sure, low bit rate and mono I get as it will save on storage space but the low volume is something else.
I always wanted to know how to play this game I couldn’t figure it out but now I know thanks to you and which is the best one . 😊 as always great content .
Ah, Hydro Thunder, the crown jewel of turn-of-the-century arcade racers. The Windows and Dreamcast version looks great for their respective releases. Not the best arcade racer, but it's a fun time in you ever come across the arcade version.
I'm old enough to have had arcades as a child but young enough to have watched them die before I could even drive. Regardless, whenever I walked into an arcade as a kid you bet I heard the loud ass HYDRO THUNDER machine
I still prefer the PlayStation port myself because you forgot to point out something. Something the arcade and Dreamcast verisons didn't have. The Circuit gamemode. If just getting all tracks and boats unlocked isn't your cup of tea, you can try finishing the game by putting coins and winning said coins in the races, for that juicy high score.
Yep, the PlayStation version does have a circuit mode unlike the others but I don't think it's a mode that can claw back anything from the other systems.
Speaking of PS1, I would call that a miracle considering the vast difference in hardware spec. Not saying it's, but a very good port effort given what the developers had to work with.
Definitely one of digital-only released games that every Xbox 360, One & Series X owner must buy. Hydro Thunder is still a great arcade game to be played regardless on the original hardware or via emulation.
Midway made many arcade classic's but their racer games were some of the best in the business, I never knew this had that many ports, dreamcast is the winner in this case.
I remember Hydro Thunder being a fixture on Dreamcast demo kiosks when the console launched. It wasn't really wowing people and was sign of things to come for the platform unfortunately, they'd have been better off secretly hooking up a DVD player at the back and just playing footage of the upcoming Resident Evil Code Veronica, that might have got a few people interested. The best demo kiosk choice I saw was probably Rogue Squadron, you wanted a Gamecube after you saw that, it looked cutting edge graphically and had a smooth frame rate.
I think the PC version have the option of running in 800x600 too. And yeah, the arcade basically used a Voodoo3 video card which was connected on the side of the arcade board. I think you could have used a Voodoo3 2000 or 3000, of course the 3000 was better because of higher clocks. But nowadays if you have ANY 3DFX card, i would suggest you to put a fan on the card because they tend to get very toasty after a while. Or if you have a Voodoo1, Voodoo2 or Voodoo Rush, put heatsinks on those big 3DFX chips, cos they can get very hot too.
Great video, as always. I’ve played the N64 version of this under emulation, and enjoyed it. I like the look of the Windows version so will have to try and get a copy running on my Win 10 machine.
I was just playing Hydro Thunder Hurricane on my Xbox 360 yesterday, after having played Riptide GP Renegade and Riptide GP2 on Steam and realising they were both by Vector Unit. For some reason Riptide's seemed EASY for the most part, especially since Hydro Thunder Hurricane was a lot harder(at least for me).
Hydro Thunder was one of the earliest games I bought for my launch Dreamcast and had a blast with it. I recall it and Ready 2 Rumble (also by Midway) were shipped with an audio bug that cause a noticeable sound delay after around 30 seconds (Midway fixed the bug and shipped out "new, improved" versions; don't recall them replacing earlier copies people bought). Later on I bought the Midway collection for the PC in the hopes of using them for my first arcade computer (it included Hydro). But it was cursed with controls you couldn't adjust and worse, Starforce anti-piracy programming that totally destroyed what I was hoping to accomplish with my arcade computer. And later on, Starforce was incompatible with Windows 7, rendering the games useless. Oh well, I can still play it on my Dreamcast....
Back in 2000 games like Hydro Thunder really shown that Dreamcast wasn't the same generation as PlayStation, or even "slightly better one". It was an entirely different platform that could compete with Sony and Nintendo. It really feels like a jump in Overall quality of video games. It runs So smooth! Same deal as with Re-volt. But the reality was simple, PlayStation sold really well, and this drawn attention to many developers. Basically keep doing ports for the system, because its So popular, we would get sales eventually. This is probably what killed DC
Ps1 version isnt that bad! It has effects the n64 doesnt have. It feels faster than the n64 version. It has an extra circiut mode. Doesnt load bettween selection like DC and Midway Arcade 3. Of course its not my preffered way to play it,but i saw lazier ports to the ps1 ( like SanFranRush!)
