Valis IV

Gameplay

Valis IV is a side-scrolling action platformer where players take on the role of Lena, a young Vecanti woman fated to become the next Valis warrior. Following the events of Valis III, she teams up with her sister Amu and the dark world king Asfal to recover the Valis sword and stop prince Galgear. The game unfolds across nine two-dimensional levels, with players running, jumping between ledges, and fighting enemies before facing a boss at each stage’s end. Cinematic cutscenes interrupt the action at story points. Borrowing from Valis III, players can swap between the three characters at will, except during boss battles. Each character has a distinct weapon and an elemental spell that can be upgraded three times using a weapon power meter. Lena slides, Amu double-jumps, and Asfal is immune to certain hazards. Exploring levels yields items and power-ups that boost maximum health and magic.

Plot

Following the events of Valis III, Yuko has become the goddess of Vecanti and has watched over the world in peace since Glames' defeat. The dark world prince Galgear searches for a magical ring that increases his powers but causes him to lose control. The gods of Vecanti imprison Galgear inside a crystal sunk into the ocean. Fifteen years later, Galgear breaks free, kidnaps the former heroine Valna, and is pursued by troops led by Cham. Lena, a member of Cham's band, requests permission to infiltrate Galgear's stronghold and free Valna. Cham initially disagrees but a disembodied voice convinces her to allow it. Lena brings her twin sister Amu with her. They reach Galgear's inner sanctum but are nearly obliterated by the prince and his ring, only to be teleported away by Asfal, the prince's father. Asfal tells them only the Valis sword, no longer in this world, can stop Galgear. The sisters journey to the heavens of Vecanti, where Yuko bequeaths the sword to them. They return and defeat Galgear.

Development and release

Valis IV was developed by Laser Soft, an internal gaming division of Telenet, which had previously developed Valis III. Most of the same staff worked on the game, with Mitsuo Nakamura as director and Masami Hanari as producer. Haruyuki Nishida, assisted by Chiyo Rara, co-wrote the scenario with Bunzō Matsui. Hiroshi Ono was the programmer, and animator Osamu Nabeshima returned as one of the artists. The soundtrack was co-composed by Shingo Murakami and members under the pseudonyms Junta and Kawame. The game was originally released for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in Japan by Telenet on August 23, 1991, and never received a western localization. A compilation titled Valis Visual Collection was released in 1993 by Telenet for the PC Engine CD-ROM. The title was included in Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Complete for Windows, published by Sunsoft in 2004 in a limited run of 2000 copies. The PC Engine CD version was re-released digitally through D4 Enterprise's Project EGG service on August 21, 2007. In 2011, D4 Enterprise released Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Complete Plus, and the PC Engine original was included in Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection II for Nintendo Switch. A vastly different Super Nintendo version, Super Valis IV, was published in Japan by Telenet on March 27, 1992, and in North America by Atlus Software in February 1993. Hal Nishida rearranged the game under Masami Hanari's direction. Changes included replacing two playable characters with Yuko (accessible via cheat code), replacing the magic system with special items and weapons, removing animated sequences, and redesigning levels.

Reception

Valis IV for the PC Engine CD-ROM² was mostly well-received by critics, many of whom played it as an import. Famitsu’s panel of four gave it a mixed score. Frank Ladoire of Génération 4 liked the visuals, character animations, CD-quality music, and how it played. Jean-Marc Demoly from Joystick and Alain Huyghues-Lacour from Joypad also praised the graphics, animations, music, and controls, though they pointed out the long loading times. Robinton and Damon of Consoles + highlighted the audiovisual presentation, responsive controls, and replay value. Super Gaming’s three reviewers enjoyed the music, graphics, better cinematics, and deeper gameplay, but two felt the story was weaker and that it resembled earlier games. Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 said it wasn’t as strong as the previous Valis title but remained one of the series’ better entries.

Super Valis IV on the Super Nintendo got a mixed response, again mostly from import reviewers. François Hermellin and Kaneda Kun of Consoles + praised the stage graphics and classic gameplay, calling it neither too hard nor too original, but they thought the music didn’t use the system’s sound chip well. Famitsu’s reviewers gave it another mixed verdict. Joystick’s Demoly commended the adaptation for its visuals, controls, audio, and character animations. Joypad’s Huyghues-Lacour and Olivier Prézeau agreed, but noted it was structurally different from the PC Engine version. Electronic Gaming Monthly’s four reviewers said it played faster than other games in the genre, liked the audiovisual presentation and weapon variety, but criticized the slow early levels and low difficulty. GameFan’s Dave Halverson and Brody shared similar views but disagreed on the difficulty and how well it played.