Sword of Sodan

[Tim Janssen]

Ever played Sword of Sodan? This is an ancient hack 'n' slash game by Discovery Software in 1988. At the start of the game you can select your hero or heroine and begin your quest. It is a slow scrolling game with very large sprites. I always found the different environments of the game interesting. - Especially the graveyard and the dark woods. I really loved this game.

After laying in my disc cabinet for 10 years I played Sword of Sodan last week again. To my horror I discovered the game is extremely dated. The backgrounds aren't that colourful as they used to be and the title tune is not that impressive anymore. It was much better in my memory. I think the nostalgia ghost reared its ugly head again.

By the way, has anyone ever completed this game? I have encountered the final mage in the castle (I think). The background consisted of mirrors and that bloke used too many thunder and lasers. I lost all my lives in a matter of seconds.

[Amiga1992]

Seems you suffered the 'Happy Sappy Dilussion Syndrome', as Classicgaming.com calls it It uses to happen with some games (and other stuff at well). I don't remember having it with any game, so far.

As for Sword of Sodan, you can check out Sodan's website at http://www.sodan.dk ... It has the file available for download, I bet it's a clean copy without cracktros or other garbage. Sodan also made Datastorm, which I consider as one brilliant Amiga game. One of the best Amiga shmups. Available for download at his site too

Perhaps you can ask him about how to pass that section eh? I have talked briefly with him in a Lemon64 chat... nice guy... However after he left I realized that he was the one who made Datastorm! :P So I couldn't congratulate him for the great job. Shame.

[Tim Janssen]

Hi Akira,

Yes, I remember someone called Sodan at Lemon. I really did not know it was him. That board is starved with (former) C64 celebrities. I just wish I had his E-mail address. A cheat for Sword of Sodan would be more than welcome.

Many thanks for the link to the Sodan site. I just visited it and I have more questions than ever about mr Sodan.
First, I was pleasantly surprised he also has programmed The Vikings for publisher Kele-Line on C64. Now I know how he looked like way back in 1987 (see Programmer behind Vikings -picture in magazine Zzap).
Why has he only programmed so few games? Just imagine what great titles would have appeared on Amiga if he churned out more game with the same quality standard as Sword of Sodan and Datastorm. *Sigh*
On the Sodan site much space is devoted to that excellent house music group Eat Static. Does anyone know what is Sodan's contribution to this group? Is he just a fan? Member? Programmer of the Eat Static -game? Questions, questions...

[CodyJarrett]

I think that while Sword Of Sodan looks nice, it is lacking in the gameplay and control area.

Datastorm is a great game, though.

[Amiga1992]

I agree with Cody about Sword of SOdan and Datastorm. Teh later is much more playable, an excellent blast.

And I also wonder, as you Tim, about Eat Static. I suppose it might be just a site bit dedicated to it, (hey, it ain't a house group, it's far more experimental. You must've heard some mixes, I heard trance mixes of that stuff).

Another possibility is that he _is_ Eat Static. In that case, I'll be... err... ecstatic. :P

I think I read his email when we chatted, but I didn't write it down. I thought he had contact info in his page. Try posting a message in the Lemon board, he surely lurks in it.

[Twistin'Ghost]

Is this sodan site IE-only? I couldn't get anything but the logo in the upper-right hand corner and the background pic to display.

[Ian]

The site uses JAVA for just about everything and if I remeber correctly, you said in a previous post on the other board that you have JAVA disabled when you browse.

This might have something to do with it?

[Twistin'Ghost]

Arrrghh..and the sodding site crashed my Netscape as soon as I enabled the bloody java. I hate sites that REQUIRE java, javascript, flash, shock, certain browsers, etc. It's so anal...

And I know, all I have to do is bend over and conform...

[CodyJarrett]

Internet Explorer was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade.

One does not simply walk into Microsoft's headquarters.

Bugs in Microsoft are a gift from the enemy. We should use them against him.

[Burge]

If course I remember Sword of Sodan. It was brill! Except for that time I played for like, heaps of hours straight and then received a giant migrane for my thanks. I even threw up . But alas, my copy got some kind of error (as did a lot of my fav games) and I couldn't play it anymore. Yes, I know it's emulated quite well, but it just doesn't cut it. You know what I mean?

[Tim Janssen]

Hi Burge,

Last week I have played the game on my original Amiga and it somehow did not look that great anymore. Have you managed to complete Sword of Sodan? I always hated it when I got very far, lost my lives and had to start the game all over then.

Off topic about throwing up: I get very sick when I play one of those new 3D games for a few hours (especially Montezuma's Return Blood). I get very dizzy then. I prefer playing old 2D games.

[Amiga1992]

Bwahaha, Netscape? BWAHAHA, could that machine get ANY worse

Seriously, I'd like to code a decent browser someday. For everybody's sake, they all blow cock. Have they ever heard the word STANDARDIZATION? PLease, each one works the way they want.

Apple's store (http://store.apple.com) just plain locks up if you use IE Looks like Apple wanted to have a laugh at Microsoft's expense.

[Amiga1992]

Erm, no I wasn't PS2 blows seriously.

