Are you ready for a spiritual successor to ... Hydro Thunder? [update]

by Jason Dobson on Jan 24th 2009 3:30PM

Wait, a new arcade game! Water you thinking? Raw Thrills continues to scrape barnacles off the drowning arcade scene; Arcade Heroes reports that the coin-op company is currently working on H2Overdrive, a spiritual successor to Hydro Thunder. Expected to make a splash next week during London's ATEI expo, the game is reportedly being developed by the same team responsible for Midway's speed boat racer, which was first released in arcades in 1999 before boosting to the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and PC.

Details remain light, though given fancy screens like the one above we wonder if this could be the game that finally sends us power sliding back to the local arcade. Yea, probably not.

Update: Looks like this isn't so a rumor as it is a sure thing. 1UP has posted up a preview of H2Overdrive, complete with a video you can watch of the upcoming racer in action without losing any quarters.

[Via VideoGamer]

Source

Tags: atei, H2Overdrive, hydro-thunder, raw-thrills, rumor

Reader Comments (46)

"Water you..."

My god...

I'm ALWAYS ready for more Hydro Thunder. That game got so many of my quarters it's embarrassing. Hopefully this will come to the consoles at some point because all the arcades in my state have shut down, sadly enough..

"Are you ready for a spiritual successor to ... Hydro Thunder?"

Actually yes. Very much yes.

F*&& YES, FINALLY this game was effing Short but the fun factor was of the scale

Full HD..Go
Multilayer over PSN or XBL..Go
More Boats..Go
Definite Purchase..Henshin A Go Go Baby!

Wii exclusive..GO!

How would you feel then?

You mean Blood Wake?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Wake

Bloodwake is nothing like Hydro Thunder other than they both feature boats. Bloodwake is more like Twisted Metal on water, HT is racing.

Hydro Thunder is racing like Mario Kart is racing.

I wouldn't say Blood Wake was like Twisted Metal on water. Blood Wake was broken up into "events", like Burnout 1-3 (or Hydro Thunder). Twisted Metal was more toward the open world end.

But Blood Wake and Hydro Thunder both had a similar graphics style/feel. And both carried over the style of audio and voice overs that really originated with NBA Jam. Where you do something trivial and the game splashes a huge graph across part of the screen and/or the announcer commends you at the top of his lungs.

As someone who has beaten Bloodwake and played plenty of HT, I just don't see the comparison. One game is a mission oriented vehicular combat game and one is a racing game.

Blood Wake? Haha, maybe the box art makes them look similar. They are nothing alike. The color of the water isn't even the same. LOL

HYDRO THUNDERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean hydro thunder

No you were right the first time... HYDRO THUNDERRRRRRRR

Hydro Thunder played in an integral part in my childhood.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HYDRO-THUNDER%2FSIT-DOWN%2FARCADE-VIDEO-GAME_W0QQitemZ180322727750QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090122?IMSfp=TL090122175005r18490

Worth $1000? Signs point to yes.

Me and my bro always go to this pizza place to play hydro thunder, it's a lot of fun

Hydro Thunder!

Wait a sec, water is a conductor, OH SHI-

I thought this was old news? I remember hearing about this awhile ago.

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/23453
Video

Oh, you are soo right. One day is totally old news. But thanks for posting the vid.

Arcades are dead man, just let it go. It makes even less sense to continually pump quarters in to play a game during a recession than it does to buy a game to, ya know, actually own the thing and play it whenever you want.
In fact, the last time I went to an arcade the games took a dollar to play, some well over that. It's a damn rip off!

Unless it is an arcade game that can be successful in the bar scene, like Golden Tee Golf or something, it will ultimately fail as arcades aren't coming back any time soon...if ever.

With that said...My favorite arcade game of all time will always be Daytona USA. The arcade I used to go to always had the audio on those things cranked so high, and there were like 10 against a wall linked together for epic races.

Junior high nostalgia FTW.

You think a dollar is bad? Arcade machines here have always been at least £1 to play, and more recently I've seen loads that cost £2 a go. Arcades have always been a complete rip-off here...

That didn't take long.

As someone who played Hydro Thunder on the Dreamcast and in arcades, that game lost a lot of fun without the boat throttle. Arcades aren't dead, they're not some mythological thing. Heaven forbid that Raw Thrills keeps making arcade games.

Anyone remember Turbo Prop Racing for the PS1? Game was wicked.

HOLY JESUS CHRIS ON A POGO STICK! I LOVED Hydro Thunder! That was probably the only racing game I liked back in the Dreamcast days. If this gets released on the 360 I'm buying it insantly. I don't know of a single arcade in either of the towns I live in though, so I guess I'll just have to hope it does come to the 360...

