Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A playthrough of FCI's 1989 action-RPG for the NES, Hydlide.
Hydlide has always been one of the more notorious titles in the NES library. It bombed with critics, players hated it, and word spread like wildfire. It was the game that you'd find buried beneath an inch of dust at the video store, and if you rented it, the manual would still smell new. If Santa brought you Hydlide, you knew that you'd screwed up big time. People don't seem to like it much these days, either.
What makes Hydlide interesting is that it's best defined by two seemingly irreconcilable truths: its reputation among players in North America is entirely deserved, and it's a historically significant classic that helped shape an entire genre.
In Japan, T&E Soft's original 1984 PC88 version, its 1985 ports to various Japanese PC platforms, and its 1986 port to the Famicom were popular enough to turn Hydlide into multi-million best-seller. One look at youtu.be/vyW3BngIKJE or youtu.be/KrH2uvC-zog is all that's needed to see the reach of its influence.
The game didn't reach the Americas until FCI released a localized version of the Famicom game at the height of the NES's popularity. They made no attempt to improve or expand upon the game (as Nintendo did for youtu.be/J392i9NKvvo), and in 1989, a 1986 console port of a 1984 PC title held zero appeal for an audience that had already embraced a generation of games built on its innovations. Nobody knew its history, and if they had, they still wouldn't have cared. It was primitive, cumbersome, and repetitive, and no amount of appreciation for its ambitious open-world design and action-based combat mechanics could disguise that.
I hated Hydlide back then. I'm not a huge fan now, but I no longer think of it as a bad game. It's just one that had the misfortune of being put in a position where it was guaranteed to fail.
You can find my playthrough of its 3D remake for the Sega Saturn, Virtual Hydlide, here: youtu.be/IJxFWWQTsKg
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
A playthrough of FCI's 1989 action-RPG for the NES, Hydlide.
Hydlide has always been one of the more notorious titles in the NES library. It bombed with critics, players hated it, and word spread like wildfire. It was the game that you'd find buried beneath an inch of dust at the video store, and if you rented it, the manual would still smell new. If Santa brought you Hydlide, you knew that you'd screwed up big time. People don't seem to like it much these days, either.
What makes Hydlide interesting is that it's best defined by two seemingly irreconcilable truths: its reputation among players in North America is entirely deserved, and it's a historically significant classic that helped shape an entire genre.
In Japan, T&E Soft's original 1984 PC88 version, its 1985 ports to various Japanese PC platforms, and its 1986 port to the Famicom were popular enough to turn Hydlide into multi-million best-seller. One look at youtu.be/vyW3BngIKJE or youtu.be/KrH2uvC-zog is all that's needed to see the reach of its influence.
The game didn't reach the Americas until FCI released a localized version of the Famicom game at the height of the NES's popularity. They made no attempt to improve or expand upon the game (as Nintendo did for youtu.be/J392i9NKvvo), and in 1989, a 1986 console port of a 1984 PC title held zero appeal for an audience that had already embraced a generation of games built on its innovations. Nobody knew its history, and if they had, they still wouldn't have cared. It was primitive, cumbersome, and repetitive, and no amount of appreciation for its ambitious open-world design and action-based combat mechanics could disguise that.
I hated Hydlide back then. I'm not a huge fan now, but I no longer think of it as a bad game. It's just one that had the misfortune of being put in a position where it was guaranteed to fail.
You can find my playthrough of its 3D remake for the Sega Saturn, Virtual Hydlide, here: youtu.be/IJxFWWQTsKg
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
![Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [2 of 3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lxAoyO-gOoI/mqdefault.jpg "Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [2 of 3]
A playthrough of Segas 1998 strategy-RPG for the Sega Saturn, Shining Force III.
This is the second part of a three-part playthrough, showing chapters four and five.
0:00 Chapter 4, Revolt in the Republic of Aspinia
3:52:45 Chapter 5, Tower Ruins of Lookover
Links to the other parts:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/XnPdZvZJIrg
Part 3: https://youtu.be/QXOo3_eBfxw
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
![Pokémon: Blue Version (Game Boy) Playthrough [2 of 2]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n3r6_kMDOV8/mqdefault.jpg "Pokémon: Blue Version (Game Boy) Playthrough [2 of 2]
A playthrough of Nintendos 1998 JRPG for the Nintendo Game Boy, Pokémon Blue Version.
Played on the Super Game Boy.
This is the second part of a two-part playthrough, showing from the Pokémon Tower to the end. After the credits finish (9:32:45), I head over to the post-game dungeon to capture Mewtwo.
You can find part one at https://youtu.be/C0VP4JUkYQg
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
