Sol Cresta is a 2022 Shoot 'Em Up developed and published by PlatinumGames, serving as a direct sequel to the Terra Cresta series as well as the series' final installment. Hideki Kamiya serves as creative director, with Yuzo Koshiro producing the soundtrack.
The year is Cosmic Year 101. Humanity has been struggling in the previous wars against the Mandler Army, and despite their past victories, the Mandler Army has eventually overrun Earth along with the solar system with help from an even powerful force, Mega Zofer, and humanity has suffered a crushing defeat, being forced to flee to Laomedeia, the 12th moon of Neptune. Now forming the Solar Recovery Army Sol Cresta led by war hero Go Kurogane, humanity's last hope relies on Yamato, an all new, cutting-edge docking fighter, and its pilots Sho Tendo, Luna Zarnitsyna Sheena, and Dril Martin, for one final battle to take back the sun and free the solar system from the clutches of Mandler and Mega Zofer once and for all.
The game was released on February 22nd, 2022. It also comes with a Dramatic Mode DLC which will give the game the aforementioned story and characters. It is also set to be the first installment in PlatinumGames' Neo-Classic Arcade series.
This game provides examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The game's database explains the previous games' Canon Welding, Mythology Gags, and also expands on the franchise's lore as well as character profiles and glossary.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The game begins with Mega Zofer attacking Amano-Iwato on Neptune, forcing the Yamato and Yagatarasu to scramble.
- Always Save the Girl: Noboru Tendo saved Luna from Mandler a long time ago by storming the lab she and Dita were held hostage in. And Dita was left behind.
- Anti-Frustration Features: The version 1.05 update revises the end-of-game Escape Sequence to now be an "Extra Stage" where your life counter doesn't get decreased and you can't get a Game Over during the sequence. Instead, your incentive for surviving is a 10,000-point Extra Bonus at the end, with 1,000 points deducted from that bonus for every time you die.
- Arrange Mode: Dramatic Mode, which is paid DLC. It adds lore to the game, featuring dialogue and cutscenes between characters. It also nearly doubles the length of the game, taking almost two hours to complete! Unlike Arcade Mode, which has five difficulty levels, this one only has two, Easy and Normal.
- Big Bad: As always, Mandler is this, this time under the name Sol Mandler.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- At the end of Stage 5, when Chandor is defeated, he attempts to ram into you using the Vaikun. Then the Wing Galiber shows up and destroys Chandor's Mandler duplicate at the last minute.
- While escaping from Sol, the real Dita shows up and helps you, the Dita destroyed by Chandor at the end of Stage 6 revealed to be a cyborg double.
- Bookends: At the beginning and end of the game, our heroes manage to Outrun the Fireball, and the following dialogue is also repeated:Sho: This is Unit 01, Amaterasu! Is everyone okay? Come in, pilots! I repeat, come in!
Luna: This is Unit 02, Tsukuyomi. I'm all right.
Dril: Unit 03 Susano, alive and kickin'! Hamco is fine too. Who's askin'? You sound like you're about to cry.
Sho: I... I'm not crying! - Boss Warning Siren: Whenever you're about to reach a boss, the following message shows up: "WARNING: A big enemy is approaching at full throttle. There is a huge hostile reaction. Intercept it with a perfect attitude. Ready to fire." For mini-bosses, it's yellow. But for main bosses, it's red.
- Bullet Time: Whenever you change your ships' formations, the action slows down. It may come in handy in harder levels and obstacles.
- Canon Welding: The database contains info that calls back to the other Terra Cresta games:
- The Alien Creatures that attacked in Moon Cresta first attacked in the Cosmic Year 0080. While their source was unknown, research later revealed that they were created by the series' main antagonist, Mandler.
- Five years later came the events of Terra Cresta, in Cosmic Year 0085 when Mandler itself led an attack on Earth, its army consisting of mechanical weapons and biological monsters powered by Mandler's Power of Void. After Mandler's defeat, the Mandler Army retreated.
- Cosmic Year 0092 came the events of Terra Cresta II, in which Mandler returned with an even powerful military force called Zofer. Despite the sheer number of forces Mandler's Zofer army had, they were eventually defeated and driven off the solar system by Terra Cresta. However, Mandler was never truly defeated.
- Chekhov's Gun: Sho carries a pendant which is a Tragic Keepsake from his late father. Later, during the final battle with Mandler, said pendant is revealed to be the titular Sol Cresta, which ultimately awakens the Yamato’s 11th-Hour Superpower.
