Rodea the Sky Soldier

Rodea the Sky Soldier is an action-adventure game developed by Prope for the Wii and Kadokawa Games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The game stars Rodea, an android who possesses the ability to fly and a “heart”. These traits result in Rodea becoming a soldier in order to fulfill his promise of protecting the kingdom of Garuda, a series of islands that float in the sky, from the ground-based Naga Empire and its leader, Emperor Geardo. 

Although development was completed in 2011, Rodea the Sky Soldier went unreleased for four years until it finally saw a release in Japan in April 2015, and then a subsequent worldwide release in November 2015. A thousand years before the game’s story takes place, Rodea fights for the kingdom of Garuda against an invasion carried out by the mechanical army of the Naga Empire and its leader, Emperor Geardo. Upon seeing an airship piloted by Garuda’s ruler, Princess Cecilia, shot down, Rodea flies off towards it to make sure Cecilia and the Key of Time she retrieved are both safe.

Upon discovering Cecilia alive but shaken and that the Key is within her possession, Rodea realizes that they surrounded by a number of the Naga Empire’s mechanical soldiers. Despite Rodea readying himself to fight, Cecilia tells him to stand down and splits the Key of Time in half. Cecilia gives one half to Rodea while telling him to protect it while she keeps the other, as the now-shattered Key will result in Geardo being unable conquer Garuda.

Although Rodea pleads with Cecilia to give him the order to allow him to protect her, she sadly decides to teleport him away in order to enact her plan to protect the Key of Time, Garuda and Rodea himself. Rodea immediately finds himself teleported to a vast desert and, in a fit of despair and anger, smashes his right fist into the sand, shattering his right arm in the process and rendering his programming unstable.

As he begins to shut down, Rodea ponders what it means to possess the heart that Cecilia gave him. Rodea the Sky Soldier’s gameplay differs noticeably between versions of the game. Power-ups are maintained until Rodea takes damage or the player completes the current level, and they also crucially function as protection; should Rodea take damage once more without any power-ups, he will lose a life and respawn at the last checkpoint passed.

The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions’ controls involve using the joystick and control pad, respectively, to point a reticle on-screen and pressing the A button to launch Rodea toward that point. Unlike the Wii version, purchasable permanent upgrades are used to gradually improve Rodea. Another feature unique to the Wii U and 3DS versions is the usage of a fuel system, which limits the length of Rodea’s flight time and forces the player to land when the fuel bar runs out. Certain actions, such as attacking, also drain the fuel bar at a faster rate.