Phantasy Star
Sega Master System
Sega
1987 1988
Really impressed by the title screens in the Phantasy Star series. This one is beautiful: the music, the logo text, the giant screen-spanning portrait of the lead character. Certainly not something Nintoddlers like myself were ever used to seeing. I didn't even know this game/series existed "back in the day" until some kid showed me GamePro issue #8 on the playground and I realized that Sega was harboring JRPGs with SPACE and ANIME GIRLS and so forth. Never got to play any of this until my late 20s but it still feels like a "nostalgic" series.
Phantasy Star (talking about this particular game now) feels like something that should have been huge. Inspired by DQ (Dragon Quest not Dairy Queen), the game was released in December of '87 in Japan, just TWO DAYS after Final Fantasy. But -- a localized version hit the States as early as November of '88! For comparison, that's over a year before us burgers got Final Fantasy, and it even predates the localized Westoid Dragon Warrior!!! This hidden gem was just sitting there and no one knew about it. And for one simple reason: it was on the SMS and not the NES. Hate to see it!!
And like Final Fantasy, the general setting is "science fantasy" but with more emphasis on space and futurism. "Science fantasy" here meaning that there are spaceships and high-tech cities but the protagonist fights with a sword and there are dungeons inhabited by dragons. The protagonist is a young lady named Alis. During the opening cut scene, her brother is killed by the big bad evil dude Lassic and Alis swears revenge. I really love this character. She isn't a girlboss or any other such nonsense. She's a girl with a sword and a mission and some buddies she meets along the way. Alis has high defense and quickly learns some (comparatively) weak magic. Her first buddy is a cat named Myau (I think this is like a "meow" onomatopoeia). Then there's Odin (big guy who shoots guns) and Noah (the classic weakling mage who relies on spellcasting). The game unfolds in that stereotypical overworld / town / dungeon style, with some notable quirks. There are three planets to bounce around between. The first, Palma, is beautiful and green and sports some of the best visuals of the game. Motavia is a desert filled with giant anthills (you fight antlions in these, not ants, I just realized). Dezoris is the third planet and it sucks. An icy expanse, it had potential, but most time on Dezoris is spent darting around in these tedious underground tunnels.
The "flow" of Phantasy Star will mercilessly cuck many first-time players. The game's nonlinear -- sort of; there's a preferred order to approach things but the game's not just gonna come out and say it. Many dungeons are theoretically optional. They'll house a weapon or some armor but no plot-specific items. And a specific Phantasy Star tradition begins here with game #1: there are very few bosses, and those that do appear will likely show up again later as standard enemies. Dungeons themselves are atypical. They're first person and grid-based, akin to the old WRPGs. And they're brutal, with all the expected dead ends, trapdoors, and long coridoors that end with useless loot. And don't expect any help with mapping. There's no in-game map, anywhere, and the compass item simply indicates cardinal direction. Get out that graph paper. The dungeons LOOK amazing, at first. Every one has the same brick layout, just a different color. And the music gets repetetive, though the swap to "dungeon theme #2" halfway through the game is a fantastic shit just got real moment.
Battles are turn-based and absolutely incredible. They're modeled after Dragon Quest, so the enemies are visible in battle but not the heroes. Well, enemies or enemy? That's an oddity of Phantasy Star: Alis and her buds can face multiple foes but they'll always be the same "type" of bad guy, and only one is represented onscreen. It's also impossible to target specific enemies, which isn't as bad as it sounds. Most battles still come down to "mash A" (or whatever the SMS button is) and Odin's gunfire blasts everyone at once. The visuals are glorious, with animated player and enemy attacks, plus gorgeously detailed full-screen backgrounds. A huge contrast to the stark blackness of Dragon Quest II and the odd boxy presentation of Final Fantasy. Items and money netted after successful combat are presented in chests and opening these is optional. Many are trapped, which is a huge pain in the ass (at a certain point in the game most damage will actually be caused by chests so skipping them is an imperative!). Interestingly, Phantasy Star features plenty of static damage and health recovery. For instance, Odin's laser gun will always deal 20 damage to each enemy, and Alis' heal spell will recover 20 HP.
There are some very specific elements to the game that elevate it beyond other JRPGs of the time. It's possible to save at any time outside of battle. We're talking almost literal "save states" in an 8-bit console RPG. Inns, tents, "imperial scrolls" absolutely btfo. I've already touched in the graphics but the game looks absolutely astonishing. Brilliant use of the SMS color palette. The towns are iconic with their walkways and dome structures. Pause the game at any time, or talk to an NPC, and the game switches to the battle viewpoint sans enemies. There are frequent cut scenes with PC-88 Falcom-esque borders surrounding the action. It's sublime. The OST is extremely good, with a caveat. As many have pointed out, the game sounded completely different in Japan: richer and fuller on the Mark III (Japanese Master System) sound chip. But I honestly prefer the SMS PSG tunes, with the trebly synths and staticky drums. It all feels sparse and ethereal, meshing perfectly with the space motif.
