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Some classics never get old...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: February 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

You want Phantasy Star you got it. Three of the original games are here on one cartridge (Only PS IV is absent, presumably to be released as a stand alone game). Many of you may have played Phantasy Star Online, but not the original games that these worlds are based upon. Those in your 30's or late 20's need not read further...they are here, pick this cart up! For those not in the know, Phantasy Star was Sega's answer to the RPG, and it was great. Released way back when the Master System went head to head with the Juggernaut that was Nintendo's NES, Phantasy Star pushed the 8 bit realm to it's limits. With 3D dungeons, sharp graphics, and a great story, it was one of the 8 bit era's greatest games...too bad few got to play it, as most people were playing Zelda and Dragon Warrior on their NES. The conversion seems terrific, and it holds up quite well in the modern world of RPG's, with graphics the only major obstacle. The quest itself is as addicting and involving as ever...where else can you fight through dungeons to get some shortcake?

Phantasy Star II was the 16 Bit sequel that is regarded by many as the best in the series (Some will argue PS IV holds that honor), and it is here as well. While the Final Fantasy Games received the spotlight on the SNES, you cannot go wrong here...a solid story and great battles will have you glued.

Phantasy Star III: An epic quest, which will span across 3 generations of your characters...with 4 different possible endings to boot!! Mind you that this is the 3rd RPG on your single GBA cartridge...and it's not too shabby either. Viewed weaker than the 2nd and 4th installment, I personally liked III, as it was one of the most interesting RPG's I played at the time. It still holds up for me, and I can get past the graphics not being in 3D or having super flashy lens flaring magic. I really liked the music in III, and the GBA version sounds very similar here. While not orchestrated like Final fantasy III (VI) on the SNES, PS III had tunes, which stood out in my mind a lot. I still remember them to this day.

All 3 games on one cartridge...games that you would have a hard time finding individually (especially a Master System PS) is having your cake and eating it too...I hope Phantasy Star IV is next.

Well above excellent compilation of a great RPG series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: December 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Those old enough to remember where Sega's Phantasy Star RPG series got it's start will be more than pleased with this excellent compilation of the first three games in the series. Phantasy Star 1, 2, and 3 are all here in their full length glory, and old fans of the series cannot be happier with how this turned out. The first Phantasy Star was a game that pushed the Sega Master system to it's limits with it's near psuedo-3-D dungeons and beautifully drawn anime style characters. Phantasy Star 2, a game that is revered as the best RPG on the Genesis, is beautifully re-created in it's entirity, Mother Brain and all. Phantasy Star 3, while not as overly epic as the second installment, is still a more than solid game in the series which takes place over different generations. The only complaints about these three classics is the graphics are a bit dated and the sound effects and great music aren't as nicely produced as they were on their console counterparts. Not to mention that Phantasy Star 4, which in my opinion is only a hair short of topping Phantasy Star 2 as the best in the series, isn't here but considering that these three games included are in their entirity, that is only a minor gripe at best. All in all, those who own a GBA and love and remember the original Phantasy Star games should consider this a must own.

The best GBA game to date.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: February 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ever complained about the difficulty of Final Fantasy games? Look no further. Phantasy Star Collection gives you 2 deep, difficult games (and one with lesser difficulty) for the low price of [$$].
Phantasy Star I was arguably the best 8-bit RPG to ever release. Not only did it look a ton better than FF I-III (Japanese II and III), its plot blew both away. In Phantasy Star, you're not saving a world--you're saving an entire solar system! It's also one of the few RPGs to feature a female character, Alis. Dungeons are presented in sprite-based 3D, and all battles, conversations, and dungeon treks take place in first-person. The story centers around Alis and her companions Myau (musk cat), Odin (warrior) and Noah (mage). Their goal is to defeat the oppresing ruler of the Algol Star System, Lassic. During their quest, the party will travel between the Earth-like Palma, the desert planet Motavia, and the ice planet Dezoris.
PSII takes place approximately 1000 years after PSI, in the same setting. You play as Rolf, an agent for the government of Mota, recruiting partners such as Nei (half-human, half-Biomonster), Rudo (warrior), Amy (healer), Hugh (biologist), Anna (guardian), Kain (wrecker), and Shir (thief, you can use her to steal items from shops). While starting as a simple Biomoster problem, the plot intensifies as one progresses through the game. Have a pen and paper handy while you play, because the dungeons are really complicated mazes.
PSIII was somewhat of a departure. When the planet Palm was destroyed mid-way through PSII, many ships fled the planet before the prison satellite Gaila crashbed into the planet. The ships consist of 7 artificial worlds. You start as Rhys, but can reach one of four endings. The game takes place over 3 generations. At the end of the first quest, you can choose to marry one of two women. Their son will then take on his own quest, choose from two more brides, and give birth to the third-generation character.

