I was so sad to hear of Rieko Kodama's passing, she was such a force to be reckoned with. Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia were such important games to me.
Don't forget 7th Dragon. I don't really like rpgs but I always loved her output. I think her style is very similar to Gamearts but her Rpgs always had a far more mature tone & story. By mature, I don't mean violence or fan service. Rie's games were thematically dark, look at the endings for Phantasy Star 2 & the finale to the 7th Dragon series.
Phantasy Star was one of my favorite games. A female protagonist was rare at that time, and Myau was cute. her posthumous name contains Creation, Dream, Grace, and Sound. I felt like I caught a glimpse of her thoughts. Thank you for creating such a wonderful work. Rest in peace, Rieko Kodama.
I had no idea Rieko Kodama passed away. She gave us Phantasy Star. What a gem. The world of gaming (equal parts art and science) lost a revolutionary artist and a pure creative force. She is forever a true renegade (in a good way)
She died in May but the news was not made public at all. In the mega drive mini 2 there was a tribute to her inside some file and that’s how the news came out.
I cannot describe the feeling I get from watching GTV. The way you always do the most to submerge us in the actual vibe and culture surrounding the media you discuss is really incredible. The work and care you put into every video does not go unnoticed. Definitely one of my favorite content creators on the platform right now.
Phantasy Star 1 really surprised me by how fun and innovative it was. Definitely one of the best Sega games out there. Great video as always! RIP Reiko Kodama and thanks to everyone for making the game what it was. I certainly won’t forget the impact this series made on my life.
RIP Rieko Kodama. I remember seeing your name/nickname in the credits many Master System games I enjoyed as a child. I felt as if you and the crew were hanging out with this lonely kid. To enjoy all your hard work was an immense pleasure. Thank you. Phantasy Star is my favorite RPG. The plot, music, presentation, graphics... I still play it 35 years later. (edit) the ending brought me to tears.
I still love this game. The copy I would borrow from a friend had a failed internal battery, so we had to keep the Master System on the whole time we played it.
Phantasy Star is the 2nd best RPG-Series of all time. It´s only beaten by the Ys series from Falcom. But i was shocked to hear that a SEGA legend has already gone in this young age. Rest In Peace Rieko Kodama.
"Phoenix Rie", that is an appropriated name once after you play any game that she was involved and put her passion on it, in some way it's bring her back. The best way to celebrate and pay tribute for these great creative minds of the gaming sphere is playing them games, remembering they achievements, the shortcomings they had to face it and how all of them helped to built so many memories around the world! Thanks for such great and well researched video, GTV! man!!! xD . P.S.: Also, one of the best things about any Master System related news, info or trivia its know how Brazil (thanks to the TecToy) was a big part of the gaming world back then. Before to have to reach/wait for fan-translation projects to catch the wind again, and have games in Portuguese language.
Thanks for the great tribute to Kodama-san. In Interviews she would always refer to Phantasy Star as her game and her favorite. I always hoped Sega would give her a blank cheque to make a 5th.
Phantasy Star is my favorite game of all time and your content is ALWAYS A+. To get this just before Christmas is the best present ever. That tribute to Reiko was touching and beautiful. Thank you so much for putting this together. I was able to track down a translated pdf of the Tales of Alisia so this will be my Christmas reading over the holidays, thanks for all the research there were quite a few releases I didn't know about. Merry Christmas!
Great video, 35 years later and I'm still learning new things about the game. The bait and switch about representation at the end gave me a good chuckle. If I ever made an RPG I would go out of my way to include a cat.
I always thought that was a brilliant idea! He’s a cat! He needs no swords but can upgrade his claws and fur! And don’t forget he is crucial to the quest because you need him to fly to the sky castle
My big brother bought me this game in 1988. I had no idea what it was but I played this game every day for months. It became my favorite game. It was extremely impressive and. But as long as you keep grinding you can get stronger and stronger to the point where the hard enemies become child's Play. And every time a new remake of this game comes out I play it. Those dungeons were jaw-dropping for 13-year-old me. Considering I was the only kid in the neighborhood that had a Sega Master system. I was stuck with mastering this game because I couldn't borrow games from anybody else. But I loved every minute of it.
My first dance with Alis and company was on the GBA, 15 years after its debut. Suddenly I was that little kid raised on a NES again, blown the hell away, hunched under a lamp for a week. Many years later I got an actual Master System, and immediately got a complete copy of Phantasy Star to go with it.
I played this so much that, to me, the Algol System and it’s culture are real and exist somewhere in the cosmos. Thank you TecToy for bringing this masterpiece translated to Brazil.
Yessss!! It's finally here! commenting before I watch the video only to comment my excitement only to comment again after I'm done to express how much I enjoyed it. :)
Thank you for the video. This was the game that got me back into video games, got me into RPGs, and got me started on a career in the video game industry.😊
Great video! Watched with my phantasy star obsessed seven year old before bedtime. We even loved the commercial breaks! We kept thinking it was over and would say “awhhh” then “yesss!” When you’d come back for another segment
That’s great to hear! I used to say “when we come back” but so many kids would complain that you can’t say that on UA-cam because it’s not a tv show! Doh
The 30th anniversary video was my first video from this channel looking back. Though I wasn't there when it came out, just binged that whole series earlier THIS year lol. But anywho, happy it brought me to a great channel, happy to always learn more history about a great series, and nothing but love for Kodama for not just Phantasy Star but all her other accomplishments with Sega including Skies of Arcadia, helping to bring Sonic himself to life, I'm pretty sure she also worked on Golden Axe in some way etc. All things i love and grand factors in my Sega fan status, will miss her but appreciate the legacy she left while here.
You’ve earned a 5 year badge!! 🌟 it is a shame Rie is gone, from all the interviews from her and others from Sega, it feels like they were all very close and helped each others games a lot even uncredited.
It’s my constant rebuttal to those “why it failed” videos you see a lot. They don’t see the big picture and just look at some wiki sales data that’s always skewed because of the long life of the FC and/or Gameboy. And I will stand by my statement to the death that gift box cantaloupe cost much more than any video game! Thanks for watching as always!!🐱
@@GTV-Japan 100 percent agree. It's not simply black and white and only focus on one point of Sega, Nintendo, or any other gaming company. So definitely appreciate the full view that you offer...