The game can also be a colossal pain in the ass. I can't conceive how it's beatable without a walkthrough. Good luck finding the shortcake with no assistance. Or anything else for that matter. Phantasy Star is also unbalanced as all hell. Alis can very easily die in the very first battle, depending on how the RNG selects an enemy. The "run" command seems to work 90% of the time but still... The game stays hard regardless of one's dedication to grinding. Character levels are capped at 30, and the final couple dungeons and bosses are still tough even with a fully decked-out power-leveled party. The penultimate dungeon (or, chain of dungeons) is horrific. Absolutely overly huge and complex, with a useless prank "town" halfway through that offers NO PLACE to heal!! Diabolical. This is where the "save anywhere" feature can actually be a liability.
And yet... I'm giving this a perfect score. This is based on the game's overall vibe, feel, aesthetics, je ne sais quoi, whatever, not an "average" of everything I've touched on. The best game on the Sega Master System (no contest), probably the best 8-bit JRPG, and one of Sega's crowning moments. Unstoppable.
Rating: 5/5
Reviewed: 10/13/25
Hoshi o Sagashite...
Mark III (Patched)
Sega
1988
Hoshi o Sagashite... is a space-themed Japanese adventure game released exclusively for the Mark III (Japanese Sega Master System) in 1988. Some websites list it as part of the Phantasy Star series; some don't. At the very least it occurs in the same universe. Palma and Motavia are mentioned as being nearby planets (though it's impossible to travel to them) and some key Phantasy Star staff (including Miki Morimoto and Rieko Kodama) contributed to this game as well. Close enough, I say. The game received an English fan-translation in 2009; for some reason the translators completely renamed the game, titling it The Story of Mio (as opposed to simply translating the game title to Searching for the Stars...). As such, The Story of Mio exists as an SMS reproduction cart, and this new title is typically used when discussing the game in English (not that many discussions about this game actually take place!).
The plot progresses at a leisurely pace. It's about a guy named Roy who's searching for the perfect birthday gift for his qt3.14 girlfriend, Lila. He settles on the most obvious thing: a random pink egg some dealer at the local marketplace is selling. Upon bestowing it to Lila, she mentions that it appears to be a "Mio" egg. Through some detective work, Roy finds out that Mios are a type of rare endangered alien. Sure enough, the egg cracks and the mysterious being emerges. Turns out the Mio is a sort of intelligent life, rather than a mere pet, so Roy spends the remainder of the game trying to uncover exactly what type of creature he's dealing with, and how to return it to its native habitat.
Gameplay is very similar to Enix's groundbreaking Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken. It's first-person and menu driven, though certain choices will trigger a cursor to appear onscreen, which can then be used to select objects for further examination. Choices include the likes of move, look, talk, take, hit, eat, item, and quit game. All are rather self-explanatory, with the exception of the "quit" option, which actually brings up a password, should someone need more than one sitting to complete this. Using the cursor is pretty seamless here, especially in comparison to similar adventure titles, as all on-screen selectable objects are rather large and obvious.
This is an amusing little tale, and Roy's a pretty fun protagonist. I love how casual he is about everything. He cruises from one planet to the next with zero hesitation, gets drunk, steals multiple objects with the justification that he's "borrowing" them, breaks into a zoo by impersonating a janitor, burgles a laboratory, and much more. Just a typical day for a space pirate. The supporting cast is pretty funny too. The "actual" janitor at the zoo, for instance, doesn't care that Roy's an interloper; instead he just rolls with the charade. The game progresses in the standard trial and error fashion. Eventually a solution will appear, even if it takes exhausting all possible options to get there. One small annoyance is the fact that certain events can't be triggered until a specific command is utilized multiple times. For instance, there's a glass case towards the end of the game that must be broken: this requires four consecutive uses of the "hit" command. And of course there are those NPCs who don't give useful information until they're spoken to over and over. With that said, it's pretty difficult to "lose" the game (you'd have to do something really silly, like having Roy EAT the Mio egg before it hatches. There are additionally a couple of different endings.
The graphics are great. Bold and colorful and very Sega. There're plenty of fantastic 1980s anime character designs, and the "science fantasy" backdrop is of course very appreciated. Something strange happens when speaking to characters: their mouths aren't animated within the "main" window, but a separate dialogue window pops up at the screen's bottom, containing animated head shots. Roy too appears in this manner when conversing, and he sports a great variety of facial expressions and eyebrow movements. I must say, I don't find the baby Mio very endearing. It's this weird cross between a teddy bear, a lion, and an angel. Creepy. The soundtrack is chill and pleasant and fits the game nicely.
