(::o::)=||==============> Sword of Sodan (Sega Genesis) FAQ/Walkthrough Version: 1.0 Author: The Spelunker Email: lance3335@gmail.com Copyright 2006 - 2008. All rights reserved. (This guide may not be used for any purpose other than personal use without the written consent of the author, and the only e-mail address that may give this consent is lance3335@gmail.com. Those who violate this should know that they are breaking copyright law. If you see this guide being hosted on a site besides http://www.gamefaqs.com/ it is being done so against my wishes. Please contact me if this is the case.) VERSION INFO v. 1.1 (04/22/08) - e-mail corrected - introduction edited - fixed spelling errors v. 1.0 (12/02/06) - walkthrough complete - introduction added - swordplay tactics added - removed some erroneous info - added suggested potion combos to 'potions' section V. 0.7 (11/30/06) - Walkthrough done up to level four - Most sections except introduction and swordplay complete - Finished guide coming soon ========================> Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Characters 3. Difficulty 4. Controls 5. Swordplay *Important* 6. Attributes 7. Potions 8. Walkthrough 9. Poetry 10. Enemies ========================> 1. Introduction ---------------|| Sword of Sodan is a side-scrolling action game with big characters, in this way similar to the Genesis' Altered Beast, which was its launch title; but the comparisons end there, because Sword of Sodan is different from Altered Beast; it focuses on semi-complex swordplay, traps, and a potion system instead of straightforward action. No one would consider Sword of Sodan for a launch title, either. You must pass seven stages, the last of which is a boss stage, under 'easy' or 'normal' difficulty, with 3, 5, or 7 lives--and you can pick either a male or female character; both wield swords. You fight some cool medieval-stock enemies, often overlooked in fantasy games, including axemen, pikemen, and even giant/barbarians, which fit because all but one of the levels are in a castle or city. The game has fantastical problems along with a fantastical world. Levels usually are either some combination of slow or unyielding. The later levels are the painful ones, and the earlier levels are the sleepy ones; the result is that you can't practice enough to care. The game's formula of fighting, in which enemies come from the left and right sides of the screen, and you must beat them and wait for their friends, is not accelerated as it is the genre's successful games; it is very slow. You may enjoy the first runs through, but you won't enjoy the subsequent ones; and you won't beat the game at any rate for a while. It is not a very good game. 2. Characters -------------|| Pick the girl by pressing the right arrow. The guy is slower and clunkier, which is a large disadvantage, but the girl only causes slightly less damage, making her the better character. 3. Difficulty -------------|| You have a choice of: 3, 5, or 7 lives Normal or Easy Difficulty Easy difficult is a fair bit easier than normal difficulty, and normal difficulty is simply nasty. You can probably swing 3, 5, or 7 lives on Easy, but choosing less than 7 lives on normal is a death-wish unless you are better than I am (not that I'm great or anything, but I did at least write this and take the time of figuring how things work.) 4. Controls -----------|| Start = Pause A = Drink Potion; Select potion while paused B = Jump C = Cut Right + B = Turn Right Left + B = Turn Left Forward + B = Short Jump Forward + hold B = Long Jump Down + C = Low thrust Forward + C = Thrust Up + C = Chop 5. Swordplay *Important* ------------------------|| ATTACK CHART _____________________________________________________________________________ Type | short range | medium range | long range | damage | effect | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chop | yes | yes | no | medium | hits fliers | Cut | no | yes | no | medium | | Thrust | no | yes | no | medium | knockback | Low Thrust| yes | yes | yes | low | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANALYSIS: Judging by the skills on this list, we can make the safe assumption that 'Cut' as an attack is the odd-man out. It is the attack that accidentally happens when thrusting was your intention. 'Chop', however, is a good one for hacking down pikemen, and 'Thrust' doesn't give Axemen a chance of retalliation. You should also note that 'Chop' can hit fliers (winged demons). Low thrust is perhaps the most interesting of the attacks. Although the chart has no room for listing speed, low thrust is the fastest of all of the attacks. It deals low damage, but it also has long-range capabilities, which none of the other attacks have, giving it at least a partial stun ability. Enemies move slower when they are being low-thrusted repeatedly (in theory, all attacks do this, but low thrust, being the fastest, is the most notable). BASIC FIGHTING THEORY Only two theoretical things need to be said before proceeding to the basic tactics. First, the game will try to catch you in pincers (an old military term for being surrounded in a certain way). Being caught