Let’s not forget that those “failed” games brought people entertainment and joy. They provided a livelihood for those who made them and those benefits then made their way into contributing to society. So I’d say 700,000 mark 3s in 2 years did a lot of good!
Man... Phantasy Star is so nostalgic to me. It was the first game I ever played. I used to play with my father for hours. Love it wholeheartedly. It would be so cool to see it get a modern remake like Trials of Mana got. Damn. I would play the shit out of it.
The episode on the series' 30th anniversary was my intro to this channel a couple years ago. I was hoping you'd come back and give the first entry its own dedicated look. For the Dezorians, I always thought they looked more like the Duros from Star Wars, which were seen as far back as A New Hope. Also, thank you for the tribute to Rieko. She was an amazing creator.
Indeed, didn't see it until you wrote your message. Although to me they look like a drawing of some characters in manga that have very pronounced or exagerated Asian traits when instead of drawing slit eyes, japanese artist just draw a line (countrary to Duros that have big yellow eyes). Seeing Raja for instance I could totally picture an old japanese actor playing the role (just with voldemor make up on the nose).
Huge phantasy star fan since I was kid. Had it when it came out and played it and PSII with my dad. He would play and I would draw the maps and be the navigator. Very fond memories and love the games. Learned a few new things with this video so thank you for the nice retrospective.
I absolutely adore this series and this title is one of my favorites, when I saw you were doing a deep dive I knew it was going to be the high light of a very rough holiday season for me. So many great memories; from my friend's family playing it together and treating it deadly seriously (they still have the hand drawn dungeon maps they drew and a notebook to keep track of everything done during a play session) to the few years I was unemployed after high school playing each game of the series from top to bottom. Amazing work as usual and a giant boost to my mood.
And on a side note after finishing the video, main comment was made about halfway through when I was interrupted preparing dinner, that epilogue really got to me. My mother passed away last week, expected but far faster than anyone expected, and I'm still processing a lot. So much of what was said rings true and touched me. Thank you.
I can’t wait until I see your review of Phantasy Star IV!!! Great series and channel you have here! Reviews are thorough, and you always know about a few gems that I don’t! Thank you GTV for preserving the games of my childhood!!😊
I was sure Rieko Kodama was going to get to develop at least one more console RPG, but alas, that day will never come now. She certainly deserved it, especially now when her work wouldn't be limited to largely unpopular hardware. I'm glad she won a Game Developers Choice lifetime achievement award a few years ago, so at least someone recognized her contributions to gaming before it was too late. I don't know how much you follow Sega in the modern era, but with Toshihiro Nagoshi having left Sega last year, I believe all the talent from their golden age is now gone from the company. And some are gone from this world. It really makes me sad. Your epilogue was wonderful.
I swear I wrote a comment las Sunday I had my Gtv Marathon. But, again wanted to thank you for your videos and small details you always add on them (one of them in this one is that in the end, all the characters turn front when they walk in front of one picture). Keep up the amazing work, already following you on Odyseey. Another thing I enjoy a lot of your videos, is that when least expected, a awesome joke or a life lesson is added. Lest all live live enjoying what we do, and please continue with your videos. People do enjoy them a lot.
Yet again you've created the definitive documentary of a Phantasy Star game. This game made me very jealous as a NES owner when I went to a friend's house and played this game along with Shinobi. If you had the right games for it, the SMS was an awesome console to own! I'm so glad you talked about the improved audio in Japan, because sadly a lot of popular channels here actually recommend the terrible American audio. Luckily, the magazine article that you show at the 18:45 point illustrates what critics and fans thought of the console's sound at the time, as 51% is a very low mark for this excellently composed soundtrack. That low score brought the game's overall score down to 75%, and even the revised 89% is low for what I easily consider the game of the year. The non-Japan SMS had a sound chip that was so inferior to the one in the NES that gamers in America couldn't help but immediately be put off by the shrill audio in so many of Sega's games. I mean, the chip that sounded like the Atari 5200, which was from the previous console generation: that's indefensible. You could make a good soundtrack on that chip, but it took a lot of time and effort, and the Phantasy Star team was obviously pressed for time because the OST sounded pretty bad. (For a pretty good OST, listen to Golden Axe Warrior, which wisely stays away from very high notes and just sounds like they put more time into making it.) I think sound was a major factor in Sega's failure to compete better on the 8-bit scene in North America. It's the same mistake Atari made when they put a low-quality sound chip in the Atari 7800. How can you compete with the NES when half your games sound miserable? I can understand people having nostalgia and thus turning a blind eye, but the Motavia theme in its North American version sounds like scratching a chalkboard, whereas the FM Sound version is pure bliss. Luckily, today we can all realize how great Sega's 8-bit games were, and we can experience this game the way spoiled Japanese gamers of the eighties did!
Hey my good friend! Thanks for coming back! I’d also have to add that along with the inferior sound which is very nigh pitched and grating it repeats a lot! So it probably made those reviewers crazy too! Happy new year and here’s to a great 23!
What a fantastic video! I've been watching your videos on my TV lately, so I've been forgetting to leave a comment after, but I had to drop everything to at least write a comment on my phone this time. I had never seen Korean Phantasy Star before! That blew my mind and it was so cool to read the title in Hangul. Thank you as always for your wonderful insights and impeccable editing.
Thanks for your time on this video! Phantasy Star introduced me to rpgs when I was little ( I was 11 I think at that time, 33 years ago) and it's my only genre since that time because of the impact I got playing it at that moment, after finishing Phantasy star I became obsessed with rpgs, then Ys and some other sms rpgs came around and then new consoles and new rpg eras, but Phantasy Star will always remain as the ONE rpg of my life.
Sweet! Another great series of games that I did not really get to play much (except for years later thru emulation). Thanks for this! I really enjoy these! Wooooo!
You always put so much effort into these videos and they're awesome to watch. Nice seeing you so close to 50k subs. I remember the early days and amazing to see your channel grow. :)
It's very sad to hear of Rieko's passing. R.I.P Rieko! You were an awesome woman. Very awesome job on this video dude! I'm a huge fan of the Phantasy Star series. I love the justice you brought to Phantasy Star. I will have to do another play through of Phantasy Star 1 again. Thanks man. Keep up the good work! You earned yourself a subscriber!
