CrazyBad... downloading based on name alone

Great news. The music in this game is beyond amazing. Hopefully there's some sort of minimal save system this time around. Extra lives at least? Either way, I love this game. Good job Locomalito. Been waiting for this one.

Love games like this! Will definitely check it out, looks great.

Badass in every way.

Game is awesome. :rock

Thanks god!! Hydorah is here!

Been checking the site every now and then an dnow its out! Great stuff, the music and sfx sound genuinely 16bit too

An UTTERLY amazing game. Really, really packed with variety and lovely little touches. So very, very excellent. :)

YEEEEEEEEEES! This is propbably the highest quality free indie release in a long long time!

Joining the chorus here - this is a brilliant game. I'm surprised it's free, as it's probably a better, more full-featured game than the (admittedly also great) Gradius Rebirth on the Wii.

Hats off to Locomalito for producing something so great, and to Gryzor87 for giving us that amazing, beautiful soundtrack. Catchy as hell.

I've fired off notes about this game to a bunch of blogs. I suggest y'all do the same. The more publicized the game is, the better!

Also @Davioware - the game hands out extra lives like candy (you'll need them, though), and you start out with three save tokens, letting you pick your own continue points, and can find more of them later in the campaign.

IT CAME OUT?!!! I am SO playing this after work today!

I can't believe I reached level 2. Probably the farthest I will go. I wish I was japanese..

Btw at the beginning of level 2 there's a flat platform with blinking lights. I thought that was a secret & I tried to land on it. I actually passed through (maybe because I had a shield?), but then nothing happened, I was over the rocky background & eventually died as I touched the waterfall. Bug or secret that I failed?

a true labour of love. extremely charming and polished game!

heres also another mirror just in case the site might be down due to the traffic.
http://www.gamershell.com/download_59664.shtml

The game is epically cool! And epically hard. =)

Luckily I already found the address for infinite lives in Cheat Engine. ^^

Great shooter though it seems I can't get the music to play in game in Windows Vista. Anyone else have that problem?
Works in Winamp etc and I've tried retreiving the saudio.dll file and placed that in the program directory so I'm really not sure what the issue could be.
Thinking of re-encoding all the files and see if that works.

I have Vista too, and it works properly...and also winamp. Maybe the mp3 decoder?...

I already hate this game now. I wish we could have halos around bullets, usually I don't even see why I die, most shots look like floating debris, & it's worse when they pass behind bonuses.

I get no sound either (Windows XP).

I can't even get it to start right...:c

It gets past the thing about 80's game standards, then has a RAM OK, ROM OK, and then...it goes to a black screen with a big white grid and stops responding...

I only had time to play for 1 hour or so, and I have to say that it's awesome in every possible way. I made it to the 4rth stage, but I think I had practise with the demo, because it's still so hard. Good job to locomalito, this is brilliant.

While it's over all an excellent game, I have a couple complaints.

Taking damage due to crashing into a wall is extremely frustrating. I think I've died as much from the terrain as I have from the enemies.

Though I haven't made it far enough yet for it to be an issue, only three saves is going to be a game-killer. Considering how much I die on a single level, I can't picture myself beating several levels on a single continue. I vastly prefer the Hero Core/VVVVVV school of design, where if you fail you only have a few seconds of backtracking.

It's a shame, because otherwise it's an excellent and polished game.

I think Hydorah is designed so that you probably don't just play through it in one go, anyway. For starters, you could save after every level. This way, you could replay each of them as often as you like without any disadvantages. But, by the time you've made it through the first three levels several times, you're probably advanced enough to play the game again without saving every level.

I also had my problems, but I'm now good enough at the first three levels that was I able to play through them "perfectly" and only save the first time after them, so I can go on playing and "learning" the following ones. And that's the fun kind of learning, of course, as I also wouldn't have the patience to endure much frustration.

Played through it with infinite lives. :-P

I must say the difficulty is strange - it doesn't necessarily go up, all the levels are similarly hard with what you have at hand any given time, in my opinion. The bosses are a bit too easy compared to going through the actual levels, that's just my impression (and no, infinite lives didn't change anything in that =).

