Valis II (TurboGrafx-CD) Playthrough
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- A playthrough of NEC's 1990 action-platformer for the TurboGrafx-CD, Valis II.
When it showed up in the spring of 1990 (on the same day as Ys Books 1 & 2, coincidentally enough!), Valis II was part of the first wave of games to be published for the TurboGrafx-16's CD-ROM add-on. It was also the first game by LaserSoft, a subsidiary of Telenet Japan (the guys behind the Cosmic Fantasy, Annette Futatabi, and Arcus series) that had been specifically established to create CD-based games.
Valis II for the Turbo is not the same game as the Valis II that was created for Japanese PCs, but they do share most of their plot points. The game stars Yuuko, a Japanese high schooler who wielded the legendary sword of Valis and became the "Fantasm Soldier" that saved the land of Vecanti from the villain Rogures in the first game.
This adventure, which was the first in the series to be released in English, sees Yuuko step once again into her fated role when an evil guy, Magus, is summoned from another dimension to launch a brand new assault on Vecanti.
The game is a traditional 2D side-scrolling platformer that plays more like a shooter than a hop-and-bop. Your sword fires magical bolts, and you can pick up items to change its firing pattern, similar to the way Contra does things. You also can pick up limited use special items that can do things like freeze enemies or give Yuuko a rotating shield.
The stage design is firmly planted in the mid 80s - the levels are straightforward and it's virtually impossible to get lost at any point - and though a lot of critics seem to find fault with that, I don't. It's one of the things I loved about the Valis games - they married the simplicity of the 80s arcade platformer with one of the fanciest presentations imaginable on a console by early 1990 standards. Valis II wasn't trying to be Mario 3 or one of those insufferable collectathon platformers, and I really appreciated that.
There are a few issues - it's stupidly easy and the controls have that familiar feeling of Telenet jank. The scrolling and the enemies' speed make Yuuko feel uncomfortably close to the forward edge of the screen, too, so you end up having to constantly fire leading shots to avoid being whacked by something that you wouldn't have otherwise reacted to in time.
But those issues don't bury the game. It has its quirks, but it also gets a lot of things right. The enemies and bosses designs are inventive and look great, the synthy mash-up of new wave and rock that makes up the soundtrack is absolutely superb, and the game's focus on its story always made it easy for me to get into. The presentation might not impress so much these days, but this came out in 1990. Most of us were still on the NES at that point, and games like this felt like the future. Despite the rough quality of the art and the ugly green borders, those hideously dubbed cutscenes were the stuff of dreams back then. They looked and sounded amazing, and as a kid, they gave the Valis series a magical sort of quality in my mind. The series stood out to me in a way that few others did, and in retrospect, they still do.
Even if Yuuko's running animation does make it look like she's practicing for the Icecapades. That armored bikini doesn't look very warm.
That Darius-inspired "boss approaching" screen with the klaxon is still as damned cool now as it was thirty years ago. (Ouch.)
And I know I already said this, but that soundtrack is *primo*. If nothing else, it's the music that gives it away as a Turbo game. It's that good. (That first stage theme! /drools)
I thought I'd be fun to revisit the series when I saw that a Valis collection was coming to the Switch, and I thoroughly enjoyed replaying this one for the umpteenth time.
(Random cautionary note: there was a "reimagining" of this game released for the Genesis under the name Syd of Valis, and it was absolute garbage. You'd do well to avoid that one.)
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocom...) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
![Double Dragon II: The Revenge (PC Engine CD) Playthrough [English]](/img/n.gif)
Anyone who can save the world while wearing nothing more than an armored bikini deserves mad props.
@matt Hopefully it's lined with something.
"Japan - The king of creating female characters who kick a%% and fight evil while in rather risque clothing... And tentacle hentai."
CONAN
@@CyberKnightProbably Ew no
@@NintendoComplete Valis X?
One of the most amazing characters.
The story that we saw in the PC versions is very different, where the antagonist has another background, in TG16 he is someone tragic and even a degree of honor as a warrior, on the other hand in Home PC it was the opposite: cruel, treacherous, sadistic, literally negligible. To which literally the TG16 version is an alternate reality to the original.
