Valis: The Fantasm Soldier

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Valis: The Fantasm Soldier
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Renovation Products (US), Riot (JP) Edia
Developer: Nihon Telenet D4 Enterprise
Licensor: Edia
Original system(s): JP Home Computers
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-12-27 ¥8,400 (8,652)8,400e T-49083 US 1991-12 $69.9969.99 49196 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub EU ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub JP ▼ 2003-10-15 ¥880880 TEL2002 JP ▼ 2022-12-22 ¥1,9801,980 US ▼ 2023-04-27 $15.0015.00 DE ▼ 2023-04-27 €13,5013,50 UK ▼ 2023-04-27 £12.1912.19 AU ▼ 2023-04-27 $20.2520.25 KR ▼ 2023-04-27 ₩18,70018,700
Non-Sega versions Super CD-ROM²

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, called Mugen Senshi Valis (夢幻戦士ヴァリス) in Japan, is a 1991 action game for the Sega Mega Drive. It is a remake of Mugen Senshi Valis, the first game in the Valis series, originally released for the MSX, PC-8801, and X1 home computers in 1986. It was released after Valis III was ported to the console.

Story

Introduction

Yuko Asou, an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl, is on her way home from school when she is caught in a storm. When the rain suddenly stops, Yuko recalls a dream she had the night before where she heard a voice call her. Her friend Reiko appears and speaks in a cryptic way before leaving. While Yuko ponders her friend's strange behavior, a monster appears out of nowhere and attacks her. The voice from Yuko's dream calls out again, and that person throws Yuko the Valis sword. The sword's magic defeats the monster, and Yuko runs to find that her whole city is under attack by monsters.

After fighting off the monsters and defeating their leader, Yuko is transported to another dimension, where she meets Queen Valia, the voice that was calling out to her before. Valia explains to Yuko that a negative energy called "Vecanta," which exploits the evil in human hearts, is spreading throughout Earth. Rogles, the ruler of the dark world, is behind this manipulation. He has locked light into the Phantasm Jewel and broken the jewel into several pieces that he gave to his subordinates to safeguard. Valia tells Yuko that she must gather the jewel pieces and use them to defeat Rogles to save both worlds.

Gameplay

The game is a platformer played as Yuko Asou, a Japanese schoolgirl who is magically summoned into becoming the Valis warrior by wielding the sword of the same name. After acquiring the sword, Yuko learns that she must collect all the pieces of the Phantasm Jewel by defeating the generals of Rogles in order to save the human world. There are cutscenes between the stages that tell the story.

Yuko moves with and and crouches with . She jumps with , jumps higher with +, and jumps off ledges with +. She can slide along the ground with , which can be used to evade enemies or to move over gaps in the terrain (though she is still vulnerable while sliding). Yuko attacks using the sword Valis with . She can swing the sword while standing, crouching, or jumping. Yuko can acquire attack powers that cause the sword to shoot projectiles whenever it is swung, and these attack powers can be upgraded up to three levels by acquiring the same attack power multiple times.

Whenever Yuko defeats a boss, she obtains a new magic power from the collected pieces of the Phantasm Jewel. The magic power can be selected from the pause menu with  START . She can cast the magic with +. Magic abilities cost magic points, and Yuko has a gauge that can hold up to 32 magic points. Yuko cannot perform a magical ability if she does not have enough magic points, but the magic gauge can be filled by finding items.

Yuko has a hit point gauge that can hold up to 32 hit points. She loses two hit points when she takes damage from enemies, but she can restore her health by finding items. She loses a life when she loses all of her hit points and must restart the stage. She also loses a life if time runs out. Upon losing a life, Yuko retains any attack power she may have acquired, but its power is reduced to the base level. The game ends if the player runs out of lives.

Magical abilities

Yuko obtains magical abilities when she recovers pieces of the Phantasm Jewel from bosses she defeats.