This was really excellent and thorough, thanks for putting it together. I remember getting the game when it first came out - in fact I remember some of the same ads and previews you featured before it was released. Been a fan ever since and yet I learned a ton from this video that I never knew before! Also, you might be interested to know that my dad was the creative director for the US Master System marketing campaign (Tonka was one of his key clients) and he wrote many of their commercials - including the one you featured with Stephen Dorff. So I had a lot of SEGA exposure as a kid ;)
I started the franchise with PSO2, and I watched because I was interested in the history of the whole PS series. It's amazing to see how so many themes and names are carried over, no matter by name or spirit in future games. Like how Dark Falz is the big bad, explorable worlds (plains/forest, desert, ice lands, Myau (PS) and Nyau (PSO2), techniques and more. Even Ep 5 of pso2 is a homage to the original PS, especially the characters Lutz and Alis (and her role as the sword maiden!) I've really got to thank the original team for making PS a thing which led to PSO2 and gave me weeks of entertainment. This is a very well put video, I sat through the whole thing and enjoyed every minute of it.
I really enjoyed this retrospective video on Phantasy Star, I’ll have to catch up on your videos as I’m not getting the notifications from UA-cam. I played the Sega age’s version of this a few years ago on the Switch, for the first time with FM sound that took the game to the next level for me. It was amazing. Happy New year mate 🎉
Hey old friend! Good to see you’re still hanging in there! You might like the video I did on sonic 2sday if you didn’t see that yet. Have a good new year! It all starts tomorrow 😀
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Love this game, best 8bit rpg for me. Looking forward to when the time comes and you do Phantasy Star 4. Now there is my all time favorite and for me best rpg to ever be. Also I seem to be one of the few dorks that prefers Phantasy Star without the FM sound chip lol.
Aw man you had me welling up a bit near the end there. Your documentaries on these subjects from my childhood bring an absolute smile to my face and are gifts beyond compare. The obscure subjects you dive into that I didnt grow up with? Those are newfound treasures of the heart. I will keep saying it but you are by far the most consistent and high quality creators out here. Thank you so much for all you do 🙏
I wasn't aware of this video, holy cow. I came looking to rewatch the 30 years retrospective and got myself another little treat. I'm planning on making a sort of "The Phantasy Star Experience" video where I play through the whole game and abridge it to show the highlights and all the information provided by your videos is unvauable. I'm so looking foward to that Phantasy Star IV 30 year anniversary retrospective no matter how long it takes, IMO that's the game that got the more cut content and developing hiccups from the entire bunch. Thanks a lot for everything, I hope everything goes well for all the staff of GTV Japan.
Thank you so much for making this vid!!! LOVE the Phantasy Star series ever since I started with PS2 - and I thought I was a hardcore fan, but you've introduced me to the Sega Players Enjoy Club Manga! Now to search for that and complete my fandom!
Excellent, as per usual. To this day, I've never played a Phantasy Star game, but I LOVE the story behind this game's development and everything that goes with it. Another gem. Well done!
Hey Wally!! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year’s Day! Looking forward to your next vid. I hope to see the full series someday. Take care and see ya again 🌟🌟
I finished SEGA AGES Phantasy Star on the Switch at the end of the year last year. It was the first game of its time that I've ever beaten. And the first game I played where I felt as if I earned the end credits. I'll play it again soon in order to celebrate 35 years, and to celebrate the life of Rieko Kodama.
I remember when I have played Phantasy Star for the first time in January, 1992. I had read in some videogame specialized magazines in Brazil about the portuguese version of a game that could last some months and I was very anxious to play. Really this is the most important game I've ever played!
Phantasy Star II was my intro to RPGs back in high school, and it got me hooked on the genre. Never played PS1. Even so, I appreciate it for being a classic, an originator and the precursor to a game I'll always remember.
Regarding Myau's legacy and influence, there's also a winged cat in Lunar: The Silver Star (a later RPG for Sega CD and PSX) named Nall, who is not a playable character but a companion who follows Alex around for the entire game.
@@GTV-Japan I met her a couple of times, interviewed her once long ago. She was well into stuff like LOTR and Star Wars, watched F1 and premier league football. She is missed.
I have never played this game previously, but 4 hours in now with my 10 year old son. We are both enjoying it together on ps2 (Phantasy star collection) with Sony crt tv. Ty for the mini documentary. I can't get into modern gaming and find myself returning to my childhood systems. Cheers
It's a shame the US master system didn't ship with the FM synth module included. It really is night and day when you hear the smooth instrumentals compared to our often jarring and harsh arrangements. Amazing video, as always!!!
@@GTV-Japan for me the music in the original phantasy star never felt monotonous since i loved the songs so much! My kid is playing through ps2 now and i cant tell you how many times we both get exhausted from hearing the same short song looped, its all subjective i suppose.
Yuji Naka seem to have been a very talented programmer whose ability on early consoles made him find solution where others couldn't. Maybe it is common but not being as good a developper as you used to be when the technology got to evolve so fast at that time, he might have been the best working in a team and when he went further after his sonic success, he might not have function so well as a lead. It is a very difficult thing to lead a team and a project no matter how intelligent, and I know he had some internal spat with his colleagues and superior but unfortunatelly that is also a competence team leader have to have (communication to subalterns as well as with superiors)
Personally I don’t think it’s anything offensive, why can’t we profit from that? But it does basically end his career. And since he’s almost 60 he could have just retired anyway. Time will tell.
I've never played this series before (I grew up with Nintendo, not Sega), but i am an old school RPG fan, and was kinda curious to try it. Earlier today, I noticed the Switch version was on sale on the eShop for about $2, so I decided to give it a go.
The 1st game is still my absolute favorite in the series & one of my favorite RPG's of all time! It's honestly crazy how much I loved it even though I never played it as a kid. It somehow eluded me as did the Master System in general.
