Though it happened a long time ago, the last month of 1987 has gone down in history as one of the most influential times in gaming. This week three long running, ground-breaking franchises were first released in Japan. Mega Man and Final Fantasy had already had their day earlier in the week. Now we turn to Phantasy Star.
Released on 20 December 1987 in Japan for the Sega Mark III and Master System, Phantasy Star gave Non-Nintendo gamers a chance to join in the then-emerging RPG market. SEGA and Nintendo had gone head to head in Japan since 1983. Both the Family Computer and SG-1000 were released on the same day. Nintendo quickly took the majority of the market and SEGA kept releasing upgraded hardware to fight back. By 1987 this took form as the Master System. The Japanese variant was nearly identical to the Master System released elsewhere, but with an FM sound card upgrade. With the new hardware in place, a role-playing game was designed to show off the Master System, as well as to outshine Dragon Quest in every way.
While in Japan the market share for SEGA was small, the game sold well and was praised for its 3-D maze dungeons and amazing soundtrack. The game came to the West - two years BEFORE Final Fantasy - and went on to be remembered by nearly everyone as the best Sega Master System game ever made.
Three sequels followed on the Mega Drive / Genesis and continued the Sci-Fi story that was set in the first game. At the height of the Console Wars, the Phantasy Star series was the perfect comeback for those who touted Final Fantasy II and III as the best of the genre.
However, unlike Final Fantasy, the number series ended after four games and - for a while - the series went dark. Phantasy Star would be revived in an online form for the Dreamcast, of which later versions would appear on the PC, Xbox and GameCube. The most recent English release of the series was Phantasy Star Zero, nearly 10 years ago. Though, the original series can still be found on Virtual Console and a myriad of “Best of” compilations.
To see more about how Phantasy Star has grown over the years, check out the video below. For SEGA and RPG fans it’s a can't-miss filled with history, obscure trivia and a super rare US Phantasy Star commercial.
If you liked this video be sure to check out GTV for more things retro, Nintendo and Japan.
Comments 28
They should do more with this series instead of Sonic.
The Master System was not in Japan. It was the international variation of the Sega Mark III, much like the NES was the international variation of the Nintendo Famicom. In addition, the cartridges were different shapes, for the sake of region-locking. Even if you wanted to import the game from Japan to get it ahead of the international releases, it wouldn't work with your Master System.
So claiming that the game was released in 1987 in Japan for the Master System is patently false. It was released for the Sega Mark III in 1987 and for the Master System in 1988.
@marandahir The Mark III came out in Japan in 1985 and then the upgraded version of that was called the Master System, released in October 1987. Yes the carts were different shapes. The box for Phantasy Star says "For use with Mark III or Master System" The difference in Japan would be that putting the game into the JP Master System gave you much better sound, while in the Mark III it sounded as it did in the US/EU versions. That's because the US/EU Master system was put out before the sound upgrade was developed. Kind of confusing I know.
Phantasy Star on the SMS was the first ever console RPG to be translated into Portuguese, so it was my first foray into a genre that would become one of my favorites. Many fond memories of that one, even though I never got to play another title in the series.
Phantasy Star V.
In it’s day, Phantasy Star 3 was one of the best games I’d ever played. Enjoyed 2 very much as well. I never played any other versions. Speaking of classic RPGs, does anyone remember the original Suikoden game on PlayStation? That was an all time favorite of mine too. I’d love to see these on Switch or even 3ds but I’m sure that will never happen, since they won’t even give us the new remake of Secret Of Mana. Sigh.
Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2 is one of my favourite games ever and will always hold a special place in my heart. I've loved the series since and have gotten the other PSP versions of the games too and loved them just as much. But I'm seriously hoping Sega considers the Switch for at least ONE of the Phantasy Star: Episode games, even if its not Phantasy Star Online 2. Like... give me SOMETHING and you could have my money!
@Xaessya
Shining force series first tho.
@Hikingguy I think I heard that before. On the one hand, CD audio would be nice. On the other hand, the game's FM music is already excellent in my opinion, fits the game well, and is among the best for the system. It would have been interesting to see how it turned out on CD.
Phantasy Star IV is still my favorite rpg of all time, even after having played rpg's for nearly 30 years.
It is the game I keep coming back to, over and over and over. And I keep on marvelling at how well construct it is.
Truly one of the best rpg ever made, I recommend it to anyone who as the least bit of interest in rpg's!
Great retrospective!
For someone who never played Phantasy Star, it's very informative.
@Kiyata Suikoden II was far better than the first. I still recognize it as the best RPG (ever).
I feel like we're on the edge of a huge revival of this series in the west. The switch might be a big part of that. But we shall see.
I really wanted to run PS 1 through 4 in order, but couldn't deal with all the grinding of the first game when I tried to play it on Wii's VC. If I played an updated version with less grinding, I'd probably give it a go again. Just don't have that kind of patience anymore...
