Characters / Sol Cresta

Solar Recovery Army Sol Cresta

Sho Tendo

Sho Tendo

"You won't step on us! We've got the Yamato!"

Voiced by: Masaaki Mizunaka

• Borrowed Catchphrase: In Stage 6, he says Reichi's "tingles" when Mercury's Vaikun is located. Reichi tells him not to steal her thunder.
• Childhood Friends: With Luna. Both of them grew up in the same orphanage.
• Expy: Of Koji Kabuto. Both of them are robot pilots and are Hot-Blooded in nature with a sense of justice.
• Give My Regards in the Next World: Says this upon defeating Brihas:
  "When you get to hell, tell 'em Sho Tendo sent ya!"
• Tragic Keepsake: Holds a pendent which belonged to his late father. It's later revealed to be the titular Sol Cresta, and a Mineral MacGuffin that power ups the Yamato in the final battle against Mandler.
• Wave-Motion Gun: His charged shot consists of a giant laser beam.
• You Monster!: He constantly refers to Mandler as a "demon". Mandler actually likes the sound of that.

Luna Zarnitsya Sheena

Luna Zarnitsyna Sheena (Anum)

"Relax, or you'll start making mistakes."

Voiced by: Kana Motomiya

• Action Girl: She's the sole female pilot of the group.
• Child Soldiers: She and Dita were trained in combat from birth by Mandler after being created in a Mega Zofer lab.
• Childhood Friends: With Sho, as they both grew up in the same orphanage.
• Damsel in Distress: This briefly happens to her near the end of Stage 6 when the Yamato is struck by debris and her fighter is damaged, forcing Sho and Dril to make an emergency docking maneuver to save her.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Her primary weapons consist of missiles, and her charged shot has her launching several homing missiles.
• Meaningful Name: Luna is Spanish for "moon", which is quite fitting as she and her ship both represent the moon. Her real name, Anum, is a reference to the personification of the sky or Heaven, the King of Gods and ancestor of many deities on Mesopotamian religion. Anum is also known as An or Anu.

Dril Martin

Dril Martin

"The Yamato's got what it takes. As for the pilots..."

Voiced by: Ren Kato

• Insufferable Genius: While very smart, he isn't afraid to boast about it.
  Luna: Dril, you helped design the Yamato, right? I trust you.
  Dril: Good! 'Cause I'm smarter than Mr. Last Place there. Right, Hamco?
  Sho: Shut up, already!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even though he toys with Sho a lot and can be a bit condescending, he cares deeply for his friends and loves his pet Hamco more than anything.
• Team Pet: Has a pet hamster named Hamco.
• This Is a Drill: True to his name, he uses a drill as a primary weapon that can pierce through obstacles, and his charged shot consists of a massive drill.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Loves to eat bananas, and one of his portraits show him posing with some.

Go Kurogane

Go Kurogane

Voiced by: Masanori Machida

• Big Good: He is the leader of Sol Cresta that relies his orders on Sho, Luna, and Dril.
• The Dreaded: Due to having been a veteran of the previous wars against Mandler, his name alone strikes fear deep within the enemy.
• Hero of Another Story: Fought in the first and second wars against Mandler, having actually been the protagonist of Terra Cresta II.

Reichi Cosmea

Reichi Cosmea

Voiced by: Shiori Kurosaki

• Catchphrase: Most of her sentences have her saying "tingles".
• Genki Girl: She's easily the most energetic of the team.
• Robot Girl: She and Reini are both androids created by Dril.
• Shout-Out: Her catchphrase is similar to that with Spider-Man's.
• Younger Than They Look: She's actually 2-years-old, along with Reini

Reini Cosmea

Reini Cosmea

• Robot Girl: She is an android created by Dril.
• Younger Than They Look: She's actually 2-years-old, along with Reichi.