- Climax Boss: At the end of Stage 5, the battle against Shadow Mandler.
- Collapsing Lair: After Mandler is defeated, you must escape the exploding base before the game finally ends for real.
- Collision Damage: A head-on collision with a wall or obstacle is instant death, regardless of how many shields or fighters you have.
- Convection, Schmonvection:
- The sun was taken over by Mega Zofer and used as their headquarters. The final stage of the game takes place in the sun.
- Mercury, which is depicted as a Lethal Lava Land.
- Dark Reprise: In Stage 5, Terra, the music that plays is an arrangement of the Terra Cresta gameplay theme, but in a lower and more melancholic key. The name of this music on the soundtrack? "Fall of Terra Cresta".
- Dead Man Writing: After the Shadow Mandler piloted by Chandor is destroyed by the Wing Galiber, it plays a message from the late Noboru Tendo. Unfortunately, the data is too corrupted and is unable to play, but the message later plays a role in the Final Battle with Mandler when the repair process is completed. It reveals that the pendant that Sho is carrying is actually the Sol Cresta itself that Mandler was searching for, but Noboru got to it first, and it can be used to fully power up the Yamato.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title not only refers to the Solar Recovery Army Sol Cresta, but the Mineral MacGuffin as well.
- Downer Beginning: The game begins with the destruction of your base, leaving Sho, Luna, Dril, Go, Reichi, and Reini as the Sole Survivors.
- The Dragon: Chandor is the second-in-command of Mega Zofer.
- Dual Boss: In Stage 5, you have to fight Dita and Kethu at the same time.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: And how. Mandler is dead for good this time, Mega Zofer has been completely destroyed, and not only did Sol Cresta save Earth, the Sun, and the galaxy, they also saved Dita, Luna's brother, as well.
- Endless Game: Similar to many shmups before the Bullet Hell era, upon completing Arcade Mode the game starts over at a higher difficulty, and keeps going until you run out of lives. Averted in Dramatic Mode, which does end after you complete all seven stages.
- Energy Absorption: Mega Zofer has created six Vaikuns to suck up every planet's energy. Venus and Jupiter were among the first to be attacked, and succeeded in being wiped out. It also turns out that Mega Zofer is using the Vaikuns to revive Mandler.
- Fake Longevity: In order to stretch Dramatic Mode to 2 hours and fit in all the narrative, there are many new segments that mainly consist of cannon-fodder ground targets and bonus-point rings and are just there to help the player focus on the dialogue better but without having sections of absolutely nothing to do.
- Game-Breaking Bug: Early versions of the game were reported to have softlocks which crash the game during play. PlatinumGames has patched it several times by then.
- Grand Finale: The final chapter of the Terra Cresta franchise.
- Harder Than Hard: PlatinumHard difficulty above Hard. In addition to enemies becoming more aggressive, it puts limiters on several gameplay mechanics: Formation attacks are shorter and use up their tokens (rather than lasting until the stage ends), losing a life resets the Sol Gauge and takes away all of your formation tokens, and your shields are capped at one.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Wing Galiber does this at the end of Stage 5, destroying the Mandler duplicate.
- Hold the Line: In the final battle against Mandler in the Dramatic Mode, you have to let the dialogue finish and survive for a few seconds so that you can transform into a mech.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Every battle with Dita is this once it's revealed he is Luna's long-lost brother, brainwashed by Mandler.
- Lethal Lava Land: Stage 6, Mercury, is depicted as a lava planet.
- Marathon Boss: The final boss is a long four phase fight, with the boss setting up a different elemental barrier in each of the first three phases then turning gold and becoming more aggressive in the final phase. Its an even longer fight in Dramatic Mode, as the player must survive through a lengthy cutscene until the cutscene power up happens.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": In Stage 5, this is Sol Cresta's reaction upon confronting a clone of Mandler created by Chandor.Sho: Whoa... That's...
Dril: N-No way...
Luna: This can't be happening...
Go: Is that... The Archfiend Mandler?! Impossible! Mandler can't have awakened already! - Mineral MacGuffin: The titular Sol Cresta is what is used to power up the Yamato in the final battle against Mandler, having been stolen from Mega Zofer by the late Noburo.
- Musical Nod:
- The mission start jingle for stage 5, Terra, is a rearrangement of the respawn jingle from Terra Cresta, with the stage theme itself being a lower-key arrangement of that game's theme.
- The mission start jingle for the final stage, Sol, is the "last life" respawn jingle from Terra Cresta.
- Mythology Gag: The game contains references to not just past Cresta games, but other Nichibutsu games as well.