I would LOVE to have a third button that would slow down the ship for precise movement. Some environmental "puzzles" are extremely difficult when you have turbo at level 10...

I don't know why this title appeals to me so much, reminds me of something I used to play on my Amiga which for the life of me I cant remember the name of (ew bad grammar).

Anyway, really good stuff. And PixelProspector, thanks for the mirror link.

I revise my earlier opinion about saves- like MisterX said, going back and replaying the first two levels is much easier than the first time through.

Levels 3 and 4 (bottom path) are quite easy, so if I use my second save after Level 5 I should be able to make it a bit farther. (Assuming I get past 5... damn bugs!)

Bloody brilliant! Been waiting to play the finished full version of this for a while now and I'm not disappointed. This game is far better than Gradius Rebirth, in fact, I wish this was Gradius Rebirth (I actually prefer the name Hydorah, but I wish this game was the remake that came out on WiiWare rather than the Gradius Rebirth that exists on WiiWare right now).

I don't think this game is THAT hard, I have played quite a few shmups in my lifetime and while this can be hard in areas it really is not much harder than several dozen other shooters out there.

Shmups are the type of genre you have to play over and over and over to get better and better at. They're usually about patterns and figuring out those patterns. They become easier the more you play them, not because they actually become easier, but because you actually become better. These definitely aren't games for people with short attention spans and little-to-no patience though.

Hydorah is a great action game on it's own and I would encourage everyone to at least try this amazing free game out at least for a bit, then decide whether or not it's your type of game.

Definitely a good day for Shmup and action game fans though!

I've been wanting to get my shmup fix lately, this is awesome. A few levels in, it already seems to have been improved a lot over the demo.

Game is amazing. I just wished A. I was any good at shmups or B. It was slightly easier. I made it a good chunk of the way through stage two, beat the mid-boss and part way through the next area but keep dying. Ugh, as much as I hate to say it I doubt I will ever be able to complete this game.

Only complaint so far (got to the middle giant dot) was that one "gold" boss. I wasn't really that well equipped considering I had laser, lvl 0 Scort, and no bombs.

It was annoying that I was forced to watch that "cutscene" everytime I died.

Otherwise it's a great game. Much easier than the demo (well, I did play the glitchy hitbox version), but I guess it might be due to having actual powerups.

Nice to see a quality indie shooter for once.

This game is great. everything about it is nostalgic. Design style is beyond amazing.
It would be nice to have a mac release, this runs about half framerate on my vmware windows xp ):

Is anyone else having sound issues on level 2? For some reason, the first section of the level's music doesn't work, the first boss's music repeats the first three seconds continuously, the second part plays the first three seconds and stops, and then the second boss doesn't have music at all. The music works after the level 3 boss starts, though. Odd.

>These definitely aren't >games for people with >short attention spans and >little-to-no patience >though.

It's still no requirement for a shmup to be hard. Xenon 2 is memorable, & was easy. It's just that there are 2 kinds of shmups, the incredibly hard ones for the japanese market, and easier ones for us normal people. Despite not being made by/for japanese, this one is a tribute to japanese ones & thus over-hard. But IMHO it could still help us noobs, by lowering the difficulty after you have replayed like 100x the same level. Instead it does the opposite, you die and the game says "oh you died, the game is too difficult? Here, you're gonna restart with even less weapons now, eat that!".
I wish there was an easy mode in which you wouldn't be able to see the game's ending (some games were doing that). It would allow us to see more than the first 2 levels, while hardcore gamers would still have access to something we wouldn't have any chance to see.

To help with sound issue,
I found this at shmup forum:

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=153450

Download that, and put the saud.gml and the saud.dll file in the game folder.

Music problems solved!

Hope it works...

Anon:

Boss patterns do get easier if you are low-powered, so there are some dispensations for the weak.

I think it's ok that the game is hard as long as it's not unfair - and it's not unfair (it's also not that hard - it's a pretty mid-range shmup difficulty-wise, really).

Co-Op would be really nice.

Capcom or Konami should hire Locomalito, so he could unleash his imagination and skills to the fullest!

this game is awesome

If Capcom or Konami hired Locomalito then he COULDN'T unleash his imagination and skills to the fullest. That's how big companies are.

For some reason I can't play it in windowed mode.

Pure awesomeness!
Been eagerly awaiting this and it did not dissapoint. Great work in every way.

Ket's keep this one short. The game? Awesome! Simply amazing. Music? so good. It's like I fired up the old SNES again. Difficulty? Oh good lord. I though I was ready. I'm just not as good as I thought, and need to learn to watch all sides of the screen. SOmetimes it's a mini-bullet hell. Voice acting? unexpected and awesome. I can't beat level 2, but I'm sure I'm gonna be stingy with the saves.

>Boss patterns do get >easier if you are low->powered, so there are >some dispensations for >the weak.

you sure? I only reached the miniboss of level 2, it didn't seem any different. At the same time, those first bosses aren't that hard compared to the rest of the game, that's where the problem is.

This game is the best thing. Play it immediately.

This game engages you in a way that modern games these days fail to do with shiny graphics and hollywood teams.

It is unforgiving and excellent!

I also find some shmups a tad too difficult (Gradius V, Ikaruga), but this seems just about right. Hard enough to be interesting, but not too hard. Especially with the save system.

So this is why the sever lagged as I tried to download it earlier in the afternoon! I shall have to download it later after all the first timers have.

I still have problems with the sound. I downloaded this at shmup forum:

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=153450

I put the saud.gml and the saud.dll file in the game folder but the sound is still bad.

Anyone else with the same problem?

3 saves might be JUST too little for comfort... I could beat it with 6 or 5, but now there's a good chance I'll never see the ending.

Trying to perfect run the two first stages is hard...

Too much S/M.

The game ran in slow motion here. I solved it by plugging in my xbox controller. I've noticed this behaviour before with another game (Coptra), no idea what causes it. Maybe useful for someone else experiencing a similar problem.

Indie Game Of the Year...Possibly.

muh: I was told that it is a general Game Maker problem. If a gamepad is "registered"(?) in the system, it has to be turned on/plugged in, otherwise it will cause that problem.

It seems odd that something like this isn't solved, yet, but it apparently it doesn't always happen.

Damn that playthrough is looking nice! Any idea when the rest will be finished? (I noticed you have part 6 on your youtube channel)

If you're looking for the location of the secrets, here are hints on how to get all six of them.

http://i48.tinypic.com/1zpgtv5.jpg
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31721
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3312379

"My understanding is that the good ending is only if you also destroy those 3 red orbs (desert level, scylla, black temple), which are seeds or something. If you kill hydorah not having done that, you get a bad ending, but I have not seen that ending because I destroyed the orbs.

The three secrets you are missing, are first an egg that you get if you wait a bit after the final boss dies on galactic inferno or whatever its called, the level that starts with the statement about the warcore. Second a chest that is in the black temple right near the end before you get to the sword room there is a gap on the right (last one) that is a tunnel and the chest is in there, although I got hurt getting it but you should have the shield from your true hero win. Third, if you enter the last level with light those three spinning fiery orbs near the beginning will be replaced with a secret called reverse spanish lyrics." - from Big Sean, Something Awful forums

Or you can watch videos of all six secrets being collected instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOHOO6VV2kU

Found a fix for the music problem.
Seems it was a decoder problem I guess.
I'm not sure why but ffdshow prompted me with a window that asked me if I wanted to use it. I checked yes and the music worked fine ever since.
So I suppose its best to find a codec pack with ffdshow in it and get it to run to help decode it.
I guess other packs or systems might not have a decoding problem so it might have to do with certain types etc. Its hard to tell.
Also the music worked fine in any audio player I run so I think it also has to do in part with the saudio.dll having a little trouble decoding on its own with some systems.

Hope that helps someone.

The game is great btw. I totally love it.
Though the weapon progression feels a tad odd, the level select helps it out a bit... er, it would if you could anyway, I just checked that I guess you cant go back to an earlier level?
Maybe after beating it once? Guess I need to play it more.

