Page 1 - Vol 1-4 - Phantasy Star, Monaco GP, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier
Vol 32: Phantasy Star Complete Collection - Playstation 2 (2008)
Japanese Cover
Phantasy Star
Phantasy Star
About the Sega Ages version -
These are more than just straight emulations. There were numerous additions to the Saturn Phantasy Star anthology that have been carried forward to this release. The walking speed in the older games was kind of slow, so there's now an option to speed up your characters so they blaze across the screen. Additionally, the original Phantasy Star has an "accelerate" key that speeds up the entire game, and there's a fast forward function to speed up the battle animations in Phantasy Star II. There are also additional save slots for Phantasy Star III.
In addition to the standard difficulty levels, there are Easy and Very Easy settings which increase the gold and experience obtained after battle, which makes the games (especially the brutal Phantasy Star II) much less of a grind. The original Phantasy Star was written entirely in katakana, which is a total pain to read. You can now select to have it written with a combination of hiragana and katakana, which is much easier. Naturally this won't make a difference if you don't read Japanese, but the PS2 version has one major enhancement that the Saturn version didn't - this one includes English versions of all four games, with almost all of the enhancements. The only omission is that you can't enable the FM synth soundtrack for the English version of the original Phantasy Star. (In Japan, many Master System games supported FM synth so the music sounds different. This functionality was not present in all other territories, so the rest of us are more familiar with the standard PSG sound.) This option is only present if you're playing in Japanese.
This collection runs on the same emulators as the Treasure Box Collection and Monster World Collection, so it includes a number of display options, including the ability to run it in progressive scan, enable scan lines, adjust filtering, or display in true low res. Unfortunately, like the previous compilations, the music quality isn't quite perfect. It's rarely unbearable, except for a few songs that have some annoying static (particularly in Phantasy Star IV), but anyone who's played these games on an actual Genesis may be slightly irritated by the discrepancies. In spite of this, it doesn't have the sound glitches that were present in the Genesis Collection (in Phantasy Star IV, the battle music doesn't stop when the victory music played, leading to a overrunning cacephony of noise whenever you win a battle.) There's even an option to fix some of the bugs in Phantasy Star IV, like the one that causes you to lose stats if you go over level 99.
The text adventures may be unfamiliar territory, since they were never officially released in English. These were initially released through an online service and were later distributed as a bundle for the Mega CD. There are eight in total, each focusing on one of the main characters from Phantasy Star II. They have very minimal graphics and play like old interactive fiction games, as you tell your character to walk in different directions and read the text description of each area. These are still in Japanese on this collection, but a few of the stories have been fan translated and are available for play on computer emulators.
Also available are the two Game Gear games, although they're hidden. At the title screen, you need to hold Right on the D-Pad and press Start. Phantasy Star Adventure is an adventure game similar to the text adventures, although it features slightly more detailed graphics. Phantasy Star Gaiden is a generic RPG with only vague ties to the Phantasy Star saga. It only has vague ties to the original, since you play as some random kids who live on a colony founded by Alys, the heroine of the first game. Neither are great, and both are also only in Japanese, but these haven't been included on any other collection, so it's cool that they're here.
Like most of the other collections, there's also full artwork galleries for all games, which include character portraits and full manual scans, although they've ignored the American instruction manuals this time. It's also missing some of the bonus stuff that was in the Saturn Phantasy Star collection, particularly the commercial videos and some of the cool arranged music.
Worth it? -
As mentioned, the Phantasy Star series has seen a number of compilations. The Saturn version compiles all four of the main games, but suffered from some emulation issues. The GBA version only contains PSI-III, and in addition to sound issues, has an annoying bug which will cause the game to freeze in the first game. The Sega Genesis Collection has PSII-IV and, as mentioned above, has some sound issues and doesn't have the display options of this collection, but is otherwise pretty decent. Considering how cheap and easy it is to get this, and contains many more games, it makes the Phantasy Star Complete Collection seem a bit skimpy. Still, all of the enhancements to the older games are definitely worthwhile if you don't have the patience for slow paced old-school level building, and it's cool to see the text adventures and Game Gear games compiled, since they've otherwise been shunned on previous collections. It's hardly worth it for the casual fan, but for longtime Phantasy Star junkies itching to replay the series, this is definitely the way to go.
