Phantasy Star series
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Phantasy Star (Japanese: ファンタシースター) is the most famous RPG series by Sega. It has had many incarnations, including an online version. Contrary to most other RPGs, it has a futuristic/fantasy setting where the player battles monsters using a variety of guns in addition to the usual staple of melee weapons and magic that are found in similar games.
History
The first Phantasy Star was for the Sega Master System. It was first released in Japan on December 20, 1987, and was one of the first cartridges to include battery backed RAM for saving game positions. The game featured an amazing (at the time) set of 3D maze-like dungeons which you traversed in real time in a first person mode. Phantasy Star, along with Dragon Quest (1986) and Final Fantasy, distinguished itself as a pioneer of what came to be defined console role-playing.The series is noteworthy in that all of its games take place in the same universe, as opposed to many RPG series such as Final Fantasy (wherein successive game settings are unrelated, or, at most, superficially related). Each major Phantasy Star game adds a bit more to the series' overall story, culminating in Phantasy Star IV which ties all of the series' plot elements together into a final, epic conclusion.
The Phantasy Star Online games are their own sub-series. They continue the theme of a persistent game-universe, but it is a different one than the original games.
Games
Phantasy Star series games have been released on the Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and PC. These include:
- Phantasy Star (Sega Master System, 1987/Sega Mega Drive, 1992)
- Phantasy Star II (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, PC (RealArcade) 1989).
- (Sega Meganet modem, 1991)
- (Sega Meganet modem, 1991)
- (Sega Meganet modem, 1991)
- (Sega Meganet modem, 1991)
- Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (Mega Drive/Genesis, 1991)
- Phantasy Star Adventure (Japanese Game Gear, 1992)
- Phantasy Star Gaiden (Japanese Game Gear, 1992)
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Mega Drive/Genesis, 1994)
- Phantasy Star Collection (Japanese Sega Saturn, 1998).
- Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast, PC, 2001)
- Phantasy Star Online ver.2 (Dreamcast, 2002)
- Phantasy Star Collection (Game Boy Advance, 2002)
- Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II (GameCube, Xbox, 2002)
- Phantasy Star Generation 1 (PlayStation 2, 2003 Japan, soon in North America)
- Phantasy Star Online: Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution (Nintendo GameCube only), 2004)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (Nintendo Gamecube, 2004)
- (PC only), 2004
- Phantasy Star Generation 2 (Playstation 2, 2005, released only in Japan)
- Phantasy Star Universe (PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360) -- TBD 2006 (Japan & North America)
Phantasy Star Generation 2 is a remake of the original Phantasy Star II.
A Taiwanese pirate of Phantasy Star IV called Wai Xing Zhan Shi (Wai Hsing Chan Shih) was made for the Famicom. The pirate is incomplete and has many bugs.
Fan Contributions
Phantasy star has generated many fan contributions, from fanfics to games. that were more or less completed.Fictional universe
Algol planetary system
The Algol planetary system is the setting of the series. It has four planets - Parma, Motabia, Dezolis and Ryucross - as well as many orbital space stations. The planet names are sometimes spelled differently from game to game.
Palma/Palm/Parma
Parma is a green planet, and apparently the original homeworld of the Parmans, Algol's most widespread species. Parma is the center of the Algol system's government until AW 1284, when the space satellite Gaira malfunctions and causes the planet's destruction during the events of Phantasy Star II. The "humans" seen in the series are actually Parmans who have migrated to Motabia, terraforming it to be liveable.
Motavia/Motabia/Mota
Motabia was originally a desert planet, but it was radically transformed by extensive forestation and irrigation. In Phantasy Star II, the planet is green and water is abundant thanks to the Mother Brain and the Climatrol Center, but it returns to its former desiccated state in the fourth game.Motabia is inhabited by indigenous Motabians, owl-like intelligent humanoids with blue feathers, as well as refugees from Parma.
Dezoris/Dezolis/Dezo
Dezolis is an ice planet populated by green-skinned intelligent humanoids and yellow, talking Musk Cats. Because of the planet's harsh environment and dangerous native creatures, very few Parmans and Motabians live on the planet; it is for this reason that the Espers live here in the hidden Esper Mansion.
Rykros/Ryucross
Ryucross is a mysterious planet on an extremely elongated orbit, such that it only approaches the other planets once every 1000 years. It may only be seen by looking through the Aeroprism, and its exact location is unknown to any living being.External links
- [The Phantasy Star Pages] Comprehensive Phantasy Star page.
- [History of: The Phantasy Star series] Sega-16's complete retrospective on the series.
- [History of Phantasy Star]
- [Raja's Adventure]
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