Trivia / Phantasy Star

• Fan Translation: Each game in the original series has received English retranslations to reconcile inconsistencies, squash common bugs, and hack in longer names for the characters. Several games that went unlocalized have also been translated, including Phantasy Star Adventure, Phantasy Star Gaiden, the text adventures, and most significantly, the remakes for the Play Station 2.
• Fandom Life Cycle: In Japan, Stage 4 into Stage X (Online 2) into Stage 4. The franchise is big enough in Japan to almost hit Stage 5, although not quite enough to break through. In the west, the series has squarely sat at Stage 2 to its relative obscurity, Screwed by the Network (for New Tens titles) and Cult Classic status of the tetralogy.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Seven years after the original release, Sega reissued the first Phantasy Star on the Mega Drive in limited quantities in Japan only. Its the original Master System game but in a Mega Drive cartridge. It just tells the system to switch into Master System mode to play. There's a rumor that copies were a contest giveaway, but no one is for sure.
• Killer App: When Sega was still a console maker, games in the series were these for its various consoles.
  • The first game in particular was the single most popular and well-known Sega Master System game that's not an arcade port, and fittingly has been rereleased more often that any other Sega Master System original.
• No Export for You:
  • Sega made remakes of the first two games, titled Phantasy Star Generation 1 and Generation 2. Too bad they're only available in Japan.
  • To a less annoying extent, the Mega Drive text adventures and the various Game Gear gaiden games as well.
  • The Sega Saturn version of the Phantasy Star collection was only released in Japan. The Game Boy Advance version was released internationally; however, it does not include Phantasy Star IV.
  • Every game between Portable 2 and Online 2 has not been localized. This encompasses Portable 2 infinity, Nova, and Online 2es. Even in the case of Online 2, it wasn't until 7 years after the original release in 2012 that the game finally saw the light of day on western shores.
• Referenced by...: A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: The Developer's Note for System Corruption:
  This was the first song I wrote that I wanted to sound specifically electronic.
  This aspect of the soundtrack seemed necessary for the more technologically advanced areas, and I drew some inspiration from the Phantasy Star series.
• Screwed by the Network: It's no secret among Western fans of the series that SEGA hates this franchise outside of Japan. Most of the online games have suffered from Bad Export for You in some way at some point, most notoriously Universe in which Japanese management outright refused to communicate with their American counterparts running the game, games after Portable 2 simply stopped being localized after the pirating debacle on the PSP, and PSO2, while ultimately averting its infamous Vaporware status, suffers from a notable lack of care and effort put into its localization.
• Vaporware: PSIV was supposed to be remade in the same vein as Generation 1 and Generation 2. However, it was canceled in favor of a Compilation Re-release.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Design documents for Phantasy Star II, which were published in a 10th Anniversay collection, show a great deal of cut functionality and content from Phantasy Star II. Originally all characters would have had their own types of weapons and armor, and would have had PS4-like Skills in addition to their techniques. Shir was also supposed to be able to steal items from enemies in battle at higher levels. Hugh also was supposed to have techniques that allowed him to control Biomonsters and communicate with them to avoid conflict (like the Talk and Chat spells in PS1).
  • As stated above, Rika of PSIV was originally meant to be Nei.
  • Noah was originally intended to be intersex, and the character designer went with that in giving them an androgynous appearance. This element was cut, but led to a fair amount of gender confusion in the final product.
• Word of God: Reiko Kodama does not consider Phantasy Star Online or any of the games after it to be a continuation of the original saga, and has stated that were a theoretical Phantasy Star V to be made, it would make The Great Light the Big Bad.