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"Valist Leznalt" is a bit of an oddity: an original vertical shooting game developed by Sharp X68000 users back in the 90s (who went by the name of Amorphous) utilizing a rather basic "Shooting Maker" kit (Shooting 68K Grand Prix) that was selected by Denpa Shinbunsha and published by Takeru in 1992. However, it (along with other prize-winning games utilizing the software) was not professionally distributed back in the day and, instead, dumped on 5.25" floppies with crude hand-written info for the games and devoid of a professional case or manuals / documentation. Fast forward to 2018, and the mad lads at Doujin outlet, Studio SiestA (in collaboration with BEEP) decide to do the game justice and reprint the game... only this time with several physical versions with all the bells and whistles it should've gotten back in its heyday. That means a box, manual, pins... heck, even a story it didn't have with characters and illustrations it never got. Tis neat.

During an unspecified future, the "Human Instrumentality System" governed and protected a devastated world. One day, the "Leznalt-Side", one of its components, went out of control... as there is no in-game plot, I will say that...
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SPOILER
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This is due to Dr. Leznalt, twin brother to Dr. Valist, who was disillusioned when his brother passed away during their project together on the HIS and implemented a feature into the Leznalt System to eliminate humanity, which brought the planet of Arc-Side to the brink of destruction. Only the "Valist-Side" could fight back with its experimental module-based craft, "Rising Moon". An intrepid young woman, Nana Visconcellos, gains access to the Rising Moon craft and is beckoned by the artificial intelligence on board with the spirit of Dr. Valist, and she flys off to save the world.

The general reputation of Valist Leznalt is that it's a rather "Mid" rarity that is too similar to other Shooting 68K Grand Prix / Shooting PRO 68K games due to the many limitations of the software from the early 90s. Most things of the Create-Your-Own / Dezaemon / Tsukuru suite of those days were not very robust and wouldn't mature until a few years later, so while S68KGP / SP68K could be seen as one of the early pioneers of said software, its creations didn't quite reach the heights of fully-realized SHMUPs of the day. That said, Valist Leznalt does appear to be more ambitious than the other titles with the S68KGP / SP68K and features some rather colorful graphics with varied locales (it feels a bit TwinBee-ish), great tunes, a good length, challenging gameplay and I can kinda see why a proper reprint was made. The game doesn't flex much of the Sharp's muscle or hold a candle to the higher-tier games of the 8/16 bit era and could be deemed fairly pedestrian even by 1992 standards, but it's not a "bad" game.

The game features six main stages, five main weapons, and the BEEP re-release features additional challenges and improved operability (as well as an arranged soundtrack by Ino Kondou who also composed the music for "Trouble Witches"), though it's more or less the same game. VL is certainly harder than your average shooter of the early 90s as there is almost no limit to how many enemies and obstacles can fill the screen, things zip around at a breakneck pace and as the game doesn't skip a beat, you can't really find relief in the occasional slowdown found in other shooting games. Many enemies are also bullet sponges and while power-ups are plentiful, dying will revert you back to your basic weapon which is always frustrating. The patterns for enemy waves and the more hidden items (like 1-Ups) are set up pretty well, but this is a game that will take numerous attempts before you figure out the best order for doing things.

This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy. 2025, here we come.

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