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Phantasy Star: My Upcoming Maiden Voyage

Posted by Nadia Oxford

 

When I was a young SNES fangirl, and I was up to my knees (okay, ankles) in great Squaresoft RPGs like Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger, I made sure I took time out of my playing to point and laugh at Genesis owners. Said Genesis owners would clutch their Sonic dolls to their chests and say, “Well...well we have the Phantasy Star games!”

And then their lower lips would start to tremble, and I would laugh harder.

Now that I'm older, wiser, and too boring to taunt people about the video games they don't own, I know that was an unfair reaction on my part. I regret never getting to know Phantasy Star. Maybe it wasn't as pretty as Final Fantasy III, but it often went far beyond the realm of fantasy and presented a technological-storybook mix that defines the series to this day. I haven't played the games, but even I know what a Numan is.

Recent journeys through old RPGs like Secret of Mana cemented my resolve to finally experience Phantasy Star. I had intended to download the games on Virtual Console; I rolled up my sleeves, when hark! I got word about Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. The compilation will reportedly include all four Phantasy Star games in one convenient, emulated package.

Well! If it has Sonic's name on it, I know I won't be steered wrong.

As pointed out by a recent post on 1UP's Retronauts blog, this won't be the first time the Phantasy Star games have been bundled up and sold in some regard. This will, however, be the first time all four are available as a package in the US. It might also be the first collection worth owning in both the States and Japan, as previous attempts at wooing nostalgic adventurers ended with unfortunate experiments in 3D graphics and heartbreaking save glitches that ate files.

Seems like Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection will turn out to be a rich experience for me. If it does turn out to be a disaster, well, I've decided that playing bad games builds character somehow.

Related Links:

The Chrono Trigger Port: Are You Excited or Disappointed?
Saving Shenmue With Toys
Question of the Day: Yu-Gi-Oh and Card-Based Video Games?


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Comments

Roto13 said:

Phantasy Star is one of those series' I've always meant to try but never got around to (despite owning a Genesis instead of a SNES back in the day :P). I'll definitely give them a try once Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection plops down next month, but my hopes aren't very high. I'm sure they'll all feel way too dated. RPGs don't age very well.

January 27, 2009 10:08 PM

Peter Smith said:

The original Phantasy Star is almost as slow as the original Dragon Warrior, but it's really neat--beautiful colorful graphics for the time, and a real sense of place on the three different planets.

January 28, 2009 11:30 AM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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