Valis for Genesis/Mega Drive really rocks the golden bra
I received an unexpected (but not unwelcome) care package from Retro-Bit the other day. It contained five of their recent retro reissues. Now, I don’t think I agreed to anything at any time, but they obviously know my weakness. If you put old game cartridges in front of me, I can’t help but play them, research them, turn them over, and tickle their underbelly. So, heck yeah, let’s give them a look.
We’re starting with Valis for the Sega Genesis. Originally released in 1991, it’s technically a remake of a 1986 game for MSX, PC-98, and Sharp X1 home computers. The series was created by Telenet Japan, which was a game publisher and developer that eventually went bust in 2007 after trying to pivot to hentai games. Their properties were reportedly bought up by Sunsoft, which might be why we’re seeing them resurface now.
Retro-Bit provided it to me as part of a trilogy of Valis Genesis games, and while I know a bit about the series, I haven’t played them yet. It was pretty hard not to get excited to try them out, given the rather lavish treatment Retro-bit gave them. They all come with traditional Genesis/Mega Drive hard cases with reversible inlays featuring both the Japanese and North American cover art. The cartridges are transparent with minimalistic labels that use metallic foil for the labels. If you look through the back of the cartridge, you can see the name of the game is stamped on the PCB. It’s pretty damned fancy, much more so than you’d see in a release from the Genesis’ heyday. I feel like I should be wearing gloves to handle them.
On the other hand, seeing such lavish attention on such a niche game is strange to me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate whenever a boutique publisher so lovingly embraces even the
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