Sega Ages: Phantasy Star Collection

This is the ultimate Phantasy Star pack featuring all 4 of the original games in their original glory thanks to Sega’s fantastic Sega Mark III (Master System) and Mega Drive emulator for Saturn. The first Phantasy Star game as you know was on the Sega Mark III or Master System as it was later called in the west and Japan. Unfortunately the western Master System never had the built in FM sound chip unlike the Japanese model. This makes the sound 100 times more listenable than the western 3 channel beepy shite. The Japanese Master System and Mark III (with the expansion pack) produce some very nice audio in Stereo and thankfully this Saturn Master System emulator includes the FM sound. So now all western players will be able to hear the difference between the weedy version of Phantasy Star that we got compared to the much nicer Japanese version. The only downside to Phantasy Star on the Saturn is that the game runs in a box due to Sega keeping the original resolution of the Master System original.

The Mega Drive Phantasy Star games (2 to 4) are identical to the Mega Drive originals in every way. I don’t think much of Phantasy Star 2 or 3 for that matter but part 4 “The End of the Millennium” is very nice and well worth checking out. You’d be surprised that it’s running on a Mega Drive (or Mega Drive emulator in this case).

As well as having the 4 games, this collection also includes video and illustration galleries. The video gallery shows the original Japanese TV adds for each of the games in this collection while the illustrations gallery has loads of pictures presented in the Saturn’s highest resolution.

A word of warning to those of you who are tracking this collection down. Make sure it comes with all 3 maps if you’re after a complete version. And for those who have bought this without the maps then here’s a little present for you.