Sword of Sodan for Sega Genesis Speedrunning Strategy Guide Version 1.0 by ShiftedBit

POTIONS:

There are four colors of potions:

• Red (Vitalium)
• Blue (Hydrolum)
• Orange (Solarium)
• Lavender-Grey (Etherium), or LG for short

Most Useful Combinations:

• Red + Orange = Flaming Brand (powerful sword, 90 second duration)
• Red + LG = Free Life (i.e., extra life, 1UP)
• Blue + LG = Shield (invincibility, 20 second duration)
• LG + LG + LG + LG = Warp to next level (only works on Levels 1-5, no effect if used on Level 6 or 7)

Single Potion effects:

• Red - increase hit strength by 15
• Blue - restores some health
• Orange - Magic Zapper, damages nearest enemy
• Lavender-Grey - No effect

Other Potion Combos:

• Orange + LG = Flame Brand (powerful sword, 20 second duration), not to be confused with the Flaming Brand (above), which lasts 4.5 times as long
• Blue + Orange + LG = Super Zapper, damages all enemies

Harmful Potions:

• Red + Blue + Orange + LG = instant death, with message “Winners don’t do drugs”
• Blue + Orange = Poison!

Most other potion combinations either have no effect or waste potions. For example:

• Drinking 2, 3 or 4 blue potions simultaneously restores the same amount of health as only 1 blue potion, so it’s better to drink them one at a time, otherwise you will waste blue potions
• Drinking Red + Blue + Orange has no effect, wasting all three potions
• Drinking Red + Blue + LG gives an extra life, but only Red + LG is needed for an extra life, so the blue potion was wasted.

Some Definitions:

• Fake Death Vomit (FDV) - Zoras pukes offscreen, but returns as the Big Monster with full health
• Real Death Vomit (RDV) - Zoras pukes offscreen, then appears as a Wizard and the final battle begins
• Berzerker Mode - When you have a Flaming Brand and a Shield active simultaneously

Only 4 potions may exist in a level at a given time, which includes potions in your possession and potions on the ground, even if they are offscreen.

Examples

• You are holding 4 potions.  If you kill an enemy, it will not drop a potion, since you are already holding 4.
• You are holding 3 potions and there is one on the ground.  If you kill an enemy there is no chance it will drop a potion, since 4 already exist (3 in your possession and one on the ground).  
• If 1 potion is still on the ground offscreen back at the beginning of the level, 1 is on the ground in front of you, and 2 are in your possession, that totals 4, so another potion cannot appear in this level until you drink one.

General strategy: keep drinking potions to gain their benefits and clear space for the next potion drops from the enemies.  Pick up every potion you see, because it will not disappear and will count towards the maximum of 4, even if it's offscreen.  If you kill an enemy when 4 potions are already present in the level, then you’ll never know what potion you might have missed out on.

Notes:

