Solomon's Key
A sorcerer retrieves Solomon's Key across 50 puzzle-filled rooms.
Solomon's Key is a 1986 puzzle video game developed and published by Tecmo for arcades. It was ported to multiple systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and Commodore 64, and later re-released on Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online. The game spawned a prequel, Solomon's Key 2, in 1992.
Quick Facts
- Publisher
- Tecmo
- Home computers
- U.S. Gold
- Designer
- Michitaka Tsuruta
- Genre
- Puzzle
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The player controls a sorcerer named Dana, who must retrieve Solomon's Key to restore light to a world overrun by demons. The goal is to advance through 50 rooms of Constellation Space by obtaining a key to the next door before a timer expires. Dana can run, jump, create or destroy orange blocks adjacent to him, and cast fireballs to defeat demons. Orange blocks can also be destroyed by hitting them twice with Dana's head. Enemies spawn endlessly, and any physical contact with them causes instant death. Items can upgrade firepower, grant extra lives, award bonus points, or unlock hidden rooms; some items require the player to create and then break blocks in a specific manner to appear. In the NES version, a Game Deviation Value (GDV) score appears at the game over screen, calculated from a weighted composite of factors such as levels completed, items found, time, and points. The NES version contains 64 levels total: 48 main levels divided into groups of four per Zodiac constellation (Aries through Pisces), 15 secret levels, and one final level called Solomon's Room. Each constellation group has a secret bonus room accessible by finding a seal in the last room of that group. Three additional levels—Page of Time, Page of Space, and the Princess Room—appear only if the player has acquired the hidden Seals of Solomon. The ending changes slightly depending on which secret levels the player finds and completes.
Development
The game's designer, Michitaka Tsuruta, based it on Lode Runner but gave players the power to both make and remove blocks. It was originally meant to be an action game, but Tecmo boss Kazutoshi Ueda pushed for puzzle elements. Tsuruta looked to Greek myths and the film Jason and the Argonauts for the game's look. The name came from sales manager Harano, after a developer pointed out that the star-like symbol in the game was Solomon's seal and that a book called the Key of Solomon existed. Harano liked it, and the title stuck.
Ports
The NES game Solomon's Key received a Japanese Master System port in 1988. Two years later, Pack-In-Video adapted it for the PC Engine as Zipang, featuring new artwork to match a film of that name. A Game Boy version, Solomon's Club, arrived in April 1991, developed by Graphic Research. Hamster Corporation later brought the arcade original to PlayStation 4 through its Arcade Archives series, launching in Japan during September 2014 and in North America a year later. A worldwide Nintendo Switch release followed in June 2019.
Legacy
The NES version of Solomon's Key first hit the Wii Virtual Console on November 19, 2006, in North America, followed by Europe and Australia on December 15. A port based on a reverse-engineered Atari ST version appeared for the Commodore Amiga in 2013. That same year, it also arrived on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Virtual Console. It later joined the Nintendo Switch Online NES library on October 10, 2018. A prequel, Solomon's Key 2 (known as Fire 'n Ice in North America), came out for the NES in 1992. Tecmo also released Monster Rancher Explorer (called Solomon in Japan), which shares the same gameplay but swaps in Monster Rancher characters.
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