& wow, I can only imagine how much I would have loved this game had I been able to experience it as a young kid, back when I was first experiencing the early Dragon Quest games! Those games started my love for RPG's & this game would have gone a long way to solidify that for me.
@@GTV-Japan If you got to enjoy this back when it 1st came out then I truly envy you! That must have been one hell of an experience! Hell, just the 1st Dragon Warrior blew my mind back then... This game would have blown it right out the back of my skull!
@@GTV-Japan Lol that's amazing. Talk about some luck there! And yeah, I imagine it was pretty tough back then even for someone semi familiar w RPG's, which honestly was kind of impossible back then considering this was one of the first RPG's ever in the U.S. Seriously, it's just insane to think about how amazing this game is & yet is one of the firsts of it's kind. That crew they had working on this game are absolute legends! But yah, it was a tough game no question, considering there were no guides, no internet, nothing like that. Just a controller & some graph paper.
Great video! I loved it. You did another excellent job celebrating this game that I played so long ago and that has left an unforgettable impression on me. No matter how much time goes by, it always lingers in my mind. I often find myself thinking of it and inspired by its art style, music, worlds, and characters. I'm not sure I'd be who I am without games like Phantasy Star and Fantasy Zone II. They're so imaginative and I was fortunate to experience them at such a young, formative age, that I know they had a lot to do with stimulating my own creativity and visions of ideal worlds to escape to. And my mind ALWAYS associates this game with another Master System love of mine, Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord. I think these two games were my introduction to true RPG's. Also, it's cool you fit Zillion into this. I'm off to listen to the opening theme song, PURE STONE!
16:43 "Mentioning that the role playing game genre was red hot in Japan and to expect many best sellers from there to make their way overseas". *sad mother fan noises*
31:00 Funny that this guy looks like a Clone Trooper, 15 years before that'd be a thing. Anyway, great video! Looking forward to the next one about Phantasy Star 2.
I was so sad to hear of Rieko Kodama's passing, she was such a force to be reckoned with. Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia were such important games to me.
She was so talented and young. :(
Don't forget 7th Dragon. I don't really like rpgs but I always loved her output. I think her style is very similar to Gamearts but her Rpgs always had a far more mature tone & story. By mature, I don't mean violence or fan service. Rie's games were thematically dark, look at the endings for Phantasy Star 2 & the finale to the 7th Dragon series.
Skies of Arcadia.. The saving grace for my DC. What a great game
I feel the same way
I'm so bummed Reiko Kodama is gone. And yes, Sega seriously needs to bring out a new Phantasy Star single player game.
Do you know the cause of death?
@@PiroKUSS It's undisclosed but I think it may have been because of overwork.
@@ikagura Please, don't try to guess.
@@Mari_Izu It's a taboo subject there but crunching also exists in Japan. It's just that in the west we actually talk about it.
@@Mari_Izu Why not?
Phantasy Star was one of my favorite games.
A female protagonist was rare at that time, and Myau was cute.
her posthumous name contains Creation, Dream, Grace, and Sound.
I felt like I caught a glimpse of her thoughts.
Thank you for creating such a wonderful work.
Rest in peace, Rieko Kodama.
Phantasy star 1&2 were so ahead of it's time
I had no idea Rieko Kodama passed away. She gave us Phantasy Star. What a gem.
The world of gaming (equal parts art and science) lost a revolutionary artist and a pure creative force.
She is forever a true renegade (in a good way)
She died in May but the news was not made public at all. In the mega drive mini 2 there was a tribute to her inside some file and that’s how the news came out.
We won't forget the incredible adventures Kodama-san shared with us.
Thank you Sega and the team for providing the best games of my childhood and adulthood
What a perfect holiday gift. Thank you for the excellent tribue to Phantasy Star. Rest in peace, Rieko
It's called Christmas.
God bless Rieko Kodama and thank you for being a part of my childhood.
I cannot describe the feeling I get from watching GTV. The way you always do the most to submerge us in the actual vibe and culture surrounding the media you discuss is really incredible. The work and care you put into every video does not go unnoticed. Definitely one of my favorite content creators on the platform right now.
I second that!
So true, only GTV could fill you in on the Japan choose your own adventure phantasy Star Novel
I too am so happy to see such an excellent work (even to the point of showing us a quasi cameo of Myau in Zillion)
Man, 35 years that's unbielievable
Thanks I appreciate that! I hope I never let you down 🐱
When I first watched zillion and saw that I was freaking out! I probably said woah more than Joey Lawrence did on Sonic 2sDay!
RIP Fenix Rie. Your legacy will live on through your works and the fans who enjoy them.
Rest in Peace, Phoenix Rie. You will rise again one day. 👼🕊
Phantasy Star 1 really surprised me by how fun and innovative it was. Definitely one of the best Sega games out there. Great video as always!
RIP Reiko Kodama and thanks to everyone for making the game what it was. I certainly won’t forget the impact this series made on my life.
RIP Rieko Kodama. I remember seeing your name/nickname in the credits many Master System games I enjoyed as a child. I felt as if you and the crew were hanging out with this lonely kid. To enjoy all your hard work was an immense pleasure. Thank you.
Phantasy Star is my favorite RPG. The plot, music, presentation, graphics... I still play it 35 years later.
(edit) the ending brought me to tears.
I still love this game. The copy I would borrow from a friend had a failed internal battery, so we had to keep the Master System on the whole time we played it.
Wow! Imagine the light bill!!
There's some qol improvements on modern consoles....or the Gameboy Advance version 👍👍
Oh man that epilogue was beautiful
Phantasy Star is the 2nd best RPG-Series of all time. It´s only beaten by the Ys series from Falcom. But i was shocked to hear that a SEGA legend has already gone in this young age.
Rest In Peace Rieko Kodama.
"Phoenix Rie", that is an appropriated name once after you play any game that she was involved and put her passion on it, in some way it's bring her back. The best way to celebrate and pay tribute for these great creative minds of the gaming sphere is playing them games, remembering they achievements, the shortcomings they had to face it and how all of them helped to built so many memories around the world!
Thanks for such great and well researched video, GTV! man!!! xD
.
P.S.: Also, one of the best things about any Master System related news, info or trivia its know how Brazil (thanks to the TecToy) was a big part of the gaming world back then. Before to have to reach/wait for fan-translation projects to catch the wind again, and have games in Portuguese language.