Overall, Hoshi o Sagashite... feels like a more relaxing Portopia. A worthwhile way to spend an afternoon, and an intriguing look into the surprisingly tiny library of Master System games that never left Japan.
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewed: 06/01/26
Phantasy Star II
Genesis
Sega
1989 1990
Another fantastic title screen here. But who are those giant women? The goddesses of Ys? I've heard it's supposed to be the Phantasy Star II antagonist... but that would be one individual and this is two, though they look almost identical and, uh, moving on... The demo that plays if the Start button isn't pressed is incredible. As is the opening musical track. Absolutely insane box art though, with Rolf looking 60 years old and Nei transformed into an Olympic discus thrower.
Phantasy Star II is certainly a 16-bit JRPG but don't expect anything along the lines of Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger. This is an early example of the genre, being released in 1989 in Japan and arriving in America one year later (note that this arrived in the US before the first Final Fantasy!!!). Aesthetically advanced but mechanically still primitive, PS II feels a bit like an 8-bit game with a 16-bit veneer. It's also way worse than its predecessor, sorry to say.
While most dialogue in PS II is fairly straightforward, the overarching story -- told sporadically through 1989 info-dump cut scenes -- is quite compelling. Taking place some 1000 years after the events of the original game, protagonist Rolf (first name James) is plagued by dreams of a woman (Alis?) combating a demonic creature. A government agent, upon waking he's informed that dangerous "bio-monsters" are wreaking havoc upon the planet Mota. Once a barren desert Mota has since been terraformed, its lush green climate maintained by an advanced computer system called Mother Brain (not to be confused with the Mother Brain of Metroid or Chrono Trigger). To investigate the monster sightings, Rolf is joined by Nei -- ostensibly a half-human half-bio-monster she's actually an adorable elf girl. The initial overworld of Mota is rendered beautifully and is the best environment in the game (this could be construed as a negative I suppose), with its giant lily pads and spage age "dam" layout. While Rolf and Nei are initially tasked with a straightforward mission, they eventually uncover conspiracies spanning multiple planets and epochs.
Rolf and Nei don't stay a duo for long, as they're soon joined by six other companions. Phantasy Star II in some ways pioneers what would become a staple in later 16-bit RPGs (and beyond) -- you have more characters than can fit into a single venturing party. In the case of PS II, that number is capped at four. Thing is though, most characters beyond those first two have little personality (in fact Kain and Hugh are palette swaps, as are Amy and Shir). They're essentially just mercenaries who're along for the ride; unlike something like Chrono Trigger (I know I keep bringing that up), there's no plot-specific reason to favor one character over another. And since characters join at level mf'ing ONE and have to be leveled up from scratch, there's essentially no reason to pay any attention to latecomers like Hugh and Anna. Zero. The adorable thief Shir, last to join, bucks this trend a bit, as she can steal the best items in the game from shops -- including the essential save-anywhere device (uh, remember how you could just do that sans accoutrements in the first Phantasy Star??). But she can't do this until level 10. So many players, including myself, will grind until Shir hits level 10, steal a bunch of stuff, then toss her back into the Rolf's house for the remainder of the game, venturing forth with the battle-tested leveled party. Speaking of Rolf's house, there's where new characters join the fray, and Rolf must visit the house to grab 'em -- but there's zero indication that such a thing is ever going to happen!!
The events of PS II transpire across the two planets of Mota and Dezo, each of which are crammed with towns and dungeons. Travel to and from Dezo is awful. Remember the spaceship from the first game? It's back (okay it's probably a different ship) but upon arrival in Dezo one must traverse a mazelike series of corridors for some reason. It sucks. Towns are fine, though Rolf must be wearing a special hat to communicate with the Dezo dweller for some damn reason. The dungeons... The dungeons are the reason the North American version of the game came with a full ass walkthrough strategy guide. One may surmise that the dungeons here are comparatively easier than those of the original PS, partially owing to the fact that the PS II dungeons look intrinsically less disorienting as they're now top-down and not first-person. But no... the dungeons in this game are DISGUSTING. Word is that some Sega newbie was trying to impress his superiors and apparently thought the best way to go about it was to craft these monstrosities. Where to start... Well, the dungeon layouts are haphazard and capricious. They're far too lengthy, difficult to map, and floor-to-floor navigation is done by way of scattered warp panels. Although some dungeons also contain one-way pitfalls. In fact, one of the final dungeons has nothing BUT such pitfalls -- IT SUCKS. The torture is compounded by the fact that someone at Sega (maybe the same aforementioned guy) thought it would be funny if the player's view of each dungeon was obscured by FOREGROUND graphics. Pipes, clouds, bubbles(?)... There's always a bunch of random garbage onscreen. Furthermore, the payoff for completing each dungeon is essentially nonexistent, as most treks simply consist of grabbing an item or two and then bailing. Yes, the "barely any bosses" tradition of Phantasy Star continues. This is a thirty hour game, give or take, and there are FOUR bosses. The first is very consequential to the plot, but the fight itself is partially scripted. Same goes for the second boss. And the penultimate and final bosses are back-to-back at the game's very end! This all makes PS II feel like it's filled with a bunch of tedious, punishing space with little to distinguish one mission from the next. Of course, the player will also have to contend with the criminal encounter rate...
