Golvellius: Valley of Doom for Sega Master System - Review | hungrygoriya 

One of my all time favorite Master System games, only second to Phantasy Star.

There's something very soothing and relaxing about watching you review obscure retro action RPGs. I'm glad I found your channel.

What a great overview of an overlooked game! You have really stepped up your quality in recent months and I really dig those transitions. The tips on not spamming the sword to deal more damage and finding good areas to funnel enemies will definitely come in handy when I finally get to sit down with this one proper!

Great review! Golvellius is awesome. All three versions are worth playing through, thanks to the very different level designs and tricks, although the items are the same. I still need to play through the parody spin-off known as Super Cooks for the MSX2.

For me, Golvellius is mainly praiseworthy as a dry run for The Guardian Legend. Compile re-visited the same core idea (a Zelda-like overworld paired with something completely different in place of the usual dungeons) and delivered something way more exciting to me thanks to the space shooter aspect and the huge variety of weapons. The soundtracks of the the two games even sound pretty similar.

Just rebought this game to play on my Mega SG... I remember playing and loving this on the SMS back in 89. Great review! Thanks for reviewing SMS games

Great review, thanks for sharing this with us, HG!!...and yes, I chuckled after "optimal murdering conditions" :-D

“Optimal murdering conditions.” Amazing review! You’re always really thorough which is nice.

I played this game when I was about 12. My favorite part was getting the water and wing boots, and then going back to the early stages of the game to find secret spots.

Golvelius is my jam! I actually played this long before I played zelda. The music is top notch in this game. Ah the memories...

Loved the song at 7:37 Lots of fun playing this as a kid with my neighborhood friends. We all loved this game.

This was a game I rented many of times when I was younger. When I was finally able to pick up a copy I completed it many times. I recently played it again and had a great time but have not completed it. Great review as always. Keep the SMS reviews coming in. =)

Somehow I missed this one when you posted it! Another fantastic HG Review, thank you for sharing. Also, I LOVE the box art "with password save!"! :-D

Hey HG another great video I love it when game developers are nice enough to set up a level so that you can use an optimal murder strat. I think a lot of late 80s and early 90s games unfortunately were a little grind heavy at the start and lead to too many early game overs and rage quits.

This. wonderboy 3 and ultima defined me. Such nostaligia listening to the music especially. Thanks for sharing the memories.

Your videos are a treat. Thank you.

The music playing during the opening used to make me cry and care so much for those "people". This is the most nostalgic game ever for me. I didn't know English back then, so I had to memorize most of the stuff while playing with my cousin, who did understand. I used to think that the password screen was just to write stuff like your name 😂 and that the fairy just told stupid things - she did often - and so guess-playing was quite the adventure. Love this game, still play it now and then.

You have such a pleasant way about you in your videos. Thank you for this wonderful retrospective.

Another gem. Would love a re-release of this game. Like a Sega Ages treatment.

I just bought this game at my local video game store a few days ago. I'm looking forward to playing it this winter now that I'm laid off until Spring. This video will be very helpful. Thank you.

This game has an awesome FM soundtrack, and the "space invaders" is in fact Randar, the unofficial logo of Compile. I love this game to death, it is the first game I ever bought with my own money. I drew a full colour map of it, back in the day.

music sounds like Guardian legend in a way well, the first track used at least.

i come from Cannot Be Tamed. looks good so im subbing :)

Nice little game you got there. I would love to see more master system games. Although Sega was predominant here in Brazil in the 80 and 90's I only had one friend who got a MS, all my other friends had Nintendo. That's a console that I know very little about.

I didn't realise but I read an article of yours about you getting 11 Master System RPG games. I read your review a year or so ago and decided to buy the remaining RPGs I didn't already have. Thanks so much for that review and synopsis, I actually bought Golvellius because of your review. Actually read the article well before finding this chanel today.

Thanks for this nostalgic game video, I remember this title for good after 30 years. I think it was one of the first RPGs I played.

I only ever knew one kid who had a master system, and he also had a genesis. We almost never played any of his master system games. Seeing some of these games now, I really wish I had gotten a chance to really experience them as a kid.

space invaders = those are mini Randars :D nice review of the SMS version!

Recently discovered your channel ^_^ it's been so fun watching your videos ^_^

I have been enjoying the SMS videos. As a kid I had many of these games and it is fun to revisit through your videos. Golvellius was one of my favorite Master System games and have fond memories. This week I just played through the Sega Ages Phantasy Star port on the Switch. Such great games that not as many people have played.

