Equinox (1994 Video Game)
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''Equinox'' is an
action adventure Action-adventure game is a video game genre that combines elements of action and adventure games. Action-adventure may also refer to: * Action-adventure fiction, a hybrid of the action and adventure genres * Action-adventure film, a hybrid of the ...
puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...
developed by
Software Creations Acclaim Studios Manchester (formerly Software Creations) was a British video game developer based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 1985 by Richard Kay. They were primarily known for their video games based on movie and com ...
and published by
Sony Imagesoft Sony Imagesoft Inc. was an American video game publisher that operated from 1989 to 1995 and was located in California. It was established in January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, as a subsidiary of the Japan-based CBS/Sony Group (CSG) and in ...
for the
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. A sequel to ''
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'' (1990) for the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
, ''Equinox'' depicts Glendaal saving his father Shadax, the previous game's playable character, from the imprisonment of Sonia, Shadax's
apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...
. The player acts as Glendaal, exploring 458 rooms in eight underground dungeons. The player collects 12 blue orb tokens while solving puzzles, killing enemies, collecting keys, navigating platforms and blocks, and battling bosses. It continues ''Solstice''s
isometric The term ''isometric'' comes from the Greek for "having equal measurement". isometric may mean: * Cubic crystal system, also called isometric crystal system * Isometre, a rhythmic technique in music. * "Isometric (Intro)", a song by Madeon from ...
puzzle game style, with greater emphasis on action adventure and
Mode 7 Mode 7 is a graphics mode on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis to create many different depth effects. It also supports wrapping eff ...
overworld map. Development of ''Equinox'' lasted from 1990 to 1993 and beyond the game's completion, due to difficulty running the graphics on all minor variations of SNES consoles. Brothers Ste and John Pickford were responsible for the programming, design, and visuals, and ''Solstice'' composer
Tim Follin Timothy John Follin (born 19 December 1970) is an English video game music composer, cinematographer, visual effects artist and game developer, who has written tracks for a variety of titles and home gaming systems, including the ZX Spectrum, C ...
returned to work on the music with his brother Geoff. The game was released in February 1993 in North America, in November in Japan, in January 1994 in Australia, and in March in Europe. It was critically acclaimed for its graphics, sound, atmosphere, gameplay, potential lifespan, and for the extremely high challenge level of its puzzles. The isometric perspective however garnered a more mixed response; some critics found it an intentional puzzle design aspect, some dismissed it as a technical flaw, and others said the puzzles created from it were cheap.


