Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken Assault Suits Valken

Assault Suits Valken

Buy Assault Suits Valken for the SNES

Description

This is the Japanese version of Cybernator.

Reviwed By MO of Super Famicom Central (R.I.P.)
Historical Fact: Prequel to the Mega Drive Assault Suit Leynos / Art Work done by Satoshi Urushihara

The Story
In the future Earth's natural resources have begun to dwindle. There is a massive war taking place all over the earth for control of Fossil Fuels, as well as for territorial rights on the Moon. The two warring governments, the Axis and Federation, have the ability to go into space and create giant space stations and weapons of mass destruction. The Federation assign "Jake" and his team of expert Assault Suit pilots from the United Pacific States Marine Corp to foil the Axis plans for domination.

Assault Suits Valken is a fast paced Action Platform Shooter using similar game mechanics to Akumajō Dracula (Castlevania IV) and Contra Spirits. You do need to think and plan in this game as strategy is a key part in defeating your enemies.

You operate a 50ft tall Robot with a plethora of weapons such as Laser Cannon, Flame Thrower, Missile Launcher and a Trusty shield thrown in for good measure. The Robot's abilities are excellent, very quick, agile and great booster function for high/long jumps when needed!! The shield is a vital function for the Robot as you can prevent damage from enemy attacks at all angles enabling you to plan on your next move. Your Robot also has the ability to power slide, this action can be very useful in times of extreme attacks for that quick getaway.

There are a total of 7 levels, some levels can be more difficult than others for example, level 1 is the easiest as it sets the bar for the player but level 2+ gradually increases in difficulty. The Bosses look amazing, fantastic sprites and animation used, some Bosses are very tough to defeat and requires skill and patience.

The Graphics in Assault Suits Valken are excellent, great attention to detail especially in the back-drops. The sound and music really do some justice for the game adding to the enjoyment. The music score was later released onto CD in Japan.

This is certainly the best Port as the SNES version suffers from censorship and changes; (A suicide seen on the end level is cut!). The Super Famicom version features dialog accompanied by an anime portrait of the speaker, but these portraits were removed on the Snes version. The ending differs on both versions as well.

Availability
A fairly rare title and it hardly appears on Ebay. Expect to pay £20 for (MIB), £13 (CIB) and £6 for a loose cart.

Ratings
Graphics: 91%
Sound: 83%
Playability: 90%
Lastability: 85%
Fun Factor: 90%
Total: 91%

Final Thoughts
This is an all round excellent game which at the time Konami knew its potential hence their reason acquiring the rights from Masaya to publish it onto the US market under their banner. I thought nothing could come close to my favorite Action shooter (Contra Spirits) but I have to say that Assault Suits Valken is in the same league but more challenging. Having a Robot makes a real change from the standard protagonist character with a gun, it gives depth into the game but above all it's different and a break from the norm. Assault Suits Valken is a fantastic game and worthy of a "Top Shelf" title, totally recommended!!

Translations

US Assault Suits Valken v1.00 by Aeon Genesis

Japanese Title with Ruby

(ジュウ)(ソウ)()(ヘイ)ヴァルケン

Credits

They made it happen, show some respect. Help us finish up by adding in missing credits or people who were uncredited, we want to post it and give you credit too!

References

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ROM Information:

CRC32 JAP:        A5F63557
CRC32 USA:        4DFA05B3
MD5 JAP:          9F4F827317F507B0AC4702245F161687
MD5 USA:          8376C1BFAC08F6FBBF99F26ABAEE6DA0
SHA-1 JAP:        2AB3E78615D83FCE96986A759CFE3EE1FE9CCB07
SHA-1 USA:        F629DEEA9D7CF6903BA8A4B81DA96624C0B056AB
Bank:             LoROM
ROM Speed:        120ns (FastROM)
ROM Type:         Normal
ROM Size:         8 Mb
SRAM Size:        0 Kb
Internal Title:   VALKEN (Japanese)
Internal Title:   CYBERNATOR (USA)

重装機兵ヴァルケン Info

JP Release Date: 1992-12-18
JP Studio: メサイヤ(日本コンピューターシステム)
JP Studio: Masiya (NCS)
JP Serial: SHVC-AV
US Studio: Konami
Genre: Action / Platformer
Cart Type: Normal

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