Fortress Valis

Fortress Valis
Japanese name	要塞ヴァリス Yōsai Varisu センターコア Sentā Koa
Alternate name(s)	Center Core
Type	Gunwall
Appearances	Salamander Salamander (MSX) Life Force
Theme	"Poison of Snake"

Fortress Valis (要塞ヴァリス, Yōsai Varisu), also known as Center Core (センターコア, Sentā Koa) in the MSX version, is a boss in Salamander and Life Force.

Description

Fortress Valis is the boss of stage 4 of Salamander and Life Force. It also appeared on stage 2 of the Famicom version. It was replaced by the Zelos Barrier in the ZX Spectrum version, and in the MSX version, it was the sub-boss of planet Eioneus. It is considered one of the more frustrating bosses in the games it appears in. Fortress Valis X, a Biomechanical mutant that guards the Liver Zone, is a different sprite of Fortress Valis.

Attack patterns

Fortress Valis has four enemy generators on the ground and six turrets. It also has three cores, and three barriers per core. However, that's not what makes this boss so frustrating. This boss fires Hazard Balls at the player, which bounce around the room until they hit you. This wouldn't be so bad if it stopped generating them after a while, but it doesn't. Even the best players sometimes end up dying here. This was somewhat remedied on the Famicom and MSX versions, where the Fortress Valis fires fewer Hazard Balls. However, after you destroy it, you have to fight Dead End in the MSX version, and Tetran in the Famicom version. The MSX version has four barriers per core, and it has higher health.

Version differences

In the arcade version of Salamander, Fortress Valis is more difficult than most other bosses due to the Hazard Balls being harder to dodge, and the boss can shoot more balls, often after the first salvo. The balls can bounce on the bottom of the screen, enhancing the difficulty. The only way to stay alive is to stay on the edge of the Fortress until Valis closes its cores and explode, or stay near one of the core units and let two Options stuck on Valis to destroy all of the cores.

In the Japanese version of Life Force, Fortress Valis is an easier boss to fight, with only three Amoebas (or "Membranes" in this version) in the field. The player just has to evade the Amoebas in time to destroy the cores.

In the PC Engine version, Fortress Valis features different behaviors. The shields cannot be destroyed at the beginning of the battle, before Valis deploys all of its fighters remaining until the hatches are fully shut. After that, the shields can be attacked once it expends all of its remaining fighters. If the missile turrets weren't destroyed, Fortress Valis won't fire any of the cores, allowing the player to destroy the shields and the cores, although the missiles will still have to be avoided in order to do so. Fortress Valis retains the Hazard Ball attacks, but this time in a slower rate of fire, allowing the player to dodge in time; these Hazard Balls will bounce on the edges and fly to the bottom of the screen (where they won't bounce), and therefore, the player can slightly evade and destroy the cores.

Gallery

Fortress Valis in Salamander.
(arcade)

Fortress Valis in Salamander.
(MSX)