Super Valis IV

"Nice side scroll action game for anime fans"

In Japan, the Mugen Senshi Valis series of side scroll action games has enjoyed some modest success on the PC-Engine and the Sega Genesis, probably because of its easy to get into gameplay and the inclusion of cute anime girls as the main characters, providing some great character designs. However, as for part 4, the last real entry into the series, Telenet Japan decided to port this game to the Super Nintendo rather than the Genesis as it had been the case with Valis, Syd of Valis and Valis III.

Despite the fact that this game is at heart a simple side scroll Jump and Run/action game (resembling the gameplay of Castlevania at least slightly in this installment), its story is rather complex and maybe even somewhat confusing due to the fact that it builds up on the events of its predecessors, so I´ll try to wrap things up in a nutshell: the story in the earlier titles revolved around Yuko Ahso, who was actually just a typical, cute Japanese schoolgirl destined to wield the Sword of Valis and to save the the realms of the real world, the spirit world and the dream world of Vecanti. At the beginning of part 4, Yuko has become a goddess watching over the existing realms, and unfortunately, trouble is brewing again as the evil prince Garugia has been freed from his crystal prison and kidnapped Yuko´s sister Valna, the princess of Vecanti, and Rena, the so called "Mighty Maiden" has been chosen by Yuko to save Valna and to protect the three realms from the threat of Garugia. It´s actually quite funny that the story itself is supposed to be quite complex on paper while we don´t see that much of it on the screen, but it´s still an interesting fantasy premise and a somewhat refreshing story for a game of this kind.

The gameplay, however, is pretty basic. It´s your typical 2D side scroll action game, with you taking the role of Rena, the mighty maiden. And that´s already a somewhat disappointing aspect as in the PC-Engine version, you were able to take the role of 3 different characters, those being Rena, her twin sister Amu and Asfal, the father of the fiendish Garugia. It´s really sad to see that these two other characters have been removed as playable ones for the SNES version, since this would have definitely been helpful in order to make the gameplay a little more varied and interesting, since Rena unfortunately only possesses quite a limited amount of moves. In fact, that´s the game´s biggest problem: it´s just too linear and one sided, as all you practically do is running through the levels and killing enemies with your sword every now and then. However, at least there´s an icon system that provides you with special attacks that mostly end up being powerful blasts being shot from your sword at your foes, with the range of these blasts varying from icon to icon you collect in all these levels. Other than that, there really isn´t a lot to do (there even isn´t any exploration at all), except for a few difficult jump sequences that require accurate timing. Despite this serious lack of variety in the gameplay department, "Super Valis IV" still remains a strangely enjoyable experience due to the decent controls and the entire concept fo the game, even if the level design is a little too straight forward and linear in my opinion, and the difficulty level is pretty high, too, which might be because of the tough jumps and the merciless boss enemies whose attack patterns you really should memorize well in order to beat them. All in all, though, "Super Valis IV" is fairly solid in terms of gameplay, even if it lacks any changes from the overall gameplay formula.

When you consider this title´s age, the visuals can be considered to be excellent for their time. The backgrounds and locations themselves have been designed with great attention to detail and a really dark and moody look that perfectly fits the overall atmosphere of the game, and you will feel right at home in each of the various levels. The animations of the heroine might look a little wooden and ungraceful compared to later SNES titles, but they´re far from bad and quite decent for a title from the early 90s. There are also some anime stills in the intro and for some cutscenes, and they look pretty nice and give the game a certain charm that will definitely please anime fans, even though unfortunately, the fully animated cutscenes from the PC-Engine original had to removed, which is in fact understandable due to the SNES´ use of cartridges instead of CDs. Along with the beautiful character designs, though, the graphics manage to be "good" for SNES standards.

Now the music was quite a positive surprise for me to say the least. First and foremost, the tracks are very fitting in view of the overall premise of the story, being a battle for the fate of the world. You won´t find any happy or overly cute pieces here: it´s all grim and rather depressing at times, but that´s what makes the music so good in my opinion, and I was quite impressed with the audio quality. It´s actually quite considerable for such an early SNES title, and developer Telenet Japan surely deserves for the job they did here.

Recommending "Super Valis IV" is quite difficult for me. If you´re a fan of the Valis series, then you´re probably better off with "Valis IV" on the PC Engine, since the level design is more varied and better in the original version, and it also features two more characters and some nifty anime cutscenes. However, if you are not able to get the game for the PC-Engine or if you even don´t have a PC-Engine at all, then "Super Valis IV" might be worth a closer look if you like side scroll action games that provide you with a good challenge, and anime fans might like this title, too, due to its undeniable charm and artistic value. All in all, it´s a more than solid game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/06