Gameplay

Similar to its predecessor, ''
Solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...
'' (1990), ''Equinox'' is an
isometric The term ''isometric'' comes from the Greek for "having equal measurement". isometric may mean: * Cubic crystal system, also called isometric crystal system * Isometre, a rhythmic technique in music. * "Isometric (Intro)", a song by Madeon from ...
arcade adventure An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action gam ...
puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...
featuring elements of
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and
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, such as using a menu screen to swap items and weapons. The game has a greater emphasis on action and adventure than its predecessor. The player acts as Glendaal, who traverses through eight dungeons to rescue his father Shadax from the imprisonment of Sonia, Shadax's
apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...
. The dungeons traversed are Glendaal's home Galadonia, the forest kingdom south of Galadonia named Tori, a desert with ancient remains east of Galadonia named Deesa, the underwater Athena, the swampy Quagmire, a sea-surrounded kingdom with a big tomb named Afralona, the Ice Palace, and Sonia's resting place of Death Island. From smoke-puffing huts on the overworld, Glendaal enters the dungeons which contain an increasing number of rooms. The first has 16 rooms, the second 34, third 45, fourth 47, fifth 63, sixth 75, seventh 71, and the last 107. There are 458 rooms in total, double the predecessor. Many of the rooms are barred by colored doors that must be unlocked with matching keys, except red herring keys. Apples provide
extra lives In video games, a life is a play-turn that a player character has, defined as the period between start and end of play. Lives refer to a finite number of tries before the game ends with a game over. Sometimes the euphemisms chance, try, rest and ...
, and progress can be saved by simply exiting a dungeon. In a dungeon, Glendaal moves at
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s looking for tokens shaped as blue orbs. Twelve must be collected to summon a boss, all physical manifestations of the spirits guarding the bridges to other lands in the overworld. The bosses include a Bone Head that shoots ghosts; Dung Dung, a chunk of soil that pops out of the ground and shoots boulders; Pincha; Dollop, a blob of slime; Quetzalcoatl, a sentient pole-shaped statue made up of multiple blocks; Eyesis, a spinning pyramid; and Billy Bones, a ghost pirate captain that shoots cannonballs. Getting to the tokens requires navigating platforms, moving blocks, dodging spikes, killing enemies, and increasingly complex puzzles. The isometric perspective
optical illusion In visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide varie ...
s form puzzles, based on determining the position of platforms. The rooms all have a single objective, and in some cases rooms must be done in a specific order. Glendaal starts with nothing, but obtains tools to attack foes in his quest. Every dungeon contains one magical spell Glendaal can perform, including those for healing, freezing, slowing down and decreasing the energy of enemies, unlocking doors, destroying rooms, and viewing invisible blocks. The magic is powered by collecting potions, defeating vampire bats and trolls in the overworld, and the dungeon bosses. Glendaal collects weapons, including daggers, swords, axes, twin daggers, swords, scimitars, maces, and twin swords. A boss kill increases Glendaal's
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and provides him with one of five strings for a harp that can be played in the Overworld to teleport. In each room, all the foes must be eliminated to escape, and they can respawn upon reentry. Because Glendaal is killed in one hit, learning how to destroy all enemies in rooms is a puzzle. Enemies must be defeated to collect keys, potions, and tokens. Foes include ghosts, spinning devils that can only be harmed while still, bouncing blobs with random movement patterns, and plate-armored knights vulnerable on back. Most follow a set pattern, but take several hits.


Development and release

Released in 1990 for the 8-bit
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
, ''Solstice'' was the first original product of Manchester-based developer
Software Creations Acclaim Studios Manchester (formerly Software Creations) was a British video game developer based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 1985 by Richard Kay. They were primarily known for their video games based on movie and com ...
, after conversions to 8-bit consoles. Programmer and company co-founder Mike Webb conceived ''Solstice'', with the intention of being a ''
Knight Lore ''Knight Lore'' is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of isometric graphics, which it further popularized in vid ...
''-style isometric game for the NES. Published by CSG Imagesoft and in other regions by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
, ''Solstice'' was released to a favorable critical reception and became a
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for its unique mixture of action, adventure, and RPG elements. Software Creations began development of a sequel, ''Equinox'' in March 1990, four months before ''Solstice''s July release, and finished in mid-1993.
Translation
by Chris Covell. ).
As the first non-Japanese developer to have a
Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
(SNES)
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, Software Creations began by creating ''Equinox''s
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, which involved analysis of the Super Famicom. The project was produced by Ryoji Akagawa and Allan Becker, and executive produced by Sony's
Shigeo Maruyama (born August 8, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese businessman. He is best known for being the founder of Epic/Sony Records, former chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment and former CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainme ...
and
Olaf Olafsson Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; ) is a Dutch, Polish, Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" and ''laibaz'' "heirloom, descendant". Old Eng ...
. Hiroshi Goto, Jeff Benjamin, Yuji Takahashi, Richard Robinson, and Software Creations founder Richard Kay were chief development executives, and Arthur Bangall was the chief game tester. Programming was initiated by Software Creations founder Mike Webb, and was mostly completed by Ste and John Pickford with contributions from Kevin Edwards and Stephen Ruddy. Whereas ''Solstice'' is a single-map puzzle game in which the player can only use magic, the Pickfords and Akagawa intended ''Equinox'' to be more of an action game by adding weapons, larger bosses, and RPG elements like discovery through multiple maps. In addition to Webb,
Tim Follin Timothy John Follin (born 19 December 1970) is an English video game music composer, cinematographer, visual effects artist and game developer, who has written tracks for a variety of titles and home gaming systems, including the ZX Spectrum, C ...
, composer for ''Solstice'', returned for ''Equinox'' to work on the music and sound, alongside his brother Geoff. The Pickfords were mainly responsible for the graphics, with additional visuals from Martin Holland and Neal Sutton. The visuals took more than one year to complete and unexpectedly prolonged development. Webb reported in April 1994 that ''Equinox'' was completed 18 months prior, but its release was delayed due to technical problems running on minor variations of SNES consoles. Blocks were made as sprites and overlapped to work within available processing power, but the picture processing unit (PPU) is unable to process sprites on the same layer properly, resulting in such glitches as the foreground sprites disappearing. To fix the problem, rooms were redesigned, and sprites that disappeared were removed. Another major challenge was the isometric perspective, because 3D shadowing to indicate depth was impossible due to limited processing power. For animation and character design, Glendaal took the longest due to having many movements, and the bosses were done in a week. After the graphics were finished, the final part of development was altering the difficulty of Quagmire by removing a
non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
.


