Sol Divide
Game title screen
| Developer: | Psikyo |
|---|---|
| Music: | Masaki Izutani |
| Program: | Shiori Saito, Toshinori Sugita, Keisuke Takagi, Kunihiko Nogomi, Kenichi Fujita |
| Art: | Katsuya Terada, Hiroshi Yamada, Wataru Yamazaki, Naozumi Yorichika, Mitsuo Kodama, Hideyuki Oda, Yoko Tsukagoshi, Ikuya Yoshida, Norikazu Takemori, Emi Taniguchi, Hideto Kamioka, Hirotsugu Imoto, Kotaro Ogata, Keizou Fujita, Kunio Asahara, Kentaro Maki |
| Release date: | 1997 May |
Sol Divide is a fairly unique spin on the shooting game genre developed by Psikyo in 1997. It combines elements of action RPGs, beat 'em ups, and shooting games into a package that is generally considered less than its parts, but holds merits on its unique concept and solid-if-strange design aspects.
It has multiple ports for various consoles. The Saturn and PS1 ports contain a unique "Original" mode which leans further into the RPG aspects.
For replay videos, visit the Video Index.
Contents
Controls
Sol Divide's arcade version is a 3 button game, but the ported versions generally change the button layout for ease of control.
- A: Shoot. There is no charge shot, but it requires some amount of tapping, though there is a burst of shots fired per button press.
- B: Melee. Pressing this button up to 3 times performs an automatic combo, and each character has a special input for an extremely high damage 4th hit in the combo. As well, pressing forward-up or forward-down and holding B will perform unique melee attacks that do reasonably large damage and have very large range, but cannot be used in a combo.
- C: Change magic. This button will always advance the magic cursor forward to the right by one entry in the unlocked list, wrapping around the end. On most ports, there is a button to move the magic cursor backwards as well.
- A+B: Use magic. This button will use the magic selected if the magic meter is sufficiently full. If the player attempts to use magic without enough meter, the cursor will return to the first entry. Some ports have a specific button to activate magic and do not allow the original A+B input.
Characters
Sol Divide contains 3 playable characters, strongly categorized by their strengths. Each character has a unique first stage.
Kashon
Melee-strong, but shot-weak. Generally considered the best character due to the importance of melee in the game design, and the ease of inputting his combo finisher.
Combo finisher input: Forward
Character specific magic: Phoenix
Vorg
A reasonably balanced character between the others' extremes. Reasonably strong.
Combo finisher input: Up
Character specific magic: Nightmare
Tyora
Shot-strong, but melee-weak. Her magic is generally also considered the strongest, but her weak melee makes her likely the weakest character in the cast.
Combo finisher input: Down
Character specific magic: Summons
Rank
Sol Divide ranks up primarily through survival time. Given the player never truly dies outside of a game over, there is no particular way to reduce it.
Loops
Sol Divide has a second loop. Rarely for Psikyo games, it is only available if the player clears the first loop on one credit.
Scoring
The original arcade version of Sol Divide provides extremely little score feedback, even avoiding putting the score on screen outside of stage intermissions.
However, there are quite a few scoring systems at play. As usual for Psikyo, collecting excess items will award score bonuses. Defeating enemies with the 3rd hit of a melee combo is worth double points, and defeating them with the special 4th hit is worth quadruple points. This system also applies to boss destruction points, making it extremely important for score play.
Strategy
Several magics are consumed upon use, particularly the strongest ones, but all stats and magic are reset upon entry to the second loop. As a result, it is strongly suggested to strategize which magics you will use on the second half of the game when the bosses become extremely hard.
References & Contributors
* This page was brought up by trap15.