Naturally, battles are randomly triggered and turn-based. Huge graphical overhaul here. No more battle backgrounds to match environmental backgrounds. Now, every battle takes place on a space age VR Tron grid. It looks cool as hell, but yeah, every battle from the first to the final boss has this same backdrop. Characters are displayed onscreen (from the back), with some great animations showcasing their attacks. The battle commands are a bit odd: they're abbreviated and here begins the tradition of made-up nonsensical spell and item names. "Foi" is fire, that's not too bad, but NaGra and Megid and GiThu? I would occasionally cast an incorrect spell from simply forgetting what does what. In any event, it's easy enough to set everyone to an auto-attack, which is just fine for a huge chunk of the game. There are plenty of weapon types to play around with. Some are one-handed and some require two, and there additionally shields available for defense. Additionally, some weapons will ignore defensive stats of enemies and just dole out static damage. Certain weapons and armor will cast spells too, for zero MP, and it's absolutely critical to figure out which ones are capable of such things. The enemy selection is varied and well-crafted (though there are admittedly many palette swaps). At a certain point on Mota, due to actions committed by Rolf and pals, the bio-monsters are all swapped out for malicious robots. It's a startling shift in tone and possibly my favorite singular moment of PS II. Difficulty in combat is largely dependent on grinding, which is beyond essential. Having a character reach zero HP is devastating and it takes some serious effort to revive someone.
Outside of battle, the menus are all a touch too dated and clumsy. Items must be bought and sold one at a time. Every character has their own inventory (quickly filled), so items must be "passed" occasionally. Thankfully, shopkeepers are kind enough to warn someone about purchasing something that can't be equipped. Saving is slow, and the game requests the player input a name at every save!
Aesthetics are mixed but when they're on-point the game looks absolutely stunning. Of special note are the realistically proportioned anime characters, and their facial portraits (the ladies are so cute). Shopkeepers have a distinct look and it's worth messing around in towns just to say hi to everyone. The OST consists of very few tracks, but this is some juicy Genny techno stuff. The "save game" theme is one of the catchiest video game tunes ever; it was my cell phone ring tone for a good eight years or so. Late-game dungeons have some spooky themes (fitting), and the Mota music is as beautiful as the accompanying visuals. It does feel like the game could have used five more tracks though, there's a bit too much repetition.
This is a tough one. Phantasy Star II is big, bold, (sometimes) beautiful, and (often) boring. Too redundant and laborious for its own good, PS II is nevertheless essential for all JRPG fanatics, if only for its history and place in the larger series (and greater JRPG pantheon). Plus Shir is pretty funny.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewed: 05/24/26
Phantasy Star II Text Adventures
Steam (seriously...)
Sega
1990 1991 2016
Remember how I said Phantasy Star II had some characters you could just completely ignore? Well, apparently the developers noticed this and took issue as they crafted a series of Phantasy Star II Text Adventures, with one tale dedicated solely to each intrepid hero. These little anecdotes were drip-fed via the Japanese MegaNet service, which provided downloadable games for the Sega Mega Drive (Japanese Genesis). All were initially released in 1990 and 91, technically after the release of Phantasy Star III. They were then ported to two Mega CD (Japanese Sega CD) collections, with four games contained on each.
