picture of a traditional Phantasy Star RPG that was never released?

[parallaxscroll]

have a look at this (http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/parallaxscroll/phantasystar6pn.jpg).

This is from the editorial page (http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8535/mayjune91046fp.jpg) of Mega Play magazine, May-June 1991.


a few things to keep in mind:

*Phantasy Star III had already been released in Japan in 1990 so it was already done.

* this is NOT Phantasy Star V because IV was being made and was far from being finished.

*Phantasy Star III was supposed to come out, in enhanced form, on SegaCD.
maybe the picture is PSIII CD but I highly doubt that.

now here's where things get interesting (for the Phantasy Star Phan):

*A very different Phantasy Star IV, subtitled "The Return Of Alis" was supposedly in the making for both cartridge and SegaCD formats.

July 1992 GamePro magazine article (http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/parallaxscroll/mdcdpsivcs2.jpg?t=1181064881)



SegaBase web article on SegaCD (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/tiki-index.php?page=SegaBase+Sega+CD)


In terms of software, the biggest news by far was with the Phantasy Star RPG series - the closest thing Sega had to Square's Final Fantasy franchise - with two Mega CD titles announced as being in development. The more notable of the two was the all-new title The Return of Alis, which was to take place immediately after the events depicted in Phantasy Star 3 and tell the story of the fight against a revival of the intergalactic slave trade. This new installment in the saga would be 20 times the size of the earlier game and would incorporate both audio and anime clips.


Sega cancelled the planned Sega CD release of Phantasy Star 4, opting instead for a cartridge-based Genesis game that bore little resemblance to its original Sega CD concept.


* the early cinema scenes in EGM's first PSIV preview (http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/parallaxscroll/ps4preview3.jpg?t=1181080066) (Number 37 - August 1992) as well as the first-person dungeons (http://www.phantasy-star.net/art/compendium/3dps4.jpg) that were cut out, were both from PSIV: End of The Millenium, not the unreleased PSIV The Return of Alis. this is often the point of some confusion.....

.....Usually one mentions "an unreleased Phantasy Star" or
"Phantasy Star IV: The Return of Alis" people will think of & mention the early unused cinemas & first-person dungeon picture of PSIV: End of the Millenium, not realizing these are two totally different PSIV games -- one that was never released at all, the other was released but with things cut out.


As far as I know, there have been no pictures seen of the earlier 'Return of Alis', a concept for a PSIV game that was completely scrapped. The only possible (however unlikely) picture of PSIV: The Return of Alis is that unidentified screen in Mega Play.

that screen in Mega Play is not absolutely for certain PSIV The Return of Alis, it's only a possibility. It could very well be from a non-PS game, but it looks so VERY PS-ish, does it not?

[rbudrick]

http://forums.lostlevels.org/viewtopic.php?t=1400

[GaijinPunch]

This exact pic popped up at Assembler not long ago. I think someone spotted it as a Falcom game, but don't hold me to that.

[Snapple]

When the newsclip talks about the CD version being 20 times bigger, it sounds like Peter Molyneux talking about Fable before it came out.

[parallaxscroll]

This exact pic popped up at Assembler not long ago. I think someone spotted it as a Falcom game, but don't hold me to that.



could be. Yet I remember a mistake by Mega Play or EGM (in either case, Sendai) in which a picture that was definitally Falcom's Ys III, (sidescrolling game) was labeled Phantasy Star IV.

edit: the mistake was, in Mega Play February 1991, page 8.

as far as the other picture where you see an overhead view, there's 4 or 5 characters in that shot, Ys wouldn't look like that unless it was another Falcom game. it just looks too much like a Phantasy Star game to think otherwise.

[j_factor]

I think it very well could be Phantasy Star III after all. From the tone of the editorial, it definitely sounds like early to mid '91, before PS3's release in the US. And it's a US magazine. So even though it was already released in Japan, 'a new Phantasy Star' would probably refer to PS3. I mean, considering PS3 wasn't out yet, if it was talking about PS4, wouldn't it say "another new Phantasy Star"? Except I really don't get why all the question marks.

Although, I didn't recognize it as being PS3. But that could just be because the pic is so small/low-res. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was PS3 CD, especially since the editorial talks about the Sega CD a bit. But I really can't say for sure. I was always under the impression that development on Return of Alis never got far enough for screenshots to have been made. Especially not in early '91, which would have been very early in development, if work had even started yet.


When the newsclip talks about the CD version being 20 times bigger, it sounds like Peter Molyneux talking about Fable before it came out.

Phantasy Star III was only 8 megs, or 1MB. A CD-ROM game being 20MB in size is certainly believable IMO, even at that early stage.

