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:: Old School ::

Phantasy Star

Platform: Sega Master System

By Chris Ching

In the late 80s console wars, the three combatants were Nintendo, Sega, and Atari. But this clash of 8-bit titans was hardly an even battle. The Nintendo Entertainment System with hits like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and countless others had the greatest hold in the marketplace. Following far behind was Sega's Master System while although a more powerful machine lacked the third party support that had made Nintendo number one. Atari, the once king of home video gaming, released their XE system to the sound of one hand clapping and even worse sales than Sega.

While offering only a fraction of the number of games available for the NES, the Master System still had some great games: Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Y's: The Vanished Omens, Outrun, Space Harrier, Great Golf, R-Type, and Wonderboy among them. Still the greatest Sega Master System game, and for my money the greatest 8-bit game ever created, is Phantasy Star.

Released in 1988, it retailed for $69( just ten dollars less than the Master System itself!), but it was worth it. Featuring the best graphics of any home system game released to that point, Phantasy Star was an epic role playing game with four simultaneously controlled characters, a female lead protagonist, first person perspective dungeons, an involving and deep story, detailed character design, a save feature, and an instruction booklet the size of the Bible (at least next to the leaflets games were accompanied in those days). Sure all these features are pedestrian in 2003, but then they were a revelation.

The storyline has the player controlling the fate of Alis and her quest to rid the Algol system of the, you guessed it, EVIL King Lassic. Along the way, she is joined by the warrior Odin, the catlike creature Myau, and Noah the Esper (translation:wizard). Once acquired, each of these characters is under the player's control. Various weapons, tools, vehicles, and magic spells are among their arsenal. And they'll need it as they will journey to three different planets and face a whole Solar System of evil.

What set Phantasy Star apart from other games was the non-linear aspect. Nowadays that's the norm, but most 8-bit games kept you on the track the programmers wanted you to be on. With Phantasy Star, it was the exact opposite. You could feel totally immersed in the game, feel like you really were role playing. What added to to the depth of the game certainly was the rich graphics that depicted worlds and the creatures that populate them more realistically than the jagged edge abstractions you found in the games of the time.

Phantasy Star also has a wonderful sense of humor. For example, a townsperson on the desert planet of Motavia queries if you like Sega games. If you say yes, she says "Of course, Sega games are the best". If you say no, she chides you by asking "Then why have you been playing for so long?"

Playing long. Those two words sum up Phantasy Star to a tee, as this was no "finished in a weekend" strip of a game. It took you weeks to save the universe. I even remember staying home from school one day to get in more hours of Phantasy Star play. I think I told my Mom I had the stomach flu. Even when you finally ended the evil reign of Lassic, the game still wasn't over. One more foe awaited. His name was Darkfalz, and let me just say I still get the willies when I think about him. Okay, I don't, but he was one bad mutha.

Sega never came up with a game to equal Phantasy Star and by 1989 the Sega Master System had been pushed aside by the more successful 16-bit Sega Genesis. Sequels to Phantasy Star appeared on that console and others. An online Phantasy Star is currently available for the Game Cube and Xbox. Still, none of these come close to matching the original for innovation and good ol' butt kickin' video game fun.