...And then, they were fan-translated some years later, for the English-speaking Western audience. These are "play it (them) any way you can" titles, given their obscurity and digital-only nature of the originals. I personally played them on Steam. Which isn't to say they're actually "on" Steam. See, in 2010 Steam received the compilation SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics (since delisted as of 2024). I was at first inclined to ignore it, seeing how it overlapped so much with the console release Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. What changed my mind: the Steam compilation allowed players to apply mods uploaded by fans to the game's "workshop." These range from graphical and difficulty tweaks to outlandish experiments like Streets of Rage 2 Except It Makes That Weird Tim Allen Noise When People Die. Of course, as anyone with patching experience knows, you can "mod" a game in such a way that one ROM is simply replaced by another. What this means is that most SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics "mods" are actually full-fledged (usually third-party) Genesis games not included in the vanilla compilation lineup. Example: you can "mod" Comix Zone to play the eroge shmup Divine Sealing or "mod" Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle to play Battle Golfer Yui or "mod" Streets of Rage 2 to play hold up this does not look right...... Long story short, Phantasy Star II can be modded to play the Phantasy Star II Text Adventures.
Storywise, these are prequels to the main game. And since all eight of these share common mechanics and aesthetics and an identical control scheme, I'll review all as one long singular episodic game.
Game design is a bit unusual in an East-meets-West sort of way. Despite being menu-based much like Hoshi o Sagashite... and other (proto-)VNs, these are indeed text adventures, with very little to look at graphically. One window displays a character portrait while another will display an enemy encounter (there are a few of these per adventure). Shir's adventure breaks this trend a couple times, additionally displaying some action scenes. As far as the commands go... First off, there's constant navigation: NSEW in addition to up and down (due to elevators, stairs, whatever). There are additionally some disorienting "warps" within a couple games. "Take" and "Use" and "Drop" are all relatively self-explanatory, though some items are grabbed automatically. There is an issue of inventory space, or lack thereof. Each game contains about three or four more items than can actually be carried thus necessitating things be dropped (often reacquired later once their utility is known).
To make things more "RPG-like" the developers included periodic combat. It's turn-based, with weapons being "Used" to fight, though some enemies must instead be bribed with noncombat items. Damage is somewhat variable, in the "dice roll" tradition, though here LITERAL DICE are displayed as combat unfolds. Characters never have a tremendous amount of HP, healing options are limited, and it's possible to get RNG-boned with some disagreeable dice rolls. On the flip side, misses are frequent, and anyone emulating these (who isn't?) can save scum their way through a battle and come out the other end with zero damage received. In the Western fashion these adventures do indeed have true Game Overs, and prior to emulation it was possible to get soft locked by expending all healing capabilities before all enemies had been defeated.
Visuals, insofar as they exist, are clean and legible and fine for what they are. Same goes for the music, which is "very Genesis" but not extraordinary. Unfortunately, none of the eight adventures are especially fun to experience. They're slow, repetitive, and cryptic. Items have bizarre nontraditional uses and navigation eschews the usual gridlike pattern for something illogical making self-mapping quite difficult. Blessedly, each journey lasts for but an hour -- but that's assuming one has a walkthrough handy, and there's no reason to play these without supplemental help.
Note that these games (having no official English localization) use the Japanese names for the characters. Somewhat confusingly, the character Americans call Anna is Amia here, while the character Americans call Amy is actually Anne. Some quick notes on the adventures themselves:
Eusis (Rolf) - backstory of the main game protagonist is that he was an orphan who studies the blade. Goes into hiding, gets real good, and challenges an antagonist who looks suspiciously familiar... This is one of the more straightforward adventures though the battles are difficult. Rolf also has a special "technique" but it slices off some of his own HP; I found it useless.
Nei - A weirdly sad story about the outcast Nei having her foster parents killed and then being left to roam the streets of Paseo alone. Like, she has to root around garbage dumps and so forth. A solid ending that brings us right up to the beginning of PS II.
Rudger (Rudo) - Oh man this one SUCKS. The inventory space is a huge issue. There are so many items in weird spots and stuff that will be obtained too early and fill the inventory only to be dropped and grabbed up again some twenty minutes later. The "puzzles" are obtuse and awful and there's one of those mazes that loops eternally unless a very specific combination of directional commands is entered. Then there's the overwrought depressing story. The wife and daughter of Rudger have been killed by a mole. By "killed by a mole" I'm not talking about carcinoma or a spy or something. I'm talking about the subterranean mammal.
Anne (Amy) - One of the shorter adventures, Anne once again plays the role of healer and saves an elementary school from monsters. Eventually she meets a buddy named Heinz who fights in her stead, while she contributes backup healing support.
Huey (Hugh) - Yes Hugh is also known as Huey lmao. Big Huey runs science experiments and "coincidentally" there are now killer plants on the loose. Yup, he created them. He beats them all and then his gf gives him a nice slap.
Kinds (Kain) - These names are getting weirder. Kinds is deep into hax0ring and tries to make a cool gun and gets caught up in a conspiracy involving Mother Brain. The one's written in the first-person and has a cool urban cyberpunk setting. Some funny moments too. Kinds is hired by a bar owner to fix the AC unit on the roof but he screws up and then the entire place just explodes and Kinds is like "oops my bad" lmao.