I'm always up for taking on a Zelda clone, such as it is. I might have mentioned that in your Golden Axe Warrior review. It's a nice change of pace to have a game in a style you like, but just in a different flavor. And this one sure looks like it has a bit more spice going on! Good review!

Oh man...I freaking LOVE this game!!! Still have it CIB! The ONLY time that I called 1-900-USA-SEGA because I couldn't find the Aqua Boots, and ran up my parents phone bill (this was in 1989, and I was only 9 years old)...boy were they pissed...LOL!!!! Wonderful review!! #MEMORIES :)

Yesterday I was about to start Golden Axe Warrior but eventually I decided to start Golvellius instead, since I wanted a more original game and not a blatant Zelda clone. I'd say my first day with Golvellius was pleasant, even though I had to murder hundreds of bees to buy the first shield and the second sword (yes, because I found out that bees gave me more money than snakes, while being easier to kill than bats). I like the fact that there are so many caves to reveal. I prefer to find caves by killing enemies instead of burning random bushes like in Zelda 1. I also loved that the music changes whenever you obtain new equipment. Overall, it's a game mostly based on grinding and money, but it's still fun to explore the different areas, and it's certainly not the most frustrating 8 bit game.

Oh the memories, renting this back in 1995, the 'mantra' was so long, so it was easy to get one letter wrong, going over it for 15 minutes or more changing one letter/number in hopes of getting back to where you were! Anyway I loved this game, one of my favourites. I really think it IS a zelda clone, it borrows heavily off the first 2 games. Not as much as Golden Axe Warrior though. And the music, I actually love this soundtrack, the intro song you have playing at the 3 second mark, I have that on my phone, it's a nice interlude between all the darkwave and gothy synthpop I have on there when out walking in nature 😆 I hated the dungeons in this game though, the scrolling ones where you got stuck against walls etc.. I might actually appreciate them now if I ever play it again though, like how you say a nice break from all the top down slashing. Thank you for all these Master System reviews, I grew up with a SMS so it's nice to see it get some love in the youtube review world.

I like how you review master system games. It was my first system as a child and I like seeing games I missed.

I've been looking for this game for so long! Great review HG

The game is coming to modern consoles my God i cant believe this!!!

This will always be one of my favourites! Another one a friend had that I would always play whenever I had a chance. Guess I’ve always been a sucker for action adventures! I eventually managed to beat it when I still had my SMS collection and after so many years of trying I felt so accomplished! I will say needing to find the crystals after beating a boss was a bit of a learning curve was probably why I never beat it as a kid. Also trying to beat it with both herbs in your inventory to get the good ending was hard. The surprise you get actually made it worth it. To me at least 😊 Apparently the MSX2/MSX3 versions are a bit more fleshed out. Complete with a town you start in as oppose to just entering the cave on the SMS. Some confuse this with being a sequel but it was just an attempt by the creators to put a more meaningful story Anyways, great review. I was going to put a comment somewhere about this one but glad I found it! The Master System doesn’t get enough love and this is, at least to me, one of it’s shining gems 💎

I used to have this game when I still owned a Master System, but I never got around to it. I've added it to my emulator collection now. It looks like fun but subject to lazy or amateur developers. I'd love to see it remade like the Wonder Boy games.

Wow- i've not heard of this game before, fantastic review!

nice calm narration and thorough vid. overall good review, I could see putting on a playlist of yours and falling asleep after I watch em in detail first

Thanks! I know that the price of a cup of coffee doesn't cover the time and effort you've put into your videos, but... still, thank you so much.

Solid above average game. Borderline classic for those who were lucky enough to play it in its day.

I loved this game so much. It had great music, graphics, and world design. The game was definitely grindy, but there was still something satisfying about finding the perfect grindings spots in each region of the game.

One of my favorite SMS games! You seem to have discovered the sword trick the same way my brothers and I did: by accident, but it's definitely effective. Here's a tip the manual also doesn't mention: buy every bible you can *before* defeating the local boss demons, because they'll max out your money when you beat them (giving you plenty of cash for buying those crystals!) I always enjoyed the music in this game, and felt the various overworld themes did a great job making me feel like I was progressing and getting more powerful. This game supports SMS FM sound, so if you have the means, you might consider checking that out. Great video!

