Overview – developed and published by Edia Co, Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection hits the steam platform, offering players the first three titles in the legendary side scrolling series. As the hero Yuko Asou, become the Valis Warrior and stop the evil ambitions that seek to destroy the earth, land of the spirits and the dream world. This version of the game is exclusively available for the Steam Platform, with a link to the release at the bottom of the review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Acttil for providing the copy of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. As this is a compilation release, I will be discussing each of the titles on their own, with a segment discussing details of the plot and general game feel. Also, this release has the individual games separated as roms, allowing players to pick and choose which game they want, with a free launcher to run them as a front end.
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier – 1992
This is the first title, starting the series off with a bang. The player takes the role of Yuko Asou, a Japanese teen schoolgirl who has been chosen to wield the mystical Valis sword, becoming the Valis Warrior. As the legendary hero, she must protect the Earth, Land of Spirits and Dream World, which are being threatened by the demon lord. During her journey to combat this threat, Yuko must run, jump and slash through the enemies that get in her way.
The game is a side scrolling action platformer, where the player controls Yuko, moving her through each stage and fighting the enemies that appear with her sword. She can run, jump, slash and slide to get past the many obstacles in her way. Enemies will appear and attack the player, with Yuko needing to strike them down with her sword to get past them. These enemies will often take 1 or two hits to defeat but some will need more to take them down.
The player has a standard attack, which is a simple sword swipe, but by destroying emblems that appear in stages weapon power-ups can be found. These upgrades will give the player access to new attacks, including energy balls and a crescent slash. Picking up these items will replace the current power that players are using, making it important to hold onto the power players want. The power-ups that are present have letters assigned to them, making them easy to see.
During exploration, the player will be able to collect items like health ups and extra lives. These items will be scattered through the stages, with some of them being hidden in plain sight and others in areas that appear just out of reach. These bonus items are rewarding to find, acting as an incentive for players to look all around stages as they make their way through them. But be aware that time is ticking down so don’t take too long to search for hidden items.
Players can also use magic, which will provide special protections and abilities to help take down enemies much easier. At the end of each stage, the player will encounter a boss that will try to kill the player with an array of attacks, which will quickly drain Yuko’s health. The boss enemies will have varied attack patterns, which can deal a lot of damage, making them the toughest sections of the game. If the player survives the battle, Yuko will gain upgraded abilities.
Last for this entry is the cinematic scenes. During the course of the game, the player will see cinematic scenes that tell the story of Valis. However, the only disappointing thing about this is that the cutscenes are entirely in Japanese, with no apparent option for subtitles. This makes it difficult to enjoy these moments, with a single viewing being more than enough for those who want to experience all of the first game.
Valis II – 1989
Like its predecessor, this title is a side scrolling action platformer, with the warrior of Valis, Yuko, returing to battle another demon lord and save the realms again. Taking up her sword again, Yuko sets off on her quest battling monsters across a series of challenging platform stages, all framed in with animated anime style cutscenes. This title came before the PC-Engine Super CD version of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, so the cutscenes are of a lower quality.
The gameplay loop is the same as the previous title, with the player moving through each stage, jumping from ledge to ledge and battling enemies. At the start of the stage, the player has a sword attack, with an energy ball projectile as standard. However as the player makes their way through the game, they will be able to pick up more powerful attacks, like rockets and wave slashes. When picking up a new power, the previous will be replaced.
Players can also collect upgrades for their character, increasing the overall strength, health and defence for Yuko. These power-ups appear during stages, which are less open than the previous game, keeping the player on a fairly linear path. When these are collected there are some visual elements that will change, like expanding the health bar and numbers next to attack powers. Players can also collect magic which is extremely powerful, but limited in its uses.
At the end of each stage, the player will encounter big boss opponents which are signalled with an on screen warning before the battle starts. The health for the boss appears on screen below Yuko’s, which is very helpful for players. The last thing to mention is the outfit changes, during the course of the adventure, Yuko will gain new armor which will change her overall appearance. This appears to have little impact, but is a good narrative plot point.
Valis III – 1991
After her last battle, a long time has passed and things seem to be peaceful. However, a new threat arises with the Dark World ruler, Glames at its core, who has been taking other worlds to keep his own alive. Trying to stop this, Cham a girl from the resistance against the ruler enters Yuko’s world, stealing the Valis Sword in hopes of stopping the dark king. But Yuko catches up and retrieves her sword, but with this turn of events a new adventure begins.
