Phantasy Star II

Phantasy Star II
Also known as: Phantasy Star II: Kaerazaru Toki no Owari ni (JP) Developer: Sega Publishers: Sega (JP/US/EU), Tec Toy (BR), Samsung (KR) Platform: Genesis Released in JP: March 21, 1989 Released in US: August 14, 1989 Released in EU: November 30, 1990 Released in BR: March 1996 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a notes page This game has a Data Crystal page

Phantasy Star II 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.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Notes

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

Group 14 example	Group 19 example

Enemy groups 14 and 19 are unused in the final game. They only have proper names in the Japanese version; The English translation truncates their names to a single character. Their palette data and stats are still in the game, but their graphics are no longer present. Their tilesets, tilemap pointers, and attack sounds default to the ones used by the Ant enemy group. All six enemies are coded as Biomonsters and use no techniques in battle.

Note: The names shown in the screenshots are incorrect due to being from a hacked ROM.

Names start at 0x17725 (Group 14) and 0x177BA (Group 19) in the Japanese version.

ID	JPN Name	Translated	ENG Name	Palette	HP	ATK	DEF	AGI	Run%	Exp.	Meseta
Enemy Group 14
28	シシラ	Sisyra	S		12	13	10	11	40%	15	27
29	クリソパ	Chrysopa	K		38	33	18	21	40%	62	112
2A	ヘメロビ	Hemerobi	H		83	55	36	34	50%	152	274
Enemy Group 19
37	スターフイッシュ	Starfish	S		35	16	14	27	80%	22	38
38	スピニンスター	Spinning Star	S		58	32	37	49	90%	65	107
39	ソーイングスター	Sewing Star	S		119	40	50	64	90%	115	205

The first group of enemies are named after lacewing genera: Sisyra (A genus of the Sisyridae, or "spongefly", family), Chrysopa (A genus of green lacewings), and Hemerobius (A genus of the Hemerobiidae, or "Brown lacewing", family).

The second group should be more obvious.

(Translation: divingkataetheweirdo)

(Monster stats, palettes, and disassembly: lory1990)

Unused Graphics

Anna is the only character that can equip multiple weapon types but can't equip guns; In fact, she mentions that she dislikes guns in her intro text. Nevertheless, there's a sprite with Anna packing heat that's ready to go, just in case.

(Source: lory1990)

Unused Items

There are two unobtainable items, both of them references to the first Phantasy Star. They have the same item flags as the Pipe items, but they don't actually do anything. According to this developer interview, these items were created to give the player something to use meseta on late in the game, but memory limitations meant that their actual use data and text had to be cut.

Like the monster names above, their names were dummied out in the English release.

ID	JPN Name	Translated	ENG Name	Buy Value	Comments
7D	タイロンのせきぞう	Stone Statue of Tylon	T	62,000	Tylon is Odin's Japanese name.
7E	ハプスビー	Hapsby	H	46,000	Hapsby is the helpful robotic pilot / mechanic from PSI.

(Item info: Shmuplations)

(Sell values: lory1990)

Unused Spell

There is one unused spell in the game called リューフェ (Ryufé), ID 35. It costs 28 MP and has the same spell attributes as Anti and Rever, meaning that it targets one party member and can only be used outside of battle.

Attempting to actually cast the spell will just result in all message box windows closing, and the player being unable to open any new windows until a battle starts or they exit the area.

(Translation: Bast)

(Spell specifics: lory1990)

Unused Text

To do: Add equivalent Japanese lines.

All text is for the English version unless otherwise stated.

Dialogue

Now, let me see, what can I work on?

The inventor in Kueri should say this after you obtain the Maruera Gum, but the code to do this is immediately overwritten by the standard intro code. He'll just go back to asking you if you know what Maruera Leaves are.

(Source: lory1990)

Something is rotten in the state of Mota! Neifirst is dead and the Biohazards have been destroyed...but why was a creature like Neifirst created in the first place? Who is behind all of this?

This text at 0x1B6EC, complete with a 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 0x20643. 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

There are two location descriptions, both on the Mota overworld, that are cut off due to the English ROM using the wrong control code.

The first can be found by examining the entrance to Climatrol:

The color of water around here certainly seems different. It seems to be water coming out of the ground.

The second, more obscure, text can be seen by examining the entrance to the Uzo Island dungeon:

There is a high rocky mountain in front of <C1> and the others! Is this Uzo mountain?

In the English version, both descriptions are cut off at the second line. This is not the case in the Japanese or Brazilian versions, where the lines are displayed in full.

(Source: Phantasy Star Curiosities)

Development Text

This alternate ROM header is located at 0xD5CA (JP) / 0xD75E (US/EU):

SEGA MEGA DRIVE 
(C)SEGA 1988.NOV
PHANTASY STAR 2 
      BACKUP RAM
PROGRAMMED BY   
       NAKA YUJI

The actual ROM header for the final Japanese release is dated 1988.DEC, making this one month before the game was finished. Similar text also appears in the first game.

Unseen Enemy Names

In addition to the unused 'VANLEADR' enemy, the enemy names 'DARKFRCE' and 'MOMBRAIN' (representing the bosses Dark Force and Mother Brain) are unseen in the game itself, as these two battles lack the headings for an enemy name and how much damage is done to them as a sign of significance.

Regional Differences

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.

Japan	US/Europe

Ustvestia's Sexuality

In Japanese Phantasy Star II, the piano teacher, Ustvestia, is much more clearly implied to be homosexual. When a male party member volunteers to be taught the Musik technique by Ustvestia, Ustvestia replies, "He looks cute." Ustvestia then proceeds to charge the male party member less for the lesson than he would charge a female party member.

However, in the English Phantasy Star II, Ustvestia simply says, "He looks smart." The gender-based disparity in the fee for learning Musik is left unexplained.

Bugfixes

To do: Elaborate on this.

The Japanese version of Phantasy Star II has a glitch that corrupts the player's party by holding Up on the party order screen.

Version Leftovers

The Brazilian release by Tec Toy seems to be based on the English release, and remnants of the English script can be seen in the Brazilian ROM.

Revisional Differences

Genesis

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

Virtual Console

Original	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 cross on the Hospitals to an "H". This was likely done to avoid legal problems with the Red Cross Organization (who are infamously strict with the use of red crosses in media) however given that the crosses weren't originally red, this wouldn't violate their guidelines and as such this change was completely unnecessary. The patch also has unused code to change the palette of the graphics to grey.

A small red cross on the doctor's suit in a close-up picture (something that does violate their guidelines) was also removed.