Review: Super Hydorah – New Ideas Meet Old-School Gameplay In This Superb Indie Effort

Much more than a tribute act.

Dedicated 2D shoot ’em up fans might represent a small subset of Switch owners, but they’ve been pretty well catered for. There’s a growing roster of brilliant Neo Geo shmups like Aero Fighters 2 for them to call upon, and just recently they were given the rather splendid R-Type Dimensions EX. It’s to the latter series, as well as Gradius, that Super Hydorah tips its hat. This is a tough side-scrolling shooter with a pronounced retro aesthetic that evokes Irem’s and Konami’s late-’80s work.

Anyone who’s played a classic shmup should take to Super Hydorah like a duck to water. You pilot a nimble but fragile little spacecraft into battle against an overwhelming – but ultimately predictable – wave of enemy combatants. Returning fire is a simple matter of holding down the B button, which will prompt your craft to spew out an endless stream of bullets. Destroying enemies will cause them to drop coloured collectables, which bolster your main or secondary weapons, or grant you a temporary shield.

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