1. The Orange + Red Flaming Brand (90 second duration) is strongly recommended over the Orange + LG Flame Brand (only 20 seconds).  Both swords seem equally powerful, but the Flaming Brand lasts 4.5 times as long as the Flame Brand, and requires a red potion, which are common, whereas the Flame Brand requires a Lavender-grey potion which is rarer and required for the other more useful potion combos (like Shield, Warp, etc.). Recommendation: skip the Flame brand, save that Lavender-grey for a better potion concoction.
2. The potions do not seem to be dropped with equal probability.  Red and blue seem more common than the valuable Lavender-grey, for example.
3. A Lavender-grey potion is useless by itself, but is required for most of the best potion combinations.
4. The hit strength system is a joke.  Drinking a single red potion increases your hit strength by 15, and can be maxed out at 99.  But even with 99 hit strength, your sword is barely stronger than the 37 that you start at.  Plus, when you die, your hit strength is set back to 25.  When you complete a level, 12 is added to your hit strength.  Recommendation: ignore the hit strength meter entirely.  If you want to deal damage in Sword of Sodan, go for the 90 second Flaming Brand.
5. Blue Hydrolum: Drinking a single blue position restores some health.  The lower you are on health, the less health the potion seems to restore.
6. Orange Solarium: Drinking a single orange will zap the nearest enemy.  For enemies with smaller life bars, it may kill them.  If you zap a giant in levels 3 or 5, it will damage them by half and they will fall to their knees, but you must still behead them.
7. You can have up to 9 lives.
8. Blue + Orange + LG = Super Zapper.  The upside to this combo is that it zaps all enemies onscreen (and maybe even ones that have spawned but are offscreen).  The downside is that it takes 3 potions, including a valuable Lavender-Grey.  This spell can be useful at the start of Level 6 against the swarm of flying Demon Insects.  It can kill many at once, and they will probably drop new potions which can replenish the 3 potions you just used.
9. Brodan (Hero) is more powerful than Shardan (Heroine), but Shardan’s reach is longer and she can swing her sword more rapidly overhead.  Shardan’s poke reach is helpful in Levels 1, 2, and 3 against the spearmen.  Brodan’s power may be useful on the last level against Zoras.  You cannot change characters mid-game.
10. Berzerk mode:  when I have one of each color potion, I like to call this Bezerker mode:  drink the Red and Orange for a 90 second Flaming Brand, and then the Blue and Lavender-grey for a 20 second invincibility.  Now go berzerk and decimate your enemies as quickly as you can.
11. The Flaming Brand, Flame Brand, and Shield are time-based; you will not lose their effects if you die.  These powerups can even carry over into the next level, if there is time remaining on them.  The 90 second Flaming Brand lasts a long time as far as video game powerups go. 
12. The 20 second shield protects you from all harm except falling down trap doors in Level 5, lava on level 6, and the slow drain/trickle when a flying beast is on the same vertical plane as you.
13. Pokes (forward + C), overhand blows (up + C), and the standard sword swing (C) seem to inflict more damage than the crouching stab (down + C).
14. When you do an overhand strike (up + C), do not release up until the sword finishes swinging, otherwise the blows may not land on its target.  Two blows may connect with the enemy with a single overhead strike if done correctly.
15. When you complete a level, your health will be filled to approximately 90%.  That means if you finished the previous level with full health, you will start the next level with slightly less health.  What kind of game does that?
16. Enemies seem to have instant recovery time after you hit them.  Even if you slice a spearman 3 times in rapid succession, he can instantly retaliate with a stab of his own.
17. When you drink a potion it will override your character’s animation already in progress (swinging your sword, getting hit by enemy, etc.)  This means that you can drink as soon as necessary to clear room for the next potion drops.  Also, you can drink potions while airborne.
18. Sometimes in the last level, you will hear a bell toll.  It’s unclear whether these tolls indicate if Zoras will FDV (Fake Death Vomit) or RDV (Real Death Vomit).
19. About bright lights:  when you use a Magic Zapper or Super Zapper, the whole screen flashes bright orange.  To avoid any discomfort or damage to sensitive eyes, you may want to get in the habit of closing your eyes for a moment while you drink the potion so that your retinas won’t endure the full orange shock of the CRT screen lighting up.  Similarly, on Level 4, the Zombie Graveyard, the lighting flashes constantly.  Some players may opt to rhythmically close their eyes when the lightning strikes to save your eyes from the onslaught of brightness while you keep poking zombies offscreen to the right.  Pause the game during a Magic Zapper, Super Zapper, or lightning strike to see just how much illumination your eyes are subjected to.
20. Jumping is quicker than walking.  You can jump forward a long distance.  This is helpful at moments like the start of Level 4, when you want to get to the right edge of the screen ASAP before the zombies start appearing.
21. Backwards jumps:  This advanced technique can be useful when you must quickly retreat from an enemy or trap but don’t want to turn around (or don’t have time to turn around).  Press B to jump, then press backwards when you’re already in the air.  Don’t press back too soon or you will turn around.  With practice you can quickly hop backwards.
22. The Warp (4 Lavender-grey potions) is critical to a low speedrun time.  Which level(s) you choose to skip may depend on when you get lucky with those ever-important potion drops.  You may want to warp past level 3 since it is long, but the downside is that you will enter Level 5 with only a single blue potion (from Level 4).  Good luck against the giants!
23. The only options in the game are number of heroes (3, 5, or 7), and difficulty (normal or easy).  The default (and hardest) settings are 3 lives and Normal.
24. It is unclear when touching the end of levels 1 and 2 (farthest right edge of screen) will let you proceed to the next level.  If you don’t keep the screen scrolling constantly to the right throughout the level, you may have to fight more enemies.  Therefore the general strategy seems to be to aggressively scroll the screen to the right and end the levels as soon as the game lets you.

Quick Strategy for each level:

Level 1

Try to achieve Berzerker mode (90 second Flaming Brand and 20 second Shield active simultaneously) and hack through the horde as quickly as possibly.

Level 2

If you’re holding 4 LGs at the start of this level, you may want to warp past this level.  Otherwise, try to end this level holding 4 LGs so that you can skip Level 3.

