Retro Gaming Australia

Phantasy Star is one of the great console RPGs of the 1980s. It was groundbreaking upon release for a number of reasons – fantastic graphics, a much more complex story than most games at the time, and a female lead character.

It was a heartbreaking moment for RPG fans last generation when the plug was pulled on official translation plans for the SEGA AGES releases of Phantasy Star: Generation 1 and Phantasy Star: Generation 2 on the PlayStation 2. The remakes were considered to be the only good thing to come out of the SEGA AGES project under the 3D AGES venture.

Thanks to the hard work of a young lady by the name of Kyence, you can now enjoy Phantasy Star: Generation 1 on the PlayStation 2 in English (on a modded system or emulator, at least).

Two versions of the patch are available – one using the Japanese character names, and one using the English character names. You can get the patches here.

Kyence plans to tackle Phantasy Star: Generation 2 next.

Phantasy Star IV is, to this day, the last traditional JRPG in the series, with the focus shifting onto online games with the next iteration, Phantasy Star Online. People tend to mourn this decision because Phantasy Star IV is arguably the best JRPG on the Mega Drive. A remake was planned as part of the Sega AGES 2500 series (which yielded remakes of the first two games) but was cancelled when Sega altered the direction of the series to focus on perfect ports over 3D remakes.

Phantasy Star III is the most divisive game in the series among fans. Some fans were upset that the game seems to take place outside of the established sci-fi setting of the series, while others enjoyed the cross-generation story, twisting gameplay paths and multiple endings.

Get your ass to Algol.

Phantasy Star Online is remembered for being one of the best early online RPG experiences on consoles, and was one of the most popular games on the Dreamcast. So popular in fact, that it was ported to three other platforms and has formed the basis for every Phantasy Star release since, much to the chagrin of fans of the six games in the series that predate PSO.

LostLevels forum user Johnny Undaunted has uncovered this release list featuring a number of titles planned for release on the Master System/Mark III in Japan.

The scan comes from a 1988 issue of BEEP!, and lists games such as Outrun 3D, Rampage, California Games, World Games, Galaxy Force and Ultima IV, which were not released in Japan.

More interesting, however is the listing of Phantasy Star II, Hot Rod and Wolfman, which were not released on the Master System at all. Phantasy Star II eventually came out for the Mega Drive in 1989, but this release list gives rise to the possibility that it was originally a Master System title.

Funnily enough, the Mega Drive version of Phantasy Star is literally the Master System version running on the system’s hardware driven backwards compatibility capabilities – those Master System converters are merely passthrough devices.