News Article

EU VC Release - 18th April - Sega Week - Phantasy Star III

Posted Fri, 18 Apr 2008 by Marcel Van Duyn

Phantasy Star III - If you just want a good RPG, we recommend waiting for the upcoming Phantasy Star IV, which is sublime.

Phantasy Star III - If you just want a good RPG, we recommend waiting for the upcoming Phantasy Star IV, which is sublime.

After the 4-game blowout last week, some Europeans wondered if Nintendo of Europe had somehow completely turned around and would start to throw out multiple games every week from now on. This dream has been quickly shattered, because it's just one game again this week.

Apparently not considering the two Master System games last week as a true "Sega Week", Sega has now released a new Mega Drive game. Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom is the sequel to Phantasy Star II, also available on VC, but unfortunately for those of you who liked the second game, it's not quite as good. The game just feels rather bland compared to it's famous predecessor, which disappointed fans many years ago and no doubt will do so again this time.

If you're a die-hard Phantasy Star fan you might find the game worth picking up, otherwise you'll most likely find it to be rather mediocre. On the plus side though, it's another RPG - The VC certainly needs every one it can get!

In completely unrelated news, Germany's USK today rated Nebulus and World Games on the Commodore 64, so they should be coming to the VC soon (Next week, perhaps?).

Tags: Virtual Console, EU releases, Mega Drive.

Game Screenshots

User Comments

Shortay

1. Shortay United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 00:25 BST

It's nice to see another RPG, but I think I'll just wait for Phantasy Star IV, as it's regarded as the best. Since we got 4 games last week I was hoping for a return to form (quantity wise), but no such luck.

KhaoShar

2. KhaoShar Germany 18 Apr 2008, 00:35 BST

Actually, after beeing burried under new games last week I kind of expected something like this. I did not expect PSIII of all games, though. Let me say this before the big whining starts: this is not a bad game in itself, i don't want this "worst game in the series" stuff to start again like it was with Kirby crystal shards several weeks ago.

Yes, other PS games are better. Plus, I wonder why SEGA does not use the new presence of SMS to push in part one. Still, I recommend it- but perhaps you should play this before any other PS, so you don't get to spoiled to enjoy this :P Then again I sure as hell won't spend my money on this cuz I already own it in two compilations O:)

I think Nintendo is playing a game of deception with us- I guess they hope that this seemingly random release scedule confuses us so we forget to say "duh, just one game again this week"...

KoKoO_Psy

3. KoKoO_Psy Sweden 18 Apr 2008, 00:41 BST

aw, where is my Cho Aniki, we wants...

Jogurt the Yogurt

4. Jogurt the Yogurt Canada 18 Apr 2008, 00:57 BST

This is a good release, if only because it means PSIV is one step closer to being released. Hraey!

Rexy

5. Rexy United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 01:09 BST

Ok, for the record, Kirby 64 was NOT the worst game in the Kirby series. That title is best reserved for Squeak Squad and its heavily piss-easy status to it. People have overlooked that so bad :(

Similarly, people are going to overlook Phantasy Star 3 as well. Myself, having experienced it through emulation a few years back (while still yet needing to experience the other prior titles in the series), I actually found it to be good fun to mess around with and so forth. It'll certainly help my drought of Mega Drive games on my VC, I give you that now.

Kawaiipikachu

6. Kawaiipikachu Australia 18 Apr 2008, 01:52 BST

You europeans got one game as well not just Australia .
I just wait for the C64 to be released here in Australia .

TBoneTony

7. TBoneTony Australia 18 Apr 2008, 02:56 BST

I want some RPGs of the Square-Enix type.

I think we have been waiting for those ones for a long time now.

jg233

8. jg233 United States 18 Apr 2008, 03:37 BST

All I gotta say... is BLECH!

AlexSays

9. AlexSays United States 18 Apr 2008, 04:01 BST

4 games 1 week,
and 1 game the next week?
there's no method for Nintendo's madness.

Edwin

10. Edwin United States 18 Apr 2008, 04:22 BST

Still no Super Mario Kart. Nintendo only has two weeks left if they want to do any sort of tie-in with the release of the Wii version.

Sharecrow

11. Sharecrow United States 18 Apr 2008, 05:20 BST

Cool....

DiscoBoy

12. DiscoBoy Sweden 18 Apr 2008, 07:08 BST

I think I'm the only one on this planet that believed that this game was an improvement over PS II...
I really enjoyed the graphics and all the different environments you got to see. The generations-feature was exciting and story ok.
It's quite short though, even if you run through all generations (given you left save-points before a branch).