I've only been getting to Master System slowly of late, but this is one I had to hunt down, even if I've not made much progress so far. Really enjoyed the video, and it seriously makes me want to push this up the back log. Also appreciated knowing just how it had changed between the two MSX ports too!

These videos are amazing. Thank you for giving the Master System some well deserved love!

Great game! It was cryptic at times but not so much that I couldn't make it without using a guide. I loved that at the end you can basically walk over everything on the overworld!

Great video, like all your videos!

Those are some of the best SMS graphics I've seen. Looks even more detailed than ffiv

Well written and well edited Goriya. I may need to add this to my Master System collection.

Hello! New sub here, just wanted to say thanks for rekindling my old love for the SMS! Started with your Golden Axe Warrior vids. :)

Getting some SERIOUS Zelda vibes from this one...this looks WAY better than the Golden Axe Warrior game, which is also a Zelda clone. I really like that you can hold down the button to do more damage instead of spamming as you mentioned here. Shame that there's no projectile attacks. That would've been a huge improvement to the game. Who knew that bibles are the source for expanding wallets! This game looks really cool...Love that there's different play styles for the dungeons too...i've owned this one for a while...I need to bust it out and play sometime soon. Great review, HG!

I'm a huge Compile fan but I was not familiar with this game series. Always nice to see Master System games that look interesting. Also nice to see Randar appearing in another game. I always liked his huge smiling face in the Guardian Legend 😬. Although he was Compiles mascot so he has appeared in quite a few of their games..

Thanks for the review! It helps me know what I’d be getting into if I try to tackle this game. The long held tones of the music at the beginning of the video bring back Guardian Legend nostalgia.

Great review! At 7:59 those snake sprites look so familiar, have they been in another game? The only one that springs to mind is Wonder Boy in Monster Land.

Thank you for this! My favorite SMS game.

very good review! As a big fan of compile its really interesting to see how they liked to incorporate different gameplay styles into their titles such as Guardian Legend, and this of course. I will need to play through this

Love this game. Great coverage! I’m stuck about halfway through the game (on something stupid) but I look forward to finishing it

I really liked it playing as a kid. :-)

Cool, Compile developed this? I missed out on this game. I'm seeing a few similarities between this and The Guardian Legend. Those NPCs are insane, but I'm having a good chuckle at their monologues. Having to buy the crystals are a bizarre concept. I guess it lengthens the game? Some strange quirks in this game. Looks really fun, I'm going to have to try this one. Excellent video, Goriya!

Good review. It also has FM music if you have a way of taking advantage of it. It can be fun to play through it again and just see how much quicker you can beat it. Or just trying to beat the first 3 bosses quickly.

You just got a new sub S/O to Cannot be Tamed for the recommendation of your channel :)

It's not a space invander it's a blue lander. They're also in the guardian legend. It's compiles mascot

It is a giant leap that Compile took from here to Guardian Legend, although even in that game enemies can get relentless. (only circumvented through overpowering the subweapons) >2:49 Health-healing space invaders? Landa, obscure as always.

I really enjoyed this game but never beat it. I plan to get this game soon.

from the makers of one of my faves - Guardian Legend! you can hear a lot of similarities in the soundtrack

Love this game so much when I was little ... The music completely brainwashing as, A kid you would dream about the music Sega brain wash love still today

I love that your intro is the death theme from faxandu - i think? Cool either way

Have you ever played Crystalis by SNK for the NES its a great action rpg that is similar to this except it has an experience leveling system . It has a bunch of elemental magic swords that you power up and charge for a projectile spell attack .

Just played this through to completion! I don't usually make hand-drawn maps for games but I definitely needed to for this game, I found I enjoyed it though. I played a physical copy on my Retron5 and only used save states as a replacement for "passwards". However there was a part though where I used save states to cheat a bit, and that was the Warlick boss battle (the two red demons who repeatedly rush at you). Did you beat them honestly and if so, how did you do it? Also SPOILERS I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the ending. I thought it did more to set up the story for a sequel than it did to tie up the narrative this game told. I also thought that Golvellius looked like TMNT's The Shredder combined with McDonald's purple Grimace and seeing him carrying off kelesis and rena into the sunset as buddies is exactly the kind of unexpected, wacky ending I love so much in retro games. So anyways, thanks for reviewing this game, I bought it & played it due to your review! :)

I have never regretted getting a sms over a nes as a kid because of games like this. I still want to try the sequel but I don't think it has been translated or released on any other platforms.

