Valis III

About Valis III

Valis III (1990) is Laser Soft's TurboGrafx-CD action platformer in which schoolgirl Yuko Asou and her allies Cham and Valna, switchable at any time, stop the dark king Glames from destroying two worlds.

Valis III in Depth

After the events of Valis II, Yuko Asou, a Japanese schoolgirl chosen as the Valis warrior and wielder of the mystical Valis sword, faces King Glames, wielder of the sword Leethus, who leads the denizens of the Dark World to conquer both Vecanti and Earth in search of refuge as their own planet is destroyed. With the demon warrior-maiden Cham and her sister Valna, Yuko must stop him. The player guides her through two-dimensional levels, fighting enemies, jumping between ledges and searching for items and power-ups before a boss at the end of each, with animated cut-scenes telling the story at set points.

The main change from earlier Valis games is control of several characters, switchable at any time, recalling Zillion and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Each has different upgradable weapons, Yuko a chargeable energy wave, Cham a whip and Valna magical blasts from her wand, and lightning, fire and ice spells. Characters cannot be switched during boss fights, where the choice leads to a different cut-scene, and some stages force a particular character, usually Yuko. A ground slide that doubles as an attack is also new. The Genesis port dropped most of the cut-scenes and several levels, adding one new one.

Making Valis III

Laser Soft developed it, and Telenet Japan and NEC published it for the TurboGrafx-CD in 1990, followed by a Genesis version in 1991 through Telenet's North American subsidiary Renovation Products. The TurboGrafx-CD version received generally favourable reviews, Joystick's Jean-Marc Demoly applauding its improvements over Valis II, and it was followed by Valis IV in 1991.