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Super Hydorah: new old-school shoot 'em up by Locomalito

yurinka

yurinka

Member
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Recently Locomalito and Abylight released Maldita Castilla EX on Xbox, Steam and PS4. Seem's they are back with Super Hydorah! :D

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Destructoid said:
It's been a while since we've spoken about Locomalito, but some of you surely know the cherished freeware developer for its familiar but fresh-feeling games like Maldita Castilla (a veritable must-play for Ghosts 'n Goblins fans) and The Curse of Issyos (which is foolishly still on my backlog).

Following its remaster of Maldita Castilla as Cursed Castilla for PC and consoles last year, Locomalito and Abylight are now planning to give the branching-path shoot-'em-up Hydorah a similar treatment with Super Hydorah. It's another good'un! The developer calls the game a "true son" of the classics Gradius, R-Type, and Darius, and it would've been my next pick as a candidate for re-release.
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https://www.destructoid.com/locomalito-s-next-remaster-is-shoot-em-up-super-hydorah-414999.phtml

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Abylight said:
Features
  • Old-school gameplay: easy to learn, damn hard to master!
  • 16-32 bit era look and feel
  • 21 levels divided into 35 sublevels, 35 bosses and more than 100 enemies
  • 3 game modes: single player, co-op multiplayer and a robot control spin-off
  • Non-linear level layout with route selection
  • Dangers of different nature in each level (not just bullets)
  • Weapon selection menu, power ups and unlockable new weapons in every mission
  • Original soundtrack with 60+ tracks
  • Secret objects and special heroic ending
  • Secrets, achievements and rank system
  • CRT Monitor effect
Click to expand...
http://abylight.com/super-hydorah-announced_no_34/

superhydorah_578.png



Locomalito's website
Locomalito is a one-man-army dev: he's the only designer, artist and programmer of his games. His friend Gryzor87 helps him with the soundtracks and sound design. The webside includes freeware PC versions of his games, including the original version of this game, Hydorah:
https://www.locomalito.com


Maldita Castilla EX / Cursed Castilla
Their previous game an enhaced version of Maldita Castilla with new content, recently ported to PS4, XBO and Steam with the help of Abylight. It's a homage to arcade classics like Ghost n Goblins, Tiger Road, Black Tiger, Shinobi, Rygar, Karnov, Rastan or Trojan.
Steam user score: 98%
Maldita Castilla EX / Cursed Castilla Neogaf thread
Official website (Locomalito)
Official website (PS4 release, Abylight)
Trailer
Gameplay trailer
malditacastillaex_522.gif
 
C

Crab Milk Mickey

Member
Lord British said:
Be interested in some more impressions of Castilla, I've got enough Steam card money to pick it up.
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Posted this in the OT:

Crab Milk Mickey said:
Been playing the PC release for a while now and this game is criminally underrated. I'd put it up there with the likes of Shovel Knight with regards to how polished and faithful it is to the era of videogames it's paying tribute to, while still offering enough ideas of its own to differentiate itself from the source material. Maldita Castilla also successfully makes you feel like a bad-ass; your actions may appear simplistic, but due to the limitations imposed to the player combined with how precise the hit- and hurtboxes are, some of the pixel perfect clutch moments feel extremely gratifying once you (spontaneously or otherwise) pull them off.

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These kind of situations - whether they're deliberate by the developer or not - still end up posing a very fair challenge too, thanks to the snappy controls. If it wasn't for the aforementioned accuracy in hit detection in conjunction with all of your abilities feeling perfectly responsive, then the difficulty curve would've certainly been rubbish instead of the incredibly delicate balance that has been struck. Another element that's commendable about this game's design is how subtle it is in gradually teaching the player, to the point these are susceptible to being unnoticed. There's some easy-to-overlook signposting going on with the environment that can assist you in dealing with certain matters, such as for example inconspicuous landmarks that actually highlight 'ideal' positioning vs obstacles or an unobtrusive tutorial for a specific kind of secret you need to acquire. A lot of thought was put into Maldita Castilla, down to the smallest of details and it was absolutely needed given the intent of clearing this game with no continues (or a minimal amount of them anyways) if you want to squeeze the most out of it.

Bottom line: charming pixel art, catchy old-school soundtrack, sufficient replayability for completionists and just all-around stellar gameplay matched with strict yet reasonable hardships. Doesn't happen often either that I have the drive / motivation to attempt 1CC'ing or no-hitting a game, yet Maldita Castilla passes that 'test' with flying colors.
Click to expand...
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Lord British said:
Be interested in some more impressions of Castilla, I've got enough Steam card money to pick it up.
Click to expand...

It's the best "modern retro" game since Shovel Knight and by far the most underappreciated game of 2016. It's one giant love letter to the 80's and early 90's, with Ghosts n' Goblins being its main influence. Buy it.
 
Y

Yes Boss!

