Hydro Thunder

Hydro Thunder is a 1998 arcade game by Midway Games. It is a boat racer that goes through 10-13 tracks (de

pending on the version) with 13 totally tricked out boats, with names like Tidal Blade and Armed Response.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Hydro Thunder is similar to most other arcade racers, with impossibly fast speeds and a variety of shortcut-dotted tracks. The boost system in this game is also unique, as each boat takes anywhere from instantly to a few seconds to deploy the boosters, which requires strategy if the player wants to take first place. Also, each boat comes with a different boost speed, which is basically how much the boost icons will affect the boat. Boost power-ups come in two forms; Red, which gives 9 seconds of boost, and Blue, which gives 4 seconds of boost. There is also a "Black Boost" which is extremely hard to locate and acquire. It is possible to boost through and entire track if the player is able to get a perfect start and has the locations of key boost power-ups memorized.

Boats
The boats are divided into four categories, Easy, Medium, Hard and Bonus.

Easy
These boats are rather slow and are not highly affected by boost, but have tight steering and good ramming capabilities.
 * Damn The Torpedos
 * Midway
 * Miss Behave

Medium
These boats are a good compromise between speed and turning. They tend to be fairly quick, and have good handling. However, they tend to have poor acceleration.
 * Banshee
 * Tidal Blade - Featured on the Dreamcast edition cover.
 * Thresher

Hard
Hard boats are the fastest in the game, but commonly oversteer to the extreme degree.
 * Cutthroat - One of the most famous boats, commonly used for speedruns.


 * Rad Hazard
 * Razor Back - Featured on the PS1 and N64 covers.

Bonus
These boats are all pretty much misfits. They are for the most part fast, but are used more as a comedic and bragging point.
 * Tinytanic
 * Armed Response - A version of this speeds around in most tracks as a police boat. It has a mounted gun, but does not shoot anyone.


 * Blowfish - Nearly uncontrollable on the Dreamcast and MAT3 version. The only non-boat (it's a hovercraft) in the game, with the possible exception of Rad Hazard, which may be a U.F.O.


 * Chumdinger - This is the only boat with a fully visible driver.

Tracks
The tracks are divided into four categories, Easy, Medium, Hard and Bonus.

Easy

 * Thunder Park
 * Lost Island
 * Arctic Circle

Medium

 * Greek Isles
 * Lake Powell
 * The Far East

Hard

 * Ship Graveyard
 * Venice Canals
 * New York Disaster

Bonus

 * Catacomb
 * Castle Von Dandy
 * Hydro Speedway
 * Nile Adventure