Not so fantasmic.
You’d struggle to find a set of games better suited to a convenient retro compilation than Valis: The Phantasm Soldier. The late ’80s/early ’90s platform-shooter Castlevania-ish hybrid series spans at least half a dozen formats from esoteric Japanese computers to the Mega Drive, each release — even when they’re supposed to be representing the same game — often remarkably different from the last; each one worth playing in their own right even if only for historical curiosity’s sake.
Sadly that’s not what Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection is. Instead we get a trio of PC Engine Valis’ with Japanese text and speech only in the import version we reviewed — the upcoming localisation for the West will feature English subtitles on eShop and the Limited Run physical release. There’s nothing wrong with just the PC Engine versions in theory (it is certainly the format that tends to spring to mind when most people think of the series), but this isn’t described as ‘Valis: The PC Engine Collection’ and ‘rewriting’ an entire series’ history purely for commercial convenience isn’t something any of us should be encouraging. And even if PC Engine Valis is all you’ve ever known, wanted, or cared about, there’s still a problem: this collection is incomplete.
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