in one of these is not ideal. You are supplied with a useful sort of invulnerability while jumping, which the game gives you for escaping from pincers and putting all enemies on the right side of you. The best jump for escaping from pincers is of course the long jump, which may be the best jump overall. You can reach the other side of the screen pretty quickly. Finally, you have a limited bar of stamina (life). Sword of Sodan is not a game of hack-and-slash but rather a game of tactics. Dying has two consequences: first, you obviously lose a life. Second, your hit strength, which you boost with Vitalium Potions, drops to 25. Even if you haven't used a Vitalium Potion yet, you begin the game with 37 hit strength, making your first death bad on both levels. If you die again before using a Vitalium Potion, though you don't lose hit strength, you have died too soon and won't be finishing the game regardless. Not to be condescending--but remember, tactics over hack-and-slash. BASIC TACTICS TACTIC #1: BACKPEDALING AND THRUSTING Imagine yourself as a fencer, stepping back and forth, and use only the thrust attack. Strike ideally when you see an opening. This is effective against large groups of pikemen (well, to a point) and axemen. It is ineffective against zombies or giants. TACTIC #2: OFFENSIVE JUMPING AND CHOPPING This is a bit of an advanced technique. It is most successful against small groups of pikemen (if you use it correctly), zombies purely for its aggressive and pushing benefits in the graveyard, and giants, whom you must play aggressively against. The idea is that you close the range between you and the enemy, use your short-range, high-damage attack (chop), and jump against the enemy when they are knocked back slightly, repeating the process. Standing still suffices when fighting giants; you shouldn't worry about pushing them backwards. TACTIC #3: LOW THRUST ONLY This is jokingly 'the coward's technique', but it is useful against pikemen, who can't beat its range (although they can close in) and axemen if for some reason you are being extremely cautious. Duck down and low thrust. Ensure that you stand and backpedal when necessary against pikemen; otherwise you traded a bunch of low-damage shots for a few wallops from them, which isn't worth while. 6.Attributes ------------|| Hit Strength = the damage that you cause (starts at 37; drops to 25 on subsequent lives; maximum is 99) Stamina = your health 7.Potions ---------|| RULES: 1) You can only hold four potions at once. If you already have four potions, enemies won't drop any more. 2) You can't have greater than 9 lives. 3) You can't skip levels 6 or 7. No bypassing enjoyable content! Vitalium Potion = Increases Hit Strength (+15) Etherium Potion = Combines with other potions Solarium Potion = Magic Zapper (severely damages one enemy on screen) Hydruim Potion = Restores Stamina Etherium + Vitalium = Extra Life Etherium + Solarium = Fire Brand (briefly increases damage) Ehterium + Hydruim = Shield (20 second invulnerability) Etherium x 4 = Skip the current level Mostly useless effects ---------------------- Vitalium + Hydruim = No Effect Vitalium + Solarium = Flame Brand Hydruim + Solarium = Poison! (causes minor damage to you) COMMENTS: In Sword of Sodan potions play an important role, but the specific potions that drop from enemies are randomized. Succeeding in the game is sometimes as simple as finding the right potions, but other times you will find all of the wrong potions; and your game will suffer. This variability makes some aspects of the game a gamble, and it can seriously stuff things up. You may, for example, quaff all of your potions in level one except Etherium Potions, hoping for a level skip combo (four Etherium Potions), so that you can skip level two. You don't get four Etherium Potions in level one. You are now in level two, and you must either resign that you can't skip it and return to preparing for later levels (for instance, two Solarium potions for the bosses of level three, and two Etherium potions so that you can find two more Etherium Potions in level four and skip the fifth level) or continue trying for a level skip. As you can imagine, quaffing potions simply to rid yourself of them and make room for others (remember, you have a four potion limit) isn't efficient. You may find yourself behind in lives and health. Besides, if you are stockpiling Etherium Potions you aren't combining them with Vitalium Potions, denying yourself extra lives. The consistently good player won't gamble in this way. He will plan ahead--just farther than one level ahead. It's unambitious and small- time, but you encounter a lesser margin of error; and that's what this guide is more concerned with than rolling the dice for dream combinations of potions. Here is a rough outline of some dependable goals for potion combinations: Level 1 - Extra Lives (get as many extra lives as possible.) Level 2 - Get and maintain 2 Solarium and 2 Etherium Potions Level 3 - " " (use your 2 Solarium Potions on the bosses) Level 4 - Get two more Etherium potions (for a total of 4 Etherium Potions) Level 5 - Skip this level (use 4 Etherium Potions) Level 6 - Two Shield potions (for passing the fire) Level 7 - Two Shield Potions (Hydruim + Etherium) for the boss' second form. 8.Walkthrough -------------|| Three things: 1) This walkthrough assumes that you are playing on the 'Normal' difficulty setting. 