Mode(s) Single-player Developer Software Creations Genre Action-adventure game | Initial release date 12 November 1993 Designer Ste and John Pickford | |
 | ||
Composer(s) Tim Follin
Geoff Follin Platform Super Nintendo Entertainment System Publishers Sony Imagesoft, Epic/Sony Records Similar Software Creations games, Platform games | ||
Equinox, known in Japan as Solstice II (ソルスティスII), is an isometric 3D action–puzzle-hybrid video game developed by Software Creations and published by Sony Imagesoft and Sony Computer Entertainment for the Super NES in 1994. It is the sequel to Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos, a 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System game.
Contents
Gameplay
The protagonist Glendaal moves from room to room looking for ‘tokens’ (blue orbs), twelve of which must be collected and brought to a boss area where they enable the ‘summoning’ of one of the game’s boss characters. Each of these must be defeated to enable progress to the next area. To aid the player in their quest, one projectile weapon and one magic scroll is hidden on each level for Glendaal to find. Most levels contain a number of entrances which are accessed from an over-world map, home to a sparse collection of wandering monsters. There are eight levels ("worlds") in the game, each of them with own weapon, spell and boss (called a Guardian) as well as tricky platform-jumping and block-sliding puzzles.
Plot
Shadax, the wizard hero of Solstice, has been captured and imprisoned by his treacherous apprentice, the sorceress Sonia, in her Ice Palace. Sonia's army of monsters and demons then overrun the seven kingdoms of the world. It is now up to his young son Glendaal, the only man with the magical powers strong enough to defeat the evil empress, to journey to rescue Shadax from her icy fortress in Death Island and put an end to her reign. If Glendaal manages to reach and destroy Sonia, he finds his barely alive father in a tiny chamber concealed behind the witch's throne.
Reception
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored Equinox a 29 out of 40. Dragon gave the game 3 out of 5 stars and Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 7.6 out of 10, calling it "a good action/adventure game with one major problem: The perspective is very disorienting." Gamefan Magazine was far more positive, reviewing it twice and giving the import version 90% and 96%. Equinox was awarded for having the Best Ad of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.