So... thank you N for putting this up on VC :-)

GamerWho

13. GamerWho United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 07:53 BST

Where's the love?

alvieao

14. alvieao United States 18 Apr 2008, 08:01 BST

The worst game of all Phantasy Star games. I can't believe this game had to land here. Oh well. Some may have played it on Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Collection (PS2/PSP) or on Phantasy Star Collection for GBA, but many Wii players will have a straight port on VC. (To Damo and Adamant: I have edited my comment in response...)

Damo

15. Damo United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 08:23 BST

alvieao - because not everyone owns a PS2/PSP, perhaps?

Ragnor

16. Ragnor New Zealand 18 Apr 2008, 10:07 BST

...why do I even bother checking every week to see what releases come out? It's always a single game I'm not interested in. Only exception was last week, with two games I used to own on SMS

Timmy

17. Timmy Australia 18 Apr 2008, 10:18 BST

stuff it ill wait for rondo of blood, ssb, metal slug, super mario all stars and world, super mario kart, mario rpg and kirby superstar

That Guy from Faxanadu

18. That Guy from Faxanadu Sweden 18 Apr 2008, 10:29 BST

Yeah, new RPG. I have it on GBA and PS2 though. Nebulus could be fun, good to hear new titles will keep coming for C64 too.

Adamant

19. Adamant Norway 18 Apr 2008, 10:35 BST

"alvieao - because not everyone owns a PS2/PSP, perhaps?"

Well, it's on Phantasy Star Collection on the GBA, too.

Bring on PS4, though.

Tony

20. Tony United States 18 Apr 2008, 11:02 BST

I have to say, I really like the box art cover on the Phantasy star games

DEMON212

21. DEMON212 United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 11:08 BST

Well, it's better than my prediction of 1 NES game. Next week I think we'll see 2 Neo games (Samurai Showdown & 1 of the Final Fight clones, probably Ninja Combat) and a SNES (Axelay).

Although that is 2 beat 'em ups, so maybe Beetle Adventure Racing to clone last months release.

Kelvin

22. Kelvin United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 11:40 BST

Tony, yeah, the art is pretty good. Even the Master System original has a pretty good cover, a step up from the basic cartoon-on-grid design of most of the early games.

Tony

23. Tony United States 18 Apr 2008, 12:56 BST

It almost makes me wish the VC would have game box art with it. The ipod has a feature that allows album art, maybe Nintendo would also consider it.

RoninDennis

24. RoninDennis Netherlands 18 Apr 2008, 13:15 BST

Well, it was inevitable, really...

slangman

25. slangman United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 14:41 BST

1 game a week again boooo. Still at least its a decent game. Shame its the weakest game in the series though. This should have been released last week along with the Master System games to make it a proper Sega week

Bensei

26. Bensei Austria 18 Apr 2008, 19:23 BST

I hope next week we get a N64 game

Bristol Red

27. Bristol Red United Kingdom 18 Apr 2008, 21:15 BST

What a disappointing release. I was hoping for a good old beat 'em up game, especially given the US VC pre-release news. Double Dragon 2 would have been cool.

@ Tony, I agree, electronic artwork would be a nice addition to the VC, as would electronic versions of the user / instruction manuals that came with the original games. I'm sure it is feasible, especially given the price Nintendo charge for VC games!

ICEknight

28. ICEknight Spain 19 Apr 2008, 01:59 BST

Nebulus for C64? The Amiga version would be fine, but why bother releasing a quite inferior version?

Feisty

29. Feisty Sweden 20 Apr 2008, 10:43 BST

I long for the day they release the original Phantasy Star for SMS. I had so much fun with that game, too bad I lost the cartridge before I got the chance to beat the game.

That Guy from Faxanadu

30. That Guy from Faxanadu Sweden 22 Apr 2008, 18:10 BST

ICEknight: At this moment nothing indicates that an AMIGA emulator is on its way. I´m happy with any good C64 / AMIGA game released on the C64 VC. AMIGA is a beautiful dream, but still not reality.

Kelvin

31. Kelvin United Kingdom 23 Apr 2008, 19:25 BST

And really, there's very little difference between the Amiga and C64 versions of Nebulus. The gameplay is the same, and the graphics are largely identical, with some sharper sprites and some ugly backgrounds on the Amiga.

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