2) This walkthrough doesn't dicuss basic tactics. A full section of the guide, 'Swordplay', is dedicated to that. This walkthrough tells you how the levels work and notes pecularities and new enemies. 3) The amount of enemies that appear in a level, and sometimes even the type of enemies that appear in a level (for instance, sometimes a stray pikeman appears in the third level) varies. <==============================> <------------------------------> <==============================> Walk over the Vitalium and Etherium potions. As you walk further, a pair of pikemen cross the screen, one from the right and one from the left side. These are the only enemies in the game that don't immediately attack you. The one that crosses from the right, however, will turn when he reaches the left side and enter melee with you. Before he can you want to stop this by harassing and killing him with thrusts, so that he can't pass to the left side due to the knockback effect of the thrusts. You probably can't kill the other pikeman before he escapes. The remainder of the level deals with fighting more pikemen, though you will find that only the first two were peaceful. Despite the monotony you should regard some parts of the level as more dangerous than others. The bridge outside of the city gates teems with pikemen, and there you have the best change of dying to a pincer. Remember, you want all of the enemies to be on one side of you, which means you must jump over any that come from the left. Use the 'low thrust' maneuver against large groups of pikemen (3 or more) because that many pikemen are capable of juggling and pretty much killing you outright. The level ends as you walk through the city door. For more general tips on fighting pikemen (and other stuff), refer to the 'swordplay' section of this guide. <====================================> <------------------------------------> <====================================> This levels introduces spikes but little else. In it you face two distinct sections of spikes, one section early on and lengthier than the other, and the other later on and much shorter (although this last set has a trap in the middle that is an insta-kill if you idly stand on it.) To boot, you must fight pikemen, who are the same guys from the first level, but this time you don't have the option of moving freely about. With the first set of spikes, the odd-numbered spikes will rise, followed by the even-numbered spikes. You must constantly pay attention and move one hole (you can see the holes on the ground) to the left or right so that you are always standing on an empty hole. As you don't have the mobility for taking pikemen in close quarters, you must settle for thrusts from a distance. Low thrusts are best, but if they close in you should drop a big thrust on them. Most importantly stay on your toes. The second set of spikes is only three holes long. The left and right sets of spikes rise at the same time, but the middle hole appears empty. If you stand on it for long enough, spikes will rise and take one of your lives. Obviously this is not ideal. The best place to fight is by the last three spikes in the first set. These do not spring up. A large empty area is also right of that, and you can take out all of the pikemen relatively safely here. Stick to thrusting tactics unless you are confident. <===============================> <-------------------------------> < Winged Demons > < Giants > <===============================> ** NOTE: Solarium Potions can trivialize the bosses of this level. Having two potions is optimal, but having only one is still very useful. ** Level three is similar to level one, except you fight axemen across a straightaway rather than pikemen. For differences you must also deal with Winged Demons, who are pesky but not lethal, and your first bosses, which are two Giants that you must 'execute' when they are low on health. All of these are new enemies for you, meaning an explanation is in order: Axemen - Use the traditional back-up and thrust technique. They can't hit you at this range, and you can emerge unscathed from large groups of axemen. The worry is when one comes from behind you, and traditional jumping tactics aren't as effective as they are against pikemen. Axemen will whack you if you get too close; they have no dead-zone at that range and will chain-hit you like pikemen. You must ensure that the axemen that appeared behind you is closing in, so that you can clear him when you jump to the left of him and not become stuck. Winged Demons - These are minor pests. They latch onto you and cause damage, but you can backpedal and chop them if they are high in the air or simply hit them if they aren't. They don't appear in large numbers either. Giants - You want to use Solarium potions against these. They will kneel down, and you can approach and chop till their head falls off. If you are slow