Thanks for the great tribute to Kodama-san. In Interviews she would always refer to Phantasy Star as her game and her favorite. I always hoped Sega would give her a blank cheque to make a 5th.
This is so cool to watch, a piece of history.
Thanks and enjoy!
Phantasy Star is my favorite game of all time and your content is ALWAYS A+. To get this just before Christmas is the best present ever. That tribute to Reiko was touching and beautiful. Thank you so much for putting this together. I was able to track down a translated pdf of the Tales of Alisia so this will be my Christmas reading over the holidays, thanks for all the research there were quite a few releases I didn't know about. Merry Christmas!
Someone translated that?! Wow! Where’d you find that? I think many would like to read that. Thanks for the support and merry Christmas too!
I’m sorry I don’t always comment how amazing your channel quality is and how perfect your topics are. Thank you.
Don’t be sorry! Thanks for watching 🐱🐱
A good legacy can last forever. Her legacy will never be forgotten as long as games and our civilization exists!
True
Great video, 35 years later and I'm still learning new things about the game.
The bait and switch about representation at the end gave me a good chuckle. If I ever made an RPG I would go out of my way to include a cat.
I always thought that was a brilliant idea! He’s a cat! He needs no swords but can upgrade his claws and fur! And don’t forget he is crucial to the quest because you need him to fly to the sky castle
DUDE! I've been binging your PS videos over the last few days and the you drop THIS? MERRY CHRISTMAS \O\
Also, RIP to Ms.Rieko :{ < / 3
Great! Enjoy the early present 🎁 merry Christmas 🎄
My big brother bought me this game in 1988. I had no idea what it was but I played this game every day for months. It became my favorite game. It was extremely impressive and. But as long as you keep grinding you can get stronger and stronger to the point where the hard enemies become child's Play. And every time a new remake of this game comes out I play it. Those dungeons were jaw-dropping for 13-year-old me. Considering I was the only kid in the neighborhood that had a Sega Master system. I was stuck with mastering this game because I couldn't borrow games from anybody else. But I loved every minute of it.
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing 🐱🐱
I really appreciate the research with magazine articles and reviews of the time. The context is fascinating.
My favorite line is “no tedious wondering around” yeah right!
This was a great retrospective and loving tribute to Rieko "Phoenix Rie" Kodama.
Thanks Mike! Merry Christmas 🎄
@@GTV-Japan Likewise.
Lady Rieko. ..*sob*.... She still lives in our memory. Good video.
My first dance with Alis and company was on the GBA, 15 years after its debut. Suddenly I was that little kid raised on a NES again, blown the hell away, hunched under a lamp for a week. Many years later I got an actual Master System, and immediately got a complete copy of Phantasy Star to go with it.
Thanks for sharing your story 💫
I played this so much that, to me, the Algol System and it’s culture are real and exist somewhere in the cosmos.
Thank you TecToy for bringing this masterpiece translated to Brazil.
Your Phantasy Star videos are the best out there. Thank you for your dedication.
Yessss!! It's finally here! commenting before I watch the video only to comment my excitement only to comment again after I'm done to express how much I enjoyed it. :)
Thank you for the video. This was the game that got me back into video games, got me into RPGs, and got me started on a career in the video game industry.😊
You could not ask for more!🐱🐱
Great video! Watched with my phantasy star obsessed seven year old before bedtime. We even loved the commercial breaks! We kept thinking it was over and would say “awhhh” then “yesss!” When you’d come back for another segment
That’s great to hear! I used to say “when we come back” but so many kids would complain that you can’t say that on UA-cam because it’s not a tv show! Doh
The 30th anniversary video was my first video from this channel looking back. Though I wasn't there when it came out, just binged that whole series earlier THIS year lol. But anywho, happy it brought me to a great channel, happy to always learn more history about a great series, and nothing but love for Kodama for not just Phantasy Star but all her other accomplishments with Sega including Skies of Arcadia, helping to bring Sonic himself to life, I'm pretty sure she also worked on Golden Axe in some way etc. All things i love and grand factors in my Sega fan status, will miss her but appreciate the legacy she left while here.
You’ve earned a 5 year badge!! 🌟 it is a shame Rie is gone, from all the interviews from her and others from Sega, it feels like they were all very close and helped each others games a lot even uncredited.
Q: Who designed Myau?
Oh, man! Wasn't it the same designer as *Tails?*
A: Takako Kawaguchi.
Well, you see when a mommy Myau and a daddy Myau loves each other very much; they come together...
Could you do a video on Magic Knight Rayearth? You can't just tease us like that. That's a Dark-Force move.
@@analogmoz No, Yasushi Yamaguchi designed Tails, but he said he was inspired by Myau when doing so.
Thank you so much for doing this series
You’re welcome 🌟🌟🌟
@@GTV-Japan
Hooray, GTV didn't forget about PHANTASY STAR and it's great! This video made my day!
Thanks for bringing us up to speed on how Sega became Sega in the first few minutes...that was awesome! Thanks @GTV
It’s my constant rebuttal to those “why it failed” videos you see a lot. They don’t see the big picture and just look at some wiki sales data that’s always skewed because of the long life of the FC and/or Gameboy. And I will stand by my statement to the death that gift box cantaloupe cost much more than any video game! Thanks for watching as always!!🐱
@@GTV-Japan 100 percent agree. It's not simply black and white and only focus on one point of Sega, Nintendo, or any other gaming company. So definitely appreciate the full view that you offer...
Let’s not forget that those “failed” games brought people entertainment and joy. They provided a livelihood for those who made them and those benefits then made their way into contributing to society. So I’d say 700,000 mark 3s in 2 years did a lot of good!
Man... Phantasy Star is so nostalgic to me. It was the first game I ever played. I used to play with my father for hours. Love it wholeheartedly. It would be so cool to see it get a modern remake like Trials of Mana got. Damn. I would play the shit out of it.
That’s great to hear it was your first game!! Modern remake? I’m down but I don’t expect it 😢
Merry Christmas 🎄!!
