Retro Review: Valis the Fantasm Soldier (Sega Genesis)

When monsters and gouls start running amok in the neighborhood, who you gonna call? In typical late 80's anime tradition, a timid highschool girl of course. Valis is the story of warring fantasy realms and the destiny of Yuko Ahso as she answers the call to become their savior, the Valis Warrior.

In the beginning, on what starts out as a typical rainy day at school, Yuko is assaulted by nightmarish monsters. A disembodied voice calls out to her, commanding her to open her eyes and take hold of the sword that has materialized in front of her. From here you take control of Yuko to lead her through the monster infested city streets and subway below.

Before the second stage begins you're treated to a rather lengthy cut scene where you meet the mysterious woman, Varia, who explains what the heck is going on. In a nut shell, a war lord by the name of Rogles has seized control of Vecanti, the Dream World, as well as the Fantasm Jewels and it's up to you to stop him before his power grows enough to over throw both Vecanti and the Human world.

The cut scenes in this game are really long, lasting close to fifteen minutes or so a piece. The artwork and animation are nice to behold, like scenes right out of a late 80's anime. Unfortunately the text scrolls painfully slow making them a chore to get through if you've already seen them before. There's a misconception that you cannot skip them but thankfully you can by pressing start a few times (kind of like a double click).

Gameplay wise, Valis is a 2D platformer that will likely remind you of the classic Castlevania series at first. Yuko moves a bit sluggishly though the controls respond well, but thankfully she has other options in maneuverability to make up for it. Along with a standard jump she can super jump by holding up when you jump. She can slide Mega Man style by pressing down and A, which oddly enough seems to be more useful for platforming than dodging enemy attacks. Her slide actually defies gravity when performed on a ledge, letting her travel the full length of the slide through the air before she drops which makes it especially useful for clearing small pits. The problem with using it for dodging seems to be with the hit detection. Her hit box seems much larger than it should be despite her laying on the ground during the slide. In some instances it almost seems to be as tall as her standing sprite. So in that regard, think of her slide as more of a dash than an evasion.

The slide in action

You begin the game with a standard sword slash as your attack but it can be upgraded to fire projectiles through various power ups. Each version of the sword can be powered up 3 times by collecting the same type of icon. My recommendation is to decide which one you like the best and stick with it. If you switch your power up by grabbing a different icon then your attack will return to level 1 with the new projectile so make sure it's one that you want.

In addition to the Valis sword's abilities Yuko is also granted a magic spell for every boss defeated, which is usually the bosses main attack a la Mega Man. Outside of unloading on the bosses they're pretty useless as your standard attacks are more than enough to dispatch the enemies in the stages.

By the end of the game you'll have a pretty big, albeit useless, arsenal

The stages are large, able to scroll in all directions, but the platforming itself is pretty basic. You won't find any kind of moving or disappearing platforms and falling in a pit usually results in you having to back track the stage a bit. Your biggest enemy is usually the scrolling itself. The screen doesn't move left or right until Yuko is a little over half way across the screen. More problematic is the upward scrolling which doesn't occur until she's nearly at the top of the screen. If you move too quickly you'll find yourself running right into an enemy or a projectile so often times you'll find yourself just throwing out random projectiles just for security as you move forward. You'll also do a lot of empty jumping just to force the screen to scroll upward to see the path ahead.

Aside from the cut scenes, Valis really shines in the music, background, and character designs. The game sports a lot of detail and parallax scrolling for depth. The majority of the sound track is really good except for maybe one track (the lava stage) which is is dull and repeats too often due to its length.

Valis is one of my all time favorite games, though mainly out of nostalgia. Players that enjoy that particular late 80's to early 90's anime charm will appreciate the art style and story more than others.

If you're looking for a challenging platformer you won't find it here as the game is pretty easy. I can really only recommend it if you're looking for a comfy gameplay experience. If you want my biased opinion though definitely check it out to get a start on a great series.

Pros:

-The game controls well and you'll get used to handling Yuko quickly.
-Beautiful artwork and character designs if you're into anime.
-Nice graphics and music for the most part.
-Lots of weapon options and a magic system.

Cons:

-Text scrolls extremely slow during cut scenes.
-Camera scrolling issues.
-Seasoned platformer fans might find it too easy.

Thanks for reading!