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1989 action adventure arcade game

Valkyrie no Densetsu is a 1989 action adventure role playing arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. It is a follow up to the Family Computer game Valkyrie no Bōken (1986). Players control the warrior maiden Valkyrie and her lizard like companion Kurino Xandra as they set out to drop a mythical item called the Golden Seed into the Northern Fountain to replenish the dying crop fields of Xandra Land. Gameplay involves defeating enemies and collecting gold to purchase magical spells and weapons in shops. Valkyrie no Densetsu was the creation of Namco artist Hiroshi Fujii and a designer only known by the pseudonym of "Koakuman". The game's world, the fictional kingdom of Marvel Land, was greatly inspired by Viking tales from northern Europe and the Middle Ages, with a heavy emphasis on having a sort of "magical" feel of it. It was originally meant to be a four player action game in the vein of titles like Gauntlet with a cabinet linking system similar to Final Lap, which was scrapped later on. Characters were made to have personality and depth, a design choice inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Valkyrie no Densetsu was released in arcades to critical acclaim for its gameplay, characters, and world. Namco ported the game to the PC Engine in 1990, a conversion that was met with a more mixed response for its difficulty, downgraded graphics, and altered gameplay. The game was mostly unknown outside Japan until the release of Namco Museum Vol. 5 in 1997, which renamed the game to The Legend of Valkyrie and was fully translated into English. Several additional ports were made, including those for Windows, Japanese mobile phones, and the Wii Virtual Console.

Valkyrie no Densetsu is an action adventure role playing game. The player takes control of the sword armed warrior maiden Valkyrie, while a second player can join in as Valkyrie's lizard like companion Kurino Xandra. Both characters have a projectile weapon that can be shot at enemies to defeat them, as well as health meters that deplete if they are hit by an enemy or projectile. Prior to designing Densetsu, Fujii had previously worked for Namco's design department, a division of the company that produced toys, electro mechanical arcade games, and robotics – when the department was eventually dissolved, Fujii was swiftly brought aboard Namco's core video game design division due to his prior experience with console games, and became the head designer for the new game. A PC Engine home conversion was released on August 9, 1990. This version features a number of alternations and additions to the game, including new stages, a different stage order, a password system, and an alternate ending sequence. It was renamed The Legend of Valkyrie in North America and Europe and is fully translated, being the first appearance of the game outside Japan. Two mobile phone versions of Valkyrie no Densetsu were released in Japan – the first of these was for i Mode devices in 2005, and the other for EZweb in 2006. The PC Engine conversion was digitally re released for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console in 2008, followed by the arcade version in 2009. The PC Engine version is also one of the 50 built in games included in the TurboGrafx 16 Mini dedicated console by Konami. It is in Japanese only, regardless of region.