If you've played through this, then you are the oldest of school
Game-play/Play-Mechanics: Super Hydlide makes a very underwhelming first impression to say the least, as not only are the plot and background not terribly engaging, but the play-control is a little stiff and choppy. You will also begin the game somewhat underpowered and will need to level for a little while to really start your journey, it would be easy for a player to disregard the game as unworthy before ever getting going, especially in present times since there are so many role-players out there. For gamers who persevere, the reward is a respectable but unspectacular quest, yet as it was a new adventure released within the first year on the first 16-bit console, Super Hydlide had some value. The fundamental gameplay is a standard action role-player from a top-down perspective, Zelda 1 would have the closest feel, since the hero can shoot his sword in a similar fashion. The game story leans towards being pretty barebones and it is occasionally confusing to know where to go next, and the background on the quest is lacking substance. The rudimentary questing can still be fun as I like the overworld layout; the dungeon designs and locales are also pretty cool for their time. One thing that stood out when playing the game back then was that all of the structures in the overworld were represented in actual size, and not by an icon or set of steps like other adventure games of the time-period; there is also an authentic real-time day to night progression which was previously uncharted territory for a video-game console. There are only a handful of bosses in the game, but they are tough encounters, and adding to the difficulty is the somewhat sloppy play-mechanics that the game has. This is probably not the type of game that most people would consider investing time with now, but it is an improvement over the original Hydlide for NES, and satisfactory for people who like or want to experience the early 16-bit era of gaming.
Visuals/Artwork: This is not Super Hydilde’s best quality by a long shot, the visuals overall were pretty bland to look at even upon the games’ release, and the animation is choppy which takes some initial adjusting to. Bosses are not very impressive looking either, they are of a decent size and are imposing enough, but the illustration quality falls squarely between an 8-bit and 16-bit game. Backgrounds are often pedestrian and lack enough colors to make them stand out.
Music/Sound: The soundtrack is surprisingly strong for a game with other general production issues; the music features good production quality and has some catchy melodies, nothing especially inventive but an enjoyable soundtrack as you play through the game nonetheless. Despite Super Hydlide being thoroughly average, I still would rather spend time playing a game like this than many of the tedious me-too role-players that have been released from 1997 and on simply for the fact that you are able to accomplish the substantial portions of the game with more efficiency, without all of the filler and excessive and sleep-inducing text that plagues modern role-playing games.