Amia (Anna) - A "hunter" with fifteen arrests under her belt, she's tracking a bad dude named Hack (he's a hacker btw). Kind of bland overall; you'd think she'd battle the criminal at the end but instead she just fights a bunch of animals.
Shilka (Shir) - Probably the best story, though "best" is doing some heavy lifting here. Shilka the thief is determined to steal a painting of Opa-Opa (the Fantasy Zone protagonist). Lots of sneaking around and hiding in this one, though the navigation can get tricky with the up/down elevator trips. Some funny and intense moments. P.S. I think she's beautiful.
Aside from historical interest or a compulsion for total series completion, there's little reason to dive into the Phantasy Star II Text Adventures, especially considering their relative inaccessibility. Time to play Genesis Mario.
Rating: 2/5
Reviewed: 05/31/26
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Genesis
Sega
1990 1991
Look at that title screen. Amazing logo with the pillars and that cleaved planet ribbon, and this is some of the most striking music anywhere on the Genesis. Exquisite. Box art isn't too bad this time around either. Not great, but not bad.
Phantasy Star III came shortly after the second game, and has gotten a reputation as being the series "black sheep" -- even though every PS entry is much different than the game that precedes it. Still, this was made by a different team (those who worked on PS II were now developing Sonic, no kidding) and it's something of an unusual JRPG, compared to any other JRPG of the time, really. Additionally, the plot is presented as a sort of side story, as Phantasy Star IV is more or less considered the direct story sequel to Phantasy Star II.
While still firmly in the "science fantasy" realm, Phantasy Star III has a decidedly medieval flare, plus a gloomy and melancholic atmosphere that conjures up Sega's own Sword of Vermilion, to be seen again in Enix's The 7th Saga. The story involves two clans, the Orakians and the Layans, both of whom ostensibly live among a cluster of seven small planets. Once warring tribes, they've since gone their separate ways and live in relative peace. While the narrative lacks a single starring protagonist, the first hero of PS III is a young man named Rhys. On the day of his wedding, his bride (a woman named Maia who mysteriously washed up on shore one day) is kidnapped by a creature thought to be a Layan dragon. Rhys seeks revenge on the Layans, but his father (the king) considers this a hasty move and locks Rhys in the dungeon to cool off (lmao). However, he escapes, and soon meets the qt3.14 android Mieu. The two heroes (soon joined by others) begin a quest that spans generations.
This brings us to said generations ("of doom" apparently). See, the journey of Rhys only encompasses the first third of the game. Eventually he (finally) gets married, to one of two women, the choice of which is made by the player. There's then a time skip and the resulting male offspring becomes the new hero. Eventually the new guy gets married to one of two women and then that resulting son steps into the hero role. This leads to multiple pathways and four separate endings. Something that would ostensibly create a tremendous amount of replay value but... Well, it doesn't quite shake out that way. For starters, this is an early 90s JRPG with very blunt dialogue, further neutered by localization. There isn't much interaction among characters, and no big steps were taking to differentiate one person from the next. At "marriage time" most players will simply select which anime girl they think is cutest because otherwise who cares. The "branching paths" that result are additionally too similar. It more or less feels like the same locales shuffled around a bit. And every pathway leads to the same final dungeon and final boss. Even the endings are near identical. There's an annoying logistical issue as well. Though the game has four final pathways (and endings) there are only two save slots! Emulation and the existence of save states have perhaps rendered this problem moot, though anyone who played this on real hardware back in the day (or anyone who chooses to now) will not be able to simply juggle saves to see every path -- eventually they'll have to start the whole damn game over and replay the Rhys stuff. Oof. To flip to a positive, the "best" part of the gen system involves the involvement of the android characters. Since they don't age they get to keep chugging along as companions to the mortal human allies. They're arguably the most compelling party members overall, despite being inorganic.
Phantasy Star II was tough because of the obscene labyrinthine dungeons. Phantasy Star III is much easier but can be hard to navigate for the opposite reason: a glut of environments that are bland and difficult to distinguish. I mean, this game actually isn't even finished. There are empty houses. Caves that can't be entered. The seven planet overworlds look nearly identical, save for the desert and ice planets which possess the requisite brown and white color schemes. Towns are all copy/paste to a comical degree -- the towns on the ice planet are green and flourishing as they're simply comprised of the standard graphical tiles! Dungeons themselves are arguably a breath of fresh air, coming right from PS II. They fall into three broad categories, and most are one floor. Caves are simple in/out trips with maybe a couple branching paths. Castles are the only two-floor environments, alternating between the top layer and the basements. Then there are the "passageways" (which often have two ends and connect two planets). These consist of narrow catwalks occasionally interupted by impassable pitfalls. Bosses are scarce (again). Oddly enough, every boss (except the final one) is a regular human or android who otherwise appears as an NPC.