The episode on the series' 30th anniversary was my intro to this channel a couple years ago. I was hoping you'd come back and give the first entry its own dedicated look.
For the Dezorians, I always thought they looked more like the Duros from Star Wars, which were seen as far back as A New Hope.
Also, thank you for the tribute to Rieko. She was an amazing creator.
Indeed, didn't see it until you wrote your message.
Although to me they look like a drawing of some characters in manga that have very pronounced or exagerated Asian traits when instead of drawing slit eyes, japanese artist just draw a line (countrary to Duros that have big yellow eyes).
Seeing Raja for instance I could totally picture an old japanese actor playing the role (just with voldemor make up on the nose).
Of course I always wanted to. Sorry it took so long! 🐱
Helluva existential curveball at the end there 😭
If one person heeds the call and makes the world better from it!
Huge phantasy star fan since I was kid. Had it when it came out and played it and PSII with my dad. He would play and I would draw the maps and be the navigator. Very fond memories and love the games. Learned a few new things with this video so thank you for the nice retrospective.
That’s great! Thanks for sharing your story
I absolutely adore this series and this title is one of my favorites, when I saw you were doing a deep dive I knew it was going to be the high light of a very rough holiday season for me. So many great memories; from my friend's family playing it together and treating it deadly seriously (they still have the hand drawn dungeon maps they drew and a notebook to keep track of everything done during a play session) to the few years I was unemployed after high school playing each game of the series from top to bottom. Amazing work as usual and a giant boost to my mood.
I’m glad to give you just what you needed! Merry Christmas 🎄
And on a side note after finishing the video, main comment was made about halfway through when I was interrupted preparing dinner, that epilogue really got to me. My mother passed away last week, expected but far faster than anyone expected, and I'm still processing a lot. So much of what was said rings true and touched me. Thank you.
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. ❤️
I can’t wait until I see your review of Phantasy Star IV!!!
Great series and channel you have here! Reviews are thorough, and you always know about a few gems that I don’t!
Thank you GTV for preserving the games of my childhood!!😊
You got it! 23 will be the year of ps4!
Beautiful and somber ending, my friend. And wonderful video, as always!
The bad thing about this vídeo is that it ends. Thanks for Making it!!
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for watching and happy new year
I was sure Rieko Kodama was going to get to develop at least one more console RPG, but alas, that day will never come now. She certainly deserved it, especially now when her work wouldn't be limited to largely unpopular hardware. I'm glad she won a Game Developers Choice lifetime achievement award a few years ago, so at least someone recognized her contributions to gaming before it was too late.
I don't know how much you follow Sega in the modern era, but with Toshihiro Nagoshi having left Sega last year, I believe all the talent from their golden age is now gone from the company. And some are gone from this world. It really makes me sad. Your epilogue was wonderful.
I swear I wrote a comment las Sunday I had my Gtv Marathon. But, again wanted to thank you for your videos and small details you always add on them (one of them in this one is that in the end, all the characters turn front when they walk in front of one picture). Keep up the amazing work, already following you on Odyseey. Another thing I enjoy a lot of your videos, is that when least expected, a awesome joke or a life lesson is added. Lest all live live enjoying what we do, and please continue with your videos. People do enjoy them a lot.
I’ll check the spam filter but if you just forgot that’s ok! Enjoy the weekend!
Yet again you've created the definitive documentary of a Phantasy Star game. This game made me very jealous as a NES owner when I went to a friend's house and played this game along with Shinobi. If you had the right games for it, the SMS was an awesome console to own!
I'm so glad you talked about the improved audio in Japan, because sadly a lot of popular channels here actually recommend the terrible American audio. Luckily, the magazine article that you show at the 18:45 point illustrates what critics and fans thought of the console's sound at the time, as 51% is a very low mark for this excellently composed soundtrack. That low score brought the game's overall score down to 75%, and even the revised 89% is low for what I easily consider the game of the year.
The non-Japan SMS had a sound chip that was so inferior to the one in the NES that gamers in America couldn't help but immediately be put off by the shrill audio in so many of Sega's games. I mean, the chip that sounded like the Atari 5200, which was from the previous console generation: that's indefensible. You could make a good soundtrack on that chip, but it took a lot of time and effort, and the Phantasy Star team was obviously pressed for time because the OST sounded pretty bad. (For a pretty good OST, listen to Golden Axe Warrior, which wisely stays away from very high notes and just sounds like they put more time into making it.)
I think sound was a major factor in Sega's failure to compete better on the 8-bit scene in North America. It's the same mistake Atari made when they put a low-quality sound chip in the Atari 7800. How can you compete with the NES when half your games sound miserable? I can understand people having nostalgia and thus turning a blind eye, but the Motavia theme in its North American version sounds like scratching a chalkboard, whereas the FM Sound version is pure bliss.
Luckily, today we can all realize how great Sega's 8-bit games were, and we can experience this game the way spoiled Japanese gamers of the eighties did!
Hey my good friend! Thanks for coming back! I’d also have to add that along with the inferior sound which is very nigh pitched and grating it repeats a lot! So it probably made those reviewers crazy too! Happy new year and here’s to a great 23!
What a fantastic video! I've been watching your videos on my TV lately, so I've been forgetting to leave a comment after, but I had to drop everything to at least write a comment on my phone this time. I had never seen Korean Phantasy Star before! That blew my mind and it was so cool to read the title in Hangul. Thank you as always for your wonderful insights and impeccable editing.
There’s also a special meseta symbol in the game. Like an M with two lines through it!
Thanks for your time on this video! Phantasy Star introduced me to rpgs when I was little ( I was 11 I think at that time, 33 years ago) and it's my only genre since that time because of the impact I got playing it at that moment, after finishing Phantasy star I became obsessed with rpgs, then Ys and some other sms rpgs came around and then new consoles and new rpg eras, but Phantasy Star will always remain as the ONE rpg of my life.
Awesome glad to hear it! Thanks for watching 🐱🐱🐱🐱
@@GTV-Japan Waiting for your PSIV video, sure it's going to be quality time for an amazing game :D
I really want to go above and beyond. I’ll be investing some serious money and time into it for sure. Plan it to be the big year end finale for 23!
