"A wonderful step back in time for everyone."

I first remember when my mom bought me my Sega Genesis when I was 10. I had many games for it and liked only a few of them. Well, back then, Funcoland was revolutionary and had more games than I cared to count. Well, I remember coming home from school one day and I was surprised to see my mom playing my Genesis. I looked at the screen and saw a game I knew I didn’t have. After watching her play for a while, I found out the game was named Phantasy Star 2. Well, after she gave up on it, I decided to play it. That was the first game to ever intrigue my RPG senses. I played others before Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and some others that didn’t stay for long. None of them kept my interest for long. That game did.

Game play:
9/10

If you ever played the original Zelda or any game that had the overhead view, you’ll feel right at home with this game. All three games use the overhead view as you move your 2D characters around their worlds. Phantasy Star 1 used the basic menu during battles and had all the items in one bag. Phantasy Star 2 used an unusual system of where you either hit fight or Strategy. Using the Strategy, you chose what you wanted each character to do before using the fight button. Phantasy Star 3 used an icon-based system to attack with. I’ll be honest right now and let you know that I never totally finished Phantasy Star 3. That will be explained in the story part.

Sound:
7/10

Even though they used the same music, battle sounds, and miscellaneous sounds for the treasure chests, items, etc. On this game, it seems that the sounds and music were edited and chopped. Although, in my honest opinion, they still perform well enough to keep you in the game to see them to the end.

Story:
9/10

When I first started playing Phantasy Star 1, I figured the story was going to be boring from the way that they started it. The main gist of it is the female heroine, who you have through out the entire story agrees to her brother’s dying request to stop the man who will destroy life as they know it. Along the way, she recruits three more party members, who also want to stop the bad guy from destroying the world she and the first two party members are from. You also have to go to two other worlds to find items that will help you in your Quest. Phantasy Star 2 is more of a sequel to the first one in many ways, but to get into those, I would ruin the game. So, to keep this as smooth as possible, your character has a dream that seems to be from the past, but in his dream, he can’t do anything to stop this gigantic creature from attacking this woman who is losing the fight quickly. As he awakes, he heads to the place where he works and is assigned to find out why the creatures on the planet are increasing and becoming vicious. As he progresses on his planet, people that have heard of his noble actions decide to join him in his cause. Sadly, in this game you only get to visit two planets instead of three like in the first one. In Phantasy Star 3, from what I’ve seen and read, you start out getting ready to get married, but the bride is captured. The character you are at the time unwittingly starts off the events that his offspring has to basically fix. The choices you make in the game change the outcome of the ending. This game just never held my interest due to the fact that it didn’t seem to fit into the line of games. There are some things that relate back to the other two, but that’s about it.

Graphics:
8/10 overall

Phantasy Star 1’s graphics could’ve easily been put on the NES with very little difficulty. The enemies and are rigid looking and do some movements Plus, only one enemy was seen on the screen at a time, the only difference was that there could be anywhere between 1 and 8 enemies at a time, but they were always the same one. Also, during the dungeons and battles, all you can see is the walls and the enemy in front of you. The only time you ever see your characters is when you are in a town or on the field. Phantasy Star 2 had a major overhaul on the graphics. The towns had a semi-3D effect to them, as did the dungeons, caves, buildings, and other things. The battle screen looked like it was a dark neon blue grid with the backs of your characters facing you and all the enemies lined up side by side. This game also has more than one type of enemy attack you at a time, which left you facing up to 6 enemies that would be of different strengths and weaknesses. Then when your characters attacked, you actually see your characters in front of the enemy and attack it. Of all these good updates from the first one, the sprites were on par with the first one. Phantasy Star 3 changed the sprites to make them more human in appearance, but hindered the battle system, letting the enemies basically stand out. Most of the enemies are detailed, but there’s less variety in this one compared to the first two.

Replayability:
8/10

These games are fun and will keep you busy. The only problem is that leveling up takes a long time. Also, many of the dungeon-type places seem to be the same in many parts, but overlooking these facts you can continue through the first two over and over. With three though, there are four different endings, depending on how you choose to go. So, there’s good replay with that being an option.

Rent or Buy?:

I honestly say to buy this collection if you love any part of the series. These games are helpful at understanding the underlying plot of any of the games. Playing them out of sequence will make the story confusing. But, if you feel that $35 is too much to spend on a piece of nostalgia that started off the entire RPG genre, then that is your opinion. I feel that all avid RPGers that have a GBA to buy this game to see where all of today’s RPGs started it.

In conclusion, I feel this is a very solid game, but the company that brought it over could’ve done a better job and fixed a glitch that seems to be in each and every Phantasy Star Collection. I give this game a strong 9/10 overall and urge anyone that wants to play older RPGs without illegally getting them off the internet to pick this sweet collection up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/03, Updated 02/12/03