MP3s Download here
Phantasy Star IV - Motavia
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III
Phantasy Star: End of the Millenium
Phantasy Star II Text Adventure
Phantasy Star Adventure
Vol 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection - Playstation 2 (2008)
Japanese Cover
Fantasy Zone (Arcade)
Fantasy Zone (Arcade)
Like the other Complete Collections, this is an anthology of nearly all of the Fantasy Zone games, including the original (arcade and SMS), Fantasy Zone II (SMS and arcade), Super Fantasy Zone (Mega Drive) and Fantasy Zone Gear (Game Gear). Also included are spinoffs, like the Pac Man-esque Fantasy Zone III: The Maze AKA Opa Opa (SMS and arcade), and the obscure paddle game Galactic Protector. In addition to an alternate remake of Fantasy Zone by Sunsoft called Fantasy Zone Neo Classic, Sega went the extra mile and included a brand new remake of Fantasy Zone II, programmed the System 16 boards. It does not include the 2.5D remake of Fantasy Zone released earlier in the Sega Ages line, and it's missing the vocal song arrangement from the Sega Ages Saturn version. Read the full article.
About the Sega Ages version -
As usual, the emulations are spot on, with an array of display options, galleries and regional versions. There's a rapid fire option for all games, which is nice, but almost feels like cheating. Even the music on Super Fantasy Zone sounds okay compared to other Genesis games on the Sega Ages packs. Fantasy Zone II and Opa Opa even have their mega rare arcade variations, which are only slightly different from their Master System entries. If Sega had only included these games on the package, it'd be worth it, because Fantasy Zone also happens to be one of the best arcade games released in the mid-80s, and the Saturn port alone usually goes for about 2000 yen, just below the retail price of this collection. And Super Fantasy Zone (strangely only released in Japan and Europe) is just as excellent.
The real treat of the collection is dubbed "Fantasy Zone II DX". Way back in the late 80s, Sega created Fantasy Zone II, but instead of continuing with their brilliant System-16 arcade board, they designed it for the Mark III/Master System hardware, which was a considerable downgrade. As a result, the sequel wasn't nearly as impressive as its predecessor. Fantasy Zone II DX is a remake, but it's not any old remake - it marks a beginning of a trend, similar to Retro Game Challenge/Game Center CX and Mega Man 9, of creating new games using retro style graphics. Rather than simply mimicing the retro style, the developers actually programmed the game for the old System 16 hardware. (They even burnt them on ROMs for use at some promotional events in Japan. As a result, it features an aesthetic style exactly like the original, except even more wacky and colorful. It's pretty amazing that they did this - it's like they looked at the Fantasy Zone series and said, "Hey, we know we let you guys down all those years ago, but now we're trying to make it right." And here it is.
In fact, Fantasy Zone II DX is less of a remake and more of a whole new game, slightly inspired by the original title. The big catch of Fantasy Zone II was the multiple levels within a given stage, each with a unique background, which you could transport between via warps. This has been rearranged to introduce a dual world concept - each level as "Bright" and "Dark" rendition, with different graphics and enemy patterns, and even tougher bosses. The Dark stages are so scary that you won't even find the standard Shop balloons (which pop out at the beginning of each stage/life as normal, so you don't need to hunt them down anymore), and need to scavenge for hidden shops to buy things. You technically never need to enter the Dark versions, but enemies give more money, and completing these stages is the only way to get the best ending. (There are three in total - in the bad one, where Opa Opa turns evil, it even references the Harrier and Uriah from Space Harrier as coming to destroy him, further tying together the two series.)
Of course, in tightening up the levels, a lot of the crazier backgrounds from FZII had to be ditched, but the developers picked the best one and used that as a basis.
