is an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...

platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

video game 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 ...

released by

Technōs Japan was a Japanese video game Video game developer, developer, best known for the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun (series), Kunio-kun'' Media franchise, franchises (the latter including ''Renegade (video game), Renegade'', ''Super Dodge Ball'' and ...

in 1986. It was licensed for release outside of Japan by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

. In the US, the game was published by Memetron under the title ''Solar Warrior''. The European home computer ports renamed it to ''Soldier of Light''.

Gameplay

The main character, Xain, is a galactic bounty-hunter who must defeat evil forces who oppress five different planets. The player can select any order to play the various planets, so, there is no 'official' sequence of play (the U.S. version, released as ''Solar Warrior'', goes through a set sequence instead of having the option to choose planets). Each planet is played with right horizontal and vertical scrolling, shooting enemies and dodging natural hazards. Xain can crouch, double crouch (prone), jump and double jump. In some of the planets the player will need to kill a sub-boss to resume. Certain enemies carry a powerup which changes the default laser gun into a different weapon. The different weapons which are cycled through powerups include a laser-grenade gun, a 2-way gun, a spreadfire gun and a strong bullet gun with their own respective damage and directional firing capabilities. At the end of the planet, the player goes into battle with a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

. Once defeated, the player plants a bomb into the boss' base and has ten seconds to escape in a starship. The next half of the planet stage is an interlude stage during which the player must battle through waves of enemy ships while heading to the next planet. After three planets there is a battle through an asteroid field and against a giant mothership. When all five planets are liberated, the player will play the longer final stage on a gigantic metallic fortress, facing the bosses previously met on each of the five planets. Fighting bosses in this stage is optional. Halfway through the stage the player plants a bomb on the fortress core and has 60 seconds to reach the exit hangar and jump into the starship.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Xain'd Sleena'' on their January 15, 1987 issue as being the twelfth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. While giving the Commodore 64 port a score of 499 points,

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

compared the game to

Firebird Firebird and fire bird may refer to: Mythical birds * Phoenix (mythology), sacred firebird found in the mythologies of many cultures ** Fenghuang, sometimes called Chinese phoenix * Vermilion bird, one of the four symbols of the Chinese constella ...

's game Crosswize.

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' was a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published '' CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', '' Amtix!'' and other magazines. History ''The Games Machine'' ran head ...

gave the Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum ports scores of 70%, 77% and 86% respectively.

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/soldier-of-light 1986 video games Amiga games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games MSX games Scrolling shooters Single-player video games Taito arcade games Technōs Japan games Video games developed in Japan Video games with cross-platform play ZX Spectrum games