VALIS IV
THE FANTASM SOLDIER
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ヴァリスIV
©1989 SIN-NIHON LASER SOFT
©TELENET JAPAN
Release : 1991-08-23 (¥6780)
CDRom² TJCD1017
Action / Platform game
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Valis IV is a side scrolling action/platform game by Telenet
and is the last episode (so far) of the popular Japanese series featuring the young
Japanese schoolgirl Yūko Asao. At the end of the third opus, Yūko
left the human world to live in the heavens as a goddess and she consequently awarded
the almighty Valis sword to the young maiden Rena. The game starts when
Lord Garugia, previously imprisoned deep under the ocean, manages to
escape his crystal prison. The king of the evil spirit forces is back and Dream Land
is at stake again. Rena is about to become the new Valis Warrior and she
seems to be the only one capable of neutralizing the deadly threat. In this episode, the
player gets to play as Rena and her twin sister Amu (and later as their demon
friend Asfā). The player can switch from one character to the other at anytime
during the game and each one comes with individual strengths and weaknesses - Rena
is similar to Yūko and can slash enemies with her Valis sword or fire waves
of energy, Amu has a handy double jump ability and uses a boomerang-like weapon
whereas Asfā is relatively strong and insensitive to force-fields and spikes but
struggles in fast-paced action. They can also charge up magic spells in desperate situations,
Rena can unleash fiery thunderbolts and Amu can fire a barrage of deadly
fireballs. The world of Valis IV is vast and the game features nine increasingly
difficult stages.
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Valis IV was released in 1992 for the Super Famicom and called
Super Valis - Akaki Tsuki no Otome
(aka Super Valis IV in the west). Most of the
cutscenes were removed from this port and
Rena is the only playable character. Levels have significant differences
between the two versions and the Super Famicom port is overall shorter.
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Add your Pov here !
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Valis IV is, to my taste, the best looking game of the series
(although I've never played the Valis remake for the PC Engine system)
but it somehow falls short behind the third episode. Although the game doesn't feature
Yūko as a playable character, Rena looks and plays a lot like her.
However, Valis IV suffers from what I call the "Valis curse" - characters
are hard to control and you will suffer countless cheap deaths. The worst offender is
probably Amu and her signature double jump that ends up claiming her life a
lot more that it should. The game is also huge and the stiff controls will soon leave
you will little more than a cruel sense of frustration. All in all, Valis IV is
an unique game with a great storyline (all in Japanese though) served with gorgeous
animated cutscenes - the gameplay is again a bit weak but a lot better than earlier
games in the series. The truth is that it took me a little while to actually
appreciate Valis IV in its intended glory. It really is a "love it or hate it"
affair, which sadly applies to most of the other episodes of the Valis series.
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