Sword of Sodan

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Sword of Sodan
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts (US, Europe) Sega (Japan) Tec Toy (BR)
Developer: Innerprise Software
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR)
Original system(s): Amiga
Developer(s) of original games: Discovery Software International
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-10-11 ¥6,0006,000 G-4056 US 1990-12 $49.9549.95 702601 EU 1991-01 E168SMXI UK 1991-01 £39.9939.99 E168SMXI BR 1992-04
Non-Sega versions Amiga Macintosh

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Sword of Sodan (ソード・オブ・ソダン) is a Sega Mega Drive linear beat-'em-up game developed by Innerprise Software. A port of the titular 1988 Discovery Software International game Sword of Sodan, it was first published in the United States by Electronic Arts in 1990, and saw European release the following January. Later in October 1991, it was brought to Japan by Sega themselves, and eventually saw a Brazilian release courtesy of publisher Tec Toy in April 1992.

Originally an Amiga game, Sword of Sodan is most notable for being one of the poorest received Mega Drive games ever released, and was consistently voted the system's single-worst game by readers of Beep! MegaDrive magazine.

Gameplay

Sword of Sodan is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up where the player can control either an unnamed male or unnamed female, walking towards the right of the screen and hacking and slashing enemies along the way.

Being originally written for the Amiga, the control scheme of Sword of Sodan is built around one-button joysticks which were prevalent across home computing at the time. On the Mega Drive the main controls are split across and - jumping is assigned to (where holding down the button results in a higher jump), but is also used in conjunction with or to turn the character around. swings the character's sword, and combined with , and other attacks can be made. crouches.

The strength of the player's attacks depend on the current "HIT" value displayed on top of the screen, which decreases when losing a life. Attacks have very specific hit zones - spear wielding guards for example need to be attacked at point blank range, while giants can only be hurt by using high attacks.

is used to drink potions dropped by defeated enemies. Potions are selected in the pause menu, and can be combined to create more interesting results.

The game features an undocumented level skip in stage 5 - if the player deliberately falls down the third pit, they will skip directly to stage 6.

Potions

• Red: increases attack strength
• Orange: defeats the closest enemy
• Blue: restores health
• Transparent: no effect
• Red + transparent: extra life
• Orange + transparent: flaming brand (stronger sword with fire effect)
• Blue + transparent: temporary invincibility
• Red + orange: flaming brand (stronger sword with fire effect)
• Transparent x 4: skip stage

Other combinations either have no effect or are poisenous to the player.

Versions

Despite sharing a name, Sword of Sodan was significantly altered during its transition to the Mega Drive, putting more of an emphasis on potions while reducing the amount of content. Most of the graphics were re-drawn, with layouts also being modified and swordplay being tweaked. Enemies attack from both left and right (a feature missing in the Amiga version), however the ostrich-like creature in the dungeon stage is missing.

Some levels (such as the wood area) were removed, while others combined, bringing the total number of stages to eight. Five of the thirteen enemies seen in the Amiga version were removed also.

Neither version of Sword of Sodan has in-game music.

Production credits

• Game Design: Torbin Larsen, Anselm Hook, Soren Gronbech
• Game Graphics: Torbin Larsen, Matt Herczka, Sheryl Knowles
• Title Music: Jon Medek
• Producer: Christopher Erhardt
• Associate Producer: Roland Kippenhan III
• Product Management: Karen Schulman, Lesley Mansford
• Art Director: Nancy Fong
• Package Illustrator: Dorian Vallejo
• Documentation: Andrea Smith, Michael Humes, Robert Berg
• Documentation Layout: Jennie Maruyama
• Integration: Anselm Hook
• Quality Assurance: Kurtis Hsu

Thanks to Martin Pedersen.

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Sword of Sodan/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 40 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 52 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 43 Console XS (UK) PAL 73 Cool Gamer (RU) 20 Computer & Video Games (UK) 57 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 38 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 48 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 Génération 4 (FR) 22 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 40 Joystick (FR) 45 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 40 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 40 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 54 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 40 MegaTech (UK) 55 Mean Machines (UK) 59 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 55 Power Play (DE) 25 Raze (UK) PAL 73 Sega Power (UK) PAL 25 Sega Power (UK) PAL 45 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 33 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 28 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 78 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) 80

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Based on 27 reviews

Sword of Sodan

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU (Soft Box)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU (Hard Case)
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Sword of Sodan/Technical information.