The rest of the game is even more inspired. If you take a hit with a weapon equipped, you'll actually lose the weapon but still survive, which makes things a little bit easier. All of the bosses are taken from the original Fantasy Zone II, they're not exactly new, but they've been changed so they're like older siblings of the bosses from the first Fantasy Zone. Each stage opens with a unique Engrish-y introduction text, similar to the one that displayed in the first level of the first game. The soundtrack technically consists of arranged music from FZII, but it's all been so heavily rearranged you can barely tell. It uses the same FM synth as the first game, and is provided by veteran shooter soundtrack writer Manabu Namiki (Metal Slug 6, Dodopachi Daioujou, many other Cave games.) There are more weapons this time around too, including the titular "Drop Tears", which are required for the best ending. You even get the option to buy speed enhancement after getting killed by a boss, fixing one of the most aggravating aspects of the series. It's actually incredible to believe, but this might actually be the best Fantasy Zone yet.
As an additional bonus, the disc includes a game called Fantasy Zone Neo Classic. (It's unlocked by opening the menu screen for the game, selecting the "Mark III" version, then holding Right on the d-pad until it unlocks.) I'm a bit sketchy on the details, but I believe it's supposed to be a port of Famicom version created by Sunsoft. It's very similar to the arcade game, but with slightly different (and not quite as good) graphics, different music synth, and some altered enemy patterns. It's cool for fans to play, just to see what was changed from the actual arcade release, but it's nothing relevatory.
Worth it? -
No questions, absolutely. Fantasy Zone IIDX could've been sold on its own as a budget title, but having all of the other titles in one place is the real icing on the cake. Possibly the best compilation in the entire Sega Ages line.
MP3s Download here
Cholacoray
Links
SMS Power - Fantasy Zone Complete Collection Extremely comprehensive forum post.
Fantasy Zone II (SMS)
Fantasy Zone: The Maze (SMS)
Super Fantasy Zone
Fantasy Zone II DX
Fantasy Zone II DX
Fantasy Zone II DX
Fantasy Zone II DX
Screenshot Comparisons
Page 2 - Vol 5-8 - Golden Axe, Bonanza Bros, Columns, Virtua Racing
Page 3 - Vol 9-12 - Gain Ground, After Burner II, Hokuto no Ken, Puyo Puyo 2
Page 4 - Vol 13-16 - Outrun, Alien Syndrome, Decathlete, Virtua Fighter 2
Page 5 - Vol 17-20 - Phantasy Star 2, Dragon Force, Fighting Vipers, Space Harrier Collection
Page 6 - Vol 21-24 - System 16 Collection, Advanced Daisenryaku, Sega Memorial Collection, Last Bronx
Page 7 - Vol 25-27 - Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box, Dynamite Deka, Panzer Dragoon
Page 8 - Vol 28-31 - Tetris Collection, Monster World Collection, Galaxy Force II, Virtual On
Page 9 - Vol 32-33 - Phantasy Star Complete Collection, Fantasy Zone Complete Collection
What is it? -
A nearly complete pack of Sega's seminal RPG series. The original Phantasy Star, released in 1988 for the Sega Master System, has gorgeous graphics that completely destroy any of its 8-bit NES peers. Phantasy Star II for the Genesis expanded on this in almost every way, and Phantasy Star (IV): End of the Millenium, is easily up next to Square's RPGs as some of the best in the 16-bit era. Their sci-fi setting is a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional fantasy worlds found in most RPGs, and all four of them tie in together to create a pleasantly huge epic. For its 20th anniversay, Sega has released the Phantasy Star Collection as part of its Sega Ages 2500. This includes emulated versions of all four Phantasy Star games, along with the Japanese-only text adventures based on Phantasy Star II, and the two Game Gear titles which also never left Japan. It does not include the remakes of Phantasy Star I and II that were released earlier as part of the Sega Ages line.
Phantasy Star IV - Battle
What is it? -
For the most part, Fantasy Zone is an evolution of the classic arcade game Defender - you fly back and forth on a side-scrolling, looping stage. But rather then saving humans, you're charged with destroying a number of enemy bases that appear throughout the stage. Once you've killed them all, you fight a boss, then it's on to the next stage. Destroying enemy also yields cash, which can used to purchase weapons, speed enhancements, and bonus lives. Also, instead of Defender's dark, simplistic graphics, Fantasy Zone is filled with bright colors, rainbows, and overly peppy salsa music.
Ganbatight ~ Ganbatighter
