Valis III

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NTSC-U NTSC-J
Valis III
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Renovation Game (Japan), Renovation Products (US) Edia
Developer: Nihon Telenet D4 Enterprise
Licensor: Edia
Original system(s): PC Engine
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-03-22 ¥8,400 (8,652)8,400e T-49023 US 1991-06 $69.9969.99 T-49086 JP ▼ 2012-06-19 ¥880880 TEL0043 JP ▼ 2024-06-06 ¥1,9801,980 US ▼ 2024-05-30 $15.0015.00 DE ▼ 2024-06-06 €13,5013,50 UK ▼ 2024-06-06 £12.1912.19 AU ▼ 2024-06-06 $20.2520.25 KR ▼ 2024-06-06 ₩18,70018,700
Non-Sega versions CD-ROM²

Valis III (ヴァリスIII) is a 1991 action game for the Sega Mega Drive. It is a port of the 1990 action game of the same name for the CD-ROM² by Telenet Japan. It was the first Valis game released on a Sega system; the first two games would follow.

A European release was planned by Ubisoft but it did not materialise.

Story

Introduction

After the events of Valis II, the Dark World is being destroyed. The fortuneteller Leigh informs the Dark World's king, Glames, that they only have six months before it is destroyed. Hopeless, Glames decides to become king of both the Human World and Dreamland, but he knows that Nizetti, the ruler of Vecanti, is controlling the power level of the Valis sword and that any attempt to invade either world would result in Yuko coming with a full-powered Valis to destroy him. Nevertheless, he takes the risk, knowing his sword Leethus, is just as powerful as Valis and that both swords can be combined for terrible destructive power.

Gameplay

The game is a platformer. The game is initially played as Yuko, but Cham and Valna become available to play after rescuing them. The characters move with and and crouch with . They jump with , jump higher with +, and jump off ledges with +. They can slide along the ground with +, which can be used to evade enemies or to move over gaps in the terrain. The player can switch the active character by holding while standing still. The active character cannot be switched during boss fights.

The characters attack using their standard weapons with . Attacks neutralize enemy projectiles. Their attacks are stronger when the power gauge is fuller. Attacks expend the power gauge, but it quickly replenishes. Power-ups can be found to lengthen the power gauge to increase the maximum attack strength and to increase the speed at which the gauge replenishes. Characters also have special magical abilities, which are cast with + after finding a magic ability item. The magic ability item gives the characters the ability to cast spells with either the fire, ice, or thunder elements. Magic abilities cost magic points, which can be restored by finding items. In addition to having different standard weapons, Yuko, Cham, and Valna have different magic abilities.

Characters have a hit point gauge that indicates their health. They lose hit points when they take damage from enemies, but they can restore health by finding items. The characters share their hit points and magic points. They lose a life when they lose all of their hit points and must restart the stage. Additionally, each stage has a time limit, and the player also loses a life when time runs out. Characters lose their weapon upgrades and magic points when they lose a life. The game ends if the player runs out of lives. There are no continues.

Characters

	Yuko
	Yuko is the Warrior of Valis and keeper of the Sword of Valis. She is the strongest fighter of the three. Valis shoots a wave-like projectile when it is swung; the distance that it travels is farther when the power gauge is fuller. She has the weakest magic but also the lowest cost magic abilities.
	Cham
	Cham is a warrior maiden who was born in the Dark World. She fights with a deadly, medium-ranged whip. She steals the Valis sword at the beginning of the game but later joins Yuko and fights alongside her.
	Valna
	Valna is Yuko's sister and the Queen of Dreamland. She carries a magical staff. She has a relatively weak projectile attack that attacks forwards as well as upwards. She has strong magical abilities, but her magic consumes more energy.

Magic

Magic abilities are dependent on the currently held magic item and differ for each character.

	Flame
	Yuko's flame ability is the Flame Dagger, which conjures two fiery daggers that fly out to seek enemies. Cham's flame ability is the Fire Dragon, which summons a fire dragon that attacks enemies. Valna's flame ability is the Fire Star, which surrounds Valna in fireballs that protect her and harm enemies that they touch.
	Ice
	Yuko's ice ability is the Ice Cutter, which discharges an ice wave that temporarily freezes enemies that it hits. Cham's ice ability is the Ice Throw, which shoots penetrating icy arrows in both directions horizontally. The arrows temporarily freeze enemies that they hit. Valna's ice ability is the Chill Cube, which shoots ice shards in the four diagonal directions that temporarily freeze enemies that they hit.
	Thunder
	Yuko's thunder ability is the Thunder Sword, a screen flash that damages all enemies on screen. Cham's thunder ability is the Lightning Bolt, which fires lightning bullets in a semicircle above her. Valna's thunder ability is the Thunder Storm, which unleashes electric sparks that bounce around the screen and attack enemies.