Sweet! Another great series of games that I did not really get to play much (except for years later thru emulation). Thanks for this! I really enjoy these! Wooooo!
That was an amazing memory lane trip & a bittersweet ending. Thank you & subscribed.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Happy new year!
Thanks for this video, especially the thoughtful, nearly philosophical ending.
You always put so much effort into these videos and they're awesome to watch. Nice seeing you so close to 50k subs. I remember the early days and amazing to see your channel grow. :)
Hey! Nice to see ya back! Thanks for the support! Yes, 50k is coming soon. Halfway to the play button!🐱
It's very sad to hear of Rieko's passing. R.I.P Rieko! You were an awesome woman. Very awesome job on this video dude! I'm a huge fan of the Phantasy Star series. I love the justice you brought to Phantasy Star. I will have to do another play through of Phantasy Star 1 again. Thanks man. Keep up the good work! You earned yourself a subscriber!
Thanks! I’ll be working on the big PS4 video later this year. See ya there
This was really excellent and thorough, thanks for putting it together. I remember getting the game when it first came out - in fact I remember some of the same ads and previews you featured before it was released. Been a fan ever since and yet I learned a ton from this video that I never knew before!
Also, you might be interested to know that my dad was the creative director for the US Master System marketing campaign (Tonka was one of his key clients) and he wrote many of their commercials - including the one you featured with Stephen Dorff. So I had a lot of SEGA exposure as a kid ;)
That’s awesome! I’m sure he saw a lot of cool stuff in that time!
I started the franchise with PSO2, and I watched because I was interested in the history of the whole PS series. It's amazing to see how so many themes and names are carried over, no matter by name or spirit in future games. Like how Dark Falz is the big bad, explorable worlds (plains/forest, desert, ice lands, Myau (PS) and Nyau (PSO2), techniques and more. Even Ep 5 of pso2 is a homage to the original PS, especially the characters Lutz and Alis (and her role as the sword maiden!)
I've really got to thank the original team for making PS a thing which led to PSO2 and gave me weeks of entertainment.
This is a very well put video, I sat through the whole thing and enjoyed every minute of it.
I never got into pso much but I do appreciate how they don’t ignore their roots fully
I really enjoyed this retrospective video on Phantasy Star, I’ll have to catch up on your videos as I’m not getting the notifications from UA-cam. I played the Sega age’s version of this a few years ago on the Switch, for the first time with FM sound that took the game to the next level for me. It was amazing. Happy New year mate 🎉
Hey old friend! Good to see you’re still hanging in there! You might like the video I did on sonic 2sday if you didn’t see that yet. Have a good new year! It all starts tomorrow 😀
Now we have a really amazing version with a built in map and complete item list on the Switch.
Thank the Lord!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Love this game, best 8bit rpg for me. Looking forward to when the time comes and you do Phantasy Star 4. Now there is my all time favorite and for me best rpg to ever be.
Also I seem to be one of the few dorks that prefers Phantasy Star without the FM sound chip lol.
I prefer it too!
Thank you Phoenix Rie.
Aw man you had me welling up a bit near the end there. Your documentaries on these subjects from my childhood bring an absolute smile to my face and are gifts beyond compare. The obscure subjects you dive into that I didnt grow up with? Those are newfound treasures of the heart.
I will keep saying it but you are by far the most consistent and high quality creators out here.
Thank you so much for all you do
🙏
Thanks JJ! I appreciate that! Take care and have a good Christmas and new year🐱
@@GTV-Japan Right back atcha~
I wasn't aware of this video, holy cow. I came looking to rewatch the 30 years retrospective and got myself another little treat. I'm planning on making a sort of "The Phantasy Star Experience" video where I play through the whole game and abridge it to show the highlights and all the information provided by your videos is unvauable. I'm so looking foward to that Phantasy Star IV 30 year anniversary retrospective no matter how long it takes, IMO that's the game that got the more cut content and developing hiccups from the entire bunch.
Thanks a lot for everything, I hope everything goes well for all the staff of GTV Japan.
Hey all right! I hope to see ya again soon for ps4!
Thank you so much for making this vid!!! LOVE the Phantasy Star series ever since I started with PS2 - and I thought I was a hardcore fan, but you've introduced me to the Sega Players Enjoy Club Manga! Now to search for that and complete my fandom!
Hey I’m glad you liked it! All the spec issues are on Sega retro dot org
Ill be catching up on all my missed GTV videos this Christmas break. What a great gift!
Merry Christmas 🎄
Another phantastic video thank you! RIP Reiko 💔
Excellent, as per usual. To this day, I've never played a Phantasy Star game, but I LOVE the story behind this game's development and everything that goes with it. Another gem. Well done!
Hey Wally!! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year’s Day! Looking forward to your next vid. I hope to see the full series someday. Take care and see ya again 🌟🌟
@@GTV-Japan Same to you! All the best!
I finished SEGA AGES Phantasy Star on the Switch at the end of the year last year. It was the first game of its time that I've ever beaten. And the first game I played where I felt as if I earned the end credits. I'll play it again soon in order to celebrate 35 years, and to celebrate the life of Rieko Kodama.
Great to hear! Good luck next time
I remember when I have played Phantasy Star for the first time in January, 1992. I had read in some videogame specialized magazines in Brazil about the portuguese version of a game that could last some months and I was very anxious to play. Really this is the most important game I've ever played!
Awesome story! Great to hear it⭐️
Best rpg ever! I loved it since first time I'd played. And it was the first translated game on sega master system. Perfect!
This is a top 10 game of all time for me right up there with the original Zelda, SMB3 and Street Fighter 2
Edit RIP and thank you.
Phantasy Star II was my intro to RPGs back in high school, and it got me hooked on the genre. Never played PS1. Even so, I appreciate it for being a classic, an originator and the precursor to a game I'll always remember.
The art and music of this game is legendary 🤘
Dungeon 2! Best BGM
Regarding Myau's legacy and influence, there's also a winged cat in Lunar: The Silver Star (a later RPG for Sega CD and PSX) named Nall, who is not a playable character but a companion who follows Alex around for the entire game.
Reiko told me she loved star wars and it was part of her inspiration
Oh? She did?!