I hear some similarities in the music for this game to The Guardian Legend, also developed by Compile.

OK, so some fun facts about Golvellius for you. ;) It's not specific items you need that make certain cave entrances appear, it's... gold. Or more specifically, your gold max. If your gold max isn't high enough, some cave entrances simply won't ever appear, period. The reason for this is because... in the original Japanese, your currency isn't gold. It's "find." As in, the literal ability to find things. I can see why they changed it to gold for the English release, though, because... like... my brain breaks every single time I think about spending my ability to find secrets as currency, in order to buy bibles that increase my capacity to find secrets so I can find more secrets and also buy more expensive things. It's just SO WEIRD and SO META. ;) Also: the original version of Golvellius for MSX1 was a bit more open than this version. As you said, in this version, most areas are self-contained, only opening up the bottleneck leading to the next area after you've obtained the crystal from the boss nearby. In the MSX1 version, this is... mostly not the case. The first 3 or so crystals kiiiiind of do this (though they tend to open up large swaths of the game, including later dungeon levels and areas you're definitely too weak to explore once you gain access to them), but after that, suddenly, the ENTIRE REST OF THE WORLD just opens up to you, and you're left to your own devices for the remainder of the game. I absolutely love this, as it's almost overwhelming, but also REALLY fun to explore. When they ported the game to SMS, they completely changed the world map and all the dungeon levels, and gave it a more linear, segmented feel. ...Then, when they ported the game again to MSX2, they completely changed the world map and all the dungeon levels AGAIN, as you noted, but kept that more linear, segmented feel from the SMS game. The MSX2 version of the game is definitely the best graphically and musically (FM music, yo!), but I feel like its maps are perhaps the weakest? Never fear, though: there was a fourth Golvellius released as well, also for MSX2... called Super Cooks. It uses the MSX2 Golvellius engine, but changes "find" to "dish," and arms your main character with a frying pan instead of a sword... and changes all the enemies to evil food items hell-bent on killing you. The stages are even MORE segmented, but the gameplay is improved by leaps and bounds -- this time, you find new weapons as you go (a salt shaker, a burner, etc.) that all have very different attacks and can be swapped out for your frying pan whenever you'd like... and you ALSO learn special item crash-like charge abilities for each weapon that not only decimate all enemies on the screen when used, but are also used to clear certain obstacles in order to access screens you couldn't before. Additionally, in the side-scrolling dungeon stages (which are all that exists in Super Cooks; there are no overhead-view auto-scrolling stages this time), you choose one weapon to take in with you, and you have the AMAZING, STUPENDOUS, REVOLUTIONARY ABILITY... to face left! That's right... you can actually turn around and face left in the side-scrolling stages! It's a miracle! ;) Super Cooks is a weird, weird game, but a really fun little romp. I like that each stage is based on a different country's cuisine, and this immediately leads to amazing content in stage 2, which is based on American cuisine. Every single NPC speaks "English" when you first start stage 2, meaning you can't understand them at all (and their English is represented by things like "I HAVE A PEN!") until you find an English language school and buy some English lessons. Something similar happens in the China stage, where the NPCs all speak "Chinese" and you need to learn the language before you can continue, though it's nowhere near as amusing. Anyway! Just figured I'd fill you in on this game's weird release history, and the amazingly meta, brain-breaking concept that is "find" (or "dish") in the Japanese, rather than "gold." Hope you enjoyed this little tidbit! ;)

I used to have this system and game. But for some reason my teenage dumb self gave it all away. This game was the shizzle and needs a remake with today's systems. Honestly, it feels like it would make a great mix between BotW and a Souls game.

7:19 "Thou art a pinhead! Thy Gold art insufficient! Be gone!" Gee thx (old hag!) xD

zelda: the bible lets you shoot fireballs golvellius: the bible lets you HOLD MORE MONEY those were the days man

Awesome game to review! I always loved how this game looked, though I never got very far in it. I mean, my cousin had it - I did what I could while I would be there visiting him :) I should probably emulate this some time, though I'm always stacking more RPGs onto my backlog. Heck, I started Crystalis earlier this year and I'm suddenly reminded that I haven't beaten that either :P Stopped playing it to play Dragon Quest XI or Tales of Vesperia or Death End re;Quest or something and kinda forgot about it. I am bad at finishing RPGs :( Speaking of Death End re;Quest, y'know, I'm kinda surprised Compile - or rather Compile _Heart_ nowadays - hasn't made a modern follow-up. To this game or any of their other cult classics, like Guardian Legend. There's definitely enough cache to the Golvellius name that people would pay attention if they announced a new one, but even a spiritual follow-up would be a nice break from their usual M.O. these days or pumping out moe girl RPGs of varying quality with turn-based combat. It would be great to see a modern 3D third person action-RPG (even a cheaper production like Compile Heart does) from them with these 80's anime character designs. LOVE that swooshy green hair! (^-^)

Hey cool channel dude, just subbed! Showing support to a fellow gaming channel!

