Valis II
System: TG-16 CD
Release Date: May 23rd, 1990
Developer: Laser Soft
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Action
Save the land of Vecanti from the forces of evil in Valis II. We won’t see the original Valis until 1992 in 3ish years, so we’ll learn what led to this story then. Emperor Magus has taken advantage of the death of King Rogress and seeks to rule the land. Enter the heroine Yuko. Equipped with the legendary sword Valis II, she has the power to put an end to Magus and save the kingdom through 6 levels of action!
Yuko is a school girl in the World of Reality, but with the power of Valis II, ascends into the World of Dreams and becomes a great warrior. The remnants of the Rogress army seek to acquire Valis in a last ditch effort to win the war. Yuko attacks with Button II and jumps with Button I. Valis acquires one of four different projectile attacks throughout each level. You start with the normal blast. You can upgrade to Homing Missiles, which never seemed to home in on enemies when I wanted them to; the Dual Weapon which shoots ahead and upward; and the Cutter, which was my weapon of choice. Each weapon can upgrade twice through your journey, becoming more powerful along the way.
Enemies run on screen when you trip their spawn and are pretty easily dispatched. If they get to you, you’ll take some damage. These fire guys in particular are super annoying. Dying during the level sends you back to the last checkpoint with the weakest level of your currently equipped weapon. You’ll find the occasional heart to replenish some of your lost health. Red heals less than the blue heart. Heart containers increase your maximum health. There are secondary weapons that you can get hold of. I didn’t find the hour glass, but I did get use from the Protective Barrier that gives you a ball that circles you in protection. The Crusher, which damages all enemies on screen. And the Power Surge, which grants you invincibility for a moment. These are activated by pressing up. They get used by accident more than I’d like to admit.
Mid Bosses appear at set points in each level and stop you from going forward until you kill them. Sometimes they are easy, sometimes they require you to learn a pattern, and sometimes they just want to murder you in any way possible. Big bosses appear at the end of each level and seem to be the remaining generals of King Rogress. They were relatively easy because dying while fighting a boss causes you to immediately respawn instead of starting from the beginning. Some weapons work better on bosses than others.
I gave up on level five after not being able to have enough life to defeat the first mid boss. This is when I discovered the debug mode that can be entered from the pause menu. Being able to actually have a weapon power up made all the difference. Also, having to continue robbed me of my health upgrades, so I gave them back. I got to face off against Magus, against his second form is where I confirmed that hitting and enemy with the actual sword does more damage than the projectiles.
The cut scenes between levels tell a story that I found to be fairly nonsensical. Maybe knowing what happened in the first game would have helped make more sense, but I doubt it. Both Rogress, Magus, and their armies are portrayed as bad guys. At least the voices are audible and you can follow what they’re saying. The animation window is curiously small, but goes full screen at certain times. In the end, Yuko saves the realm and that’s the end.
Graphics: 3.0
Background variations in levels, enemy sprites, and animations are all above average in my opinion.
Sound: 3.5
I think the music and sounds are pretty great. The only downside is that the looping isn’t great, but that’s a small flaw overall.
Gameplay: 2.5
It’s standard action platformer fare. The lack of powerup drops on each stage ruins an otherwise fine experience.
Difficulty: 2.0
The first four levels give a slight challenge, but the fifth level becomes sadistic with the spinning spiny balls.
Fun Factor: 2.5
I enjoyed myself for the most part, but having to resort to the debug menu hurt my overall feeling of the game.
Overall Grade: 2.7
Valis II earns a B-. This is a straightforward action platformer that doesn’t do a whole lot special in the gameplay department, but is novel in its story presentation.