Sol is the son of Darksol and Mishaela, the villains of Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention. After the final defeat of Darksol, the child Dark Sol was whisked away by Oddeye, the foremost Greater Devil of Darksol's archenemy, Zeon. Therefore, Dark Sol's role in Shining in the Darkness places its entry in the timeline sometime following the events of Shining Force II. This revelation also supported by a possible reference to Darksol, when Theos mentions "a Dark Wizard" who once wielded the same Dragonbreath spell as Dark Sol. Development Sega allocated the bare minimum budget offered to out-of-house developers for the creation of Shining in the Darkness. In a 2009 interview, Hiroyuki Takahashi (credited for "writing" and producing the game) recalled: ReceptionSega Pro reviewed the game in 1991 and gave it a 93% score, describing the dungeon crawler as "superior to all other RPGs of this style", praising its detailed "background preparation", detailed graphics (including scaling sprites and water effects), character conversations, sound design (especially around taverns), replayability ("Every game is different"), and its innovative icon-based menu system. Peter Olafson of Computer Gaming World compared Shining to Dungeon Master and Speed Racer, and favorably cited the combat and animation. The magazine concluded that the game was a "hack-and-slash adventure" that is "not the full-blown CRPG that many gamers were hoping for" but "a decided step" in that direction. Dragon reviewers praised the game's smooth interface and gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying that it "combines the icons and combat of Phantasy Star III, the first person perspective of Phantasy Star I, and the great close-up graphics of Phantasy Star II."Mega placed the game at #28 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. In 2017, Gamesradar ranked the game 32nd on their "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time." By late 1991, over 300,000 copies of the game had sold and paved the way for the new game project Shining Force. LegacyShining in the Darkness is considered by many gaming historians to be a pioneer of Japanese console RPGs, especially in Europe, which would not see a Final Fantasy game until more than six years after the Darkness made its mark in the region. One of the game's key innovations was its introduction of an icon-based menu system, possibly inspired by fellow Sega RPG Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1990). The game also