Played as valkyrie as far as level 75 before I got bored. I noticed level 68 was a repeat because it was annoying with teleporters, then I played a few more to see if they were indeed repeating. Many levels were so generic that it was difficult to tell but seemed like they were. I did read that the levels were randomly selected so I have no idea any were missed in this run. There were 2 levels that I was unable to get past. Both had teleporter nonsense. I shot every wall and repeatedly messed with the teleporters to no avail. Good thing all walls turned into exits after enough time, which was a very weird feature. Destroying the walls or giving a transportation powerup would have worked better. Speaking of that power, I avoided it because it interfered with picking up loot, and I was all about getting every food, potion, key and treasure that I could get my mitts on. By the end I had every potion upgrade, max score, 9000hp, could move faster than the screen scrolled and had max potions and keys (which was 128 with the inventory upgrade). The 6 item limit with keys and potions sharing the same limit was annoying (especially when I could not move over a key that was blocking a path) but that power up far more than compensated. She was so powerful that I could likely play indefinitely. I did save scum to avoid wasting time, shooting food and opening bad chests. The only time I lost significant hp was when a dragon was in a small room with no way to out range or dodge it, until I figured out how to hit it from outside with reflective shots.

I enjoyed this game much more than the 1st but did have to take frequent breaks as the repetitiveness was a little boring. It was easier and more action focused than the 1st game , often feeling like a proper shoot em up with the level design; having to zip around shooting different targets as threat assessments changed. Seemed like many generators did not even start pumping out monsters until some time had passed, so there was significant advantage to going fast. Locked doors also automatically opened after some time. The best change was being allowed to have more than 1 shot on screen, seemed like it was 3 or 4, though I hated how diagonal shooting only worked while actively pressing 2 arrow buttons. Getting upgrades from dragon minibosses and not having to fool around with with finding a combination were great improvements, though this game could have easily been a legendary masterpiece with a more curated adventure; a plot, different bosses, a final boss and a definite end. The game felt more like an optional endless mode for a better game, but even so it was very good for a NES game.

8.0/10