Dreamcast hydro thunder
![dreamcast hydro thunder dreamcast hydro thunder](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X-ceorjRI4Y/maxresdefault.jpg)
The boats themselves come in a variety of shapes and sizes and all have their individual quirks. If you can come in first (a tall order) the beyond awesome bonus tracks are yours to peruse. The boats available have some of the highest top speeds but are a bitch to control, presenting the toughest challenge yet. Here the boats on offer are faster but have their own handling quirks and second place is needed to advance to Hard mode. The easy courses offer 3 tracks and 3 simplified boats to choose from with your successful placement in the top three opening up the Medium difficulty. There is no career mode with the game instead broken down into tiers with steeper requirements needed for progression. You do have to be careful as you can unwittingly knock your opponents ahead of you at the worst possible moments. Hell you don’t even need to limit yourself to that, innocent passersby can also get it to and it’s hilarious to see a fully loaded cruise ship sent careening into the sky.
#DREAMCAST HYDRO THUNDER FULL#
You can catch some serious air (literally 5-6 seconds) if you hit a ramp at the right speed but more importantly at full speed your depending on how heavy your boat is you can send rival racers flying. More than just for going faster the boost can be used for a variety of purposes. Boost is measured in seconds with blue granting 4 and red granting an incredible 9 seconds. The gameplay is heavily focused around managing your boost and mastering this skill is absolutely crucial to success.
![dreamcast hydro thunder dreamcast hydro thunder](https://i.etsystatic.com/6938670/r/il/1e6518/2482664943/il_fullxfull.2482664943_se5x.jpg)
It’s entirely possible to go through each three or four times and still discover something new each go round which is an accomplishment in itself. Each individual track has loads of shortcuts and out of the way boost items to pick up and are massive in scope. With few exceptions most races are only one lap meaning you only have a limited window to hustle up to first place. Much like that game you’ll fight the other racers just as much as the “tracks” themselves as you jockey for position. The best way to sum up HT is Midway’s own San Francisco Rush except with speedboats. Though missing some of the features of those versions (the career mode exclusive to the PS and the four player split screen of the N64) the stable frame rate and beautiful graphics more than make up for it. Originally released in the arcade in 1998 Hydro Thunder was ported to the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 however this Dreamcast port would actually turn out the best.
![dreamcast hydro thunder dreamcast hydro thunder](https://www.pixelheart.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Hydro-Thunder-Dreamcast-Screenshot2.jpg)
Remember the early prototypes of Wave Race 64? That is basically what you are getting with Hydro Thunder. Hydro Thunder was not only one of the best launch games but an excellent game in general. One third party who offered up the strongest support was Midway, who had Mortal Kombat Gold, Ready to Rumble and the excellent Hydro Thunder available on launch day. However the Dreamcast launch would go down in history as one of the most successful of all time due to a wide range of killer software.
![dreamcast hydro thunder dreamcast hydro thunder](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8a/f4/3a/8af43a5413634ff586abe4a99cd0c5d9.jpg)
After all the Saturn had a pretty miserable exit and its handling in the US left a bad taste in gamer’s mouths. When Sega reentered the home console market with the Dreamcast no one knew what to expect.