Following in the same style as the previous games, Valis III is a side scrolling action platformer, where players must battle their way through each stage. Yuko has a health meter and magic meter on screen, along with a sword that fills up between attacks. This sword meter determines the power of attacks that players can use, with the player unable to perform rapid strikes, which slows down the flow of action and making it more tactical.
Like the other games, players can also use magic attacks, which can be collected by destroying red markers. As magic is used, the player will deplete their MP and it must be replenished by collecting green gems, found by breaking the red markers. Players can also find attack upgrades, which will increase the length of the sword, allowing Yuko to perform stronger attacks in succession. These attack increases and magic powers last until the player is defeated.
This title has a heavy focus on platforming, with an increase in the pitfalls that are in stages, requiring players to slide to cross gaps or use the high jump ability. These sections increase the challenge, leading to a quick death if players are not careful. Just like the other games, there will be boss battles at the end of each stage, where the player is locked into a battle to the death. These battles can be fairly quick if players effectively use their magic power.
Between stages, there will be animated and voiced cutscenes, which are an improvement over the Valis II animations and closer to those of the first game (which was released last). There are also dialogue scenes that will occur during stages, with a text box that shows up on screen. The last thing to discuss, is the inclusion of two additional playable characters that can are added alongside Yuko, who will be added to as the narrative progresses.
Each of the playable characters have their own unique skills and magical abilities, with Yuko using her Valis sword and projectile attack. Then we have Cham, who is first to join the team, who has a long reaching whip attack unaffected by the power bar. Finally we have Valna, who is armed with a staff that can fire projectiles, but they are lower in power. The player can freely switch between characters, giving a greater level of strategy to the gameplay.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to move onto the other aspects of this release, starting with the overall package.
General Package – as this is a compilation, the games use a launcher, which is available for free and acts as a front end for the games. Then the games are available separately as DLC, allowing players to pick and choose which titles they want to add to their collection. The games in the collection also come with manuals and galleries, which can be located through the launcher, with videos playing in the PC media player and manuals as PDFs.
There is also the option for players to purchase a dedicated Artbook and Soundtrack as DLC, providing players with a collection of materials to peruse at their own leisure. These additions are a nice touch, as the soundtracks, visual assets and more that have been included in the bonus packages are a great touch for fans who want a little more. Both the Artbook and the Soundtrack can be viewed from the launcher front end.
Controls – in general the games control very well, but can feel a little slow to those who have not played Valis before. There is also the option for keyboard inputs, as well as controllers supported by steam controller profiles, allowing for players to enjoy the games however they want. This is most useful with devices like the steam deck, or other PC based handheld systems, with the ability to remap all of the inputs from the menus.
Difficulty – these are challenging games, which require a little skill to get through. If the player dies during any of the games, they will lose progress and will be sent to a checkpoint, but if all lives are lost the player can continue from the start of the stage. There has been some quality of life additions made to the games, which allow players to be able to make their way through each adventure a little easier. These are fairly simple, being a rewind and save/load states.
Presentation – the titles in this release look just as they did on the PC-Engine Super CD, which is nice as they maintain the aspect ratio of the screen at the cost of black bars. This can make some parts of the games look a little odd, but everything is nice and clear. For those who want it, players can increase the render resolution. The sound has been emulated perfectly, with all music and dialogue in cutscenes being nice and clear during play of each game.
Final Thoughts – I have known about Valis for many years, originally playing Super Valis IV on the SNES and the Mega Drive (Genesis) versions of the other games. So I was very excited to be able to get my hands on this collection. I can happily say I was not disappointed with this package, as all three games included in the collection are good fun and enjoyable to play. The bonus materials of manuals and galleries is a fantastic touch.
This is a solid collection, offering players the chance to experience the classic magical girl series, with the only downside being the lack of English translation for the first Valis title. The quality of this game, gives me hope that the other games in the collection gets released in the future. I have no issue with recommending this collection of games to anyone and everyone, the only thing I feel that may put players off is the way games are released as DLC.
In the end, I give Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection a final score of 4.5 out of 5. This is a solid collection of magical girl action titles, offering players a chance to experience an overlooked series, which has been locked to the dead hardware and the Nintendo Switch. If you want to check this package out for yourself, a link to the collection will be below.
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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