series, alongside multiple controllable Valkyries, both of which were abandoned later on. Release Valkyrie no Densetsu was released in Japan by Namco in April 1989, running on the Namco System 2 arcade hardware. A PC Engine home conversion was released on August 9, 1990. This version features a number of alternations and additions to the game, including new stages, a different stage order, a password system, and an alternate ending sequence. Valkyrie no Densetsu is one of the five games included in the PlayStation compilation disk Namco Museum Vol. 5, alongside other Namco games such as Pac-Mania and Metro-Cross. It was renamed The Legend of Valkyrie in North America and Europe and is fully translated, being the first appearance of the game outside Japan. Japanese game publisher MediaKite released a Windows version of the game on June 11, 1999, as part of their Super 1500 Series budget title lineup; Namco later included this version in the compilation disk Namco Collection Vol. 1, alongside Sky Kid Deluxe and Final Lap. Two mobile phone versions of Valkyrie no Densetsu were released in Japan – the first of these was for i-Mode devices in 2005, and the other for EZweb in 2006. The PC Engine conversion was digitally re-released for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console in 2008, followed by the arcade version in 2009. The PC Engine version is also one of the 50 built-in games included in the TurboGrafx-16 Mini dedicated console by Konami. It is in Japanese only, regardless of region. Reception Valkyrie no Densetsu was critically acclaimed in its initial release by players and critics, and was widely successful. Japanese publication Gamest awarded the game the first-place "The Best Game" award in 1991 and listed it as one of the best arcade games of all time, simultaneously awarding it the 7th "Player Popularity" and 2nd "Best Action" awards. Gamest said that the unique characters, addictive role-playing-like gameplay and overall presentation made Valkyrie no Densetsu one of Namco's best arcade titles, greatly applauding the game's strong usage of the System 2 hardware and for providing an experience unmatched by most arcade titles at the time. They also claimed it was a significant improvement over its Famicom predecessor, and labeled it as being influential for the genre. In a 1991 Gamest reader poll, Valkyrie no Densetsu was voted the best arcade game of all time. The PC Engine conversion was met with