Finally, Phantasy: Phantasy Star | Segaiden 067

Take a peep into an alternate reality where Sega's 8-bit home console developers were given the time and resources to explore a project to its conclusion and buff it up to a spit shine. Phantasy Star towers head and shoulders above everything released on the console to this point—and, frankly, it handily crushes about 95% of competing console releases from the era, too. A fully realized work that brings a new level of narrative sophistication and audio-visual fidelity to the role-playing genre, Phantasy Star sees the creative luminaries of the Master System development world collaborate on a great-looking take on the RPG with no actual flaws to speak of. About the only criticism you can level at Phantasy Star is that the balancing makes it a bit of a slog... but that's true of every RPG from the late ’80s, and has been tidily remedied with modern patches and remasters. It's one of the few 8-bit creations that truly holds up today.

Production notes:

Learn more about the Master System's history (including Phantasy Star!) by preordering The NES Era Vol. III: NES and the Peak of 8-Bit, a comprehensive photographic atlas of every console game released for NES and its competitors—including the Intellivision—at the height of their power, from January 1988 through the advent of 16-bit systems in August 1989. Take a deep dive into the prehistory of NES with this limited-edition oversized (12x12"!) photo book: https://limitedrungames.com/products/...

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Master System footage captured from U.S. carts running through a cart adapter on Japanese Master System hardware and MiSTer (thanks to MiSTerAddOns). Video upscaled to 4K with RetroTink 4K. RGB cables courtesy of StoneAgeGamer.com and Allie Bellrose.