Retronauts Episode 375: Phantasy Star
Do you like Sega games?
Before Final Fantasy, before Ys, before Dragon Warrior...before the JRPG was a known quantity in America, Sega released Phantasy Star on Master System. It's a game with swords, dragons, and magic, but it's also got laser guns, robots, and interplanetary travel. It's hardly a forgotten series, as Sega released multiple sequels and still operates an MMO version to this day, but Phantasy Star doesn't get a lot of acknowledgement for being a pioneer of its genre.
To make up for that, this week Alex Fraioli (from No More Whoppers) and Nadia Oxford (from Axe of the Blood God) join Jeremy to share their experiences with the original Phantasy Star, celebrate the game's unique aesthetics, and argue why it's worth playing today—especially the Sega Ages enhanced port on the Nintendo Switch.
Speaking personally, I didn't have a Master System as a kid so I missed out on Phantasy Star when it was fresh, and never tried any of the sequels on Genesis because I assumed I wouldn't understand them. Hearing this episode absolutely motivated me to give the game a try and I'm happy to say I saved the solar system! If you follow my lead, I recommend you check outtAlex's own Phantasy Star walkthrough; he bemoans its datedness on the air but I can tell you it mostly still holds up.
Description: Jeremy Parish, Nadia Oxford, and Alex Fraioli venture across the span of a solar system (or at least a few continents) to look back at Sega's first proper entry in the role-playing genre: The phenomenal phirst Phantasy Star, phor Sega Master System.
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Artwork for this episode by Leeann Hamilton and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.
