Hybrid was founded by two guys, Hoson and LowTec back in the winter of 1993. The group quickly died, but later re-emerged, and then they were absorbed by The Dream Team. TDT partnership lasted for about 6 months before the Hybrid members wanted to go their own separate ways. This help lead to the sudden death of TDT, which in itself was a benefit to Hybrid who now had some additional former TDT members in their group.
In 1994 some former Razor 1911 members lead by The Renegade Chemist propositioned the idea about a merger and the creation of a new group. So Eclipse was born and for a while during 1995 they became a powerhouse of the scene. The Hybrid name was bought back by some former members who were now in Eclipse. It became an off-shoot and released only games that were copied off CDs (CD-rips) as oppose to Eclipse who only released floppy disc games. It was coincidentally around this time the floppy disk scene quickly died (due to the game developers suddenly changing formats) and Hybrid become one onto it's own. And for awhile just like Eclipse before it, it became a major force in the scene. Hybrid is generally considered to have had two peaks, one during the Christmas release rush of 1995 and the other during the similar period in 1996. It was the first group to ever exclusively release only CD-Rips following a set guideline using disk limits.Here is a snippet of an interview Hoson, a Hybrid founder did with in The Naked Truth 4.
M: So suddenly you stood independent... but not for long.. ?
H: No I was in a group called 'Agile' for awhile.. (together with Undertaker!). Then I was totally independent and got myself a 386.... started calling the PITS and leeching like hell...
I was helpin Razor out a little bit.... I first got in contact with Razor during 1992 when we had the CLASSIC-RAZOR coop... So I was still in contact with Sector 9 and Zodact... so I gave some PC-originals to Razor ... (I actually stole a bunch from THG and gave them to Razor hahaha!) ... but I was never a member...
M: So, after helping RAZOR out, it was time to found a new group.. Pyradical ?
H: Well, I wasn't involved in the forming of Pyradical in anyway, I was just independet and one day I was speaking to Zelnik and he asked if I wanted to join, so I sad ok sure.... So I got in contact with The Panterh, Wolverine, The Magic Artist, LowTec and some other peeps... 2 months later Pyradical died so I picked up the valuable parts and formed Hybrid... this was in February 1993...
M: Hybrid ran for a 6 months period, then you merged up with TDT, why ?
H: Well, we were never really 'competing' with the other groups, we were just there somewhere in the background putting out a game here and there.. So I figured I would be fun to rule the scene instead, so Hard Core asked me one day in a msg on Unlawful Entry if I wanted to join TDT, so I sad, ok sure...
M: At the same time as Hybrid merged TDT, another group called Legend (not the one coming out of TRSI and RAZOR) joined in for a while, but later got kicked out... can you tell me something about why ?
H: Legend was an outcast of Razor, and they could only get games from one company (MECC) ... so after a discussion with Hard Core we decided to threw 'em out... I never really liked the idea of having 5 people in a group when only 1 of the 5 is capable of doing something and the rest are his friends if ya know what i mean
M: Yep... So time went and TDT was running smooth... then one day, TDT was declared dead... why and what did you do ?
H: I dunno why really, but I though the name Hybrid was cool any everything so
I got this mad idea I'd just break out from TDT and form Hybrid again... or
something like that (I think I was in NEXUS for awhile inbetween somehow,
but I have no idea why!)..... So that's what I did... and when I told
Hard Core about it he decided to quit the scene....
M: So he did.. and Hybrid re-opened... Hybrid was now powered with some new blood from TDT... this time the group ran a bit better than before... but in between all these merges and splits, you got busted, for what ?
H: That's a secret.. but I did get busted like three or four times... hehe...
M: After running Hybrid for a while, you decided to merge up with the guys from old RAZOR into the new group eclipse.. what can you tell me about this ?
H: Well, TRC called me up one day, saying: -Hi, this is TRC let's make a new group. I said: -Hmm... let me think about it for 2 minutes... OK good idea let's rock! ... so we rocked for some months... and then summer came etc. and I guess we all became a bit lazy, I was drunk all the time we had a release etc. and everything was going straight to CD so I had this brilliant idea, let's reform Hybrid again, and only release CD-rips... and why not have our own installer, just to implement some quality to the releases... but Eclipse is still there ... putting out any floppy we can get our hands on..... :)
M: So how do you look at the fact the floppies died, internet spread all warez in minutes and everyone could get anything 0-days.. ?
H: Actually, I don't give a fuck... the good thing with the fact that floppies disappeard is that not just anyone can go and release any game just coz they get it fast... well, we've all seen what happens when you try to mix CD-ripping with speed.... 20disk add-on fixes and shit... pathetic... that's where we have the advantage... I think if there were two versions of the same game, people would download the Hybrid version before anyone else... or if the Razor released something some unknown shit group released two days before, people would pick the Razor version, just coz they know which people are able to actually do something that worth downloading... the fact that everything is spread over the internet in 0 seconds doesnt bother me at all, since they can't move a Hybrid release until we let them :)=
Did you know Hybrid made a one off Christmas magazine that was release on Christmas eve 1996?
You can also read an interview with Excessive Knight, a Hybrid cracker in The Naked Truth 5. The Naked Truth 4 , Defacto2 #1 and Inquisition 5 have interviews with Hoson, and issue number 2 has an interview with Chainsaw Massacre.
History brief
1992 . Former The Dream Team members quit and form Pyradical
1993 . Pyradical dies and the new group Hybrid is formed
1993 . Hybrid merges into The Dream Team
1993 . After six months the merge is over and Hybrid goes their own way. Soon after The Dream Team dies
1994 . Hybrid team up with some former Razor 1911 members to create Eclipse
1995 . Eclipse become a powerhouse in the scene but only releases floppy disc games
1995 . Game publishes over night literally stop releasing floppy disc titles
1995 . Two CD-rip groups emerge from Eclipse, Dynamix and Hybrid
1995 . Hybrid releases Virtual Pool, it is the scene's first official CD-RIP
1995 . Dynamix and Hybrid merge under the Hybrid brand and Hybrid dominates the 1995 Christmas rush
1996 . Dynamix splits from Hybrid leaving the group as an internet only European based group
1996 . During the Christmas rush Hybrid reaches their second and final peak
1997 . Hybrid releases Diablo 2, the most anticipated release of the year. But it breaks the SPA rules Hybrid agreed to and shows that the future of the RIP scene is uncertain
1997 . Hybrid dies and then over the next few years they try and make many various unsuccessful comebacks