Noboru Tendo

Noboru Tendo

Voiced by: Masaaki Mizunaka

• Always Save the Girl: Long before the events of the game, he rescued Luna and left Dita behind.
• Big Damn Heroes: His Wing Galiber shows up at several points to aid the heroes, eventually culminating in a Heroic Sacrifice that takes out Chandor's Shadow Mandler clone.
• Dead Man Writing: After the Shadow Mandler piloted by Chandor is destroyed by the Wing Galiber, it plays a message from the late Noboru Tendo. Unfortunately, the data is too corrupted and is unable to play, but the message later plays a role in the Final Battle with Mandler when the repair process is completed. It reveals that the pendant that Sho is carrying is actually the Sol Cresta itself that Mandler was searching for, but Noboru got to it first, and it can be used to fully power up the Yamato.
• The Dreaded: Despite being long dead, his name still strikes fear in the ranks of Mega Zofer.
• The Ghost: We never see his face, only his silhouette.
• Hero of Another Story: Was the protagonist of Terra Cresta.
• Leitmotif: "Unknown Wing", which plays whenever his Wing Galiber appears at several points in the game.
• Posthumous Character: Is long dead before the events of Sol Cresta, yet he still plays a major role in the war against Mandler.

Mega Zofer

Mandler

Mandler

"The end of humanity shall adorn the day of my rebirth!"

^{Shadow Mandler}

Voiced by: Mana Hirata

• Arc Welding: The aliens you fought in Moon Cresta? They belonged to Mandler all along.
• Arch-Enemy: To humanity as a whole, as well as to Moon Cresta, Terra Cresta, and Sol Cresta, but especially to Go and Sho.
• Bad Boss: Leaves their underlings for dead when they're defeated rather than save them.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the Terra Cresta franchise, and the leader of the Mandler Army and Mega Zofer.
• The Cameo: Duplicates of Mandler appear as regular enemies in Sky Robo, another Shoot 'Em Up by Nichibutsu.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Sho refers to them as a "demon", which they certainly like the sound of.
• The Dreaded: To the point when Sho, Luna, and Dril encounter a duplicate of Mandler controlled by Chandor on Earth, it's enough to give them a pause.
• Evil Is Hammy: Especially when Mandler goes full-on Villainous Breakdown mode.
• Final Boss: Of Terra Cresta, Terra Cresta II: Mandler's Counterattack, Terra Cresta 3D, and Sol Cresta.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Mandler was this in Moon Cresta.
• Hold the Line: During the final battle in Dramatic Mode, you have to survive for a few seconds until the dialogue finishes, so your ship can transform into a robot.
• Joker Immunity: Killing Mandler in the first two Terra Cresta games wasn't enough to put it down. Until this game, of course.
• Kaizo Trap: Whenever Mandler is defeated, the Power of Void, the crystal embedded in Mandler, will eject and launch a series of bullets before vanishing. This also applies to its first form in the final battle.
• Killed Off for Real: After cheating death despite its defeat in the first two Terra Cresta games, Mandler is finally defeated for good in this game, considering it is the Grand Finale.
• Leitmotif: "Mandora" plays in almost all Mandler battles in the Terra Cresta series, including the Shadow Mandler fought in Stage 5. The PSG version plays when you fight Mandler's first body in the final stage of the game.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating Mandler won't end the game. You still have to escape the exploding fortress, then the game will end.
• Marathon Boss: The final battle with Mandler is a long four phase fight, with the boss setting up a different elemental barrier in each of the first three phases then turning gold and becoming more aggressive in the final phase. Its an even longer fight in Dramatic Mode, as the player must survive through a lengthy cutscene until the cutscene power up happens.
• Power of the Void: Mandler is said to be the absolute wielder of the Power of Void.
• Signature Move: Whenever Mandler is defeated, its core ejects from the body and fires off a few bullets at the player before it escapes.
• Spell My Name With An S: The early Terra Cresta games sometimes referred to Mandler as "Mandora", "Mandoler", or "Mandra".
• Turns Red: In the final phase, after taking enough damage, Mandler will turn gold and unleash everything onto you, becoming a Stationary Boss in the process.
• Villainous Breakdown: Once the Yamato fully powers up, Mandler completely loses it.
  "TENDO! Even across the bounds of time, you still defy me! I shall not have it! I WILL NOT HAVE IT!"
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Pulls this on Chandor once he's defeated.
  "Chandor! Perish and become the foundation of my being!"
• You Killed My Father: Was responsible for the death of Noboru, Sho's father.