the giants will revive at full-health after being brought to their knees. If you don't have Solarium potions you must fight these legitimately, which is annoying because they hit you regardless of what you do. Your best bet is playing aggressively, and starting the fight by killing the giant on the right before both giants cluster together. Even if you aren't using potions, you still must chop their heads off. <===================================> <-----------------------------------> <===================================> To beat this level you must rush through it. Zombies, which do not stop coming, haunt it and your progression, contrary to previous levels, is a measure not of the enemies that you kill but of how far you have gone. The level is only of average difficulty when you get down to it. I have beat it losing only one life when I entered with 99 hit strength, but it may initially seem impenetrable to beginning players. Three things regarding zombies: 1) You can't jump over zombies when they are on the right side of you. In fact, zombies cause persistent damage when they are beside you. However, this damage is lessened by repeatedly jumping when a zombie is beside you, and after being briefly stuck on you, a zombie on your right side passes to your left side and eventually off-screen. 2) Zombies spit projectiles that span a screen's length. You can negate the projectiles by ducking. You can also and probably will ignore the projectiles, because progressing right is more important than ducking the projectiles, which cause very marginal damage. 3) Zombies explode into stars when they die. Very definitely you should be killing zombies, which means that you must avoid these stars that will come at you after the zombie dies. Jumping is the most effective way; jumping right even more effective, because you are progressing. I jump through this whole level and only stop for killing zombies that are in my way, but I ignore zombies that become stuck 'inside' or barely to the right of me. These zombies eventually pass to the left side of me; the whole time I am jumping, lessening the damage. When I do stop to kill zombies, I use only chops, which are great at short range and knock the zombies back. Jump right over the stars when a zombie dies. The stars cause hideous damage if they hit you. When you see a 'gargoyle'-like statue in the background, you are near the exit, and you can leave the level to the right when the screen is clear. Remember, progressing quickly through the level is much more important than messing with zombies. The reasoning for killing the zombies is the hastening of the process of leaving the level. <===============================================> <-----------------------------------------------> < Winged Demons > <===============================================> **NOTE: Skip this level if at all possible. As a last ditch method, bring a lot of Solarium Potions and a lot of lives.** This level is simply ridiculous, because you die in pits that you can't see, and the giants in the level are an exact foil for someone that would rather avoid falling in the pits. I can't condone ever trying this level. You can waste all of the time spent up till now and quickly find yourself at the game over screen. To kill the giants, you must play aggressively. Jump in their faces and start chopping, and as in level three, chop their heads off from a slight distance when they kneel (otherwise they recover all of their health). You must kill about 10 giants in this level and jump over who knows how many pits. It may not be as bad the fire in level 6, but at least you can learn that pattern. The giants in this level will knock you into the pits, patrol the edges of them, or just outright kill you. Skip it. <=============================> <-----------------------------> < Winged Demons > <=============================> **NOTE: Get two Shield Potions for the lava section of this level** Finally, after having fought onslaughts of every other enemy in the past levels, you fight an onslaught of Winged Demons at the beginning of this level. Because a lot of winged demons appear this is great opportunity of amassing Shield potions (Hydruim + Etherium potions) for a later challenge. Because you can't skip this level (a great downside that you will see more of in the fire segment) don't bother going for 4x Etherium potions. Long-jump back and forth as you kill the Winged Demons, forcing the ones that come from the sides into forming a line with the rest. They are lambs to the slaughter if they approach you in a line. A magician appears (who I swear resembles some movie actor whose name I can't remember) after you kill all of the winged demons that will come. Killing the magician is easy, because he can't shoot you while you duck, and you can repeatedly Low Thrust his knees. Don't stand, however, or he will quickly kill you. The level becomes hectic after the magician dies, because a statue is planted at the end, which shoots fireballs along the ground till you kill it. You must run right, avoiding the hammers (minor damage), spikes (insta-death), and fireballs (medium damage) till you reach