Phantasy Star II

Phantasy Star 2 is a direct sequel to the first game, set 1,000 years later, and is the first of the classic series for the Sega Genesis. Gone are the monotonous first-person dungeons ... and in their place are monotonous third-person mazes. Hey, at least they gave you a map in the box.

Unused Enemies
Much like its successor, all non-boss enemies are stored in groups of three recolors of each enemy.

VANLEADR
The second member of the VAN - AEROTANK group, VANLEADR, exists in the game's code, but isn't used in any formations. All data appears to be complete for this enemy. In terms of stats, it fits approximately between the two members of its group, fitting the usual pattern. Given that all data exists and its name was even translated, its lack of use was likely just an oversight.

Dummied-out groups
Among the name-tables, there is evidence that two groups of enemies were removed entirely at some point. However, unlike VANLEADR, no name data exists beyond a single letter. Group 1 appears after the LEECHER-FANG-PYTHON group, and consists of "S", "K", and "H". Group 2 appears after the PUG HIT-PUG BRAT-PUG KILL group, and all enemies are named "S". (The names shown in the screenshots are incorrect due to being from a hacked ROM.) While data and palettes exist, the graphics appear to have been removed at some point, and the graphics for the Ant enemy are shown instead in both cases with incorrect layout.

Unused text
All text is for the English version unless otherwise stated.

Something is rotten in the state of Mota! Neifirst is dead and the biomonsters have been destroyed, but why was a creature like Neifirst created in the first place? Who is behind all of this? This text at, complete with Hamlet reference, is stored with the Central Tower text. In the actual game, once the player returns to the Central Tower after the defeat of Neifirst the planet immediately begins flooding.

Good grief! We now have to worry about the lake getting flooded. Stored with the Esper Mansion text at. However, a famous glitch involves a townsperson in Paseo (which is in the middle of the lake) accidentally saying one of the lines of Lutz (who is in the Esper Mansion); it is likely that this is the line they were meant to say.

Cut-off Line
The English translation truncates a line due to a programming error. When examining the entrance to Climatrol, Rolf's line of dialogue is truncated to just "The color of water around here certainly". The full line, which can be read in a hex editor, is "The color of water around here certainly seems different. It seems to be water coming out of the ground." The wrong control code is used after "certainly", causing the text box to close prematurely. This is not the case in the Japanese or Brazilian versions, where the line is displayed in full.

Music
The Japanese version used a very loud snare that was changed for the localizations. In the table below, the upper entry is the sample, and the lower entry is an example song (Step Up) demonstrating the snare.

Version leftovers
The Brazilian release by TecToy seems to be based off of the English release, and remnants of the English script can be seen in the Brazilian ROM.

Genesis
There are two revisions of the (UE) ROM, dated June 1989 and January 1990 in their respective headers. The only differences appears to be that the names of the KITEDRGN and FIRE EYE enemies are switched between the two.

Virtual Console
The Virtual Console version of the game includes a plaintext ASM patch - complete with developer comments in Japanese - that is applied to the game in real-time. The patch changes the palette of the cross on the Hospitals, and for some reason writes the ASCII string "GREEN CROSS FIX" to the ROM.