Fun fact I learned about this game: the data for the intro theme takes up more cartridge space than the game itself. It also uses all of the available sound channels.
Sounds about right, a lot of older games seem to be that way. Touhou 1's file size is like 98% music from what I remember, could be a bit off. And there's also the iconic "SEGA" in the Sonic games.
it's one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time ever, you're glad to have it in your brain till your death, just never forget it, it will last till the year 3000
Solstice would later get a sequel for the SNES, called Solstice II: Equinox. DYK: CSG Imagesoft was the original name for Sony Imagesoft, with CSG standing for CBS Sony Group, a joint venture between CBS Records and Sony based in Japan, with Sony distributing Columbia Records (and its sister labels) in Japan. Eventually, Sony purchased CBS Records outright, and was renamed Sony Music Entertainment, while the CBS Sony Group became Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
This game was BRUTAL! But magical as well. I could never beat it. It's so crazy looking at playthroughs of these games and see people beat them in 40 minutes when I spent days not even beating it.
Everybody talks about the intro (and they're right, it's a certified Tim Follin BANGER that oozes prog rock), but we gotta take a moment to appreciate the game itself. The programmer and graphic created a 3D isometric puzzle game in a time and on a console where 3D wasn't even possible. The ingenuity that it takes to do this is outstanding
Weaker machines had isometric games before this, like the ZX Spectrum with Knight Lore, but the NES' architecture made it much more difficult to code this effect here: While the ZXS had a bitmap display, which meant you could draw pixels to the screen directly (so if a character was meant to be partially covered by something, you just told the computer to not draw that part of the character), the NES worked using tiled graphics: The single background and the sprites are made from a limited amount of graphics loaded in memory, and were drawn on screen exactly as loaded (+ palettes, positions, etc). This means the sprites were always drawn whole, they couldn't be partially hidden, and it was either in front/behind the background. So how did they emulate do the 'sprites partially covered by backgrounds' effect here? Typically the NES loads its graphics tables directly from the ROM, which is stationary, but a few NES games had a custom chip which gave the NES a 'fake ROM' to load its graphics from, which could be drawn to/edited, and made to do lots of things. Elite used it to make 3D graphics, Battletoads used it to make parallax and scaling, and Solstice here used it to dynamically re-draw its sprites to be cut to the appropriate shape and appear partially hidden, even though they're actually still in front of the background. (I might be wrong in spots so anyone feel free to correct me, I'd love to learn more about this) ...now here's a theory! I believe this could've been done in another way: In Super Mario Bros. 3 you can see Mario smoothly entering pipes, and while his body is behind the pipe, his head stays in front of whatever background there is. But how did they do it? It's a creative use of sprite layering: Sprites have layers, they can be in front/behind each other, and also in front/behind the background, but these two things are actually independent. This means you could have a sprite that's behind the background, still be in front of a sprite that's not, and that's exactly what SMB3 does. Whenever Mario is enters a pipe, a block sprite is created where he is entering, behind the background but in front of him, and so Mario appears partially hidden. You can even see that sprite when speedrunners do the Wrong Warp glitch! They could have used this technique here on Solstice, but it'd have been much more complex, and I believe it'd end up lagging and/or flickering, nowhere as smooth.
I loved the intro to this stupid game, could never get too far though, the isometric view is wonky at times. Edit: I also love the cover showing just some yolked out wizard dude only to get this goober in game.
If my words don’t inspire you, then a script from a vintage 📺 commercial will: “Solstice, by (CSG) Imagesoft, at all Kay*Bee Toy Stores/Toys ‘R Us Stores/Wal-Mart Stores/K-Mart Stores/Electronics Boutique Stores!”
Back in the early to mid 90s I was not able to finish the game due to the lack of pacience and of course lack of timing. I only managed to get 4 pieces of the Staff. This game is still one of the most difficult Games on NES.
Loved the intro. Wish the game score was a longer loop so it would sound less repetitive. Honestly... without the Game Genie & cheat codes... you'd lose your mind or develop claustrophobia from all the little damn rooms before you'd finish.
how the hell were you supposed to figure all this out. I don't think I even knew what the potions did. Then again, I was still in elementary school back then, but I swear I played this game hundreds of times
It's crazy how many nes games are decent, but with some tweaking could have been amazing. This is one of them. It's just lacking some features to be so much better.
(0:08) _"Hey, this song goes hard! Wonder who comp-"_
*"Music by Timothy Follin"*
_"Yeah, that checks out."_
And on a Nes too. With some of the more 'clunky' sounds of the day Imo.