Unfortunately, Phantasy Star IV, the one that somewhat returned to its roots, was not included due to size constraints. A re-release of that game is imminent. There's also a save bug in PSI, where the game will occasionally crash when you try to save. Thankfully, PSI (and PSII when you get a secret item) allow saving in dungeons. Have fun with this!

Phantasy Star just the way you remembered (except)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: December 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you played #1 with the Sega Master System, you'll find absolutely no changes, finished the game in 3 days. Maps are all done the same, the game is in fact, a complete copy of the ROM onto a Nintendo platform.
With #3, there's some minor changes. The screen text has been shrunk down and changed a bit to fit the screen of the GBA. The P for poison no longer appears above your character's name, it now sits alongside. Other than that, all is well.

However, with the GBA, the changes made, and due to hardware limitations, the sounds, are different. And noticable.
Especially with the Gun sounds from Odin from #1, the monster attack sounds, and there's a few bugs. If you use BYE, your 4 characters names and HP/MP boxes stay open. With PS#3, it's just the sound that's noticed. I hope this review was useful.

Overall a good game, just with hardware limitations.

Phantasy Star - ah, the memories:)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Phantasy Star Collection provides a 100% emulation experience of the Sega games of yesterday. The only noticeable difference is the cleanup of the Japanese to English dialogue. If there is one drawback, this collection does not include the 4th in the series. I guess due to lack of overall game storage or maybe the fact THQ would like to market PSIV as a stand alone and rack up more bucks in the process...hehehe. PSI by itself makes this a very worthy purchase. LONG LIVE PHANTASY STAR!

BUY THIS GAME!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

We'll start out with the good. This game is THE reason I bought a Game Boy Advance. I had never played Phantasy Star 1, because it was only available for the Sega Master System. Phantasy Star 2 is (in my opinion) the best RPG for Sega Genesis, and Phantasy Star 3 was very good as well. If you like RPGs, pick up this collection of games. If you check online auction sites, you'll see that the originals of these games sell individually for the same price as this package of 3 games.

Now for the bad. This doesn't include Phantasy Star 4. That's it.

Good but not perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this collection for Phantasy Star I, in my opinion the best game of this series (and also the hardest to obtain since I don't have a Sega Master System). I personally think I got my money's worth. These games are faithful recreations of the original Sega Master System and Sega Genesis games, but with a few changes, both related to saving. The first is that there are less save slots. Phantasy Star I originally allowed you to have FIVE saved games, not three. This change is understandible.

One thing I do not like, however, is that PS1 also features an annoying bug that causes the game to crash sometimes when you save the game. It's random, and the only real way to beat the bug is to save often and thus minimize the damage done. Fortunately this bug does not corrupt your earlier saves and is really a very minor issue, unless you foolishly go for hours without saving your game. This bug appears to not exist in the other two games.

Oh, and I disagree with the guy who said these games are meant to be played with maps. While it's true that the originals came with them, I've played the games just fine without them, and indeed find them more fun that way. Do NOT download maps for these games. You'll probably be too busy travelling to use them anyway.

The reason to get a GBA.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I only gave the GBA passing notice until I heard about the Phantasy Star Collection. I immediately got giddy and weak in the knees. These are the games of my childhood and they're back to please me again. The original Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System is the pinnacle of the 8-bit RPG. PSII on the Sega Genesis is still my favorite RPG of all time. PSIII was a change of pace, but still good. The only thing keeping this from being a 5-star release is the lack of PSIV, which brought the series back to the PSII feel. Why Sega didn't publish this is beyond me, but thank you, THQ, for bringing me some wonderful nostalgia.

Great for nostalgia, but compared to today's games ....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: July 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I couldn't echo the direct praise of many others even though I did grow up on these games. The simple fact is that unless you played these games on the Genesis you just aren't going to appreciate the GBA remakes.

The "problem" with this remake is that no improvements were made to any of the games. They are faithful and EXACT representations of their Genesis counterparts. Now, I grew up on these games back in the early 90's and I loved them, so of course I loved the nostaglic appeal PS Collection had.

But if I were talking to a new gamer ... someone who hadn't played the originals, then there's no way I would be able to recommend this compared to the titles avaliable today. By today's standards, these are really boring dungeon crawlers ... no side quests, no item custimzation, drab and now-cliched storylines ... it lacks the punch some of the current games have.

These games were from a much different gaming era, and they show it. Without any kind of improvement, they just can't hold their own with some of today's titles. I can only recommend this product to people who played at least one of the originals, know what is coming and are looking for nostalic appeal, because that's really their one and only draw.

The games that invented the RPG now on gameboy advance

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I didn't even realize these games were being re-released but as soon as I saw it I knew I had to get a gameboy advance. it may not have the graphics of some of the new rpg's out there but the story and gameplay make this one of the best collections of RPG's ever.

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