A classic Sega Master System RPG that is still widely recognized as one of the greatest video games ever made and whose series continues to this day with Phantasy Star Online (2001) for the Sega Dreamcast. Phantasy Star was nothing less than revolutionary for its time as it was unlike anything ever seen before on a home console system when it was first released on December 20, 1987 in Japan. This groundbreaking 8-bit game included multi-level 3-D dungeons(!), cities and villages full of memorable characters (complete with their own subplots), vast continents swarming with monsters, and hours upon hours of nonlinear gameplay, all multiplied by three whole planets, each with their own terrain types and indigenous life forms!

The Phantasy Star manual, which was probably among the thickest in its day, outlines the underlying story:

The time: Space Century 342. The place: the three planet Algol solar system located deep in the Andromeda galaxy.

Under the democratic rule of King Lassic, life was good as he provided everything his people could want. Space travel had been discovered 200 years before and deep space shuttles had allowed colonization of Motavia and Dezoris, the other worlds of the Algol Star System.

But slowly, over time, things began to change. It started with a new religion which was rumored to have come from another galaxy. The dark priests of this religion, never seen by any mortal, promised immortality to all who joined. You would live forever!

King Lassic was getting old. The idea of living forever appealed to him so he became the first to join. Then, he... changed. It started with the threatening suit of armor the priests made him. The armor looked evil and corrupt, and that's how Lassic began to rule his people. Outrageous taxes became a burden on everyone. Business on all three planets shut down and entire towns fell into decay. There was no way for the people to make any money.

As time passed and the people suffered, horrible creatures and monsters began to stalk all three worlds. When the dead came back to life, the people feared the worst and guessed the truth. Through black magic, Lassic had become an evil tyrant.

But where there is evil there is always good. Brave individuals began to rally in secret against Lassic. But his Robotcops were ruthless in hunting out these defenders of the people. One was Nero, a spaceport worker in Camineet, the central town on Palma. Long ago, his father had disappeared trying to learn Lassic's evil secrets. Now, the Robotcops had crushed Nero as well. Before he died, he passed on his short sword and his quest to his sister, Alis. He also told her to find a brave fighter named Odin.

Alis raised the sword to the sky and vowed that Nero's death would not go unavenged!

A bit of a personal aside: this game was the first RPG I ever played as a kid back in 1988 and I've had nothing but fond memories of it ever since. Phantasy Star was the Sega kid's measuring stick for all subsequent role playing games as, to me at least, it defined (and possibly still does define) the minimum level of complexity necessary for a respectable RPG. It cost just over $100 CAD (back when the Canadian dollar was relatively close in value to the U.S. dollar) and the cartridge came with an internal lithium battery pack for saving (which, incidentally, still hasn't run out last I checked). If you're a hardcore RPG fan, I would highly recommend that you to go download a Sega Master System emulator and play the game. It may not be as impressive as today's RPGs, but I think it will definitely surprise you considering how long ago it was created!

For everything you could possibly want to know about the Phantasy Star series, visit:

http://www.phantasy-star.net/