a lava pool. This lava pool, and the second and especially third pools following it, is why your inability of skipping this level really stinks. You must board tiny wooden planks that cross the lava, and if you fall (missing the plank) or are hit by even one fireball, you instantly die. You must jump and board the planks in the very middle--not on the left or right sides of them, although if you must choose veer right. Be ready to jump the fireballs (jump straight up and you stay on the plank) at all times. If you have shield potions, use them to cross the fire. Of all of the planks, the third plank is the worst, because it speeds up when you mount it, forcing blind jumping while you are on the right edge of the screen waiting for it to scroll. The statue that you must kill is directly past the third lava pool and doesn't fight back. <=================================> <---------------------------------> < Zoras (Human Form) > < Winged Demons > <=================================> **NOTE: Get two shield potions for Zoras' human form** There's not much level here, so to cut to the chase: Zoras (Monster Form) Both of Zoras' forms have ungodly health. The first form is the easier of the two forms, which isn't saying much because both forms are nearly impossible. You can only hurt Zoras' monster form when its belly is reddened -and- it isn't firing projectiles. Its belly's being still and not firing is the exception rather than the rule, because Zoras' monster form normally shoots variable waves of damage at you, composed of one, two, or three crescents. After shooting seven to eight waves of damage, Zoras the monster's belly reddens briefly, during which time you can unload into it. Use only thrust attacks, for the reason that you must push Zoras back or lose a key advantage that you hold. This advantage, which necessitates Zoras being at least a screen's length away, is that Zoras produces Winged Demons with his reddened belly. These winged demons persist till you kill them; however, if you jump left and can distance yourself from Zoras by a screen, Zoras won't approach, and you can bait and kill the winged demons without intervention by Zoras. However, this is merely one detail in fighting Zoras. You must also jump over his waves of damage and judge when his belly will be vulnerable, which are the crucial and most time-consuming elements (Zoras' monster form is a long fight, the longer of the two fights). Secondly, you absolutely must gather the components for two Shield Potions (Hydruim + Etherium) in this fight. If this is not possible, you must have at least one Shield Potion and something else, such as a Fire Brand, which you can use at the same time as your shield potion, because these are necessary for Zoras' human form. Finally, you should avoid the killing of winged demons in the left wall, because due to a bug items will become stuck, really stinking things up for you. Zora's monster form is dead when it slinks backward, Exorcist-like (or at least somewhat; the designer(s) wouldn't spare that many frames of animation--the human form of Zora has one frame only) to the right. Zoras (human form) This is a slug-fest. Pop your shield potion (you do have one don't you?) and start swinging. If you have two shield potions, you can win without being hit. If you have one, you may not win at all, because Zoras can lock you in successive barrages of magic and suck away life after life. Congratulations! You win! (or not) 9. Poetry ---------|| AT THE CITY'S GATE ------------------ AS SO FORETOLD IN ANCIENT LORE HERE STANDS THE OPENING TEST ENTER THIS DEATHS DOOR AND THUS BEGIN THE QUEST BETWEEN THE CITY'S WALLS ------------------------ ENTER NOW, AND BREAK THE SEAL CROSS THE GUARDED SPAN BREACH THE WALL OF MEN AND STEEL INTO THE WIZARD'S HAND. IN THE CITY STREETS ------------------- HELD FAST IN ZORA'S EVIL THRALL THOUGH MEN AND GIANTS BAR THE WAY WITH SWORD, ANSWER BATTLE'S CALL IN THE FADING LIGHT OF DAY IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD ----------------------- HERE WINDS THE HERO'S PATH WHERE GHOULS AND SPECTRES FORM TO SCREAM AND HOWL THEIR WRATH ABOVE THE RISING STORM IN THE FOYER OF THE CASTLE CRAGAMOOR ------------------------------------ AMONG SHADOWS CAST BY VAULTED TOWERS WHERE NAMELESS HORRORS DWELL THERE TO CHALLENGE ZORAS' POWERS AND SEND HIM BACK TO HELL IN A PASSAGE DEEP ----------------- AND DARK WITHIN MOTHER EARTH THERE COMES THE RISING FLOOD AND WITH HER THUNDERING CRIES OF BIRTH THERE FLOWS HER MOLTEN BLOOD AT THE WIZARD'S TOWER --------------------- THRU THE ARCH AND CLIMB THE STAIR TO FIGHT TILL FINAL BREATH THE MAGICIAN ZORAS IN HIS LAIR ON TO VICTORY, OR TO DEATH 10. Enemies -----------|| =------= Pikeman: - can't attack at short range =------= =------= Axeman: - Can't attack at long range =------= =-----------= Winged Demon: - Latch on to you and cause damage; only chops can hit them =-----------= sometimes =----= Giant: - Only chops can hit; must chop their heads off at half-health or they =----= revive at full health =-----= Zombie: - Cause persistent damage at close range; spit projectiles; explode =-----= into damaging stars when killed.