Syd of Valis for Genesis/Mega Drive is a perplexing way to port a sequel

destructoid.com:

The Sega Genesis didn’t technically get Valis II. Instead, it got the remake of the first Valis and Valis III. However, between these two games was a title that remained exclusive to the platform, and that was the bizarrely named Syd of Valis. The Japanese title makes more sense. It’s SD Valis, named such because it uses a “super deformed” anime art style, which might be better known in the West as “Chibi.”

Why? Fucked if I know.

Syd of Valis is presumably a play on the whole “SD” thing, but then the game goes on to refer to Yuko, the protagonist, as Syd, while the manual and box cover do not.

So, anyway, that’s a great start. Syd of Valis tells the same story as Valis II, but with smaller characters, essentially. And with a dumber name.

Syd of Valis came to me as part of a care package from Retro-Bit. They did a special re-release of the Genesis games in the series, and provided me with a set, so I’m playing through them. I summed this up in more detail in my article on Valis. Syd of Valis received the same impressively luxurious reproduction as the rest of the titles. I said this in the last article, but, damn, this is a nice-looking re-release.

However, like Valis, or perhaps even more so, Syd of Valis is a pretty obscure and niche title, so it’s interesting to see it be lavished with such a production. Despite this, Limited Run Games, who distributed the special editions, are currently listing them as sold out. So, I guess their business plan worked out, which is nice to see.

I love it when obscure games get a bit of the spotlight. I’m always digging through retro libraries to find games that – good or bad – I just haven’t played before. The Valis series is certainly fertile ground, so Retro-Bit dropping them in