 Super Valis IV The Valis series isn't well-known here in America. In Japan it was a mild success many years ago, as various incarnations of the games in the series saw releases on the Mega Drive, Famicom, and PC-Engine. We in America were for the most part Valis-deprived, but we did receive a watered-down port of Valis IV for the Super Nintendo under the name Super Valis IV. And though it's watered-down, it's still a great game.
The graphics are well done. The sprites are large, colorful, and detailed. Animation is also pretty smooth for an early SNES title. There's a wide variety of enemies, and the bosses each have their own distinct look. Some of the levels even feature some great scrolling backgrounds and foregrounds that really make them come alive. Once you get to the Reddish Moon (Gallagher's base, if you will), things get a little trippy; it's quite a sight to behold.
Getting Lena to do what you want her to do can be quite a chore sometimes. Since everything on the screen is so large and the screen doesn't scroll until you're past the halfway point, it can be hard to keep from running into enemies at times. One can remedy this by going slowly or stopping periodically, but that's a pain. Other than that, the controls are fairly standard. It's easy to select and use your special weapons and the platforming is challenging, but not cheap. If the screen scrolled a bit sooner, things would be much smoother.
For an early SNES title, Super Valis IV is solid. It's fun for a quick play and the rankings you attain upon beating the game (which are based upon your item collection and time) offer an incentive to replay the game once you've beaten it. While I can't say it's anything ground-breaking, that doesn't keep it from being a great game. If you're looking for some old-school action/platforming, this is where it's at. Score: 3.3 (B)
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The plot is what was affected the most in the transition to the SNES. Whereas there are supposed to be cinema scenes and dialogue between each level, we got only still pictures and a few lines of text here and there. From what I can gather, Yuko (the star of previous games in the series) is residing in the Dreamworld when she notices havoc is going to be wreaked on Earth once again. Instead of using the Valis Sword herself, she gives it to a girl named Lena and thus gives her the responsibility of stopping the evil Gallagher from invading. Yeah, it's kind of cliche and lame, but the story isn't made very prevalant throughout the game.
Super Valis IV's soundtrack is one of my favorites on the SNES. There aren't really any songs that stand out above the crowd, but there aren't really any weak songs, either. The music does repeat on some stages, but for the most part the tunes fit the environments of the levels they're set to. The sound effects are really nothing special, but they don't detract from the experience, either.
The difficulty level is selectable and the game is a breeze unless you select Hard mode (but either way, the game can be beaten in about an hour or less). During the game you "level up" based on your score (which does nothing more than elongate your life bar), and this does help to balance things out later in the game. One thing that I found to be odd is once you die, it's a game over and you have to continue. I think having multiple lives would've been better. That's just a minor nitpick, though.