| Graphics: |  5 |
| SFX: |  4 |
| Music: | 5 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 5 |
| Replay: | 4 |
| Overall: | 5 |
| Genre: | Shmup |
| Reading ability: | Not required |
| Company: | Zamuse |
Background:
Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie is one of the most popular and most sought after anime related Super Famicom games. It follows along the Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie storyline. The setting of the game is some time after the movie, but apparently before the launching of the SDF-2 Megaroad, detailed in the music video Flashback: 2012. There have been Macross games on most game systems: the Famicom, PC Engine, Super Famicom, MSX, Playstation, Saturn, Dreamcast, Wonderswan, and PS2. Scrambled Valkyrie is one of the most sought after Macross games.
The Game:
The game features brand new, original Valkyries: the VF1SOL's. The really cool thing about this game is that you get to choose to play as Hikaru (VF1SOL-S), Max (VF1SOL-A), or Millia (VF1SOL-J). When you start the game, you will enter a "Select Player" screen. Each characters' Valkyrie has its own unique weapon abilities, which are displayed on the selection screen. Before each mission, the player is treated to really good graphics of U.N. Spacy vehicles (such as the Valkyries and the SDF-1 Macross itself) as well as the characters from the movie.
The game is an excellent side scrolling shooter. This game allows you to transform your Valkyrie on command to give you a variety of weapons. Each configuration (Fighter, Gerwalk, Battroid) gives you a different weapon system. And each character has his/her own types of weapons. When you collect power-ups, you must transform to the mode you want to upgrade. The weapons for each mode can be upgraded to 3. Also when you cease fire, after a few seconds your Valkyrie charges up its "Minmay Cannon." A glowing energy field surrounds your ship, and if you touch an enemy, you convert him to Minmay-ism and he becomes an option. But not all of the enemies are vulnerable to your Minmay Cannon, I have noticed. I'm not sure why this is. You can influence an Officer's Pod, yet you cannot influence a regular Battle Pod. You can influence a Male Power Armor, yet not a Female Power Armor. This is probably because the Zentran are more susceptible to Minmay's influence than a Meltran, for obvious reasons.
There are only two buttons to use: fire and transform. Thus, there are no bombs to save yourself from getting hit. The items that appear onscreen when you defeat enemies are P for weapons powerups, S for shield recharge, and a Minmay face for a full shield strength recharge. Hidden on each level are also the UN Spacy insignias that are revealed in a specific spot when shot, giving you a 1UP. I've found them on every level of the game, so keep your eye out for these.
You fly a great variety of missions, from inside enemy bases to inside the Macross Fortress itself, from Earth to the rings of Saturn. Each mission presents its own army of enemies, so it does not become monotonous. I have noticed that some levels of the game are better suited for some characters than others. The game is rather challenging. I've only been able to beat the last level on Easy mode using Max.
Graphics:
Graphics are in-freaking-credible. From the art stills before each mission to the in-game detail, graphics is a total 5 out of 5. The first level shows several layers of parallax between all the space debris and dead bodies floating in space, and the stormy clouds in the second level displays parallax that will blow you away. Very cool warping effects and transparencies can be found as well. This game is just a sight to behold, and the attention to detail is spectacular.
Music/Sound:
Music is also incredible. Aside from the familiar tunes like the theme song, "Watashi no Kare wa Pilot," and "Oboeteimasuka," the music composed for this game is awesome. Pretty much everyone is impressed with the techno music, particularly on level 3. The music in all the levels is excellent.
Challenge and replay:
This game is tough! You will have a very difficult time with this game, that is for sure. There are no checkpoints in the levels, so you must play through each level from the beginning. This can be disheartening and challenging at the same time. Being a solid shmup for the SFC, I find myself going back to this game over and over again.
Secrets:
For the stage select, at the ZAMUSE logo when you first turn the game on, rotate the controller counterclockwise twice from the top, and then L R L R. Then go to the setup screen and you will find an option to choose any level you want. Then select Start to begin that level.
The Good:
What can I say? This is just an incredible game. I liked the music that was borrowed from the movie, plus the original music in the game is phenomenal. Level 7's design is apparently very Gradius-inspired. As I mentioned earlier, the game pays such attention to small details. For example, when in Gerwalk or Battroid mode, the legs swing forward when you reverse thrust. When you are flying just over the surface of the water, your Valkyrie causes a spray of water to shoot out to either side of you. Under the water, everything looks distorted. On the second level, you can see rain falling through the sky. On the fifth level when you are fighting inside the Macross, there are display screens broadcasting Minmay videos.
Make friends and influence people with your very own Minmay Cannon!
The Bad:
The only thing I don't like about this game is that when you first load up the game, it sticks it in monaural instead of stereo. Each time I turn the game on I have to go to the setup screen to configure the sound to play stereo. As I mentioned earlier, some character's capabilities makes them more suitable for certain missions, so I think it would have been nice to have a character select at the beginning of each mission. That's about it when it comes to finding fault with the game. Except, of course, that the "Engrish" in the game is frequently misspelled or simply does not make sense. I realize that the English text was just put in to make the game look cool, and that the Japanese players for the most part wouldn't care if it was correct English or not. That's why I can't say that this is a negative point to the game. But if the game designers wanted to add some English, it wouldn't have been too hard to find somebody who could edit the mistakes. Oh, and it would've been nicer to see more Zentraedi battlepods in the game. And what is with Hikaru's missles? They're HUGE! Would've been better to have them sized down, and to add some trademark neat Macross missle trails.
Overall:
After playing this game for just a few minutes, I saw why this game is so popular. All the hype about this game is well deserved, for this is a truly excellent game. This game hails from a time during the 16-bit era, when Macross games were actually well-made and decent to play. Among traditional 2-D side-scroller Macross shooters, the PC Engine Macross 2036 is also a fabulous game that features beautiful anime cutscenes with a story that revolves around Komillia, the daughter of Max and Millia. Macross: Do You Remember Love? is available for the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. Although it is a graphically beautiful game, it's gameplay, while not completely flawed, keeps it as a shooter only recommended for Macross fans. It does not stand out as a great shooter, and only interesting for Macross fans who want to rehash the events of the movie. I also own the original Macross game for the original 8-bit Famicom, but I do not have a Famicom system to play it on. Scrambled Valkyrie is by far my favorite Macross shooter. If you find it, I highly recommend getting it!
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