Soldier Soldier Soldier, King: Crown of Midnight (Videogame)

## History

Soldier Soldier Soldier, King: The Crown of Midnight, was first heard of in early 2001. American game studio, Dead Dog Games, was contracted to create a video game tie-in for the upcoming anime, Soldier Soldier Soldier, King (Anime). Set to release Holiday 2001, leaked development documents reveal the game was intended to push the limits of the N64, featuring cutting edge graphics, a large open world, and rollback netcode. In June of 2001, several rumors of a multiplayer demo surfaced. Reportedly, this demo was displayed at local conventions, and featured multiple characters from the series engaging in first-person shoot-outs, and parkour-like movement. Tragically, the Dead Dog Games office was burned down by a disgruntled ex-employee during the summer of 2001, destroying the game. Dead Dog Games abandoned the project, and The Crown of Midnight was thought lost to history. Dead Dog Games was acquired by Microsoft soon after, and their last known product was rumored to be assets for kinectimals.

## The Crown of Midnight Rediscovered

In September of 2021, the last known surviving copy of The Crown of Midnight Demo was discovered. Dedicated fans extracted the corrupted game files, and managed to emulate the 2001 demo on PC. The game was made available for download here

## Gameplay

The Crown of Midnight Demo is a Hero Shooter featuring parkour and platforming mechanics. Two game modes are playable on the demo.

Speed Trial: 12 Golden Spheres are hidden around the map, and the player must find and shoot all twelve before time runs out.

PvP: 2-4 players compete to gather as many crowns as possible from the center of the map, and take them back to their teams base.

## Characters

There are 10 playable characters in The Crown of Midnight. All share the same basic abilities, though many have slightly different stats (ie: The Ghost's low gravity).

Huey

Duey

Luey

The Ghost

King Terry

The Masked Knight Called 'Joe'

The Banana King

Lil' Didja Noh

Sir Whodat (Nanashi in Japanese)

General Rico Mendations

According to data miners, within the source code is a referenced 11th character, though whether this character is accessible in game, or is merely an unfinished prototype is unknown.

## Advanced Techniques

Several advanced movement techniques were discovered by player experimentation. Whether these are glitches, developer oversight, or intentional mechanics is unknown.

Meteor Boosting: The exploding meteor incurs significant knockback to all nearby characters. By shooting a meteor at their feet, characters can launch themselves to previously unreachable places.

Glizzard Hopping: If slide is pressed right before a character hits the ground, any downward momentum is converted to forward momentum. By repeatedly jumping, landing in a slide, and jumping again, characters can build up speed very quickly.

Reality Shift Cancelling: When crouching and pressing slide, characters enter a reality shift, moving quickly along the ground for a set distance. By jumping before the end of the shift, characters avoid the ending lag of the movement.

## Speed Running

On September 5th, 2021, mere days after the discovery of the lost demo, the first sub-minute speed trial run was recorded by Arca Phox, setting the WR at 59.5 seconds. Later that day MattXMP recorded a low 56, while Arca Phox lowered the record again to 49.05, where it now stands.