SOS is a survival adventure game set in 1921, taking heavy inspiration from the film and novel of The Poseidon Adventure. You take control of one of four characters attempting to escape a capsized ship before it sinks, while rounding up other survivors. A graduation project known for being notoriously difficult due to the upside down platform elements and having passengers stuck on walls trying to climb pipelines.
Starring Kein Cashnner as Capris Wisher, Jean Hickman as Redwin Gardner, Sean Chanery as Jeffrey Howell, and Anthony Edw- oh we better stop here, that's a name of a real actor.
Sub-Pages#
Intro#
A part of Lady Crithania can be seen at the bottom of the ocean. A fully-drawn ship exists, but to keep the game design consistent with the events of the game, it ends up being unused as it is scripted to segment a fade-in into the title screen halfway through. In order to see this, wait until the KEITA KIMURA text disappears, then apply the following code: 0002C4:11, 0002C5:11 and 0002C6:11 (Japan), 000284:11, 000285:11 and 000286:11 (USA) to stop the fade out. The result is a constant loop where the game will draw the ship tiles over and over again while rendering blank text sprites.
In the Japanese version’s opening theme, it is possible to see an unused sprite render where the logo and trademark says 1992 instead of 1993. Septentrion was originally meant to be come out that year, but due to numerous delays it was eventually released in May of ‘93. To see this, add 0002C4:09 while white text is displayed.
Japanese subtitles that cover below the title screen, character selection, and the opening transition screen were removed from the international release.
An alternative epilogue text that isn’t used anywhere. It was likely meant to trigger if the player reached a low score or endings that involve the protagonist dying.
Lady Crithania met its eminent
demise in an unexpected storm.
The ship, battered by
immense waves in a dark
and ferocious sea, went down
in just 6 short hours.
The luxury liner,
Lady Crithania shuddered
from bow to stern,
on the evening of
September 13, 1921, 11 min.
past 7.
In a small journal aboard the ship,
it is written that a gigan-
tic wave was observed
just before the ship capsized.
With 2,300 passengers
and crewmen, the ship
was the biggest luxury
liner at sea. Its end was
both tragic and ironic.
From the height of luxury to
the depths of misery and despair,
this unbearable reality has
brought a sense of solitude
and sorrow to people all over
the world.
(Discovery: Vehek)
Text#
An internal list of passengers displays unique names of survivors a player can not rescue in a legitimate playthrough.
キャスリン兄 / ロバート ROBERT - A character the player can meet in the club room during the prologue. He is strangely listed in the credits roll. Internal files suggest he may be Katherine Meibrus' unnamed brother due to his character name being Brother Katherine, while his nickname is Robert.
レベッカ REBECCA
ブライアン=ディクスター BRIAN DICKSTER
クライド CLYDE
ザック ZAC - Zac is an unknown passenger who you can interact with and recruit to your party through memory editing an unlinked event. Zac can be rescued, though his name will not show up on a list of people who made it out of the ship alive. The message branch is empty on all routes.
チェルマーソン CHELMERSON - A cut character who holds a lot of dialogue between all main characters regardless of their status. Chelmerson would play out as a trap survivor, eventually taking your recruits away as he believes waiting for a rescue team is better than roaming around. While there is a function of him trying to take away your recruits as Jeffrey, it is incomplete and the player can safely call the passengers back. Such is not the case for Redwin's route, where he'll abduct Harry Adams if the player ignores Chelmerson at the wrong time.
There's an unused prologue text of Kelly Nelson and Jeffrey Howell conversing together. The player can answer, though doing so erroneously switches to a rude text from Dennis, the guy from the casino room who kept losing to Redwin Gardner.
Decimal Message ID |
Character |
Japanese |
English |
|---|---|---|---|
p-075(9b,82e4) |
Jeffrey |
こんばんはネルソンくん これからどちらへ |
Good evening Nelson, where are you going? |
Kelly |
いやあ |
Well, |
|
ねる前にバーでいっぷくしようとおもいましてね |
I wanted to relax at a spa before going to bed. |
||
ごいっしょにどうです |
Won’t you join me? |
||
Jeffrey |
いいねえつきあわせてもらうよ |
Great, I’d love to. |
A short greeting between a grandpa and a girl lingers in the game. It is unclear who they are.
Decimal Message ID |
Character |
Japanese |
English |
|---|---|---|---|
p-074(9b,82da) |
? |
こんばんはおじちゃん |
Good evening, Grampa. |
? |
いい子だからここにいるのよ |
Good girl, you stay here. |
|
? |
かあさんが戻るまでうごいちゃだめよ |
Don’t move til your mother comes. |
|
A woman next to Maverick the Purser asks you to dance with her. There's an extra, unsettling message branch that isn't played anywhere.
Decimal Message ID |
Character |
Japanese |
English |
|---|---|---|---|
p-082(9b,832a) |
? |
おいなんだ‥お前はだれだ! |
Heyǃ Who the hell are you? |
わたしをどうする気だ‥‥ |
What are you going to do to me? |
||
助けてくれ! |
Helpǃ |
||
(StarBlob2, angel_p57, Tamama: atwiki)
Sound Test#
A sound test can be accessed by holding down Select and L + R on controller 2 and doing either of the following on controller 1:
- Press R + A, B, X or Y to go through the music.
- Press Up or Down, then L to scroll through sound effects.
(GameFAQs: ReyVGM)
Graphics#
Exclusive route characters banging the walls with a weapon from Luke and Jeffrey's B endings goes unused. These animations cannot happen as Jeffrey is unable to recruit John Rattler, Amy Markarson, Harry Adams, and Ismay Carl Townsend. Ismay is a key survivor to Luke's route and is always scripted to trigger his A or S ending depending on your actions in the game, should you decide to save him. Redwin Gardner is a playable character, but he can never be rescued as a passenger. The animation displayed here is vastly different from his C rank ending.
An alternative crawling motion Katherine Clayton, Stacy Smith, and Richard Cunningham that isn't possible to see due to a bug where the survivors cannot go through tight spaces on even ground. Can only be seen if the player adds the following value to memory address while crouching: 0004D8: 14(Stacy) 19(Richard) 35(Katherine)
The room where the player meets Anna Tamaro, Frank Coney and Dr. Hendrix has an unused prologue room of 3-C. Here it appears that it had a minor design tweak, as the door to the left hand side was abolished. All props in the prologue room disappear when the ship is capsized by waves. It cannot be accessed naturally due to the room beforehand being out of reach, and should one be able to bypass that, they're met with more doors that aren't programmed to open. In addition, players cannot jump, leap or crawl at this point in time. While they can climb if there's a ladder object present - something you won't be able to in the beginning - the height of the room itself makes entering the unused area impossible without memory alterations.