Game Spotlight: Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie

I thought with all of the Game Spotlights lately that have featured new games, it would probably be a good idea to mix things up and take a trip back through time and look at a game that I’m sure a lot of people haven’t played or even knew existed in the first place… That and I’m on a serious Macross high at the moment…

“Cho Jiku Yosai Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie” (aka “Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie”) is a sequel game based on the 1984 movie “Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?”… man I love these absurdly long titles lol. It was released on the Super Famicom in 1993 and is a classic side-scrolling shmup (shoot ’em up) comparable to games such as Gradius and R-Type. Of course, Scrambled Valkyrie does add its share of unique Macross charm to the mix…

As you begin the game, you’re given the choice between playing one of three characters: Hikaru Ichijo, Maximilian Jenius and Milia Fallyna Jenius. Each character has their own set of weapons which can be upgraded with power-ups as you progress through the game. In addition to that, your Valkyrie can transform between three modes: Fighter, GERWALK and Battroid. Each mode has their own weapon set that can be upgraded and downgraded independently. For example, if you are in Battroid mode and gain a power-up, the Battroid mode weapons will be upgraded to level 2 however the Fighter and GERWALK mode weapons will remain at level 1. Your Valkyrie can take a bit of beating, the health bar in the top left will indicate how much damage you can take before being destroyed. Take enough damage, however and you are in risk of losing a power-up level for your current mode.

The amount of options and power-ups gained in Scrambled Valkyrie makes for some interesting gameplay when trying out the game with all three characters and switching between the three different modes when necessary. Oh, and another interesting factor about the three modes is that you will notice that there is a distinct speed and manoeuvrability difference to go along with the different weapon sets that add another level of tactical gameplay to the mix… in fact, I love how well thought out it really is and how interesting it makes things.

Oh, but there’s also another factor that’s added into the mix that makes this an even more interesting experience than you thought possible. Normally with these kinds of games you hold down the fire button and destroy everything on the screen, however if you let go of the fire button your Valkyrie starts to glow… this glow happens to be “song energy” (Yahk, deculture!) produced by your new type of Valkyrie which you can use to turn your enemies into your allies. Smaller enemies are easy enough to turn over, simply wait till your Valkyrie is glowing and then fly into them to make them switch to your side. Once this is done the enemy craft will have a yellowish glow and will fly around your Valkyrie, shooting at enemy craft if they have that ability. This sounds all good, but certain larger and more dangerous enemies need to be damaged enough before you can make them defect. Of course you can only have one ally at a time and if you get another enemy to defect the one you had previously will fly away. Again, skilled players will be able to use this to their advantage by managing to turn powerful enemy ships over to their side.

Gameplay is awesome, it’s also a very good looking game… though it has some horrendously bad Engrish that will make you go “Wait, what?”… as you can tell by the screenshot. The only way to play Scrambled Valkyrie these days is if you have a SNES emulator on your PC and can find the ROM for it…