Member
Lord British said:
Thanks for the impressions - I'll be picking Castilla up tonight. :)
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Super legit. I did not even know about these until I saw a listing for Castilla on the japanese PSN store. Then found out it was already on my XB1. Seriously one of the best games I played last year. The allegiance to old arcade format for that particular title is insane. So hoping the other title would simay get ported.
 
A

a harpy

Member
Kinda upset I can't buy Super Hydorah and play it right now. Maldita Castilla looks pretty amazing. I've never even heard of these before, but they're right up my alley.
 
C

Crab Milk Mickey

Member
a harpy said:
Kinda upset I can't buy Super Hydorah and play it right now. Maldita Castilla looks pretty amazing. I've never even heard of these before, but they're right up my alley.
Click to expand...
The vanilla version of Hydorah is freeware on Locomalito's website if you're looking for a stopgap of sorts.
 
L

lenanena

Neo Member
Ohh, that game looks really nice :). I like that they are trying to do different things in the shmup genre, and not only bullets and more bullets :)
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Cursed Castilla EX is on sale right now on Steam. As a big G&G fan I picked it up, and it's surpassed my expectations. Especially the sound!

I'll have to check out Super Hydorah! Love me some Gradius, and Konami sure isn't going to do another.
 
A

Aokage

Pretty nice guy (apart from the blue shadows thing...)
Locomalito is a god among men. I'll be all over Super Hydorah.

Yes Boss! said:
I did not even know about these until I saw a listing for Castilla on the japanese PSN store.
Click to expand...

Same here! I was intrigued by a mysterious Makaimura-like that appeared from nowhere on JPSN and from there explored the living legend that is Locomalito.
 
S

Syril

Member
I played the original version way back when, but couldn't get into it because of the weird save/continue system it used.
 
N

Naeval

Member
Hi there!

Super Hydorah is planned to be released in few days! I mean... 20th of September Xbox One and PC.

What can I say to you... we have performed a nice thread at Tigsource, and personally I think it is one of the best shmups I have played in the last ... 20 years.

So, any doubt, any question you have about this game, it will be a pleasure to help. If you want I think I can put a new thread with thoughts about it (like the thread I did on twitter...in spanish).

And... for you, that are reading this somehow but you are not interested in shmups... why, my friend? (could be I will make a thread of this alone)
 
F

finley83

Banned
This looks pretty good, any plans for a DRM-free release on PC? Alternatively will the Steam release be able to start without Steam running?
 
D

Dezzy

Member
This game is out now. Anyone playing it? I played the original freeware version and it's a really great game, especially for fans of Gradius/R-Type/Darius type stuff.
I'm not finding anything about a PS4 release anymore though.
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
Dezzy said:
This game is out now. Anyone playing it? I played the original freeware version and it's a really great game, especially for fans of Gradius/R-Type/Darius type stuff.
I'm not finding anything about a PS4 release anymore though.
Click to expand...

Maldita Castilla came to XB1 first as well, I think MS has some sort of deal going with the Game Maker people. It'll come to PS4 before too long.
 
1

1upsuper

Member
I'm several levels in, seeing some new content, and I'm having a blast. It's really great. Locomalito never disappoints. If you have ever enjoyed a horizontal shmup, you should seriously get Super Hydorah. Locomalito has the rare quality of understanding the essence of the games that inspire him paired with his ability to always convey that understanding in his games. And if you liked Hydorah, getting this is a no brainer.

If anyone found the original Hydorah too demanding, you should know that Super Hydorah has a non-limited save system and infinite continues (though your score will drop to zero if you continue). However, the levels are checkpoint based, and a game over will require you to start the level you were on from scratch.

The progression system, branching paths, and secrets are all great too.

Is someone gonna make an OT for this game? It seriously deserves one, though this thread will probably suffice.
 
M

M3d10n

Member
@MUWANdo said:
Maldita Castilla came to XB1 first as well, I think MS has some sort of deal going with the Game Maker people. It'll come to PS4 before too long.
Click to expand...

The team behind it ended up creating their own Game Maker-compatible C++ engine for the 3DS port of Cursed Castilla, so ports to other platforms are now a possibility.
 
C

Candescence

Member
This game would be perfect for a Switch port, the two-player co-op was practically made for individual joy-con multiplayer, even if control sticks aren't exactly ideal.
 
S

Samuray

Member
Just saw the review for the X1 version in a German gaming mag, and man, does this game look delicious!!!

I'm wary of buying digitally, though...moreso than ever since many games thankfully get a physical release later on, and while supporting the devs of cool games is always nice, I'm not in a position to constantly double-dip....so I wait.

Any rumbling of a physical release for any console? Not yet, hm?
 
kingbean

kingbean

Member
I bought Super Hydorah on the current steam sale but I haven't played it yet. Looks great. I'll try it out when I get off work.
 
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