Looks like they chopped the BBU ASIC of the SE into a pile of Video Logic crap, a Video ROM and a modicum of VRAM to put Crappy@$$ Compact Video, slightly improved by the dedicated VRAM, in there for the worst Video on a MacII ever and, barring any improvement (doubtful) in the Classics, a slightly better Video implementation than the SE's.

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That description makes sense from a design perspective. Apple needed a new compact graphics system for the 68030 to work with Color QuickDraw and NuBus Slot Manager. The graphics system had to have just enough functionality to allow applications written for Color QuickDraw to run badly. (The Classic is a cost reduction rework of the Plus/SE and uses Plus/SE video methodology; the Classic II supports Color QuickDraw and presumably has yet another graphics system.)

I'd guess that Apple had grown so big by this time that the SE/30 and IIci engineers may not have been communicating well. NIH is Apple's most famous corporate problem.