Dita

Dita

Voiced by: Kazuki Hiiragi

• Child Soldiers: He and Luna were trained in combat from birth by Mandler after being created in a Mega Zofer lab.
• Co-Dragons: While Chandor is the second-in-command of Mega Zofer, Dita serves as Mandler's right-hand man.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: During his final showdown on Mercury, he can't understand why Sho, Luna, and Dril are fighting and continues to believe that Terrans are evil, even though Luna keeps telling him the truth.
  Dita: Why do you persist? What drives you to keep fighting?
  Sho: We fight for every soldier who fell before us. We fight for everyone behind us who holds out hope for peace. We fight to honor their sacrifices and faith!
• Evil Counterpart: His ship, the Trimurti, is very much like the Yamato, with three docking ships and similar attacks. The only difference is, unlike the Yamato, he can actually control all three fighters at once.
• Evil Overlooker: The poster depicts him overlooking Sho, Luna, and Dril.
• The Heavy: Of all the antagonists, Dita gives the heroes the most trouble.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Every battle with Dita becomes this once it turns out he's Luna's long-lost brother, especially since he's been brainwashed by Mandler.
• Leitmotif: "Black Dog Behind".
• Redemption Equals Death: In Mercury, when Luna is crippled and Sho and Dril struggle to save her, Dita suddenly destroys the last Vaikun, and shortly after, Chandor pulls the plug on Dita since Mandler's resurrection is about to begin. Thankfully, it turns out that this is only a cyborg copy of Dita, and the real Dita is still alive, who also ends up redeeming himself and survives the events of the game.

Chandor

Chandor

• Co-Dragons: The second-in-command of the Mega Zofer, trying to resurrect Mandler, while Dita serves as Mandler's right-hand man.
• Final Boss Preview: In Stage 5, Chandor personally pilots a former Mandler shell as the boss of that stage as a Call-Back to fighting Mandler in the original Terra Cresta and a preview of the final battle against the real Mandler.
• The Heavy: With Mega Zofer working to revive Mandler, Chandor is the one driving most of the plot and is the most prominent antagonist in the story.
• Karmic Death: Ends up pulling a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on Kethu and Dita, and later this ends up happening to Chandor once Mandler is resurrected.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Does this to Kethu upon his defeat, and later does this to Dita after his final defeat on Mercury. Once Mandler is back, it ends up doing this to Chandor upon his defeat.

Rahhu

Rahhu

• Wake-Up Call Boss: He's fought as early as Stage 2, but he certainly puts up more of a challenge than the previous bosses.
• Wham Line: He drops some major bombshells regarding the Vaikun. The planetary energy they're absorbing is not used to create weapons for Mega Zofer, but to resurrect Mandler.
  Rahhu: To think, I meet my end before seeing Lord Mandler's return...!
  Sho: Mandler's return? What are you talking about?
  Go: Terra Cresta buried Mandler ages ago!
  Rahhu: Hahaha! You vermin merely destroyed a vessel! Our lord will soon rise in a new body, nourished by planetary energy!
  Dril: Planetary energy! Then Vaikun aren't actually weapon plants— They're collecting energy to resurrect Mandler!
  Sho: What?!
  Rahhu: You are far too late to stop it now. The rebirth will plunge the universe into darkness! Glory to Lord MANDLERRRR!

Garaka

Garaka

• Time-Limit Boss: You have three minutes to take him down, or it's Game Over.

Kethu

Kethu

• Alas, Poor Villain: While he's a Mega Zofer officer, his death still came across as a cruel You Have Outlived Your Usefulness for Chandor.
• Dual Boss: He and Dita fight you together in Stage 5.