Soldam: Drop, Connect, Erase Game Sample - NS
24Hey! It's Soldam... on my Nintendo Switch... more or less! For the uninitiated, "Soldam: Drop, Connect, Erase" is a reboot of Jaleco's fairly obscure 1993 arcade game of the same name (Soldam) which, in turn, was a spin-off of the somewhat popular 1990 "Rod Land" and is one of the Switch's early third-party titles. Developed by the folks over at City Connection (who acquired Jaleco's I.P.s) in 2017 and published by Dispatch Games, it is a well-intentioned puzzle game that hasn't really changed much since its debut over twenty years ago, but... something is missing. It is also known in some circles as "Soldam 2" and "Soldam: Blooming Declaration".
Starring Rit and Tam, two inhabitants of the Fairy Forest, your goal is to fill the forest with flowers by feeding mild mannered creatures called Plumis fruit from the mysterious "Soldam Tree". Like mentioned in the original video, the game is a sort of hybrid of "Tetris" and "Reversi / Othello". Sandwiching fruit together will change them to the color of the same type and send the corresponding color underneath your pile as a safety net used to pull Soldam from the bottom of the field as well. It maintains much of the Arcade game's difficulty, though this is easier for reasons that will be outlined later. Reaching certain milestones or thresholds will change the type of Plumi you have and you can collect a large variety of them based on your actions in the game's main mode complete with 200 main levels and an Easy Mode that's basically endless, a Challenge / Puzzle mode with fifty objectives, and a simple versus mode. The game has some basic options, though you can listen to the game's soundtrack in-game, which is ironically pretty nice in this day and age when in-game soundtracks used to be pretty standard.
Visually, the game doesn't have the great pixel quality of the original, but what's on offer isn't bad per se; it features bright colors and bold illustrations and cut-ins that are somewhat reminiscent to the likes of "Puyo Pop Fever" or "Flipon". The little accents are missing such as the individual animations of the Plumis or misc. graphics (such as the dynamic scrolling playing field in the main mode), but it is adequate. The game's soundtrack is also different and a matter of personal preference, of course, but I can say that it's still pretty nice. The Japanese voices aren't really showcased in full by default, though you can change this in the options to give the game a more proper feel. The gameplay however is missing a few things. For one, it's missing a proper ending like the one found in the Arcade's "Sekiro Quest" mode. On top of that, it's missing the Sekiro nuisance drop, the little boss battles and the "EXTRA" drops which, when collected, summoned a sexy fairy to wash your field and anxiety away... how do you not include that!? As if almost acknowledging their folly, they eventually released the original Arcade game as a standalone title in the "Arcade Archives" format.
Dispatch Games also added barebones online features to the localized version of this game, but the game was almost dead on arrival and Dispatch has a dubious reputation as a whole (look it up around the web, it's actually a pretty interesting read). At the end of the day though, Soldam Switch is a pretty good puzzle alternative for the system. When it originally launched, I would've said it was too pricey, but the game can be had for cheap now. This is a video showcasing different things. You can get it at:
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/soldam-drop-connect-erase-switch/
And here's a video of the original Soldam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKM5H5-nPgA
Enjoy.
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