Hydro Thunder is an inshore powerboat racing video game, originally an arcade game in February 1999 and later released for the Sega Dreamcast as a launch title later that year. It was also released for PlayStation and Nintendo 64 in early 2000. This game is part of Midway's Thunder series of racing games, which includes Offroad Thunder, 4 Wheel Thunder, and Arctic Thunder. Hydro Thunder Hurricane, a sequel to Hydro Thunder, was later released for the Xbox 360 on July 27, 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade. The Dreamcast version received favorable reviews, while the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions received mixed or average reviews, according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Its popularity merited its inclusion on the compilation disc Midway Arcade Treasures 3, which was released in 2005 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Gameplay The gameplay of Hydro Thunder is similar to Sega's Daytona USA. It consists of racing high-tech speedboats through treacherous environments, from the cold seas of the Arctic Circle to a post-apocalyptic version of New York City. Scattered across the tracks are blue and red boost icons. When touched, these icons allow the player who touched them to boost. Red boost icons are more scarce than blue boost icons because they give more boost fuel. When a player has boost fuel, they may use the boost button to boost, which increases the boat's speed and allows the player knock other boats into the air, a feature described by the game as the Mighty Hull. Another aspect of boosting is the Hydro Jump, which is performed by braking and using the boost button. When combined with the many ramps on the tracks, players can reach short cuts and boost icons that would otherwise be inaccessible. The boats in Hydro Thunder are divided into four categories: easy, medium, hard, and bonus. There are three easy, medium, and hard boats and four bonus boats. The easy boats tend to have the easiest handling but do not have the speed of other classes, the hard boats are usually very difficult to control but are very fast, and the medium boats fall in the middle. The bonus boats are a combination of these qualities. The tracks in Hydro Thunder, like the boats, are divided into four classes: easy, medium, hard, and bonus. The easy tracks are usually short and simple, the hard tracks are dark and difficult to navigate,