Reception

''Equinox'' garnered critical acclaim upon release, ''Nintendo Game Zone''s Andy Butcher calling it one of the best arcade adventure games on the SNES and ''GameFan''s Brody claiming it was the all-time greatest Sony video game so far. Reviewers exclaimed ''Equinox'' stood out in the SNES library of mostly platformers and shoot-em-ups. In addition to a slower pace, atmosphere, and requiring a mixture of critical thinking and quick wits, the biggest reason was its 3D isometric perspective. The trope was the most prominent in 1980s computer games, such as
Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade video game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a seri ...
's
Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company founded by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Norm Prescott in 1962, before closing by Group W Productions on February 3, 1989. Located in Reseda, California, Filmation produced animated ...
games, including ''
Knight Lore ''Knight Lore'' is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of isometric graphics, which it further popularized in vid ...
'' (1984) and ''
Alien 8 ''Alien 8'' is an action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC and MSX in 1985. The game is a spiritual successor to the best- ...
'' (1985), and in '' Head over Heels'' (1987) and ''
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'' (1986). Critics in the European specialist press, mostly the UK, were reminded of these games when reviewing ''Equinox''. The only ''Equinox'' reviewer to cite examples of other SNES games with the perspective was Ryan of '' Super Gamer'', bringing up ''
Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy, and crime fiction, crime, wit ...
'' (1993) and ''
Spindizzy Worlds ''Spindizzy Worlds'' is a puzzle video game published by Activision, released on the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990. It was later released on the Super Famicom in 1992 and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993 by Ascii Entertainment and on ...
'' (1992). The isometric view led to comparisons to another adventure RPG, ''
Landstalker is a 1992 action role-playing video game developed by Climax Entertainment and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. The player takes on the role of the treasure hunter Nigel as they navigate a three-dimensional world through an isometric vi ...
'' (1992), released around the same time on the
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. The isometric perspective results in artifacts in terms of distances between sprites. Some critics viewed this as
optical illusion In visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide varie ...
s intended to test the player, but others criticized it as a technical flaw. Detractors wrote the issue was especially noticeable with the
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of enemies, joking that the foes were surrounded by a big invisible forcefield of death. Frank of ''
Super Action OCN Thrills is a television channel in South Korea owned by CJ ENM E&M Division, a division of CJ Group. It was formerly known as OCN Action and Super Action. They were focused on both Action film and Thriller film Thriller film, also know ...
'' reported the unclear perspective caused jumps to be incredibly hard, especially those that require Glendaal to be on the edge of a platform; in these situations, the player would need "almost supernatural depth perception", where the sprite would appear to float next to a platform when actually on the edge. '' Game Power'' suggested the unclear perspective was a result of a lack of shadows. Even from reviewers who found the unclear perspective intentional, responses were mixed. The Elf of '' Superjuegos'' found it an "ingenious" design choice, and '' Super Control'' journalist Paul dismissed it as a "cop-out" for designing puzzles legitimately. A critic from German magazine ''
Video Games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
'' said it led to unfair platform puzzles because one mistake could cause instant death. ''Game Zone''s Andy Butcher wrote that the isometric view meant it takes time to adjust to the controls, as the D-Pad is in relation to the perspective. ''Game World''s Adrian exclaimed ''Equinox'' "has the most beautiful backdrops and sprites that have been produced for ages", and Butcher stated it was some of the greatest for the SNES. The visuals were praised for their character sprites, colours, detail, and sense of hugeness in the environments. A frequent positive was the game's
Mode 7 Mode 7 is a graphics mode on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis to create many different depth effects. It also supports wrapping eff ...
map and overworld sections, especially the "smooth" and "breathtaking" rotation feature. Keith of '' Super Gamer'' and Frank of ''
Super Action OCN Thrills is a television channel in South Korea owned by CJ ENM E&M Division, a division of CJ Group. It was formerly known as OCN Action and Super Action. They were focused on both Action film and Thriller film Thriller film, also know ...