- The game reveals that in the obscure arcade game, Constella, the titular ship was actually that of an espionage force sent to spy on and steal Mandler's weapons between the events of Terra Cresta 1 and 2.
- Terra Cresta 3D, which was originally a 3D remake of the original Terra Cresta, is a simulator created by Dril Martin in-universe to train for the upcoming battles against Mandler.
- The titular Mineral MacGuffin is modeled after the Nichibutsu logo
◊. - Dita's ship in its robot form is modeled after the player's robot ship from Dangar UFO Robo, while the Yamato's awakened form is modeled after the player's robot ship from MagMax.
- Hamco, the Team Pet, is a reference to Hamster Corporation, the company that added Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta to their Arcade Archives collection.
- The commercial for the game is a shot-for-shot remake of the commercial for the original game's NES port.
- Nostalgia Level: Stage 5, Terra, takes place on Earth, which features a remix of the first game's main theme and ends with a Boss Battle against a fake Mandler. It also begins with an arranged version of the start theme from the original Terra Cresta.
- Oddly Small Organization: Compared to Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta, the titular Sol Cresta organization is much smaller.
- Playable Epilogue: In the Dramatic Mode, the end credits are completely playable, where you celebrate your victory over Mandler by setting off as much fireworks as you can. Getting all 83 will unlock a post-credits scene below, as explained in The Stinger.
- Pluto Is Expendable: Pluto isn't mentioned to be taken over by Mega Zofer.
- Retcon: The game does this to previous games, with Mandler becoming the Greater-Scope Villain of Moon Cresta, and also gives Terra Cresta 1 and 2 a Shoot the Shaggy Dog saying that despite humanity's efforts, they still weren't able to defeat Mandler.
- Retraux: The game's graphical and audio style are designed in the style of 16- and 32-bit games.
- Shout-Out: Reichi's Catchphrase ("My senses are tingling") is a reference to that of Spider-Man's, "My Spider-Sense is tingling".
- The Stinger: If you manage to get all 83 fireworks in the end credits, there will be a post-credits scene where an adult Sho Tendo gives a monologue about how the encounters with Mandler have finally come to a close, and everyone had returned to their daily lives again, Luna and Dril included. And Sho himself will take off into space aboard a research vessel as a peacekeeper for the galaxy in the Cosmic Year 121, never forgetting the peace that stands because of what everyone had fought for.
- Strolling on Jupiter: Some of the locations you visit over the course of the game include Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and the Sun, all of which are depicted as having solid surfaces rather than being balls of gas.
- This Cannot Be!: When Mandler is defeated.Mandler: NOOOOOOOOOOOO! You... You wretched TERRAAAAAANS! This cannot be! It WILL NOT BEEEEE! I'll plunge you... and the Sol Cresta... into the SUUUUUUUN! I shall be reborn again! Again, and again, and AGAAAAAAAIN!
- Theme Naming:
- The player's ships and carriers are named after Japanese mythology deities.
- The Mega Zofer generals, as well as Dita's ship and its units are all named after Hinduism deities.
- Time-Limit Boss: In Stage 4, when you face Garaka as a Mini-Boss, it has you trying to defeat him before the time runs out. If time expires, the antimatter cannon will obliterate the Yagatarasu, leading to an automatic Game Over.
- Title Scream: Whenever Dramatic Mode is selected. Sometimes the characters will shout the logo for Neo-Classic Arcade.
- Wham Line: What Rahhu says in regards to Mandler.Rahhu: HMPH. I prefer to torture the beaten and abject, but— I'll kill you now in honor of Lord Mandler's resurrection!
- And following his defeat...
Rahhu: HOW? How was my ship... destroyed so easily? To think, I meet my end before seeing Lord Mandler's return...!
Sho: Mandler's return? What are you talking about?
Go: Terra Cresta buried Mandler years ago!
Rahhu: Hahaha! You vermin merely destroyed a vessel! Our lord will soon rise in a new body, nourished by planetary energy!
Dril: Planetary energy! Then Vaikun aren't actually weapon plants— They're collecting energy to resurrect Mandler!
Sho: What?
Rahhu: You are far too late to stop it now. The rebirth will plunge the universe into darkness! Glory to Lord MANDLERRRR! - You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite destroying all the Vaikun, Mandler still resurrects for the final battle.
- You Killed My Father: Sho has a personal vendetta against Mandler because his father, Noboru Tendo, was killed by Mandler while on a mission to investigate a Mandler stronghold.