Thanks for the episode! I never got into this game as it always reminded me I'd be better of playing wave race, but for a quick session here and there this is fun!
@@RetroCore I remember reading from magazines at the time that all games in that Midway compilation were emulations of the arcade versions with the exception of Hydro Thunder that was from the Dreamcast, but I could be mistaken. The differences you notice could be poor emulation from each console, with the Xbox having the best one overall but still not as good as playing it on the DC.
The Midway collections are based upon the Dreamcast version for sure but they're not emulation. There is no way even an Xbox could emulated a Dreamcast at such a fluid level.
@@RetroCore can’t wait for it! It’s so intriguing that it went from a PC game to the home console market (PS1) and then to handhelds such as Nintendo DS and even GBA!
Enjoyed this a lot on Dreamcast 👍 Tbh I thought the arcade looked a little basic but fun bitd, probably cause it was based on that PC/Arcade hardware, Segas Model 3 stuff looked way better.
The PS1 version is also MUCH easier! I managed to unlock everything without too much difficulty. But the Dreamcast version really made me experience several gamer rage moments almost causing me to yeet the controller in the wall. Regarding the Xbox 360 maybe you could try the backwards compatibility mode.
If memory serves correct, Gamecube's Nintendo Optical Discs could hold up to 1.46GB because of the laser-encoding on the disc's inner eighth taking up some of the space and using 8cm DVD as a base. That was a root problem for Freaky Flyers and one of the Resident Evil games. The PS2 used DVDs with unique etchings and could go as high as 9GB for a single dual-layer side.
Love this game. I have it for original Xbox. "Midway Treasures 3" I believe it's equal to Dreamcast gameplay except there's a bit of slowdown with the fast boats on the final stages. Also it's brighter, as where other versions have more shading effects. But it makes it easy to see through the dark stages. I did a play of each track on my channel if anyone wants to see it ;)
I have Hydro Thunder for both the Dreamcast and Playstation 2 (on Midway Arcade Treasures 3) and I never realized that it looks darker on Dreamcast compared to the MA3 version on PS2. I prefer the colours on PS2 but I still prefer playing it on Dreamcast just because of the trigger buttons.
I remember back in the day when Midway Arcade Treasures 2 came out, I was really happy with that purchase for Gamecube and when they announced Treasures 3 would be centered around Midway's racing game classics I was hyped since Volume 1 and 2 had hardly no racing games other than Hard Drivin and Roadblasters. I assumed, "Finally we're going to get Arcade perfect ports of Cruis 'n USA, World, and Exotica!" None of those were included and to add insult to injury Midway and Backbone focused it's marketing around Hydro Thunder and San Francisco Rush...two forgettable racers nobody asked for. Ah well but at least Treasures 1 and 2 gave us the essentials of everything else including the first and only port of Spy Hunter 2.
Just from the get go screen. The different versions. I can say for me the Dreamcast one is the best looking one. That said, The PS2 is sharper but, Dreamcast still holds the edge.
There's speedrunners running the N64 and PS1 version, setting some very good times and in the case of the PS1 version, setting times for its circuit mode. They might be inferior but to see those runners in actions, hydro jumping all over the place to gain speed is absolutely amazing to see! Some are even able to chain the hydro jumps on the arcade version to get some amazing times on every tracks. And should you play this game again, never let your boost meter run dry as you lose time if your boosters need to be deployed again.
when compare the size of the gamecube and ps2 versions, the gamecube seens to been 1.2gb size, while ps2 version of this collection in about double in size without compression. But to been honest, its such kind a game im would property not would notice it anyway between those two versions.
Is there a different lens flare effect that’s missing? Just after you said there’s no lens flare in the DC version, one shows up by the rainbow. It’s a bit more subtle than the PC version’s effect though.