Level 3

If you are holding 4 LGs at the start, warp past this long level.  If you warped past Level 2, you might still get lucky enough to collect 4 LGs on this level and skip about half of it.  If you fight through all of Level 3, try to end it holding one of each potion color, which you’ll need on Level 5.

Level 4

Start jumping to the right before the level even fades in.  Stay at the right edge of the screen and keep poking the zombies back.  The whole level should take no more than 45 seconds.

Level 5

If you fought all the way through Level 3 and have one of each potion, go Berzerker mode.  Jump over the first trap door, slay the two giants, jump over the second tray door, jump over the 3rd giant, and fall down the 3rd trap door to skip to Level 6.  If you warped past Level 3 and thus hold only the single blue portion from Level 4, then hope that the two Demon Insects drop some useful potions to battle the giants.

Level 6

Use Magic Zappers (Blue + Orange + LG) to slay slews of demon insects.  Try to plan it so that as you kill the last Demon Insects in the swarm, you are holding one of each potion color, which you’ll need in the next (final) level.  Poke the mini-boss offscreen.  Quickly platform your way to the final level.

Level 7

Use 90 second Flaming Brand with overhand strikes against Zoras when he is vulnerable.  If done quickly enough, he will emerge after the RDV (Real Death Vomit) in his final wizard form and you will still have time left on the Flaming Brand.  Use the 20 second Shield before his final form appears, and with Berzerker mode active, vanquish him.

In-depth Strategy for Each Level:

Level 1:

The heroine Sharan’s longer poke reach (forward + C) is a major advantage on this first level, because the spearman's range is long.  If you choose the hero Brodan, his poke reach is shorter, a major disadvantage.  However Brodan’s powerful attacks can be an advantage, particularly if you’re lucky enough to have Berzerker mode active.  Ideally you’ll have one of each color of potion early on in the level.  If so, use the Red and Orange for the 90 second Flaming Brand, and the Blue and Lavender-grey for a 20 second shield.  Proceed to decimate your enemies with pokes (distance) and overhead (close-range) blows.  There is a Lavender-grey potion at the start of Level 2, so if you are holding 4 potions at the end of level 1, you might want to drink one before ending the level, otherwise the LG won’t be there at the start of Level 2.

When you make contact with the first spearmen in this level, the message MORE HITS FOR EACH ENEMY appears, and two extra spearmen will appear on each side of the screen walking quickly towards the opposite side.  Those two spearmen will not attack you, but you can slay them if you are quick enough and they may drop potions.

Level 2

Like level 1, the only enemies (besides the spikes) are spearmen, so Shardan’s long poke reach will be an advantage while Brodan will be at a disadvantage, unless you use Brodan’s more powerful overhead strike in close.  If you have 4 LG potions at the start of this level, you may want to skip it.  Otherwise, fight through the level and try to finish it holding 4 LGs so that you can skip Level 3.  Push through this level as quickly as possible, constantly keeping the screen scrolling to the right.  If done correctly, no enemies will come from behind you, and you can exit the level after slaying only 6 spearmen.  

Level 3

This is a longer level with spearmen, axemen, demon insects, and giants.  Therefore this is a great candidate for a level skip.  If you can acquire 4 LG potions by the end of Level 2, use them immediately at the start of Level 3.

Otherwise, when the level starts, Zoras will appear in Big Monster form just to scare you, then he will leave.  If the lone flying beast flies low enough, kill it and hope for a potion.  Now face the axemen, the only level you will encounter them on.  Axemen are easier than spearmen because their reach is shorter.  Hack and poke your way through the level, preferably with a Flaming Brand and a Shield.  If you slay the spearmen, axemen, and demon insects, 2 giants will appear on either side of you accompanied by one more flying beast.

Giants are tough and their blows are heavy: a single whack from their club and you will lose about ⅓ of your health.  Sometimes they swing their club twice in rapid succession.  To defeat them, you must get in close and use overhead strikes (up + C).  When you deplete half their health, they will fall to their knees for a few seconds.  During these crucial few seconds, you must back up and use overhead strikes to behead them.  If you are not quick enough, they will stand back up with full health!

Level 4

The only enemies here are zombies, which spawn infinitely and never drop any potions.  AS SOON AS THE LEVEL STARTS OR EVEN SLIGHTLY BEFORE, start jumping as far as you can toward the right edge of the screen and start poking zombies offscreen.  If done correctly, you will see few to no zombies and the level will be over in less than 45 seconds. Also, if you are holding 3 or less potions when the level starts, there will be a blue potion on the ground you may want to (quickly) grab before getting to the right edge of the screen.