Also if you compare this with Gradius Rebirth... well... it makes that game look really cheap and lazy.
More levels, more graphics, more music, more weapons, and its free. Really now, the "pro" companies need to step it up a few notches.

Music is very early 90s as well.

Anyway great stuff. dont be afraid of the difficulty. You're supposed to die, get used to it, its a shot em up. Keep playing and show the game whos boss.
Just be glad you dont have to keep a pocket full of quarters. :P

What I don't like about this game is crashing. Now that I think I mastered it, I can make my way up to the penultimate level, but like 90% of my deaths are from crashing with the walls.

Hey thanks, shadow1w2, your hint about ffdshow finally fixed my audio as well.

Great game! Love the music too... It's much too difficult for me though, but I will come back to it, and try again. Feels like a REAL GAME again... ;)

ffdshow fixed my audio!

thanks!

Those who solved the music issue with ffdshow, what did you download? I downloaded what seemed the last version but it didn't help.

This game is AMAZING. I really like the artwork and the music is perfect, nice 'blazing star' style space beats I like. Thanks to the maker for making this a free game because it's an absolutely polished, quality game that easily beats most commercial shmups

Finally beat Galactic Inferno after several days of playing off and on. You want to snap your keyboard in half every time you game over, but you feel like a goddamn champion when you pull it off.

I also found myself swearing in rage just like playing games in the 80s

Still got the sound problem. Tried downloading saud.dll and ffdshow, played around with the seettings in ffdshow but nothing helped.

Any idea what the problem might be?

Well. That was an amazing game. Took me a few days to beat, but was totally worth it.

owns.

This is absolute perfection.

I think that the one thing that really needs fixing is the Scort (escorts) subweapon.

And no, it's fine in terms of what it does, but what's lacking is an explanation on control.

Before today, moving the ship forward or backward would make the escorts move along in those directions. That was good, until I paused the game today, and they didn't do that at all. Restarting the game did NOT cure this.

But I discovered something else: holding SHIFT down as you moved caused them to move again, AND you could LOCK them in a "V" in front or behind your ship. Nifty feature, but a little explanation on it SHOULD have been included in the first place.

Or, better still, how does one switch between locking them in position to auto-movement? Will the creator of the game address this issue, please?

I can't believe you got Tommy Wiseau as a voice actor!

Saviour-V: I don't think that's an intended feature. I only found out that pressing the left and right arrow simultaneously caused the ship to stand still, while the scorts would be locked behind the ship. I think that's rather a bug, though I still occasionally use it to concentrate the fire.

But, I just noticed that using W, D, A and S to move the ship doesn't influence the scorts at all, so paired with the arrow keys you can indeed move the scorts totally independendtly from the ship. However, again, I think that's rather a bug, not a feature.

By the way, I also think that it's not intended because pressing or holding Shift doesn't do anything in the game on my system.

XP user here too & no music. I've put the saud.gml, sausio.dll files in the game folder and even in music folder, even setting 'hydorah.exe' to run in ffdshow audio config.

There's another (Game Maker) game that I have where the music doesn't play. Perhaps this is the root of my problem.

Ah-Ha!!! I remember now. Another Game-make Game wouldn't play any music unless I had a media player open (in my case Creative PlayCenter) and I'd need to have a song paused. Then, and only then would the game play the music. 8-D

& I don't understand why it does that.

To anyone else using Windows XP and not able to hear the games music (even after trying the other fixes) - try this. I hope it works for you. :-)

MisterX, you're right; it might be a bug.

Anyway, on my side, my Scorts no longer have auto-movement, but they can be controlled by holding Shift and moving left to focus them behind me, or right to focus them in front of me.

Pressing Shift again once they're in those focused positions locks them until I press Shift and either Left or Right. That form of control does seem a bit dodgy at points, though.

thanks shadow1w2!
installing ffdshow fixed the music problem for me too :)

Finally beat it. Even got the good ending! I owe Locomalito five bucks.