Compile, that's a badge of approval to all who know what that means.

That's a good game and several of those guys from Compile are making a new 8 Bit SHMUP, first game they've made together since Gun ✨ Nac and Compile Heart is also making a new SHMUP 😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤

Wow, I thought that "Banchor, Legend of the Hellspawn" was just a homebrew Zelda clone, but it appears he took a LOT from Golvellius

Was the Master System different from the Genesis and before it, kinda like the NES being before the SNES?

This game was super goood. Man that password sucked to put in all the time. Lol!

I always thought that Golvelius was the name of the hero. A bit like my 5 years old asks me why Zelda is not the name of Link... 😅

One of my favorite games on SMS ! Tons of password wrote on every piece of paper in my house😅

Is it just my copy or controller? I feel like in the top view mode when you are grinding my controller doesn't smoothly walk around like I try to press up and he keeps moving left or right. Is this a design flaw or do I have shitty hardware?

Some of the musical pieces were actually quite fantastic. The gameplay and content for the SMS was *severely* nerfed when compared to the MSX version. Overall, the game was unfortunately repetitive, mostly due to the "sword only, nothing else" system. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

This looks like a port from the snk release of crystalis from the NES library. Anyone else notice the similarities?

This does seem to get a lot of praise but for me I think Golden Axe Warrior is the better game. The overworld and dungeons just felt a lot more fun to explore. Plus I'm glad it didn't have anything like the scrolling sections this does, such an odd thing to put in compared to the rest. Different for sure!

i m afraid of secret paths - when you dk if they are exist, all this artificial extention, but how long it will take to complite for the first time, blindfolded ?

Non memorable music? ,I hum This music to this day lol, along with Alex kid and Turok 2 :)

I remember this game. There are a few design flaws to make it memorable. I really don't have much to say about this title unfortunately. It isn't terrible, just extremely tedious and the flying stages are imbalanced.

Ooh, this is made by Compile? That explains the auto-scrolling stages. The sword mechanics remind me of Crystalis. A lot of this game looks great, while a lot also looks "meh". Great script and review, though.

"Golvellius: Valley of Doom is an action RPG on the Sega Master System" That is a collection of words I like 👀 Jokes aside, this looks really cool, I never even knew it existed! it's definitely going on my "must-own" Master System list

Reminds me of those sand red enemies in Zelda one where you could go off screen and back on 3 screens to the right from the start screen past the spiders. just stand there and attack and they come right into you for lots of rubies. great way to quickly farm and progress through the game. You already know that obviously but the bottle neck in the video made me think of that. Having a blast showing my son the games on the NES Classic so far my son really enjoys Kirby's Adventure and Mega Man 2. I won't let him play Ninja Gaiden yet don't want him to break the TV out of frustration. Do you have family members or friends play these games with you while you do the reviews? Old timey English gets annoying for sure, could never get into Shakespear no matter how good the play. Thou est like her or not. But I love the game insults :) breaks up the monotony. Tales of Phantasy comes to mind of fun humor in a game. Never liked that top down view in NES games like Super C. Reminds me a little bit of the Death Star run in the NES Star Wars very fast and run out of room on screen the Gameboy version moved at a snails pace and was simple but the NES one looked hard as nails. The bosses look like Illusion of Gaia fair pretty cool. This looks like a winner of a game.

Thank you SO much for defeating the devil prince and rescuing my daughter, brave hero!! I can sell her to you for 1,000gp.

These old ladies are hurting this economy! Charging for a crystal that you rightfully earned? Ridiculous! Still, does look pretty fun. Might be more enjoyable if this was a game where your constants are constantly overflowing with money and you need to burn some. Great review dear!

This thing has more ads than the Super Bowl.

I tried playing this game 2 years ago. My character died repeatedly.