The peaceful island of Coolmint.  Ice covers the ground and the trees, keeping it a beautiful winter-wonderland.  Until... the evil wizard Druidle unleashed enchanted flames upon the island to terraform it into a land of fire.  Only you the "unlikely" hero, Dana, who conveniently has the elemental power of ice, can stop Druidle and his plans to take-over Coolmint Island.

Dana destroying a Green Flame

     Solomon's Key 2 or Fire 'n Ice as it is known in the United States, is an adventure/puzzle game in which your main goal is to rid the level of the enemies on the playing field.  The gameplay is fairly simple and there is no set order for level completion.  After completing nine levels of each land of Coolmint Island, you gain access to the heart of that land.  The same goes for reaching (Level Ten) Druidle's lair.  Defeat him and the land returns to normal.  Also, for your efforts you are given a secret code to access levels 11 through 15.

     For a more in-depth explanation of the game, read this FAQ by Wilson Lau.  He did a much better job than I could do on covering this game.  It's definitely worth checking out even if you don't need help with the game.

     It has come to my attention that Solomon's Key 2 was also planned for an American release and a prototype currently exists.  It is unknown to why the name was changed to Fire 'n Ice.  Also, I have heard that there is no CHR difference between that NTSC prototype version and this PAL commercial version.  For best results, enable PAL emulation on your favorite NES emulator.

     Thanks go out to kevtris for providing me with the CopyNES to dump this game and to Ace of Simplynes for providing the cart.

merp