'', however, argued it was to hard to map where Glendaal was on the overworld, attributed to the removal of an auto-map that was in the predecessor. He and Camron praised the "fluid" and "realistic" animation of the characters, such as Glendaal, and noted the game does not slow down during boss fights. Frank called Glendaal's sprite one of the best of all time, describing him as "the Prince out of ''
Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...
'', only cuter". Reviewers called the soundtrack the SNES library's best, "most engaging", and "atmospheric". Brookes praised the sound effects as "amazingly realistic", citing Glendaal's pushing of a block. ''
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''s Andrew Humphreys noted the soundtrack's "ethereal" and "otherworldly" tone, comparing its
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style to the score of ''
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'' (1992). He claimed it was unique from other RPG games that "bombard you with a monotonous Medieval theme that loops over and over again". Frank wrote the game had "some haunting melodies and superb sound effects". Camron praised the sound, although argued it could get monotonous. The graphics and sound were complimented for making the game atmospheric and suspenseful, and some critics admitted to being spooked by the music and sound effects and recommended to play the game in stereo. Paul of '' Super Control'' summarized, "imagine each room as approximately diamond-shaped. The rooms ranged from basic stone-floored caves to elaborate chambers with highly-carved walls and marble effect floors. Eerie sounds accompany your excursion into this underworld and each of the guardians has its own theme music!" Adrian described the sound as "sedately haunting
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even when you're walking overland there's always a soft wind blowing so you're never really sure if a Goblin will attack you". Also cited were the music fading in and out, water drips, heartbeats, rope creaks, clangs when an armour is hit, and faraway clock chimes. Critics reported being heavily absorbed, involved, and addicted to ''Equinox''. The motivation to keep exploring all parts of the game's world was attributed to the graphics, music, huge spaces, high amount of rooms, and the design, such as the puzzles and mysterious placement of objects. The puzzles were frequently described as very difficult. Journalists such as Bud D. of ''
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'' and
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of ''
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'' confessed to being stuck for hours on some puzzles, and a '' Player One'' writer reported that he played the last dungeons as long as the prior seven combined. ''Nintendo Power'' claimed there were so many hidden doors and keys that the player had to touch every part of a room. Allie stated ''Equinox'' had more depth than '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past'' (1991) and was more "absorbing" than ''
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'' (1991). ''Equinox'' was celebrated as a successful combination of multiple genres. A five-out-of-five review from ''
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'' writer The Unknown Gamer categorized it as an original "masterpiece" that mixes the best elements of action adventure, RPG, and puzzle genres: "there are great puzzles to solve, cool creatures to shoot; big, bad bosses; and more than challenge for even expert adventures". Garth Sumpter of ''
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'' was excited by its potential to appeal to both puzzle and
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gamers, analogizing the game as a mix of ''
ActRaiser is a 1990 video game developed by Quintet and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It combines traditional side-scrolling platforming and sections with city building elements. A sequel, '' ActRaiser 2'', was releas ...
'' (1990) and ''
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'' (1992). ''
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'' magazine awarded ''Equinox'' the Best Strategy Game of 1994, and nominated it Best Cartridge Music and Best Gameplay. It was nominated Best Adventure/RPG Video Game by ''
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'' and awarded Best Ad of 1994 by ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''. In 1995, ''Total!'' ranked it 97th on its list of the "Top 100 SNES Games".


Notes


References

{{Reflist 1993 video games Action-adventure games Fantasy video games Epic/Sony Records games Puzzle video games Single-player video games Software Creations games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video game sequels Video games scored by Tim Follin Video games based on Arabian mythology Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games with isometric graphics Video games about witchcraft