Battles pull from elements from the first two games. The backgrounds are back, which is fantastic, but the character portraits are gone. Attacks themselves are still animated though, and battles can feature a host of villains. The enemy designs are awesome and there's a nice split between alien creatures and hostile robots. Battle commands are represented by icons, not words, but virtually every skirmish (save for boss battles) can be finished via the auto-battle option, which just has everyone attack. Fights are over and done with very quickly, and leveling up is frequent.
The magic (technique) system has been overhauled though the same spells (plus nonsensical names) remain. Characters do not "learn" spells (minus two exceptions), instead they begin with a specific unchanging cluster. Towns contain shops where the strength of techniques can be tweaked: increasing the strength of one spell will weaken others. An annoyance occurs with unambiguous spells like Anti (which cures poison) -- if weak it simply "misses" the majority of the time. It should be noted that since melee attacks are so strong there's basically no use for offensive spells, and it's perfectly conceivable to beat the game without using a single one. "Buff" spells really don't do much either. An average player can finish the game utilizing only the two basic heal techniques (Res and GiRes), the aforementioned Anti, and Rever (revive). Bit of a missed opportunity here.
Menus outside of battle are pretty unfortunate to look upon, and feel like they're stright out of an early 80s WRPG as opposed to an early 90s JRPG. They're text-based with a plain font. No cursors. The text of highlighted items will be blinking, and equipped items are written in yellow instead of white. Saving is only possible at inns which is fine becuase this game has inns up the ass.
The character designs are fantastic, once again adhering to a "realistic anime" style. Great walk cycle with the clattering armor and swaying capes. I think a few of the women do look a bit too masculine (which makes choosing a bride easy kek). There are also some primitive "cut scenes" shown in small windows. They're lovely, most of all the opening scene of Maia upon the beach. The soundtrack is decent overall. The composer tried something unique with evolving musical tracks. For instance, the overworld theme adds an instrument every time a party member joins (max of five). It begins solemn but eventually becomes a layered rousing adventuring theme. The same thing was attempted with battle music, which changes based on whether the battle is progressing in the player's favor. This is less successful as most fights are so short and easy.
Phantasy Star III is a lot different from Phantasy Star II and I'd argue it's better (barely). Lofty ambitions and unfulfilled promises aside, it's worth one single playthrough.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewed: 06/17/26
Phantasy Star Adventure
Game Gear (Patched)
Sega
1992
Between the release of the third and fourth mainline games there were two Phantasy Star spin-offs for the Game Gear. Both remained in Japan, though both are now fan-translated.
The first, Phantasy Star Adventure is, well, (another) adventure game. The tenth(!!!) such game, if you want to get technical. The protagonist is "you" -- yeah, the player of the game, presumed to be male though. You play as an agent from the city of Paseo. Scientist Ken Miller has been doing some research on the planet of Dezoris, and has since gone missing. Turns out Miller was working on a machine that doubles an individual's physical capabilities. It's presumed that Miller and the machine were taken by a corrupt corporation, and that both are being stowed away in a nearby factory. The player/hero must explore the city, collect clues and items, and infiltrate said factory all while engaging in the occasional bouts of combat.
Menus are of the expected variety, with a couple new options. There's a helpful map, though this quest isn't especially complicated. Anyone playing on an actual cartridge would have access to a password system, though apparently the fan translation broke this (hello save states). Curiously, you can still drop items though I don't think it's possible for the inventory to fill.
Phantasy Star Adventure is crafted from elements seen previously in Hoshi o Sagashite... and the Phantasy Star II Text Adventures -- namely the scene depictions of the former and battle system of the latter. The graphics are really good, albeit very zoomed in to accommodate the Game Gear. There are a bunch of adorable anime girls, which the protagonist makes a point to note periodically. There's only a handful of musical tracks, all really chipper upbeat stuff. It gets repetitive, but the compositions are quite stellar. Especially the title screen theme, which is absolutely gorgeous and probably the best thing ever heard in a Game Gear game.
Navigating through the game is fairly tedious. Despite the short overall length there's still too much text, as every scene is "reintroduced" when entered. There's additionally an excessive amount of repetition: unlocking the same doors over and over with keycards and so forth. The puzzles aren't especially insane; management of money and HP is more critical for success.
The "dice" battles are back and still crappy. They're a bit more luck dependent than they should be. During one especially irritating stretch, there's something like five factory guards fought back-to-back. Turns out you need to (eventually?) lose to have the game proceed. Healing is done via items, and there's a lone shop to visit (and yeah you have to wear a "special hat" or the shopkeeper will lie).