Tim follin for short
Daft Punk meets Jethro Tull
Fun fact I learned about this game: the data for the intro theme takes up more cartridge space than the game itself. It also uses all of the available sound channels.
Sounds about right, a lot of older games seem to be that way. Touhou 1's file size is like 98% music from what I remember, could be a bit off. And there's also the iconic "SEGA" in the Sonic games.
it doesn't use the DPCM IIRC
It sounds like he's using the PCM channel to spice up the percussion, on top of the noise channel.
It sounds like it uses quadruple the amount of sound channels.
Tim Follin never used the PCM channel on the NES, or sound samples in his chiptune, I believe
That intro music is so mind blowingly insane. I can’t believe the nes can do that
That intro track ain’t messing around! 🤩
Music by Timothy Fallon
it's one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time ever, you're glad to have it in your brain till your death, just never forget it, it will last till the year 3000
Tim Follin, he was/is a magician with those older sound chips!
Happy Winter Solstice!
Very clever to say that lol. 😂
The title and in-game themes fits with months of June and December.
It's worth it just for the opening music
The ending music is great, too (36:18).
@Dorian_Scott I never heard it...thanks, it very good too
Ah that wacky Tim Follin.
"Let's start with the most generic crappy fantasy intro song imaginable and then ROCK YOUR FACE OFF"
Solstice would later get a sequel for the SNES, called Solstice II: Equinox.
DYK: CSG Imagesoft was the original name for Sony Imagesoft, with CSG standing for CBS Sony Group, a joint venture between CBS Records and Sony based in Japan, with Sony distributing Columbia Records (and its sister labels) in Japan.
Eventually, Sony purchased CBS Records outright, and was renamed Sony Music Entertainment, while the CBS Sony Group became Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
Growing up my grandmother had a nes and had this game. I was always intrigued by it
This game was BRUTAL! But magical as well. I could never beat it. It's so crazy looking at playthroughs of these games and see people beat them in 40 minutes when I spent days not even beating it.
I feel that. I spent hundreds of hours on this and kind of beat it by accident haha
Looking back, this game and others of its kind on other systems reminds me of Vagrant Story. And I happen to love both.
My favorite NES game of all time! If you couldn't tell
Journey to Silius also has some bangers, but not a lot of tracks come close to this epicness.
This is the 21st of December if anyone missed it. Good job Alex.
My eldest Olson niece's birthday.
tim follin do be the best nes music maker no doubt
Everybody talks about the intro (and they're right, it's a certified Tim Follin BANGER that oozes prog rock), but we gotta take a moment to appreciate the game itself. The programmer and graphic created a 3D isometric puzzle game in a time and on a console where 3D wasn't even possible. The ingenuity that it takes to do this is outstanding
Weaker machines had isometric games before this, like the ZX Spectrum with Knight Lore, but the NES' architecture made it much more difficult to code this effect here:
While the ZXS had a bitmap display, which meant you could draw pixels to the screen directly (so if a character was meant to be partially covered by something, you just told the computer to not draw that part of the character), the NES worked using tiled graphics: The single background and the sprites are made from a limited amount of graphics loaded in memory, and were drawn on screen exactly as loaded (+ palettes, positions, etc). This means the sprites were always drawn whole, they couldn't be partially hidden, and it was either in front/behind the background.
So how did they emulate do the 'sprites partially covered by backgrounds' effect here? Typically the NES loads its graphics tables directly from the ROM, which is stationary, but a few NES games had a custom chip which gave the NES a 'fake ROM' to load its graphics from, which could be drawn to/edited, and made to do lots of things. Elite used it to make 3D graphics, Battletoads used it to make parallax and scaling, and Solstice here used it to dynamically re-draw its sprites to be cut to the appropriate shape and appear partially hidden, even though they're actually still in front of the background.
(I might be wrong in spots so anyone feel free to correct me, I'd love to learn more about this)
...now here's a theory!
I believe this could've been done in another way: In Super Mario Bros. 3 you can see Mario smoothly entering pipes, and while his body is behind the pipe, his head stays in front of whatever background there is. But how did they do it? It's a creative use of sprite layering: Sprites have layers, they can be in front/behind each other, and also in front/behind the background, but these two things are actually independent. This means you could have a sprite that's behind the background, still be in front of a sprite that's not, and that's exactly what SMB3 does. Whenever Mario is enters a pipe, a block sprite is created where he is entering, behind the background but in front of him, and so Mario appears partially hidden. You can even see that sprite when speedrunners do the Wrong Warp glitch! They could have used this technique here on Solstice, but it'd have been much more complex, and I believe it'd end up lagging and/or flickering, nowhere as smooth.