[parallaxscroll]

I think it very well could be Phantasy Star III after all. From the tone of the editorial, it definitely sounds like early to mid '91, before PS3's release in the US. And it's a US magazine. So even though it was already released in Japan, 'a new Phantasy Star' would probably refer to PS3. I mean, considering PS3 wasn't out yet, if it was talking about PS4, wouldn't it say "another new Phantasy Star"? Except I really don't get why all the question marks.

I disagree on that. Phantasy Star III was on the verge of being released in the U.S., it came out summer 1991. I believe it had even been reviewed in that same issue of Mega Play (i'll check later). either way, PS III was very well known by then. that screen isn't PS III, at least not the Genesis version. The only possible PS III it could be, is the unreleased enhanced PS III for SegaCD.






Although, I didn't recognize it as being PS3. But that could just be because the pic is so small/low-res. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was PS3 CD, especially since the editorial talks about the Sega CD a bit. But I really can't say for sure. I was always under the impression that development on Return of Alis never got far enough for screenshots to have been made. Especially not in early '91, which would have been very early in development, if work had even started yet.

now with that, I can agree on. I think that pic was either PSIII CD, or very early work on Return of Alis. but it's still questionable if it was Return of Alis, since that game was early in development, and, never got very far into development.




Phantasy Star III was only 8 megs, or 1MB. A CD-ROM game being 20MB in size is certainly believable IMO, even at that early stage.

PS III was either 6 megs or 8 megs. Actually IIRC checking the ROM size, it was 768k, that's 6 megs - dispite magazines saying it was 8. PS III may have been put on an 8 meg cartridge but only used 768k / 6meg.

[parallaxscroll]

I forgot to include the Wiki entry



Phantasy Star IV: The Return of Alis
From Phantasy Star Wiki
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Perhaps one of the least-known titles in the Phantasy Star franchise - Phantasy Star IV never saw a commercial release. Developed within Sonic Team shortly after the release of Phantasy Star III - Phantasy Star IV was to be the magnum opus of the Phantasy Star series for it's time. A game so large, that the only medium which could justifiably hold it was the Sega CD (though a stripped down Genesis version was also planned). It originally weighed in at over 240MB, much of which was fully digitalized music and FMV cutscenes. Though it also sported game maps 20 times the size of previous games and highly detailed 3D dungeon sequences similar to the first game.

Unfortunately, due to sagging sales of the Sega CD and numerous delays in the project - Phantasy Star IV was eventually scrapped and production resources were transfered to Phantasy Star: End of the Millenium.

Had Phantasy Star IV been allowed to finish development, it would have followed the events of Phantasy Star III and the continuing struggle against Dark Force. It's a fairly safe bet that at some point, Alis Landale would have made a return as well. Though part of the game still lives on through Phantasy Star: End of the Millenium. For example, the anime cutscenes which some consider to be the birth cries of modern FMV cutscenes, were inspired by the actual FMV cutscenes of it's unreleased companion.

http://www.phantasystarwiki.com/index.php?title=Phantasy_Star_IV:_The_Return_of_Al is

[TheRedEye]

I forgot to include the Wiki entry



http://www.phantasystarwiki.com/index.php?title=Phantasy_Star_IV:_The_Return_of_Al is

Sounds like a load of unverified bullshit to me.

[parallaxscroll]

Sounds like a load of unverified bullshit to me.

unverified, okay yeah. but why the heck would someone bother making a wiki if there wasn't *something* to it, if it wasn't a mere phantasy (pun intended) ?

the Gamepro magazine article and SegaBase article and the supposed game Phantasy Star IV The Return of Alis, was not exactly a hot rumored game like say, something like "Final Fantasy 64", an SGI demo game that everyone thought was coming to N64.

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

The cutscenes couldn't have been the precursor to modern FMV... Ys had anime cutscenes!

[parallaxscroll]

The cutscenes couldn't have been the precursor to modern FMV... Ys had anime cutscenes!



true, and if you're talking about Ys Book I & II on PC-Engine CD-ROM, that was made in 1989 or there abouts.

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

1989? Whoa! That's oldschool to the max!

[RoyalShin]

Yes Sega messed up bringing out the Sega CD just to compete with the SNES and even afterwards this game was not released but I heard about the collection on the Saturn answers this question.

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

What question???

[Cryomancer]

1989? Whoa! That's oldschool to the max!

What would that make 1988?

[parallaxscroll]

Here is the Falcom game, Ys III, that is mistakenly labeled Phantasy Star 4 for SegaCD in Mega Play magazine:

http://www.imagepup.com/up/Qr4a_1206736925_MegaPlaySegaCDpre.jpg

[j_factor]

Were there really Mega CD versions of Ys III, Super Monaco GP 2, and Forgotten Worlds ever in development? Or is there good reason I've never actually seen an issue of Mega Play magazine?

[Soviet Conscript]

What would that make 1988?

