Sega Remakes Phantasy Star, More For PS2

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamespot story that indicates Sega's remakes of Phantasy Star, Fantasy Zone, and Monaco GP will be available for Playstation 2 this August in Japan. According to the article, "Phantasy Star: Generation 1 will feature enhanced graphics and sound, cover artwork done by members of Sonic Team, and a special making-of booklet. Fantasy Zone and Monaco GP will feature 3D elements as well as a making-of booklet." No word on a US release, or, indeed, on the Slashdot Games' most-wanted remake, a next-gen conversion of Power Drift.

Comments

sega is dying?

[larry bagina]

That may be a bad sign, if all they do is remake classic games. I like nostalgia, everybody does (look at the VW beetle... people buy them).

But when a company rns out of fresh ideas and starts redoing their games, you know it's the end of the line. Look at Sierra. I loed Kings Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. But when their product lines consisted of half a dozen games that only ran under windows 3, remakes of their old games, and boxed sets of their old games running under DOS, the handwriting was on the wall.

Re:sega is dying?

[sebi]

Look at Sierra. I loed Kings Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. But when their product lines consisted of half a dozen games that only ran under windows 3, remakes of their old games, and boxed sets of their old games running under DOS, the handwriting was on the wall.

I'm not sure I get your point. Sierra still is very much around. Okay, they don't develop any games under that name (although two in-house studios owned by them do), but they publish some of the bigger names out there (Half-Life, Tribes) and, with Half Life 2, have one of the most anticipated PC games. With that out of the way I must say, that Sega better put a lot of effort into the remake of Phantasy Star. A game originating on the Master System is extremely simplistic by today's standards.

This really pisses me off

[Tim_F]

Game companies are sitting on a gold mine of old games. People look at their past console experiences through gold coloured glasses. Phantasy Star/Monaco/Fantasy Zone, those were gold for original Master System. Sega, to prevent losing funds on these titles because they are basically abandonware, decides to rerelease them individual. The only extra content is a glorified emulator so that these games are playable on the new hardware. Listen up folks, compalin to Sega, don't purchase these. The amount of revenue Sega is making off of these barely justifies the cost that they are expending on them. Hold out for the Phanasy Collection or the Alex Kidd Collection. Let Sega know that you want your money worth.

Re:This really pisses me off

[ActiveSX]

Well, these aren't going to be just roms and emulators stuck on a cd. It's more like a remake of a movie. Same script, usually not as good as the original, but cool modern special effects.

Phantasy Star 1

[Pilferer]

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but Sega is doing a Phantasy Star 1 remake.

Check out the screenshots..

I'm a huge Phantasy Star nerd (I own the Japanese PS1 remake for Mega Drive! Shoot me.), so I guess I'm buying a playstation 2 if this thing ever comes to the states.

Sega realised it's true talent?

[PirateDave -)]

Sega's games have always been much better than their consoles.

Perhaps they've realised this and are using a release of a classic game to a non-sega console as a little more of publicity teaser. An indication of what's to come, so to speak.

Phantasy Star Series

[Matrix272]

I never played Phantasy Star 1 or 2, but I bought 3, and to this day, it's one of my all-time favorite RPG's. You started with 1 person, played through about 1/4 - 1/3 of the game, then picked a wife from the women in your party, had a child, then played the kid (after he grew up a bit) through another 1/4 - 1/3 of the game... then did the same thing over again. There were 7 possible lead-characters with 4 possible endings, depending on which lead character you were. I played through it for 3 of them, but never got around to the fourth.

One of the other things I liked about it was the story. I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't played it, but in the third generation (after you get married and have kids twice), you realize that your "world" isn't at all what you thought it was... so afterwards, you play through it again to see if it all fits, and yes, it does.

I would absolutely LOVE it if they made a remake of Phantasy Star 3 for the PS2 (or even PS3, whenever it comes out)... but they'd have to put a lot of time and effort into it... not one of those Final Fantasy "remakes" that turns out to be a cinematic opening and a cinematic closing, with the same graphics, sounds, badly-translated dialogue, etc. in between. Then again, I'd also love to see a Metal Gear 1 and 2 (not Solid) remake...