So basically a bunch of wizards made a wizard puzzle game
@@RaposaCadela another rainboweirdo
@@luis-sophus-8227 proudly
👍
I remember playing this game… never could beat it…
That opening theme goes hard!
This game seems like a million times better than Last Ninja on NES
For sure, no contest.
I can't believe no one's talking about how the vilain is literally named Morbius
It's morbin time
It’s Morbin time!
Personal fav of mine , intro song is the nes goat
Just finding out about this game. It very well may be the best looking NES game I've ever seen. I'll definetly play it.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane
The opening music reminds me Jethtro Tull or Genesis
Yeah, you're right. Needs more flute, though.
He commented once that his inspiration for the music was the prog rock he listened back in the day.
damn 37 minutes. It took me weeks when i was young and got that game :)
Ok that game does look kinda cool, I like the colors and the camera angles
Was this game an inspiration for _Landstalker_ on the Genesis? The similarities in gameplay and graphics are striking to me.
There are incredibly similar.
Theres equinox to on SNES
@@DrGreenThumbNZL Yeah Equinox was the sequel to Solstice
@@streeTkiDwannaBe I know
Holy crap, the nostalgia
This is on the same console that the first Super Mario Bros was on. Just let that sink in.
I wish this game get a release on the Nintendo Switch Online.
people just know this game by the music
Very good soundtrack
I loved the intro to this stupid game, could never get too far though, the isometric view is wonky at times.
Edit: I also love the cover showing just some yolked out wizard dude only to get this goober in game.
Definitely the ancestor of light crusader and landstalker baby lol 😂 sweet
If my words don’t inspire you, then a script from a vintage 📺 commercial will: “Solstice, by (CSG) Imagesoft, at all Kay*Bee Toy Stores/Toys ‘R Us Stores/Wal-Mart Stores/K-Mart Stores/Electronics Boutique Stores!”
No Comp USA? 😢
Llevo casi cuatro décadas buscando este juego. Me dio mucho gusto verlo tendré que buscar un buen emulador y jugarlo en mi PC.
VirtuaNES te recomiendo
You have to have a lot of patience to finish it.
Damn we need a Rom hack of this Pronto somehow?! New levels and such....
Very nice secret room at the end. I did not find that one
I NEED more 8 Bit wizard prog rock for my wizard maxxing
Back in the early to mid 90s I was not able to finish the game due to the lack of pacience and of course lack of timing. I only managed to get 4 pieces of the Staff. This game is still one of the most difficult Games on NES.
The sheer amount of trial and error required to find out how to get through this game without strategy guides or walkthroughs is mind boggling.
Super video.
One of only a couple games i ever finished. Back in 91 u could call the Nintendo hotline and speak to someone live who could give u hints 😁
Cool
I misread the title and thought this was solitaire lol 😂
Hahaha, and its sequel Equifax
Loved the intro.
Wish the game score was a longer loop so it would sound less repetitive.
Honestly... without the Game Genie & cheat codes... you'd lose your mind or develop claustrophobia from all the little damn rooms before you'd finish.
how the hell were you supposed to figure all this out. I don't think I even knew what the potions did. Then again, I was still in elementary school back then, but I swear I played this game hundreds of times
MORBIUS
Tim is the best!
36:36 okay this looks pretty coo- MORBIUS!?!?!?
Este juego jamas lo termine 😔
It's crazy how many nes games are decent, but with some tweaking could have been amazing. This is one of them. It's just lacking some features to be so much better.
Holy isometric platforming over spiked pits batman!
Man, the NES mixing does not do the drop of the theme justice from the rip I heard.
Here it was made quieter for some reason. It's actually like in the most popular upload
Get rekd Morbius
I like the part where Morbius comes in and morbs all over the princess.
3:10 my favourite part of solstice was when the wizard said "it's solsticing time" and solsticed all over those guys. truly one of the games ever made
This is a hard nes game
I beat this game on my 1st try
NO SHOT THE VILLANS NAME IS MORBIUS
36:34 morBIUS ??????!!
you could proabbly make a MVC style fighter out of the main character, if you were creative enough.
soo.. shadax vs software creations?
Morbius😂
How can the in game music be so drab and dreary then…
Oh my God, couldn’t they have had more than like 3 songs for this game? I had a headache like five minutes after it started!
Great graphics, great music, shitty gameplay
That game was RETARDED!🤦🏼♀️😅