A few days ago a friend of mine on Discord showed me an article about Sega producers wanting to reject Gunstar Heroes due to it's lack of large sprites. I immediately pretended to be one of the executives and yelled "SWORD OF SODAN IS THE GREATEST GAAAAME!!!" (should you italics a title in a quote? hell if I know. I'm still on the fence about italicizing game names to begin with)
After that was when I had the insane idea to re-visit this thing.
Sword of Sodan has large sprites... but that's literally all it has, because the large sprites are ruined by how horrifically choppy the animation is and the characters all walking like they shit their pants. The gameplay is horrendously monotonous and stiff as a board with you either constantly stabbing people in the chest or stabbing them in the dick. If you wanted a side of cheapness to go with your monotony, then you've come to the right place because Sword of Sodan also features terrible insta-kill traps in the later stages to make sure your frustration goes through the roof along with the final boss taking five-hundred million hits.
The game's biggest claim to fame is probably the gore, there's these giant tall dudes you have to kill via decapitation. It was probably gnarly for back then, but this game spams it so much that you'll be numb to it after probably the sixth time it's happened, and that's ignoring the fact it's 2022 and you've probably seen the Ermac fatality in Mortal Kombat X where he telekinetically takes out the guys intestines.
The worst thing about this game though is the absolutely fucking trash sound design. If the monotony of the gameplay won't get to you, then it'll probably be the thousandth time you hear the same exact grunt sound the enemies make from getting hit, and if not that then probably the horrendous shrieking sounds from the flying demon enemies dying. By the way, were you expecting any music? The only thing here is the title screen music, otherwise go ahead and immerse yourself in the unnatural synth sound of birds chirping in the background.
It really needs to be seen to be believed. It's utterly laughable.
After that was when I had the insane idea to re-visit this thing.
Sword of Sodan has large sprites... but that's literally all it has, because the large sprites are ruined by how horrifically choppy the animation is and the characters all walking like they shit their pants. The gameplay is horrendously monotonous and stiff as a board with you either constantly stabbing people in the chest or stabbing them in the dick. If you wanted a side of cheapness to go with your monotony, then you've come to the right place because Sword of Sodan also features terrible insta-kill traps in the later stages to make sure your frustration goes through the roof along with the final boss taking five-hundred million hits.
The game's biggest claim to fame is probably the gore, there's these giant tall dudes you have to kill via decapitation. It was probably gnarly for back then, but this game spams it so much that you'll be numb to it after probably the sixth time it's happened, and that's ignoring the fact it's 2022 and you've probably seen the Ermac fatality in Mortal Kombat X where he telekinetically takes out the guys intestines.
The worst thing about this game though is the absolutely fucking trash sound design. If the monotony of the gameplay won't get to you, then it'll probably be the thousandth time you hear the same exact grunt sound the enemies make from getting hit, and if not that then probably the horrendous shrieking sounds from the flying demon enemies dying. By the way, were you expecting any music? The only thing here is the title screen music, otherwise go ahead and immerse yourself in the unnatural synth sound of birds chirping in the background.
It really needs to be seen to be believed. It's utterly laughable.
4 Comments
It's just so hilarious how in screenshots you would probably be impressed, but as soon as you see it in motion you're like "lmao jesus fuck".
augh augh augh augh augh augh augh augh OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH dies
on the mount rushmore of "bigger sprites = better game" right next to China Warrior
Weatherby
1 year ago