Valis
Image: Sunsoft

Update: Limited Run Games has stated that it will be bringing Valis: The Fantasm Soldier to the west in physical form, with pre-orders opening in January 2022 (thanks, Gematsu).

In Japan, the collection is launching both physically and digitally on December 9th, but the Japanese version will not include English subtitles.


Original Story [Tue 15th Jun, 2021 16:15 BST]: Telenet's Valis is one of those series that had more than a few fans back in the day of the Mega Drive and SNES, but has been largely forgotten by modern players. Japanese company Edia is planning to change all of that.

Back in 2020, it announced that it was working on something for the 35th anniversary of the franchise, which is December of this year (the series made its debut on the PC-8801, MSX, and X1 in Japan in December 1986).

Edia has today revealed that the first three games in the Valis: The Fantasm Soldier series are coming to the Nintendo Switch, and development will be funded via a crowdfunding drive via Japanese site Makuake. The cash raised from this campaign will be used to bring the esteemed PC Engine versions of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, Valis II, and Valis III to the Switch.

Super Valis IV, the final mainline entry in the series, is already available on the Switch thanks to its addition to the Nintendo Switch Online retro lineup.

While Valis X exists, its status as an erotic visual novel means that many fans don't consider it to be a 'true' entry in the lineage. It was developed by Eants rather than Telenet, although Telenet did handle distribution; Valis X was the final game published by the company before it went bust. The rights to the Valis series were then snapped up by Sunsoft.

Are you a fan of the Valis series? Will you be holding out for a western release of these titles? Let us know with a comment.

[source prtimes.jp, via siliconera.com]