Level 5

There are numerous hidden trap doors on this level, and falling down one means instant death.  However, if you fall down the third trap door in the level, it will warp you to Level 6, BUT ONLY IF YOU DID NOT FALL DOWN A TRAP DOOR ALREADY!  IF YOU FELL DOWN ONE OF THE FIRST TWO TRAP DOORS, THEN THE THIRD TRAP DOOR WILL ALSO BE INSTANT DEATH!  Therefore the strategy is to jump over the first trap door, slay the two giants, jump over the second trap door, and purposely fall down the third trap door.  Hopefully the third giant does not appear until after you slay the first two, or your problems will multiply.  The trap doors are barely visible by slightly darker/discolored tiles on the floor.  

If you used 4 LG’s to warp past Level 3, that means you will start Level 5 with only the single blue potion you got at the start of the zombie graveyard.  Therefore you better hope that the 2 demon insects at the start of this level drop something good, like an LG potion so you’ll have a 20 second Shield against the first 2 giants.  This may be a make-or-break moment in your speedrun.

Level 6

This level starts with a swarm of demon insects.  If you’re low on lives, you may want get some extras here (Red + LG).  The Magic Zapper (Blue + Orange + LG) can be useful here, killing a slew of demon insects, and they’ll often drop more potions, replenishing the 3 you just used.  Ideally I like to have one potion of each color as I’m killing the last demon insects so that I can carry them into the last level and have a Flaming Brand and Shield at the ready.

The mini boss (Zoras?) appears from the right side of the screen after a few seconds, so as with the zombie graveyard, get to the right edge of screen as soon as the swarm is gone and poke him back until he’s dead.  

When dodging the “hammers” (which come down from the ceiling) and the spikes, you may find the backward jump useful.  Press B to jump, then press backwards when you’re already in the air.  Don’t press back too soon or you will turn around.  If done properly, the backwards jump can be handy when a spike appears underneath you and a hammer is blocking your way forward and you must retreat quickly.

When you encounter the lava, listen for the sizzling clues which warn of an incoming ground fireball from the right.  Sometimes you will not hear the sizzle over the din of the bubbling lava, in this case the incoming fireball is silent but deadly.  Ride the three platforms over the lava.  The last platform is the most difficult because it moves quickly so you may have less time to react to an incoming fireball.  If you fall in the lava, you die.

Kneel and poke the statue at the end to finish the level.  The number of pokes it takes seems to vary from game to game and may relate to your positioning on screen.

Level 7

In this level you must defeat Zoras in two forms: Big Monster (accompanied by 2 demon insects at a time) and then Wizard.  

Zoras’ first form is tedious.  He is only vulnerable periodically about every 20 seconds or so - when he stops and his belly turns red.  This is your chance to strike with overheads (up + C) and pokes (forward + C).  I usually start with some overheads, ensuring that both blows of each overhead swing land, and then switch to pokes to push the monster away, because he will instantly swing at you when he becomes active again.

The Big Monster’s claw melee attack is powerful; duck to avoid it.  If you are too far from the monster, it will launch projectiles at you; jump or duck to avoid them if possible.

ABOUT DEATH VOMITS:

When you defeat the Big Monster, it will scurry offscreen to the right, and seconds later you will hear what sounds like a death vomit.  This Death Vomit (DV) will be either a Fake Death Vomit (FDV) or the one Real Death Vomit (RDV).  If it is a Fake Death Vomit, Zoras will return as the Big Monster with full health, and your progress in the level thus far was all for naught.  If it was the Real Death Vomit, Zoras will appear a few seconds later as a Wizard for a final battle to the death.  

Sometimes you will get one or more FDVs before the RDV.  A low speedrun time depends on getting the one RDV and no FDVs before it.  Every FDV sets you back several minutes and will ruin a speedrun.  I do not know why you will sometimes get FDVs before the RDV.  It may be related to the bell that mysteriously tolls sometimes during this level.  I do not know for whom or what this bell tolls.

Zoras’ final form (wizard) is a ridiculous boss battle.  It’s mostly just a button-mashing race to the death, and if he unleashes a flurry of spells at you, you’ll get stun locked and take damage with no way to respond.  This is why I always try to have a Blue and LG at the ready.  Ideally you’d use the 20 second shield just before the wizard appears and still have some time left on the Flaming Brand.  Vanquish him and assume the throne as the True Ruler and Savior of the Northern Kingdoms!

IN THE FADING LIGHT OF DAY!