I'd be inclined to rate this higher if it weren't for the awful combat system. If anything, this is more fun than the Phantasy Star II Text Adventures, which is both amusing and sad. For series fanatics and lovers of 8-bit space girls.
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed: 06/19/26
Phantasy Star Gaiden
Game Gear (Patched)
Japan System Supply / Sega
1992
The second of the Game Gear entries, Phantasy Star Gaiden, is actually a traditional turn-based JRPG. Ya know, like Phantasy Star. I've played a great many of these early 90s JRPGs -- for consoles, handhelds, and computers alike -- and this is one of the worst I've ever seen. Perhaps the worst. We can't blame the usual crew. Phantasy Star Gaiden was developed by an outfit called Japan System Supply, which doesn't even sound like a game developer. This is their second Game Gear title, the other being some sort of tarot card simulation.
As the title indicates, this is a side story. The game begins with two protagonists, Alec and Mina. They encounter some guy who's been beat up, and he informs the duo that Alec's father has been kidnapped by bandits. There is, of course, a larger conspiracy at play here, regarding a demon that had been sealed away but is now awakening. As for the setting, this takes place on "Alisland" -- named for the hero of the original Phantasy Star. She's so cool.
There's a third character that joins the party as well. Make that three third characters. First is Dirk, a forest gnome who sticks around for a little while and helps close a sluice. Lars the android comes next and he sucks. There's no reason to level him up as he's in the party for ten minutes. Maybe fifteen. After that he aids in navigation by turning into a boat. Yeah. Alis herself shows up on Alisland next, once she's tracked down and awoken from a cryogenic sleep. She looks completely different here, and the way her character is written is of fan ficton quality, and apparently even altered further by the fan translators. P.S. I think she's beautiful.
About 90% of the game is spent grinding for levels (and, in tandem, cash). That is not an exaggeration. Phantasy Star Gaiden makes the original Dragon Warrior look like Chrono Trigger in comparison. And the game is too rigid to be fudged. Decent equipment can't be used at lower levels. Venture out into the overworld too far too soon and you'll be stuck with a party that does zero damage to enemies (via missing every attack). So, the bulk of a game is spent circling around towns, fighting enemies for hours, gaining XP, grabbing the best gear, and then (finally) moving on... just to do it again. This all occurs alongside a legitimately criminal random encounter rate. Every few steps or so. And just like Dragon Warrior, at some point, once the party has leveled up to the mid- to late-20s, it's no longer prudent or necessary to fight anymore. Late-game enemies are slow to beat, irritating, demand too many resources from the player, and lay on the status effects. It eventually becomes easiest to just run from every battle, or use the repel spell.
Equipment is handled strangely in that anyone can equip anything. And the best stuff is available for sale about halfway through the game, save for the mythical Laconian gear which must be plundered from dungeons. Spells are not learned by up leveling up but instead must be purchased, and once again every spell is available for every character. The more advanced heal spells are essential, as is the aforementioned repel, and the offensive "Adol" spell (hold up... Adol?). What's truly peculiar is that items "stack" in the inventory. When I initially spotted this I assumed okay maybe the party can carry 9 of each item... okay maybe it'll turn out to be 99... it's 255!!!
There are around nine dungeons in the game and eight are nearly identical looking one-floor caves. They're boring and not particularly hard to navigate but they're also shrouded in darkness. Here's something odd: while you can purchase torches to illuminate dungeons there's also the infinite-use item "Light." Now, most would assume it would be something you get later on (like the Magical Key in Zelda) but no -- you begin the game with the Light item!!! While most of this quest is straightforward (especially with the regimented leveling) there is some cryptic nonsense. The final boss, for instance, cannot be defeated unless a special item is used in battle. Said item has no other uses and is given to the party only if they pay a fortune teller to analyze tarot cards.
Music is okay. I like the town theme. Most tunes are inoffensive and appropriate for the settings. Graphics are decent overall and the character portraits are shockingly gorgeous and detailed. And these are some of the most attractive Game Gear anime women (I'm seeing now that House of Tarot had some great art too). A few male characters are a little funny-looking though... and why is one guy wearing a necktie and suspenders in my medieval outer space anime romp? Some pleasant cut scenes pop up from time to time, though they are a bit grainy.
If I'm being charitable I'd say that maybe this was designed to be played in little spurts. Grind 20 minutes a day for a month and then the game's over. Doesn't change the fact that Phantasy Star Gaiden is excruciatingly boring and redundant and can be safely passed over.
Rating: 1.5/5
Reviewed: 06/21/26