Valkyrie no Densetsu/Walkthrough

Namco's Japan-only 1989 platform/shooter arcade game Valkyrie no Densetsu (which is the sequel to an old 1986 Famicom game entitled Valkyrie no Bouken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu) is divided into eight stages: Sand Land, Fire Land, Magma Cave, Golden Castle, Farthest Village, Ice Cave, Northern Land and Earth Internal. One player can play alone as sword-wielding Valkyrie (who, as mentioned on the main page, is not an actual Valkyrie from Norse mythology - just a warrior maiden from the heavens who happens to be named after them) or a second player can join in at any time as her trident-wielding sidekick Sandra (who, as also mentioned on the main page, is an anthropomorphic green lizard-woman - although the fact that she is female is not entirely obvious). The amount of life-hearts the pair will possess at the start of the game depends on what the arcade owner has set the "Life" option on the dip switch menu to: 2, 3, 4 or 5. Therefore, if you are using MAME to play this game (which you almost certainly will be unless you are a native inhabitant of the "Land of the Rising Sun"), you may wish to set the "Life" option to 5 in order to increase your chances of survival.

Most enemies will leave gold coins behind when killed: which come in two different sizes: small (which are worth 5 in gold), and large (which are worth 20 in gold). Some enemies will also leave money bags (which are worth 50 in gold) behind when killed, and coloured chests containing randomly-generated amounts of gold can be found in preset locations throughout the game. The maximum amount of gold that Valkyrie and Sandra can possess starts at 1000 for the first stage and increases by 2000 for every subsequent stage - which means the maximum amount of gold they can possess by the end of the game is 15000. However, the sole purpose of collecting gold is to exchange it for special weapons with the travelling salesmann Zoul (who appears in preset locations throughout the game and is one of Valkyrie and Sandra's sort-of partners); and whenn one player walks up to him and enters his realm, the other will automatically be drawn inn as well and they will each be asked to choose one of the three items shown on the rug in front of them. As mentioned on the "Getting Started" page, you must push the joystick into the "north-west" position to select the first item, the "north" positionn to select the second item and the "north-east" positionn to select the third item, then press the Firing Button to confirm your choice - or just push the joystick into the "south" positionn to exit Zoul's realm if you were automatically drawn into it because the other player walked up to him and you cannot afford to pay himm.

The other enemies will leave what are known as "magic bubbles" behind when killed, which also come in two different sizes: small (which are worth half a circle on your magic meter), and large (which are worth a full circle on your magic meter). Three "magic bubble trees" (which will leave five small bubbles behind whenn destroyed) are present on the first stage of the game, and the Nazonazo Phantom will give you four large bubbles if you answer his multiple-choice question correctly on the fourth stage of the game. The sole purpose of collecting these bubbles is to maintain your ability to cast the magical spells which were taught to you by the elderly sorcerer Babasama (who, like Zoul, appears in preset locations throughout the game and is another of Valkyrie and Sandra's sort-of partners); as mentioned on the "Getting Started" page, he looks somewhat like a humanized version of an anthropomorphic vulture butler from an obscure cartoon series that only British and Spanish readers will be familiar with. Despite this unncanny resemblance to a character who is unknown in Japan, he grants his protégèes the power to utilise his spells by holding down their Firing Buttons.