The Adventure of Valkyrie
A 1986 Famicom RPG featuring Valkyrie's quest against Zouna.
The Adventure of Valkyrie is a 1986 action-adventure role-playing video game developed and published by Namco for the Family Computer, released only in Japan on August 1, 1986. It was also released for arcades through the Nintendo VS. System the same year. The game is notable as one of Namco's early original titles for the Famicom, moving beyond arcade ports, and it introduced the character Valkyrie, who would appear in later games.
Quick Facts
- Title
- The Adventure of Valkyrie
- Developer
- Namco
- Series
- Valkyrie
- Composer
- Hiroyuki Kawada
- Released
- FamicomJP · August 1, 1986ArcadeJP · 1986MobileJP · 2006
- Genre
- Role-playing, action-adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Famicom, arcade, mobile phone
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Adventure of Valkyrie was conceptualized by character designer Hiroshi Fujii, who joined Namco after college and worked on package artwork before moving to game development. Fujii looked to Norse mythology for character and setting design; early sketches depicted Valkyrie as a 'child of the gods,' but this was changed to a simple female warrior due to differences from Norse Valkyries. Hardware limitations prevented accurate replication of Fujii's drawings, most notably Valkyrie's hair color: blond on the cover art but black in-game.
Reader's Guide
The Adventure of Valkyrie is significant as one of Namco's first original Famicom titles, following Star Luster (1985), and was developed in response to the popularity of role-playing games like The Legend of Zelda. Its gameplay involves exploration and experimentation without in-game hints, requiring players to devise plans to defeat the dark wizard Zouna. The game introduced Valkyrie, a fledgling shieldmaiden who descends from the heavens to save Marvel Land. Its legacy includes a 1989 arcade sequel, The Legend of Valkyrie, and a 1992 prequel, Xandra no Daibōken: Valkyrie to no Deai, for the Super Famicom. The game was later included in Namco Anthology 2 (1998) for PlayStation, alongside a remake with more arcade-like gameplay. Mobile phone versions were released in Japan in 2006 and 2007, and the Famicom original was published for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, and later for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Virtual Consoles. The arcade version was released outside Japan for the first time in July 2024 by Hamster Corporation as part of Arcade Archives.
Did You Know?
- The game was released only in Japan on August 1, 1986, for the Family Computer.
- Valkyrie was originally depicted as a 'child of the gods' in early sketches but was changed to a simple female warrior.
- The game includes six spells, with the first and most valuable being the healing spell.
- A sequel, The Legend of Valkyrie, was released in arcades in 1990.
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