3/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of The Legend of Valkyrie.

System: Nintendo Switch (Arcade Archives) Started: July 20, 2025 Ended: July 20, 2025 Redemption Playthrough First Attempt: May 20, 2025 (Arcade) I have always wanted to play Legend of Valkyrie, a forgotten arcade game made by Namco. I first learned about it while playing SoulCalibur II, because one character, Cassandra, wears Valkyrie’s outfit as a bonus costume. On May 20, 2024, I visited an arcade where I actually found this game and was able to play it. I spent about four hours trying to beat it, but I struggled, especially on Stage 6 and the final stage. It turns out I was missing a few spell books and had the worst power-ups I picked up along the way. Eventually, I gave up and moved on to another arcade game. Over a year later, I found Legend of Valkyrie available for the Nintendo Switch in digital form during a sale. I purchased it and finally found the time to play it again, eventually beating the game by using the right power-ups and discovering hidden spells that were scattered throughout the levels. After completing it, I can say that it’s not a bad game, but it does need some improvements in game design and controls. Legend of Valkyrie was released in 1989 exclusively in Japan and available in both Arcade and Turbografx-16. It is a bird’s-eye, side-scrolling action/shooter, and it serves as a sequel to its predecessor, Valkyrie no Boken for the Famicom. The game can be played cooperatively: Player 1 controls Valkyrie, while Player 2 plays her companion, Kurino. As best as I can translate, the story involves an evil being named Kamooz, who steals the Golden Seed. When thrown into a fountain, the seed can grant any wish. The two heroes must journey through eight levels to stop Kamooz from taking over the kingdom of Marvel Land. The game also has shooting gameplay elements as players earn money by defeating monsters and can purchase power-up items. You can also find powerful spells by locating certain hidden characters in the levels, which can be unlocked and used strategically, especially when facing overwhelming enemies. Valkyrie no Densetsu offers a decent presentation. Between levels, you see good-looking cutscenes, although they are in Japanese. The levels themselves look cool during platforming sections, you can be propelled high into the air, with clouds moving in the background, creating a dynamic sense of depth. Notably, Stage 4 features scrolling parallax effects as you are being catapulted toward a castle, and falling off during sky platforming segments leads to a long drop . Valkyrie’s death animations are amusing, showing her falling, drowning, or puffing into smoke after being fire-blasted. You can pick up spell books that grant various abilities, such as summoning tiny Valkyries, using her Cyclone move, or casting a fire blast that envelops the screen—particularly useful for the final stage. Be aware that the game is entirely in Japanese, whether played on the Nintendo Switch or in Arcades. It would have been great if Namco had ported this game overseas with an official translation. One interesting aspect is a quiz mini-game and its all in Japanese; failing to answer correctly causes you to lose a heart. If you’re not interested in the story and just want to shoot enemies, this isn’t a big issue, though the story itself feels weak and you have to know more about the story through promotional magazines and the instruction manual outside of the game. Regarding gameplay, the shooting controls feel excellent, but I find the platforming controls frustrating. Timing jumps carefully is essential because Valkyrie tends to float slightly, often overshooting her jumps. Falling off a platform usually sends her way back to a safe spot, forcing you to redo the jumping segments. The game also has a stage time limit, so you need to hurry to reach the end. The game design could use some refinement. In the arcade version, I couldn’t beat the game mainly due to the lack of power-ups and its difficulty. On the Nintendo Switch, you can select different difficulty levels and adjust your health, which helps. I also discovered that pressing the start button immediately after dying allows you to respawn at the same spot without restarting the level—this was very helpful. However, I dislike that power-ups are limited and that your shots consume them—meaning you can’t just hold down the fire button indefinitely and must conserve ammo. Power-ups are rarely available from the shopkeeper, and their cost is high, especially near the end of the game. It would be better if power-ups appeared after defeating enemies, making them more accessible. There are Treasure chests that are scattered throughout levels, rewarding you with gold, power-ups, magic bubbles, or traps, but they are difficult to find at times when you really need it. In Stage 8 of the arcade version, I lost all my power-ups and had to rely on my default power-up, making me vulnerable to enemy attacks and they were a lot which is why I had difficulties. I believe Namco should revive this franchise along with their other lost titles. A remake with gameplay similar to Kid Icarus: Uprising would be fantastic. After all, Namco relies heavily on Pac-Man for sales, but they have many more IPs in their vault that could be revitalized. Legend of Valkyrie looks great visually, but the gameplay is only okay, and the story is lackluster without proper translation. Fortunately, you can emulate the game and use translation patches to enjoy the full story.