	Earthquake
	Causes an earthquake that attacks enemies on the ceiling and the ground. Costs 6 MP. Acquired by defeating Gyeda, the Lord of the Earth.
	Ice Feather
	Shoots two ice balls in each direction, which break into ice feathers for area damage. Costs 8 MP. Acquired by defeating Geeva, the Lord of Water.
	Flame Ring
	Summons balls of fire that orbit Yuko, damaging nearby enemies and guarding her against projectiles. Costs 10 MP. Acquired by defeating Venon, the Lord of Fire.
	Tornado
	Conjures two tornadoes, one on each side of Yuko, which damage enemies in their path. Costs 12 MP. Acquired by defeating Izard, the Lord of Wind.
	Giga Thunder
	Calls four lightning bolts from the sky, damaging all enemies on the screen and destroying all enemy projectiles. Costs 14 MP. Acquired by defeating Voldes, the Lord of Thunder and Lightning.
	Death Flash
	Flashes the screen and destroys all enemies (except bosses). Costs 18 MP. Acquired by defeating Reiko.

Items

	Item Box
	Attack to reveal an item.
	S Magic
	Restores the MP gauge by 6 points.
	B Magic
	Restores the MP gauge by 12 points.
	Healing
	Restores the HP gauge by 6 points.
	Recover
	Restores the HP gauge by 12 points.
	1 Up
	Gives the player an extra life.
	Bullets
	Enhances Valis with the Bullets attack power or upgrades it if already equipped, up to three levels. Bullets shoot rapidly but are not as powerful as other attacks. When fully upgraded, bullets shoot into a conical spread.
	Lasers
	Enhances Valis with the Lasers attack power or upgrades it if already equipped, up to three levels. Lasers are strong and pierce through targets but cannot be fired continuously. When fully upgraded, lasers are also fired from behind.
	Arrows
	Enhances Valis with the Arrows attack power or upgrades it if already equipped, up to three levels. Arrows seek out targets automatically but do not pierce. When fully upgraded, arrows are fired in five directions at a time.
	Cutters
	Enhances Valis with the Cutters attack power or upgrades it if already equipped, up to three levels. Cutters are strong and can travel the full length of the screen but do not pierce. When fully upgraded, they are also fired directly upwards.
	Grenades
	Enhances Valis with the Grenades attack power or upgrades it if already equipped, up to three levels. Grenades are powerful and fast-firing. They fire part of the length of the screen and then explode. When fully upgraded, they fire faster.

Stages

	Act 1
	Act 2
	Act 3
	Act 4
	Act 5
	Act 6
	Act 7

History

Legacy

The game was re-released as part of Valis Collection by Retro-Bit in 2022. It was also re-released as part of Mugen Senshi Valis Collection II for the Nintendo Switch by Edia on the same year. It was released for the Nintendo Switch once again in stand-alone format on December 2022 in Japan and April 2023 internationally. Both re-releases on the system keeps the Sega logo at the startup.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Valis: The Fantasm Soldier	Valis: The Fantasm Soldier
Japanese	夢幻戦士ヴァリス	Mugen Senshi Valis

Production credits

• Director: Eiji Kikuchi
• Scenario Writer: Tomoko Miura
• Character Design: Osamu Nabeshima
• Programmer: Atsushi Komiya, Yasuhisa Tanaka
• Designer: Hiroaki Kai, Kazuya Tsukazaki, Hiroshi Sawamura, Toshiya Sasaki
• Music: Minoru Yuasa, Hiroaki Kai
• Promotion: Takao Yoshioka, Masahisa Ohno, Yuma Miura
• Producer: Minoru Yuasa
• Executive Producer: Jiro Fukushima, Kazuyuki Fukushima, Yuji Fukushima
• Special Thanks to: Takashi Fukushima, Masayasu Yamamoto, Shinobu Ogawa, Kenji Goshima, Takaaki Matsumoto, Hajime Komatsu, Soukichi Matsuzawa, Akira Igarashi, Yuichi Ohishi, Yoshiko Kageyu, AD FACTOR Co.,Ltd., SOTSU AGENCY Co.,Ltd., BUSINESS SUPPORT Co.,Ltd., HORON INDUSTRY Co.,Ltd.
• US Staff: Takami Kinoshita, Hideki Hiraga, Linda Lavin, David Izat
• Presented by Telenet Japan

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Valis: The Fantasm Soldier/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Valis: The Fantasm Soldier/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 47 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Consoles + (FR) 76 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10 (RU) 60 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 55 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 93 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 40 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 65 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 75 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 43 Sega Pro (UK) 65 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 49 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 73 Video Games (DE) 51

	61
Based on 15 reviews

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Valis: The Fantasm Soldier/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Mugen Senshi Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier