Showing posts with label Phantasy Star for Sega Master System print ad (1989). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phantasy Star for Sega Master System print ad (1989). Show all posts

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Phantasy Star for Sega Master System (1989)

Phantasy Star for Sega Master System advertisement
Ad published in the May 1989 issue of EGM (no. 1)


Historical Background & Graphical Analysis 


Before Final Fantasy became the JRPG everyone talked about, happy Sega Master System owned Phantasy Star (1987), possibly Sega's best role playing franchise to this day.  While it's true that Final Fantasy (1987)  and Dragons Quest (1986) for the NES were released before PS, those two franchises were no match for the graphical and aural prowess of Sega's now classic JRPG.

No console game to that date had done 3-D dungeon crawling (good luck drawing them on a piece of paper!) no over the shoulder field battles like PS. You also must account for the story: Sega's product placed you a female protagonist in a sci-fi universe, not some traditional medieval land populated by warriors and bards. Heck, you could use lasers as a weapon! Another notable feature was the built-in memory so you could save your progress and enjoy your quest at your own pace.

The printed ad is something of a relics piece. Very Sega, very 80s. It would make a great poster next to your Lord of the Rings life-size Sauron helmet. I like how the female lead is about to strike after deflecting that laser blast. Great action pose. Not quite Frank Frazzetta in quality, but interesting never the less.  It also depicts exactly what you'll find through your quest: monsters, mages and story full of great characters with memorable twists and turns.     



Original Copy:
Experience a New Phantasy...
Sega's
Phantasy Star
The Next Wave of Video Gaming 
Attack! The galactic tyrant Lassic hurls lighting bolts at you. But your magic blade responds with a blast of blue fire...and your team of adventurers is about to join the battle! 
Welcome to the worlds of Phantasy Star, Sega's newest adventure role-playing video game. Phantasy Start is full of traps and treasures, magic and monsters, not to mention dungeons and towers so real you'll want to wipe the slime from your boots...and recoil from dragon fire! 
Phantasy Star features space travel to three worlds, a magician's dream book of spells, 16-level dungeons, and more monsters than you can cremate with a laser gun"
And Phantasy Star also includes a built-in memory so you can save up to five separate adventures! 
Phantasy Star is just one of eight adventure role-playing video games for the Sega video game system. Look for MIRACLE WARRIORS and LORD OF THE SWORD coming soon!