Sword of Sodan Longplay (Amiga) [QHD]

Game Info
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Developer: Discovery Software International
Publisher: Innerprise Software
Year of Release: 1988
Coding: Søren Grønbech
Graphics: Torben B. Larsen
Music: Julian LeFay
Game Review & Impressions
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Released in 1988, Sword of Sodan combines enormous character sprites with sword and sorcery mythos in an attempt to build an engaging action adventure in which you, the player, must halt the machinations of an evil wizard.
Unfortunately, while a great deal of attention was given to the artwork, much less appears to have been spent on the actual game mechanics, which are straight out of the "move right and hit things" playbook. There are traps to avoid and power ups to collect, but the lacklustre combat means that Sword of Sodan never feels like much in the way of fun.
Video Notes
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Related Longplays & Videos
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Chapters
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00:00 Main menu & music
04:26 Stage 1: At the City's Gate
06:34 Stage 2: Between the City's Walls
07:22 Stage 3: In the City Streets
08:56 Stage 4: In the Heart of the Forest
10:21 Stage 5: In the Land of the Dead
11:59 Stage 6: The Foyer of the Castle Craggamoor
12:36 Stage 7: Descend the Stairs
13:25 Stage 8: In a Passage Deep
17:22 Stage 9: In the Catacombs
21:22 Stage 10: The Foyer of the Castle Craggamoor
21:58 Stage 11: At the Wizard's Tower
23:07 Ending
24:25 Death animations and traps
Contact Me
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Twitter: / al82_retro

[@unphoto]

This music reminds me of wax works of the other Elvira games. Anyway OT: This was the game this video games shops had running in the background to show what the amiga could do. I was blown away and sometimes just stood there in the stores watching the monitor and replay this over and over. Good times

[@NoirBadGuy]

This must be the biggest sprites I ever seen in the video game. And they look amazing.

[@derduisburger5768]

But these are not sprites. These are BOBs - Blitter OBjects

[@waferion474]

@@derduisburger5768 They are sprites, although not handled by Amiga's actual sprite hardware. Even 100% software sprites are sprites. Earlier the definition of a sprite was bit stricter, though, so you're kind of right.

[@argi0774]

Actually they look like shit

[@nhacamaster]

Look amazing but playa like shit

[@greensun1334]

Compared to some Neo Geo games, they're just generic. But for an Amiga title, it's impressive.

[@Dethmeister]

This is one of the reasons I got an Amiga. I was shopping for C64 games in this little game store in the mall and I could hear the weird sounds. Went to the back and this was running on an Amiga. Cool that you included some death scenes.

[@Morristigue]

Loved the quick tea bagging move before entering city walls

[@troglogear1474]

hahahahahah i searched for the comment if someoneelse noticed

[@Morristigue]

@@troglogear1474 lol

[@tofu_it981]

A game ahead of his times

[@Zontar82]

yes it was janky etc but the music and graphic for 9 years old me at the time blew my mind i still play and still like it

[@Pro_Skillz]

Look at them sprites boiiii

[@Zontar82]

there was a trick at 6:50 where if you stood in a particular place, spears sprung out next to enemies with a weird sound and a very creepy laughter, killing them. but sometimes they killed you too

[@ArttuTheCat]

"Select hero or heroine." 😺👍🕹️

[@MarquisDeSang]

Only 2 genders... good timeline.

[@greensun1334]

Well, looks like it was important to gender correctly - even back then 😅

[@MarquisDeSang]

@@greensun1334 Sterotypes were really boosted and the characters look good and healthy. Because a warrior cannot be unfit or handicaped.

[@greensun1334]

@@MarquisDeSang indeed, it looks great for a '89 home computer game. I played it back then on Genesis, but it wasn't my case.

[@Jackfromshack]

Probably this game was supposed to be an epic epic, but these sounds make everything hilarious 6:25 I saw that teabag!

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

😙

[@martinkalmus3761]

Did not lough whole time and everything was so cool and sounds were interesting :)

[@ApologyforPepology]

Coming from the C64 to this on the Amiga was indeed an audio/visual feast. Even when some sounds and designs are kinda weird/funny, there are some which I still like very much. My brother and I loved it back then, and we both still remember it fondly today. I heard they butchered the Genesis version years later.

[@killelmo42]

The Genesis version is absolutely terrible.

[@Pinman1973]

Same story here ! This is why i bought an Amiga. While the gameplay is not perfect, its decent and indeed this graphics was not seen in any game before.

[@michaelangel1445]

Nothing riped, oh this version there is not a ending with text. On Sega they don't have the grey Chocobo that's all

[@mehere3013]

I had the amiga hooked up to my hifi and the stereo music from this game through it was good , if I remember right this game was on 3 floppies

[@deceiver444]

Despite its poor gameplay, this game's weirdly awkward atmosphere still grabs me to this day.

[@gabrielirlanda]

What a game I didn't know existed, the Cemetery scene is simply amazing so the audio FX's, unfortunately I'm quite late, just 30 years late. 😄

[@robertdaone]

Game was kinda short but I loved the graphics, music and sound effects back in the days.

[@sonofthebride1642]

I was all in til I saw the gameplay.

[@ladadavidson7926]

I always selected heroin. Good times.

[@rocketraccoon1976]

Sad. Just say no to drug use. The "good" times aren't worth it. 😕

[@timetorelaxfocus9642]

Love this

[@RogerCasella]

Sound effects are hilarious!! 😆🤣 so obvious that it's a dude trying to imitate a sword swinging sound with his mouth

[@maestro-zq8gu]

This game was just as impressive as it was weird.