1988 = oldschool to the double max
1987 = oldschool to the triple max
1986 = oldskool (with a K)
1985 = oldschool unleashed
1984 = older then oldschool
1983 = oldschool Amped
1982 = insane oldschool
1981 = oldschool squared
1980 = oldschool to the EXTREME

after this you just use words like double, triple, 4X, 8X in front of it

example

1975 = double oldschool unleashed
1940 = 5X oldschool to the EXTREME
1883 = double double oldschool Amped

[strassy]

i don't think the 2nd picture in the original post is depicting a first-person dungeon. it just looks like the backdrop to a fight to me, it probably reverted to overheard as soon as the fight was over.

the 2 monsters on the left and center in that picture are VERY similar to a monster from PS3. i'm thinking maybe it's from a PS3 CD version. the reason I doubt it was from the cartridge is that the picture looks much better than anything that is actually in PS3, why would they drop that and go for a worse look?

[Kid Fenris]

Sounds like a load of unverified bullshit to me.

I'm going with this. If there had been some abandoned version of PSIV for the Sega-CD, it would almost certainly be mentioned in one of those Phantasy Star artbooks that fans translated a while ago.

Also, that MegaPlay screenshot looks more like an early version of Sorcerer's Kingdom.

http://www.kidfenris.com/notps4.png

The lead character sprite is different, but check out the tree. It's identical to the ones in that "A New Phantasy Star???" screen.

[Melf]

Is it me, or does that first screen shot of "PS4" in the Mega Play scan look a lot like a scene from Alisia Dragoon?

[James8BitStar]

1988 = oldschool to the double max
1987 = oldschool to the triple max
1986 = oldskool (with a K)
1985 = oldschool unleashed
1984 = older then oldschool
1983 = oldschool Amped
1982 = insane oldschool
1981 = oldschool squared
1980 = oldschool to the EXTREME

after this you just use words like double, triple, 4X, 8X in front of it

example

1975 = double oldschool unleashed
1940 = 5X oldschool to the EXTREME
1883 = double double oldschool Amped

I've got a better version:

1988 = Oldschool Special Champion Edition
1987 = Oldschool Turbo
1986 = Super Oldschool
1985 = Super Oldschool Turbo
1984 = Oldschool Turbo Hyper Fighting
1983 = Oldschool Rainbow Edition
1982 = Oldschool for the Gameboy
1981 = Oldschool III
1980 = Oldschool III Second Impact
1979 = Oldschool III Third Strike

There was never an Oldschool IV.

[TheRedEye]

I'm going with this. If there had been some abandoned version of PSIV for the Sega-CD, it'd would almost certainly be mentioned in one of those Phantasy Star artbooks that fans translated a while ago.

Also, that MegaPlay screenshot looks more like an early version of Sorcerer's Kingdom.

http://www.kidfenris.com/notps4.png

The lead character sprite is different, but check out the tree. It's identical to the ones in that "A New Phantasy Star???" screen.

Good eye, I think you've nailed it.

[strassy]

i don't think the 2nd picture in the original post is depicting a first-person dungeon. it just looks like the backdrop to a fight to me, it probably reverted to overheard as soon as the fight was over.

the 2 monsters on the left and center in that picture are VERY similar to a monster from PS3. i'm thinking maybe it's from a PS3 CD version. the reason I doubt it was from the cartridge is that the picture looks much better than anything that is actually in PS3, why would they drop that and go for a worse look?

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

one of those same screen shots shown here as an early screen from PSIV

[Adol]

Were there really Mega CD versions of Ys III, Super Monaco GP 2, and Forgotten Worlds ever in development? Or is there good reason I've never actually seen an issue of Mega Play magazine?

There was really a Ys IV Mega CD version planned for SURE.
I have a CD from a Super Megadrive Fan issue (or Beep,don't remember) where you had like 10-15 tracks of MD/MCD Games, AND in it you have the Ys 4 boss theme. Orchestration s different than the PC Engine version,then it was definately scheduled and planned.
But got cancelled, and finally came out only on SFC ( for Mask of the Sun,which was scheduled), and Dawn of Ys on PCE.

[parallaxscroll]

I'm going with this. If there had been some abandoned version of PSIV for the Sega-CD, it would almost certainly be mentioned in one of those Phantasy Star artbooks that fans translated a while ago.

Also, that MegaPlay screenshot looks more like an early version of Sorcerer's Kingdom.

http://www.kidfenris.com/notps4.png

The lead character sprite is different, but check out the tree. It's identical to the ones in that "A New Phantasy Star???" screen.


Sorry for the very late reply.

You solved the mystery for us here, yay. It's definitely Sorcerer's Kingdom, not a Phantasy Star game.

The way it looks in the magazine with 4 or 5 party members made it looks very PS-ish, and it seemed to be more colorful than it really was.