Cool a new game like Hydro Thunder!!! What's it on? Arcade??? What the heck is that??

My sarcasm detector is broken, but screw you.

I'm floored!

I was lucky in that my Walmart had a Hydro Thunder game in it's entrance area. I topped the leader-board in all but 2 of the races until they moved it after some kid broke the wheel. Hydro Thunder was one of only racing games I liked because it perfected the hidden path. Oh and don't forget the awesome hidden vehicles.

ahh SUck!

Whats the word im looking for... oh right. BITCHEN!

Please come to XBLA and PSN because I loved Hydro Thunder and if there is a game like HT I would buy it.

No. I thought Hydro Thunder sucked.

I played the aracde version only once in my life, and I hated it. It's also the only Dreamcast launch title I didn't buy.

It's the plethora of racing and fighing games that killed the arcade industry. How about designing some games with ACTUAL GAMEPLAY that doesn't involve racing (be it in a car or a boat), or a game where I virtually beat the shit outta someone?

I'll pass.

This is why you aren't a game designer.

We like to leave it to the professionals. You know, the kind of people who know what they're talking about.

Racing and fighting games ruined the industry? I seem to recall that back in the 80's, there were only platform and puzzle games in arcades, and those were the ones that made the industry work. Arcades were built on games that were dead simple to learn but took a while to master.

What do you recommend arcades do?

I admit I would have liked the Dreamcast version of Hydro Thunder to have been deeper than the arcade version, but if you didn't think the game was fun, then I have a hard time believing arcade games were ever your thing at all.

anyone remember jet moto... those games rocked

Holy shit I fucking love you. Been trying to remember the name of that game for like 2 weeks now.

After watching those gameplay videos I have just one question...

WHERE'S MAH DYNAMIC WATER BITCHES!? ಠ_ಠ

Well, maybe not a full-blown arcade, but there's still games at the local bowling alley and movie theater. If they were to replace their ancient Crusin' USA uprights with this, I might forget about the movie entirely.

God, I miss racing games that don't take themselves so seriously. If this were on the PS3 I'd run downstairs and buy it right now.

All I've got to say is: FUCK YEAH!

My friends and I hunkered down in front of my TV and played Hydro Thunder all night on 9.9.99.

Has Hydro Thunder really been out for nearly 10 years!?
I've forgotten how long it has been.

I absolutely loved this game when I was younger, and I still have it on my Dreamcast.

when the fuck do we get a new cruis'n game is what i want to know

I've never heard of this game, but any new arcade release is a welcome bonus.

H2WHOA!

I love Hydro Thunder. I hope the arcade near me gets this.

Here's to hoping they have boat names as awesome as Rad Hazard and Damn the Torpedoes! Better yet, just put them in there.

I had the game on PS1 and it looked like ass. On Dreamcast though, it was freakin' awesome!

The only thing keeping me from going back to arcades is the lack of arcades. Shoot, you wanna talk about "social gaming"? I'd pick the 80's/early-90's arcade scene over XBox Live (or PSN, Wii, etc) *any* day.

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 221 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 161 comments
Blizzard taking Valve to court over 'DOTA' trademark 117 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments

Are you ready for a spiritual successor to ... Hydro Thunder? [update]

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:35PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:35PM Giantenemycrab said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:36PM Nick the Hero of Canton said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:44PM FireAnt360 said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 4:51AM Foetoid said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:44PM spin cycle said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:53PM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:09PM spin cycle said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:28PM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:46PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:03PM bmill3 said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 3:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:05PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:03PM Kamizar said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:07PM Bumcats said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:09PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:13PM Negativecool said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:18PM Negativecool said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 8:09PM Megadanxzero said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 9:35PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:33PM Nick the Hero of Canton said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:53PM Megadanxzero said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 4:53PM patboy2008 said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 9:36PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:08PM Sarzy said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:19PM Sponge said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:29PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 5:56PM NukeAssault said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 7:08PM BlackIceJoe said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 7:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 7:29PM WiredKnight said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 12:27AM BurntMeatloaf said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 7:48PM mRichardy629 said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 10:13PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 8:06PM Megadanxzero said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 12:15AM BurntMeatloaf said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 12:53AM Jack Tretton said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 1:19AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 3:06AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 6:28AM Bowser Rogozhin said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 1:28PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 25th 2009 2:43PM ripvanwinkle said

Posted: Jan 26th 2009 10:34AM Kilraven said

Posted: Jan 26th 2009 2:01PM Kwincy said

Posted: Jan 26th 2009 7:36PM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine Kickstarter passes $1 million in under 24 hours, breaking yet another record

Featured Stories

Barricading 'Dead Souls' within Yakuza's red-light district

WRUP: All the Reckoning

Xbox Live Indie Gems: Nyan Cat Adventure

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days