Valis 3 Pc Engine Rom

[Tiana Dubree]

Inthis compilation of three of the five Valis PC Engine titles, you take control of Yuko in three adventures to save the dream world with the mystical sword of valis! Known for mixing platforming with anime cutscenes, these are the PC Engine versions of Valis I-III, completing the Yuko saga of the story. Yes, Valis IV is absent, and I have a theory on why a bit later.

Valis III sports a much better presentation to it than II, with way better cutscenes that would set the stage for how good IV and I look, good sprites that are easy to distinguish, (and would outright be reused for the Genesis ports of III and I) and slightly more memorable music, with a great instrumental ending that ties the trilogy up nicely.

Valis II (PC Engine, 1989)- This is where it chronologically started on the good ol PC Engine. One of the first CD based games out there, this is a pretty typical action platformer where Yuko must make it to the end of each stage, defeat the boss, and do that several more times until you reach the ending. Unfortunately, it is by far the most mediocre of what is on offer, due to absolutely dull level design that mostly consists of you running in straight lines, climbing platforms, and doing it over and over again until you reach the end boss.

MUGEN SENSHI VALIS (PC Engine, 1992)- This one, lone game is the main motivator for me buying this compilation, and likely will be the same for a lot of others considering how II and III got US Turbo CD releases, but not IV or this one. Alas, it came out far too late to be practical enough to do. This game takes the core idea of the original PC88 Valis, ditches the abhorrent labyrinthine level design from those versions, adds the magic system and slide from III, and refines the controls even further to make the tightest controlling, well designed and most challenging of the PCE games.

In conclusion, I am very happy to say that this Valis compilation is not the slapdash compilation I and several others feared it would be, and quite a bit of love went into what would seem to be a simplistic compilation: special control mappings, manual scans, and bonus menus all lead to this being the best method by far at playing the included titles, and the only real flaws I had here were minor nitpicks only die-hard fans would notice, and the lack of other versions of the included games that I feel would add extra value. (Genesis Valis 1, X68K Valis II, Genesis Valis III, and of course, Valis IV)

I recently tried Super Valis 4 when it came out on the Switch. Couldn't get into it though. Think I prefer the slower, more one on one, pace of 1 and 3. Being able to see the boss's health ticking up throughout the level stresses me out.

Obviously the Genesis versions aren't the optimal versions of the games, but its nice to see them out there again. Valis III for Genesis was my introduction to the series, so I have a soft spot for it.

SNES Valis IV is a decent intro to the series I'd say, though it's not the absolute pinnacle. The PCE Valis games are the best examples, and Super Valis IV is basically a remix of PCE Valis IV in a way I find really interesting. But if you don't like Super Valis IV there's a high probability you won't like the rest of the series, because it isn't "good" in the traditional sense. You've got to be ready for a stilted experience with cool music and obtuse powerups and a weird but vital slide move (super valis iv exchanges that for a running jump).

In terms of ranking I'd put all the PC games at the top (probably 3 is best), followed by Super Valis IV, followed by all the genesis games, with SD valis at the bottom. I haven't played the MSX original, so I can't really rank that one.

I just acquired [this game book adaptation]( ) of the first _The Legend of Zelda_ game and its interpretation of Princess Zelda is now probably my favorite version of Princess Zelda. Very valissish, too!

That said, for the games that are included, there's a lot of love I didn't expect! Even on the box you can tell this is more of a historical preservation effort than a cash grab of just tossing some old games on a Switch cartridge. For all three of the games is their full, high-res scanned manuals, a sound test mode to hear every track in the game, a menu to watch every cutscene, and some quality of life features like save states and a rewind functionality. Which is really nice!! Valis games are a lot like Castlevania (or perhaps the other way around...), where they feel really tough the first couple times, but after learning enemy patterns and level layouts it feels great to breeze through. The rewind and save states makes this a much more streamlined effort, since you can just focus on individual parts giving you any particular trouble. I think all retro games benefit from this to varying effect, but it's especially nice for Valis.

This would be a straight recommendation from me if not for exactly one thing: Valis Complete, a previous port job done in 2006, [is perfectly available online as abandonware]( -complete). This is **all four** PCE Valis games running natively on PC, no emulation, including scans of all their manuals as with the Switch port. The question then becomes how much you're willing to pay for convenience; there are no save states or rewind features here, and mapping a controller is annoying because in my experience it doesn't seem to accept d-pads (Valis with an analogue stick is gross!!). Personally, I know I enjoy the first three Valis games enough to warrant paying for a solid, convenient, easily accessible way to play them, but I'll always recommend Valis Complete to someone just trying them out for the first time. The Valis Collection on the Switch is a great way to play, but if you don't need to pay, why bother!

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