What I will say is, if you want to play the #Valis games. The first game on Genesis is not a bad place to start.

The first stage boss is seemingly quite unfair, in that you will totally understand what you need to do, but for some reason it doesn't quite work out and you end up eating more damage than you expect.

In fact, half the game's bosses are a bit unfair and prove more frustrating than fun to fight, as those bosses don't exhibit a pattern you can learn and exploit.
The irony of it all, most stages are straight forward and the bosses prove a challenge, except the final stage where the final boss is laughable easy, but he has a hell of a stage building up to him.

The game offers infinite continues, so it is a matter of perseverance to beat this one, but it is totally manageable.

But, something I will say about Valis for Genesis, it is at best a mid-tier Valis games. That means two things. They get better than this, they also sadly... Get worse.

#SegaGenesis #RetroGames

So, something that will become a trend when i talk Valis. If you are ever going to play a #Valis game, play the #PCEngineCD version of it.

Valis 1 is a fantastic variant compared to the Genesis version in my opinion. The franchise important slide move that Yuko has can actually damage enemies! More on that in later games.

The game itself is more challenging in places, with tougher pre-boss stages and also having a number of mini-bosses.

Bosses operate more fairly, with more discernible patterns, with the exception of the first form of the final boss.

It's not all rough and challenging. Similar to the Genesis game, you will obtain spells to help you throughout the game and the spell received from the third boss fight is a shield spell that absorbs several hits of damage. Super useful when certain sections of the game enjoys kicking you down a few pegs.

If you are going to play ANY Valis game, I honestly think this is best, most balanced experience of them all.

#RetroGames

God damn, #Valis 2's international release has such a bad cover.
It is so bad it is tragic.
In its defence, I will say that the red, satanic, demon goes quite hard. But the stylisation is just weak in my opinion.

Something I have noticed with the western box arts, such as the SNES Super Valis box art. They like to depict early game bosses, as if they are a bigger bad, whilst Japan has the imposing image of the final boss looming over Yuko.

I also like how most western depictions of the Valis sword show it as a short sword, whilst the Japanese depiction is like a claymore.

The western box art being bad is just my opinion, you might really gel with it, but I just find it kind of funny.

As for the Japanese cover. Yeah, I like it. It's much better than the cover for the first game. There is something about the confident look in Yuko's face that sells her as a badass, compared to the western one where she almost looks like she is cowering behind her sword.

#PCEngineCD #TurboGrafx

So, I don't hate #Valis 2 for the #PCEngineCD

After the highs of Valis 1, this feels like a massive downgrade.
Magic, naff. Slide move, gone. Platforming, bland.

The voice acting and animated cutscenes are cool, but gameplay presentation falls short.

My understanding is the game had some troubles in development, being short staffed and combined with being made at the same time as the PC-8801 and MSX2 versions. I have sympathy for the game in that regard.

The flow is different as well, with a focus on fighting multiple mid-stage mini-bosses, usually in flat arenas with no room to dodge attacks. This means haemorrhaging health and lives, and lives are super important in this game. Dying in a boss fight lets you continue the fight for as many lives as you have left.

Infinite continues allows you to keep throwing yourself at stages, but it can put you in some rather hairy situations making it hard to carry those lives to the boss fights.

Honestly, you can afford to skip on this one.

Syd of #Valis is a weird game for many reasons.

Firstly, let's talk box art.
The western box art actually uses a Japanese box art, just... Not the Japanese box art for Valis SD.
It uses the box art for The Sugoroku 92 Nariagari Trendy. A party game featuring a collaborative cast from other Telenet Japan games, such as Cosmic Fantasy and Super Albatross. Besides Yuko, none of the other characters appear in Syd of Valis. It's awfully misleading!

The naming is also a choice, though calling it Super Deformed Valis would probably be just as odd.

As for the Japanese Valis SD, it is bright, colourful and shows most of the in-game characters in their super deformed cutesy look. It definitely gives the vibe of quirky off-shoot from the main series.

I mean, the challenge for the western box would be how would you portray this game? The game itself comes across cutesy, and the previous high fantasy stylings wouldn't apply here.

Boxart aside, the game is at least good, right?

#SegaGenesis

Syd of Valis is 100% vision and probably about 40% execution.
It also makes the #SegaGenesis trilogy an absolute mess.

A retelling of the plot of #Valis 2 but with a cutesy chibi filter is not a terrible idea.
Where the game drops the ball is in the control. Jumps are incredibly floaty and everything is coated in a weird slippery physic usually reserved for ice levels.

