Play Hydlide Online

Hydlide came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, developed by T&E Soft. It was one of the earlier action RPGs on the system, arriving before many of the more polished adventures that would define the genre. You play as a hero named Jim, tasked with saving a princess and her kingdom from a dark curse.

You control Jim from a top-down perspective, moving screen by screen through fields, forests, and dungeons. Combat is simple; you just walk into enemies to attack, but you can switch between attack, defense, and speed stances to adjust your power and movement. The main goal is to find three magical fairies hidden across the land to break the curse. The game is notoriously difficult, with limited health recovery and enemies that respawn whenever you leave a screen. Playing it feels like a constant, deliberate struggle against a stubborn and often unforgiving world.