This hack aims to be a layer of polish on a notoriously rough game. Originally released in late 1987 on the MSX as Hydlide 3, it attempted to distinguish itself from other action-RPGs released that year (such as Ys, Sorcerian, and Zelda 2) by emphasizing its more realistic game mechanics. In particular, that included the need to eat, sleep, and watch how much you carry and what you kill. Unfortunately, since these distinguishing features were effectively gameplay limitations, this emphasis made the game overly arduous.

There are two patches provided to choose from: the Refined patch contains a partially-redrawn font, correction of Engrish/grammar/spelling errors, and various wording changes in the UI to reflect modern RPG terminology. Some spells were additionally renamed to better reflect their function. It’s not a retranslation, although Japanese sources were consulted for some changes. A few hints were improved/added, so players should be less stumped. Furthermore, the vague ending had some additional text added, inspired by the fuller MSX ending, to better explain what transpires.

The Refined and Rebalanced patch contains all of the above, and also a broad rebalance of items and monsters. The general aim was to make the game less grindy via increase in rewards, to make monsters less unfairly difficult, and to tone down the aforementioned game mechanics to be less onerous. The early game in particular was made far less frustrating, and the final boss has been toned down so that abuse of an exploit (which is fixed in the rebalance patch) is no longer a near-requirement in order to defeat it.

The overall gameplay experience remains unchanged, however.

• Database match: Super Hydlide (USA)
• Database: No-Intro: Genesis (v. 20210226-213851)
• File/ROM SHA-1: 5FF65139C7E10539DD5A12BDF56073504C998471
• File/ROM CRC32: 1335DDAA