Items

	Item Box
	Attack to reveal an item.
	S Magic
	Restores the MP gauge by 2 points.
	B Magic
	Restores the MP gauge by 8 points.
	Healing
	Restores the HP gauge by 4 points.
	Recover
	Restores the HP gauge by 16 points.
	1 Up
	Gives the player an extra life.
	Power Up
	Lengthens the power gauge, up to three levels.
	Charging Speed
	Makes the power gauge charge faster.
	Flame
	Equips the characters with flame magic.
	Blizzard
	Equips the characters with ice magic.
	Thunder
	Equips the characters with thunder magic.

Stages

	Act 1
	Act 2
	Cham becomes playable in this act.
	Act 3
	Valna becomes playable in the last part of this act.
	Act 4
	Act 5
	Act 6
	Act 7
	The final boss can only be played as Yuko.

History

Development

Valis III, alongside Ys III, features an intriguing interlaced mode cheat which, according to the latter's manual, "shakes the screen to display text clearly. Normally you don't need to use this mode." The original version of the game was released for the PC-8801, a home computer system with the ability to separately render interlaced, high-resolution text atop its standard 8-bit graphics, with the game seeming to have used this option for monitor compatibility reasons. When activated in Valis III, the software engages interlaced mode 2, doubling the resolution by drawing odd and even 8x16 pixel tiles on even/odd frames

Despite this, both manuals claiming it has circumstantial utility, with evidence indicating it was intended for Mega Drive users playing on RGB monitors - as the interlacing removes scanlines, which can improve readability issues with kanji. It appears that Nihon Telenet were overzealous in the porting process and wanted to faithfully port the game's INT MODE somehow, regardless of whether the port was originally programmed to actually take advantage of it. As a result, these mostly-vestigial leftovers from the original PC-8801 versions have remained a curious and vestigial quirk of their Mega Drive ports.

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 III for the Nintendo Switch by Edia in December 2023 on Japan and January 2024 worldwide. It was released for the Nintendo Switch once again in stand-alone format on May 2024 in Americas and June 2024 internationally. Both re-releases on the system keeps the Sega logo at the startup.

Production credits

• Programmer: Masayasu Tamamoto, Yoshiki UAI Yamauchi
• Graphic designer: Kiku, David Iwata, Yoshihisa Shimizu, Seiichirou Nagatomo, Sophy Kinoshita
• Scenario writer: Ohta(Hachiohji)
• Music: Takaharu Umezu, Michiko Naruke, Minoru Yuasa
• Music director: Shinobu Ogawa
• Special thanks to: Business suport Co.,Ltd.
• Art work director: T. Neko Miura
• Art work staff: Takao Yoshioka, Masahisa Ohno, Yuma Miura, Mitsuho Abe
• Special thanks to: Kazuyuki Fukushima, Yuji Fukushima, Jiro Fukushima, Yoshinobu Abe, Takami Kinoshita, Tetsuji Matuzawa, Mie Nakahara
• Original game licensed by: Shin-nihon Laser Soft Co.,Ltd.
• Total producer: Takashi Fukusima

(c) Telenet Japan Co.,Ltd.

Source:

In-game credits

Digital manuals

• 

  Project EGG manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Valis III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-01: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)
also published in:

• Mega Drive Fan (JP) #12: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-02: "February 1991" (1991-01-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-03: "March 1991" (1991-02-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-04: "April 1991" (1991-03-08)

Print advert in Game Players (US) #0307: "Vol. 3 No. 7 July 1991" (1991-0x-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #27: "October 1991" (1991-xx-xx)

Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #60: "xxxx xxxx" (2002-09-05)
also published in:

• Velikiy Drakon (RU) #61: "xxxx xxxx" (2003-02-07)

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) 50 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 65 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 78 Cool Gamer (RU) 40 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 78 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10 (RU) 60 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 100 Games-X (UK) 90 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 60 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 80 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J 62 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U 48 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 72 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 78 Power Play (DE) 53 Raze (UK) NTSC-J 85 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 100 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 75 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 79 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 88 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 78 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 60 Tilt (FR) 70 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 80 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 81

	72
Based on 26 reviews

Valis III

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart File:ValisIII MD JP Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Valis III/Technical information.

References

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