These can be power-ups, health potions, magic potions and herbs (increase max health), some of them with different sizes. Most enemies when defeated release items that bounce around for you to pick up. Naturally Kashon comes off as the easiest character to play with because of his combo and the better reach of his melee weapon.
Each character has a specific set of commands to do the combo though: the sequence for Kashon is slash, slash, slash, →, slash, changing the directional to ↓ for Tyora and ↑ for Vorg. That’s when performing slash combos are useful, since they inflict good damage and stun enemies while pushing them back. While you can shoot enemies from afar, they will eventually get close and unless you react they’ll end up taking up huge chunks of your life bar. “So are magic and slashing more important than shooting?” As weird as it might seem, YES is the answer to this question. Magic efficiency varies according to the enemies you’re facing, consisting in the most important aspect of the gameplay besides the slash attack. Each character is able to fire, to slash and to cast magic spells (all inputs configurable) chosen from a wide assortment of magical powers shown below the health meter.
Kashon the hawkman stands as the most balanced of the three, with the clear advantage of having the best melee reach thanks to his long spear. Vorg is the dark knight specialized in sword fight and with stronger melee abilities. Tyora is the only woman in the group of playable characters, a wizard with decent shot and magic power but terribly short melee reach. Kashon faces an escapee from the Prehistoric Isle Once again I haven’t even dared to dip my toes in Original, focusing on a new challenge for Arcade mode: loop the game with Tyora. Original is a special version designed exclusively for consoles, infused with RPG elements and with rearranged stages/enemies. The disc comes with a straight rendition of the arcade game in its Arcade mode. Each level is preceded by a brief dialogue showing a little of the interaction between these characters, too bad the Saturn port came out only in Japan and all in-game texts are in Japanese. Graphics and music reflect this ambience quite decently, I must say. The story of Sol Divide involves an elderly evil man named Efter and three brave heroes who stand up against him to end his reign of terror in a medieval world where knights, undead creatures, wizards, sylphs and winged beasts dominate the skies of several villages.
Sol divide saturn series#
It’s extremely short and intense while absurdly overwhelming at times, thanks to a series of random elements that are capable of draining that precious health bar in a snap. Sol Divide’s borderline experimental gameplay mixes shooting and melee slashing and is unmatched in its pace, clunky mechanics and overall uniqueness – or weirdness, some might say. However, bearing of horizontal orientation is pretty much the only common ground Sol Divide shares with Sengoku Blade. Similarly to Toaplan, Psikyo was a company more akin to vertical shooters, so it’s no wonder it only made two horizontal shmups during its entire lifetime. I myself remember distilling my hatred against it everywhere when I first started digging into the fascinating universe of shooting games, and it wasn’t until I was practically forced to play the Playstation port that I actually saw something beyond the almost insurmountable layer of presumed mediocrity. It’s a particularly elusive subject for trash talk and it’s got the potential to bring out the worst from even the most sensible player out there. It is up to you to stop him, battling your way through several stages in both Arcade and Original Mode (which contain different areas and require different tactics to beat, the Original Mode being designed as a more difficult experience for players who want to progress on to a higher challenge).ĭefeating enemies rewards the player with different items to help them on their journey, including the aforementioned magic scrolls, healing potions, magic bottles (only when playing Arcade Mode) and protection accessories (if playing Original Mode).If widespread reputation is any sign of how a video game should be perceived without even being played, then Sol Divide is the epitome of failure, of dread, of sheer shmupping horror. The story itself concerns an evil being who sets out looking for a Power Stone and cuts down all in his path with his sword, the Sol Divide. Various magic scrolls can be found by defeating enemies which allow the player to cast several different types of spells including lightning and fire. There are three different characters that can be played as, each with their own weapon and fighting style.
Set against a medieval fantasy backdrop, Sol Divide is a 2D side-scrolling shooter that pits one or two players against a horde of flying enemies.
Sol divide saturn windows#
Arcade, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, SEGA Saturn, Windows