Some bosses and mini-bosses feel like a damage race with questionable hit detection. In fact, the easiest boss in the PC Engine Valis 2 is the single hardest thing in Syd of Valis, and the real kicker. No continues. Lives, sure, but no continues.

The game gives me vibes of Wonderboy in Monster World. Just, if you packaged it as a standard action game and not an RPG.

There could have been something cool here, if the powering up of weapons or the outfits you didn't feel like an after thought.

Sadly, there feels like there is no good way to experience Valis 2. I really should check out the MSX version.

Oh my. I wasn't expecting the non-japanese box art for #Valis 3 to drop the ball so hard. The Genesis library has some fantastic box art but I hate to be like this, but I just find this unappealing and the more i look at it the more questions come to mind. That hairline, oof.

I imagine this what her facial expression was on the Turbografx Valis 2 box art. It shows a lack of confidence in our heroine and I'm just a little sad about that.
Once again, the looming figure is, to the best of my knowledge, a depiction of the first stage boss. All whilst Yuko's sister and a sagely old man look on, judgementally.

I suppose the only saving grace is the Valis sword cleaving through the metals links of that ball and chain

Perhaps, for the time, the Japanese cover could be seen as generic, showing our three playable characters in action ready poses, with a burst behind them. But dammit, it's a nice effective shot. I swear, between box arts the Valis sword is only getting longer...

#SegaGenesis

So, we are out of the trenches of bad #Valis games
It's only up from here, right?

#SegaGenesis Valis 3 is the best offering on the platform and has new features and gimmicks.
Firstly, we have multiple playable characters who are unlocked through the journey and can be swapped to on the fly, like Castlevania 3. One of them also has a whip!

Magic is done with elemental rod "sub weapons" and each character has different variations on each element.
There is a new power mechanic, where you need to wait between attacks to ensure you are attacking at full power

But, this is where the series starts getting harder. The token ice based stages feature some of nefarious platforming moments.

it is also an appropriate time to talk about the sliding mechanic. Sliding off an edge continue your horizontal momentum into the slide ends, so some gaps you need to slide over than attempting a jump.

I still recommend Valis 1 as an entry point, but if you like that, definitely check this one out!

Yes, yes, yes! #Valis 3's western box art is possibly the pinnacle of series

Let's start with that title. The faux metallic gradient with a sword woven between the letters. It screams metal band, and in fact, Valis might now be the name of my indie metal band.

Our protagonist on the box gives proto Xenia warrior princess vibes. Let's ignore the fact that Yuko is supposed to be 17 or 18. She is looking cool and serene against a backdrop of jagged mountains and lightning. Get a clean version of the image with the CD cinema screens and logos and I'd have that image on my wall somewhere.

The Japanese version is similar in nature to the Genesis box art. Our three playable characters all battle ready against a gradiented backdrop.
We can get a better look at Cham's design and her whip with her being in the foreground and the Sword of Valis this time is of indeterminate length.

Credit to the western cover art here, I honestly think they knocked it out of the park!

#PCEngineCD #TurboGrafx

So, I had once said, if you are going to play a #Valis game, play the #PCEngineCD version.

I stand by that, but, this is because I have a penchant for suffering and video game related masochism.

Valis 3 for the PCE is fantastic but can be absolutely brutal. It features additional levels to the Genesis version, and one of them is quite sadistic that it is borderline off-putting. Some enemies are tailor made and positioned to make you angry and the final boss is a cheap-ass sonnuva gun.

Something to note in this version as well, your slide move makes you invulnerable during the animation. This is vital information that makes the game a little fairer, but only fractionally. This all comes at a cost of a high jump move that was in the Genesis version now being almost non-existent.

I do find it a little weird that to pause the game you press the select button, as the start (Or "Run") button is tied into the control scheme. After a while, you'll get used to it.

So, we have finally come full circle, though we do have one more #Valis title after this I want to talk about.

The box art for Super Valis IV on the #SNES was the impetus for this entire journey and based off that western box art, I hope you can see why.

The rendition of Lena readying her sword as a fire breathing tiger, being ridden by a metallic figure, leaping at her is simultaneously over the top and an epic visual. Again, it falls into this weird trend of depicting an early game boss on the cover art. Through Dhalgren is stage 2's boss. This is a cover art I would have on my wall if I could.

(I should make a collage of the ones I would want...  )

The Japanese cover gives me anime VHS vibes, like, I can imagine a "volume 1" being tacked somewhere on that box. Of all the Japanese covers, this is probably my favourite one. I can't necessarily explain why.

For all time favourites, it really is a bit of a battle between Super Valis and Valis 3's western covers.