@@RetroCore PS3 is was difficult to program (Cell processor, complex architecture👓🔎🥼📈🔬). Every Unreal 3 (engine) based game run way better on Xbox 360. PS3 itself is more powerful than Xbox 360. It's exclusives (PS3) runs buttery smooth.
Yep. I was running this on a Windows 7 PC and it also runs on Windows 10. Just use the hacked version that fixes the 3D Drivers. You can see the name of the hack thought the PC game footage in the botton right of the screen.
I think the PC version might be the closest to the arcade as far as presentation goes (minus the low quality wav everything to fit in memory) Would love to see the arcade files decrypted and a port based off of that
I have to disagree with some of your opinions especially PS1. Even though it looks the worst (but still is a technical achievement) i do believe the PS1 version was by far the best due to having the most content, better control scheme imo and AI without rubberbanding, although i also consider N64 to be second close because it has 4 player split screen support. Dreamcast and PC looks the best but have no online and no extra content than arcade, and PS2 is by far the worst due to having no music and the least content... why? I have no idea. Overall a great game that i hope one day gets remastered. My top: 1) PS1 2) N64 3) Dreamcast 4) Arcade 5) PC 6) PS2
@@RetroCore Not to act like a certain kind of annoying bot (This link IS relevant), but this vid explains a ton: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uR0rN-xR7TQ.html The dude even archived a couple versions for hopefully eventual inclusion in MAME.
@@adamphillip5305 It's clearly there one second after the time stamp and stays on screen for several seconds Another example: /watch?v=kGbMiuYus2c&t=1m20s
Sheesh, that PSX version. Between the warping graphics and the water it almost looks like everything is just sort of made out of jelly. DC version, imo, will always be the best. Don't forget about the code that works on virtually every version of the game to immediately unlock all tracks and boats: (place in any race a position that allows you to input your initials) Type "?PB". No need to fight the unfair AI to unlock all that...
Technically speaking other than the original arcade hardware Hydro Thunder and maybe the PC version (note the arcade machine used a 3DFX VooDoo based 3d chipset and as such, Midway Games (and Atari Games the arcade company) were using a custom version of 3DFX's Glide API to tap as much power out of the arcade hardware as they managed to do. The PC version was released in 2000 and it had to support not just Glide but Direct X or whatever API to run on Windows. Thus all "ports" outside the original arcade version and maybe the PC version are just not really as good, could have been better and back then there was some controversy because Midway Games's ports on the Nintendo 64 shipped with bugs, rushed game builds like Mace the Dark Age and SF RUSH Extreme Racing which came dangerously close to looking almost like the arcade version which really begs the question that if Midway Games had bothered to NOT rush their ports for greedy holiday season sales (just look at their release dates lmao) and instead had bothered to work closer with Nintendo 64 hardware and NOT rush out these games while also polishing them as much as possible... and I mean all the Midway Games ports on N64... then there would have been a dramatic increase in port quality. The biggest evidence of LAZY dev allegations shows up with Hydro Thunder being that it is based on hydrofoil super jet boats and lots of water at least three to four full years after Nintendo's own WaveRace 64 was released. It is clear that no effort was placed in actually using the N64 capabilites or even the hardware and I would make a million dollar bet that if we dragged Sega's CSK CRI dev team to handle Hydro Thunder on the N64 (with their mediocre hit or miss 3d game efforts) that Hydro Thunder would have be closer to the Dreamcast and better and closer to the arcade version hands down. Eurocom were pretty good and back then I felt that maybe they got hit with some rush date schedules so even though they were supposed to know the N64 hardware.. even without the 4MB Ram Pack, the graphics should have been way better... and with the pack even better still. I will somewhat discount the NGC and PS2 versions to a point but that hardware was more powerful than Dreamcast and whoever handled the ports did not seem to really want to try to make the ports special... not saying enhancing the graphics but at least making some slight enhancements to compensate compared to the arcade original. PS1 was not as good at handling these types of games and I am way more interested in a what if scenario where Dreamcast never existed and they made HydroThunder to require the 4MB Ram Cartridge on Sega Saturn for a decent port because even the DC port of Hydrothunder should have been better than it was since the DC in terms of hardware, was supposed to be much higher and faster spec than the arcade original.