[@jedgar33797]

This thing plays like a fever dream lol

[@OldNerdPlayingOldPCGames]

Big like drop 👍 Old Nerd supporting 😉

[@pixelgoat7317]

Judging by the title screen, I'd think a more fitting title for this game would be,"Boris Vallejo's Radical Renfaire Adventure"

[@SteveRHanson]

Always thought this game looked amazing in screenshots and I was jealous for the Amiga, but then I finally got to play it and it played like crap.

[@p.s.9658]

I think this game sat the basis of that RPG game Conan the Cimmerian, also Golden Axe and maybe Rastan on crude elements.

[@Nopcode42]

I liked Targhan more, but I often played this on my AMIGA 500, too.

[@ashurafreedan]

chad norseman takes on virgin anglo-saxons

[@pnvgordinho]

I think they could have done the sprites bigger.

[@huginnandmuninn4865]

Nice pixel art of david bowie at the title screen

[@RiffRock51]

HINT: THE ANIMAL IS HUNGRY! 18:43

[@incubustimelord5947]

Drinks all of the magic potions. Dies. Moral of the story: Winners don't use drugs. Learn your lessons kids. Real heroes use broadswords in order to behead their arch-enemies, but never, ever drink all of the magic potions all at once. Kids playing video game: 😐....

[@rocketraccoon1976]

Wrong. When playing a boring & lackluster game like this, you need to drink all magic potions you can just to keep going. 🤤🍺 "Great game! °hiccup°"

[@nifftbatuff676]

I drink magic potions every day. Don't scare the kids.

[@solarflare9078]

The "Winners don't do drugs" death is only in the Mega Drive port

[@solarflare9078]

"Sword of Sodan never feels like much in the way of fun." What Amiga game does tbh?

[@stephenhall2980]

It's a lot like China warrior on the pc engine. Massive sprites that looked great in screenshots but when it came to actually playing the game...not so much.

[@greensun1334]

I rented it for my Genesis, and I was quite dissapointed. The screenshots on the backside of the box looked so good, but the game itself was just awful. I don't know, maybe this Amiga original plays better, but with just one button...🤔

[@martinkalmus3761]

Did like these happenings in the end,I dont know why :D Better i start an cry,how cruel i can be hehe like it All ^^

[@cloerenjackson3699]

Refreshes the screen twice every nine vertical blanks. Welcome to the Amiga a world of games with crap gameplay and one fifth of the refresh speed of a commodore 64.

[@iXien]

A technical demo impressive in which it has been designed by very young guys in 1987. But yes, gameplay is a total mess. Hopefully, lot of fantastic games show that Amiga is far more than that and far more evolved than a 8 bit computer from 1979 😉

[@peterknutsen3070]

If it's a PAL game then it's supposed to run at 25 hz.

[@iXien]

@@peterknutsen3070 I suppose you mean 25fps for 50hz refresh. Indeed, the game move in 25fps, but can be displayed in 60hz without any problem 😉

[@solarflare9078]

The Amiga is filled with crap gameplay in general that's overrated by the Amiga fanboys themselves. Retro Core's channel really highlights the flaws in them

[@iXien]

@@solarflare9078 All systems have bad games (and consoles are full of crap games too), the problem is more that fanboys are often still highlighting games that were outstanding when they were released because computer gamers were then turned towards technical exploits whereas nowadays it is above all (and rightly so) the level-design and the gameplay which are guarantees of quality. As a result, it's often the wrong games that are highlighted on Amiga while there are lot of fabulous games that deserve to be discovered. For example, I'm always stunned when they talk about Shadow Of The Beast as one of the best Amiga games while to be honest this game is only a technical showcase suffering of a terrible gameplay and level-design. Meanwhile a fabulous platformer like Twinworld (from Blue Byte), offering a fabulous level-design and a solid gameplay, has been totally forgotten. After that, I think that we can nowadays consider games in their context to avoid somewhat arbitrary judgments. Sword Of Sodan was particularly impressive at its launch in 1988, particularly when you consider that it has been created by three young high-school students without any experience. Appart from that, already at the time, this game divided opinion. Some magazines was congratulating the technical achievement while others already pointed to the disaster in term of gameplay and how frustrating it was to play. Amiga and western computers in general have fabulous games to offer. But after stopping listening to fanboys who seem to have never played on any other machine, it's also better to avoid console game conversions and focus on exclusive games when it comes to action games. Also, there are numerous gems in role-playing, adventure and strategy games, and a lot of games with inventive and surprising concepts that were rarely landing on consoles.

[@dagainz6997]

All the SFX were recorded by a single guy's mouth

[@antone1azet]

Golden Axe alpha version.

[@MarquisDeSang]

Eurogames all have deadly water drop. lol Maybe because they have never heard of showers.

[@TheJesterGuy_]

This is 1000x better than the atrocious Sega Genesis port we got from EA, which's easily one of the worst games ever made. No wonder UrinatingTree back then went to hell and back with that game.

[@RanmaChan]

Amiga version is better than Megadrive.👍🏻

[@defenestradorfg]

Graphics lika arcade game, now, the sound...

[@saultiberius9086]

I and my Father are One John 10.30

[@hopetagulos]

Ancient warrior.... robotic moving.... 😅

[@DenkyManner]

After an incredible intro with amazing music, the stage is set for a game so incredibly crap only a quality-starved Amiga owner could tolerate it. The term 'cope' was created for Amiga owners.

[@DenkyManner]

After an incredible intro with amazing music, the stage is set for a game so incredibly crap only a quality-starved Amiga owner could tolerate it. The term 'cope' was created for Amiga owners.