The Soundtrack sounds like it was composed using a Roland D-10/D-20, I could recognize the drum kit and patches used in game lol
This game showcases the synth very well.
That is some rockin' music, not gonna lie!
I am japanese.
I didn't know there was an English version. At the time, I was impressed by how amazing the music was compared to FC (NES).
I'm a Westerner and I didn't know there was an English version either. Valis II is the only one that I never played.
By the way, I wish I could somehow thank Japan for making great games :)
The costume alone makes me wanna play.
That intro drops you in cold!
The graphics in Valis 2 are excellent. 😀👍🎮
Yuko was such a cute little lady!
The Turbo CD has such gorgeous sound. So much better than Sega CD and SNES.
it literally was CD audio tracks. You could put it in a normal CD player and play the music (after skipping track 2 which was the game data and would play LOUD STATIC!!!)
No one I knew back in the day owned a TurboGrafx-CD, even the "rich" kids. It was so expensive and obscure, like the Neo-Geo. Valis games are really cool, but "Valis" sounds like a medication.
Haha, "Preparation Valis"
The only way I originally knew of these games is I had a cheat code book for SNES/Genesis a long time ago, and enjoyed looking through the list of titles for each platform. There were screenshots of each game. It was a great way to look over massive libraries of games and wonder what they were like to play!
In my small city, it was every where. I know at least 4 people with Turbo Duos, too. You could find tg16, turbo duos, games.. in yard sales, used game stores, and even in thrift shops for decades until maybe the last 5 years (still in used game shops though). Even Japanese PC-Engine games in used game shops here. I even found a loose Supergrafx GnG hucard. To me, it's more weird that everyone else didn't know about or experience the TG and TGCD games.
Man always glad to see new content from you! Don't know why you vanished from my recommends all a sudden
Whoa, wow. This is cool.
Glorious video.
"I am Heizen the ruthless" LOL
Music is distinctly Telnet
That music.
Feel so classic
Such a beautiful game shame on me i didn't play it ahhhh just great..... Anyway thanks for the video bro :)
このゲーム凄い
the lesson to this game is tank everything....
I swear all these first gen TG16 CD games have that. Last Alert is like that with just tanking hits
The North American Turbografx-16 front cover looks ugly, but the Japanese front cover art looks amazing!
Ever heard of the Collection of the Switch? That comes with subtitles for the Japanese originals including Valis 1 if you wish to do a subtitled playthrough of it.
Yeah, that's what prompted me to post this :)
Yet for some reason that collection omits the 4th game, which is an impressive game that closes out the series (the next game, we never ever mention it).
@@Bloodreign1 Didn't they say it was because the SNES remake of 4 was on Switch already? Cheap excuse, if that's the case, but I thought I read that somewhere.
Nice
I wanted one of the systems as a kid but sadly I could never find it Ir a 32x 😢
While I've really only played the first Valis game on the Sega Genesis, this looks just as solid as that game. Just a little better... and with your typical bad 90s voice acting. 😆
I was going to rip on the hilarious voice acting, then I realized how impressive it was to have real voices in a game at that time.
@@rjcupid No, you're right. It's awful lol. They don't even pronounce the name Valis properly. It was impressive still, but they could've tried a bit more with the acting.
Definitely NC. They are talking about serious subjects/war, but they sound like they're reading a grocery list.
I noticed on the Nintendo eShop for Switch that there’s a Valis collection. What versions are the games based off?
The collection has the PC Engine versions of the games like this is.
Dear Lord, they could've done a better job with her sprite...
Graphics look like a Master System game
The PC Engine can do better than this
TG... A console with great sounds and shity playability and graphics. But nice video bro.
Shit graphics? It can display more colors on the screen than the mega drive!
@@maquiztop6018 only colors don't make good graphics. Off course it has more colors than mega drive. Mega drive sucks. Jahah
Your mom?
Well, seeing as this is a 1990 game for the TG16, it's obvious that it wouldn't hold up to today's standards.