Okay, you got me started. I get you started. This will be a riot

Even if I take for granted that Gran Turismo 3 is the best looking game ever (I cannot disagree, the videos I saw were amazing), what gives? I want the MOST PLAYABLE games



let me go now, I need to beat the Queen league in F-Zero Advance... Oozes playability, and, as a bonus, looks and sounds great!

Playability comes first And my pocket is important, so I rather be spending my hard earned dosh in a Dreamcast. I still don't feel confident about a GAmecube, I will wait and see. Something I didn't do with the GBA, and I couldn't be happier to have imported it earlier.

[Shatterhand]

I haven't seen ONE worthy game in the PS2 so far...and I bet I can beat F-Zero in the GBA in a week, some people just keep complaining about the difficulty of the game instead of learning how to play video-games properly..


Anyway, I got Sword Of Sodan for the Mega-Drive in the time it was released orginally, and I always thought it was CRAP, just had good graphics..


Datastorm is really great, I have to say thanks to the crap player who can't beat F-Zero for telling me about this game for the 1st time It's one of the best defender clones I've played.... there's also another good one for the Miggy, in the PD scene, I just forgot the name now.. (Cybersomething, I guess)

[Amiga1992]

Oi, you sad git, at least I have F-Zero and you don't

Noo, really. Maybe no one understands your joke, because I edited the message and added more stuff I didn't complete the game yet. Of course I breezed thru Beginner class in a night, and in medium, it took me two nights, but it takes time to unlock all the game's goodies (one extra class, 6 extra ships, and one extra league. and getting the last ship will mean you trade your whole lifetime for it ;P)). With 'finishing' I mean completing It's been a year and a half now, and I still cant find all the puzzle pieces hidden in Sonic Pocket Adventure (NGPC), so I didnt finish it yet. I think I should have used the word 'completed'

Anyway, I'm a so-so gamesplayer anyway, but I think I'm better than most of today's gamers. Retrogaming trains you better We'll see, someday I'll go to your place, and challenge you to a game of something. The bet will be your MSX2!!! You better be ready to hand it over

[Burge]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Tim Janssen
Hi Burge,

Last week I have played the game on my original Amiga and it somehow did not look that great anymore. Have you managed to complete Sword of Sodan?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No, I never did finish it. It got corrupted before I could. And it was bloody hard to boot.

Apparently PS2 is starting to get some good games, finally. Twisted Metal Black, NBA Street and EMI all received more than decent reviews at IGN lately, although I happen to think that IGN PS2 is pretty biased. But the reader reviews at the IGN boards have been pretty good, so I don't know what gives. I'll never get a PS2 anyway so it doesn't really concern me.

Edit: Damn, I forgot to log in before posting that last message! I have been robbed of a post! Why didn't it prompt me to login, dammit?

RCK, please delete it. Thx.

[Amiga1992]

I won't get onto this, really. It would spawn pages and pages, we're getting off topic Only Sega stuff I care of is what is appearing in the GBA. And sorry, the Dreamcast will be dead when they stop producing games for it. Ikaruga by Treasure is NAOMI, so, nyah

Quake 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament are garbage.

The GBA has support from shitheads too, in teh US mainly, something I thought was going to disappear after teh GBC. Sadly, it didn't. I rather havea bunch of quality softcos doing stuff for a machine (look: NeoGeo Pocket Color). The N64 was a rea flop

I always support niche and obscure stuff too, so sue me

There are far more games I want on the DC than on the PS2 (the PS2 has only two I want: Klonoa 2 and Gradius 3&4), so that's why I rather spend cash on it.

Argh I cant say ore, I don;t want to get onto this. To each one the machine that he wants.

To end this, IGN BLOWS, you shouldn't be reading that, Burge. Don't you know IGN stands for IGNorance?

[Pyromania]

I missed playing this game and wanted to show it to my 7 year old son so I got a used original on ebay cheap. The graphics are a little dated but still nice and the music is good. When I played this game in 1988 I really liked it but never thought I would still enjoy it so many years later in 2002. I was surprised that it booted fine on my 512K A1000.

Cool game even after all these years!

[Tim Janssen]

It seems there are many cheats available for Sword of Sodan. I have tried them a couple of weeks ago in WinUAE, but to no avail.

Here are some cheats for the game that can be found on numerous sites:

- Type NANCY on hi score table for infinite lives. Pressing Return while playing advances you a level.
- Once loaded, select the hero, then lose all lives on the first screen. Now select the HEROINE, and you should have infinite players.
- If you type RAD in the high score table and play another game you will have infinite lives.

[Overdoc]

I also played this game often until the end where this fu%&ing wizard appears. But there is simply not enough time before he goes completely mad and kills all ones lives in a second...

But I have heard from several people that they actually completed Sword of Sodan. None of them could remember exactly because it was too long ago, but two of them gave me these 2 hints:

1) Keep all zappers until the end and use all 4 against the mage.
2) Keep hitting him on the head and not on the body.

Since I am a lazy guy I haven't since played the game, and I know I would have to play it at least 3 times or so again until I get as far as to the end. But I know I will try one day

As for the cheat I once found out that when you play a game until game over and then start again then you get unlimited lives. Don't know if it is just my copy that behaves like that !?! ( it's the World of Wonders crack )