@Tetsuro I had Suikoden 2, played it quite a bit, and didn't really like that one much at all. Suikoden 1 had so much more that was appealing to me. On the upside, I sold my Suikoden 2 game and strategy guide for significantly more than I paid for them.
@LuffyD Nice! I'm not a huge RPG fan, but I love Phantasy Star IV as well and consider it my favorite RPG. I come back to it every so often too. I recommend it to those who like the idea of RPGs, but have issues with many of them. It's very well made. What stands out to me is the pacing. The game keeps up a brisk pace, both in the gameplay and story progression. I really like that.
@MeloMan a lot of early RPGs can be rough due to the heavy grinding and high encounter rate. I had the first game when it was new, but I find it hard to go back to it. The fourth game is different. If you still have any interest in the series, it may be worth looking into PS IV. The series isn't closely linked from game to game.
@Kiyata Suikoden was pretty plain, almost predictable. Standard.
Suikoden II had a far better and more complex story and a stellar cast. A step ahead over any RPG.
I liked all the two, but for me really no comparison. I still have the original game.
Imho, obviously.
@Kiyata I don't think the Suikoden series can come to the Switch due to a deal with Sony. They have been released on the PSN to play on the PS3 and Vita however.
@Gaijillionaire Thanks, I was indignant and yet didn't understand myself. I'm sorry folks.
@MeloMan The best version is PS complete collection for PS2 and PS3 you can buy it form the JP store, but it has language options music options and difficulty changes. You can level up 8 times faster if you want! So you can enjy the story with no level grinding, hardly.
Very nice, Phantasy Star is one of my favorite series! Phantasy Star IV in particular is fantastic, and holds up well even today. I really enjoyed my time playing with others on PSO and PSU, and PSP2:Infinity is still a good outing. Too bad PSO2 never made it outside Japan. Sega really should not have strung people along, claiming they were looking into releasing it outside Japan, when they weren't really going to... ever. 😡
Rieko Kodama (the director of the classic series, later working on other titles like Magic Knight Rayearth and Skies of Arcadia) once held an interview with Nintendo Power going in depth about the series, and even explaining how a Phantasy Star V might have worked out. It was being planned, but never came to fruition, in part due to Sega's management botching the Saturn years. But it would have gone deeper into questions like, "Is the Great Light really good?" Which is foreshadowed moreso in the Japanese version by removed (censored) nude enemies in one section of PS IV in the cave where the Elysion sleeps. Just look them up, then look at the history/form of Alys' soul every millennium, then look at the final form of the final boss. Coincidence? I think not.
@Kiyata Most people think of PS3 as the black sheep of the series, but it was really just too ambitious for it's time. If you're interested, check out this guy's remixes:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCSzXOaJ5eSLJcn30gLE6-Mw
I particularly recommend Melody of Doom (PS3), Death Trance (PS2), and Journey On Alisa III 2012 (PS3). Listen with good headphones or surround sound and download using an add-on for the best quality listening experience.
@PlywoodStick With all the problems that the Sega Saturn had that generation, the most infuriating is Sega of America's decision to not bring the majority of the Saturn's JRPG and 2D games to the West. It's just criminal, since the Saturn excelled at those two genres.
@AlwaysGreener The SoA management during the mid-90's were idiots. Just a generation earlier, Tom Kalinske was kicking @$$ with the Genesis/Mega Drive. But then he made the suicidal decision to rush the Saturn to market immediately after E3 1995 as a failed attempt to pre-empt the PS1, and it all went downhill from there.
Not many people know this, but according to "The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World" by Steven L. Kent, the Genesis had actually overall outsold the SNES during the holiday season four years in a row, from 1991-1994. His business strategy combined with Sonic, arcade style titles, and licensed titles was killing it. Yes, even during the year of Mega Man X, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, Super Punch-Out, and Donkey Kong Country, the Genesis still came out on top during the holiday season sales.
It wasn't until 1995 that Sega's management completely lost it. Then once Bernie Stolar was brought in during 1996, that hammered the nails into the coffin with his boneheaded decisions on which titles to bring over, failing to read the mood that FF7 would later capitalize upon. (Panzer Dragoon Saga could have been the Saturn's FF7 moment in 1998 if the momentum had been there...) Then he buried the coffin himself with his comment during E3 1997, "The Saturn is not in our future."
Great games, great development teams, HORRIBLE lapses of judgement by company management getting in the way of their strokes of genius. Classic era Sega in a nutshell.
Doff your cap, a moment of silence for the Phantasy Star series.
Phantasy Star IV was $99... I saved and saved and saved to get it when it came out. It came in a fricking cheap-as-all-get-out CARDBOARD box. For $99 they couldn't put it in a nice plastic clamshell? I was so miffed.
So is Nintendo Life the new Sega news site?
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