@@GTV-Japan I met her a couple of times, interviewed her once long ago. She was well into stuff like LOTR and Star Wars, watched F1 and premier league football. She is missed.
Nice!
Thank you again for another great upload, merry christmas and a happy new year!
Merry Christmas 🎄!!!
Thanks for the memories, Rieko "Fenix Rie" Kodama. 👼
Always a joy watching your videos! Happy Holidays!
Thank you for watching always 🐱
Also, your content is awesome, bud! Writing, delivery, as well as presentation are top-notch.
Glad you like them! I appreciate the support!
I have never played this game previously, but 4 hours in now with my 10 year old son. We are both enjoying it together on ps2 (Phantasy star collection) with Sony crt tv. Ty for the mini documentary. I can't get into modern gaming and find myself returning to my childhood systems. Cheers
Awesome! Enjoy the time with him! It’s also the best version because you skip a lot of level grinding with 8x experience boost!
A new GTV video? Christmas came early this year. Thanks for another great one. Looking forward to 2023.
Is Phantasy Star a Christmas movie? Of course! It makes every day feel like Christmas!
Yeah, the time to play these games just doesn’t exist anymore. Great Stuff, as always!
It sure doesn’t! Thanks for the support as always 🐱🐱
Rieko is amazing for all her contributions to gaming. 🥰Woman's touch is everything, I wish to be as epic one day
Good luck to you
It's a shame the US master system didn't ship with the FM synth module included. It really is night and day when you hear the smooth instrumentals compared to our often jarring and harsh arrangements.
Amazing video, as always!!!
That's why it got 51% for sound in that British mag! No FM synth!
I agree! I’d also say that as an RPG the game is long and the music repeats over and over which probably lowered the score too
@@GTV-Japan for me the music in the original phantasy star never felt monotonous since i loved the songs so much! My kid is playing through ps2 now and i cant tell you how many times we both get exhausted from hearing the same short song looped, its all subjective i suppose.
Yeah I think it is. But from perspective of a review I could see how repeating music gets a lower score
Another day in the office. Another GREAT video.
Enjoy the day!🍺🍺🍺🐱
i truly miss this series of games, and would love to have another, non online, installment
I would like that too but what would it be? The original staff is gone and who would make the new one? It’s my main fear.
One of my all time favorites. Real shame how far Yuji Naka has fallen as of late, though.
Shame about Naka but strangely I'm relieved it wasn't something worse.
Yuji Naka seem to have been a very talented programmer whose ability on early consoles made him find solution where others couldn't.
Maybe it is common but not being as good a developper as you used to be when the technology got to evolve so fast at that time, he might have been the best working in a team and when he went further after his sonic success, he might not have function so well as a lead.
It is a very difficult thing to lead a team and a project no matter how intelligent, and I know he had some internal spat with his colleagues and superior but unfortunatelly that is also a competence team leader have to have (communication to subalterns as well as with superiors)
Personally I don’t think it’s anything offensive, why can’t we profit from that? But it does basically end his career. And since he’s almost 60 he could have just retired anyway. Time will tell.
happy 35th anniversary phantasy star!!! :3
Oh yeah! Best jrpg comprehensives on UA-cam right here.
Wow this is my first experience with this channel. Totally subscribed lol
Awesome! If you like me this one I have 140 others so check out what you’re interested in and tell me your opinions 🌟🌟🌟
@@GTV-Japan bingeing the playlist right now. 😊 Thanks, been needing new gaming material.
Awesome! Enjoy
I've never played this series before (I grew up with Nintendo, not Sega), but i am an old school RPG fan, and was kinda curious to try it. Earlier today, I noticed the Switch version was on sale on the eShop for about $2, so I decided to give it a go.
$2!! The best deal you’ll ever get
The 1st game is still my absolute favorite in the series & one of my favorite RPG's of all time! It's honestly crazy how much I loved it even though I never played it as a kid. It somehow eluded me as did the Master System in general.
& wow, I can only imagine how much I would have loved this game had I been able to experience it as a young kid, back when I was first experiencing the early Dragon Quest games! Those games started my love for RPG's & this game would have gone a long way to solidify that for me.
Getting up early on Saturday to level grind was something I looked forward to back then!
@@GTV-Japan If you got to enjoy this back when it 1st came out then I truly envy you! That must have been one hell of an experience!
Hell, just the 1st Dragon Warrior blew my mind back then... This game would have blown it right out the back of my skull!
A neighbor gave it to me. He said it was too hard
@@GTV-Japan Lol that's amazing. Talk about some luck there! And yeah, I imagine it was pretty tough back then even for someone semi familiar w RPG's, which honestly was kind of impossible back then considering this was one of the first RPG's ever in the U.S.
Seriously, it's just insane to think about how amazing this game is & yet is one of the firsts of it's kind. That crew they had working on this game are absolute legends!
But yah, it was a tough game no question, considering there were no guides, no internet, nothing like that. Just a controller & some graph paper.
Such a great video. And that ending...Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Great video! I loved it. You did another excellent job celebrating this game that I played so long ago and that has left an unforgettable impression on me. No matter how much time goes by, it always lingers in my mind. I often find myself thinking of it and inspired by its art style, music, worlds, and characters. I'm not sure I'd be who I am without games like Phantasy Star and Fantasy Zone II. They're so imaginative and I was fortunate to experience them at such a young, formative age, that I know they had a lot to do with stimulating my own creativity and visions of ideal worlds to escape to. And my mind ALWAYS associates this game with another Master System love of mine, Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord. I think these two games were my introduction to true RPG's. Also, it's cool you fit Zillion into this. I'm off to listen to the opening theme song, PURE STONE!
Thanks Neil, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Don’t forget to give Push and Rock Candy a spin too!
Kismet I would say! As my copy of Phantasy Star soundtrack Vinyl record was delivered today! ❤
Serendipity!
16:43 "Mentioning that the role playing game genre was red hot in Japan and to expect many best sellers from there to make their way overseas".
*sad mother fan noises*
31:00 Funny that this guy looks like a Clone Trooper, 15 years before that'd be a thing. Anyway, great video! Looking forward to the next one about Phantasy Star 2.
I made that one ages ago! So go look it up now and enjoy!