Super Hydorah

This is an old-school 2D shooter that serves as an effective tribute to the classics while successfully managing to inject some fresh ideas of its own. Super Hydorah doesn't reinvent the side-scrolling shmup, but it does kit it out with some cool new gadgets. At $19.99 / £17.49 it's perhaps a little on the pricey side, but fans of the genre will see this as money well spent.

Super Hydorah follows the footsteps of old-school 2D shooters of the 16-bit era and inevitably, the result is a game with a very demanding difficulty level (which ventures into frustration at some moments), along with some very eye-filling visuals. Super Hydorah is an experience that lives up to the 2D shooters of other days and a very worthy effort within the Nintendo Switch catalogue.

Overall, Super Hydorah takes the classic shmup mold and bolts on its own unique elements to produce something new and bold. Definitely give it some consideration the next time you’re strolling through the eShop.

Super Hydorah does a lot of things right, and is a great homage to the classic shoot 'em ups. There is a constant push to be better, whether that is to get a new high score, speedrun the campaign, or perhaps to finish without using continues, and the replayability comes from the arcade experience. While the challenge might not be for everyone, friend decreases it, and the nostalgia and modern polish make it worth the struggle.

Super Hydorah has all the ingredients to become an instant classic, taking the best of the best in the genre, and masterfully combining it. It could be better with a more balanced difficulty, but we are not going to complain about a result that the geniuses of Locomalito and Gryzor87 have brilliantly solved. If you like shoot'em up, Super Hydorah cannot be missing from your collection.

A solid if unspectacular entry into the shoot ‘em up stable, Super Hydorah at least provides a decent amount of bang for your buck.

A great -but short- homage to the old shoot'em up classic that is as hard as satisfying.

Overall I really can’t find any significant fault of note in the game, it plays well, borrows some classic concepts while still doing things its own way, and even offers hidden bonuses in each level that more obsessed fans should enjoy trying to find. The branching paths don’t simply make you choose to move ahead, you can circle back and hit everything if you’re determined to give yourself as many options as possible. Make no mistake, this has old school arcade sensibilities so while it won’t be stealing your quarters the first time you try to get through some stages you’re going to get taken down by some environmental surprises in some stages. All in all it’s a great arcade shooting experience that feels like it was lost back in the 80s and just rediscovered. Highly recommended for classic arcade shooter fans!

I will admit that I was simply unable to beat Super Hydorah for this review. Some may think I gave up too quickly, but I easily put in 8-10 hours and countless continues in my attempt to beat a 2 hour game and probably got through 80-90% of it. While reasonably priced at $19.99, I can’t recommend this to any besides truly hardcore fans of the SHMUP genre. I appreciate what Locomalito and Gryzor87 were attempting here. There’s a lot of good in this game and it is a fond nod to the genre, but sadly the good is hidden behind hardcore game design and frustrating decisions. Ultimately, I was more of a fan of Cursed Castilla EX. That said, I appreciated the opportunity to tackle Super Hydorah, and will look forward to the next game by this team.

Super Hydorah is a game that reaches across the gaming sphere to hardcore gamers and newbies alike. With game play that's easy to pickup and has a lot to build on, the game is both friendly and challenging. Super Hydorah has the feel of an old space shooter, with a few twists you can expect from the indie genre.