Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu

Plot

In Marvel Land, people coexist in peace and harmony with nature and the animals are docile. Humans, Sandras, Quarkmen, Tattas and other races mingle, working to improve their community. A large clock tower, resembling a stone grandfather clock, stands watch over the countryside; an ancient evil was sealed in the clock long ago with a key of time (stored in the middle of its face), and the people have lost their fear.

One day, the clock tower mysteriously stops working. takes it upon himself to do just that. Fumbling with the key of time in an effort to rewind the clock, a villager drops it. Before they can replace the key, Zouna (a dark wizard who manipulates time) escapes and takes the key.

Zouna wreaks havoc in Marvel Land, darkening and terrorizing its people and laying waste to the countryside. Confident in his power, he builds a castle, ruins once-thriving towns and villages and separates families. Only a few scattered towns remained standing, a futile bastion against Zouna's invasion. Even Krino Sandra (known as Whirlo in Europe) would be subdued heroically by Zouna; Marvel Land needs a savior.

Valkyrie, a fledgling shieldmaiden descends to Marvel Land from the heavens. In her first adventure, she wields a simple shield and a mace of light. Vowing to save Marvel Land from the darkness which has consumed it, her adventure begins.

Gameplay

Valkyrie no Bōken has a scrolling overworld like Dragon Warrior, with a real-time combat system similar to The Legend of Zelda. The player controls Valkyrie in her quest to defeat Zouna and restore peace to Marvel Land. With brown hair and no helmet, she begins the game armed with only a short sword. The player helps Valkyrie fight monsters, collect gold and find stronger equipment which will increase her powers; eventually, she finds a helmet and cloak. With the people of Marvel Land terrorized or controlled by Zouna, she receives no hints or advice. The player must devise a plan to defeat Zouna, with many of Valkyrie's tasks not immediately apparent; some can only be guessed by exploration and experimentation.

When Valkyrie defeats a monster, she earns experience points towards the next level and (usually) a small amount of money. Although money is scarce in Marvel Land, the player rarely needs it to buy equipment. All the game's items can be obtained for free if the player knows where to look. In addition to equipping weapons and armor, Valkyrie gains access to seven spells. When she learns each one depends on her intelligence, which increases with each level of experience. The first, and possibly the most valuable, of these is the healing spell.

Although the game has very little Japanese text and is playable by non-Japanese speakers, in 2001 the translation group SGST released a patch converting the title and selection screens into English (transliterating "Valkyrie" phonetically as "Valecule"). The title translation corrupts the ending, already presented in English. To fix the SGST translation, DvD Translations released a corrected translation in 2009.

Sequels

Valkyrie no Bōken was followed by Valkyrie no Densetsu (ワルキューレの伝説, lit. "The Legend of Valkyrie"), a 1989 arcade game with simultaneous two-player play and a console conversion released for the PC-Engine. That year an MSX2 game, Valkyrie no Bōken II (ワルキューレの冒険II 遥かなる時の扉), was announced; although the game demo was included on DiskStation Compilation No. 4, its production was canceled.

In 1992 Namco released a prequel to Valkyrie no Bōken, Xandra no Daibōken: Valkyrie to no Deai, for the Super Famicom. Featuring Valkyrie's green amphibian-appearing friend, Krino Sandra (Whirlo), the prequel was released in Europe as Whirlo. Valkyrie no Bōken was resurrected for the PlayStation in 1998 on Namco Anthology 2, with an upgraded (linear) version of the game side-by-side with an emulation of the Famicom original.

Walküre no Densetsu Gaiden: Rosa no Bōken (ワルキューレの伝説 外伝 ローザの冒険, "The Legend of Valkyrie Gaiden: The Adventure of Rosa") is a digital comic (a low-interaction adventure game following the story) released by Namco for Windows on April 26, 1996. In it, the Great Goddess tasks Rosa with pursuing the monster Tōrushin on a floating island in the sky over Marvel Land. Its audio drama version was released on March 25, 1996. In 2007 Namco released The Glory of Walküre, an upgrade of the original game with enhanced graphics, for Japanese cell phones using the i-Apli system.

Adaptation