Phantasy Star IV review

Nintendo's Virtual Console can probably best be described as schizophrenic. There are days when Wii owners get a classic games for marketing purposes (Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Nintendo), great games for absolutely no reason (Lords of Thunder, A Link to the Past), utter crap (the Master System editions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2), and shmups in between (Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier).

And last week, The Virtual Console got one of the best RPGs ever, Phantasy Star IV. Was it a holiday gift, an apology for the meager holiday lineup at retail? An accident? Either way, it's a game the makes hardcore Wii owners believe that the VC is living up on its promise of having great 16-bit games for download.

For the uninitated, the Phantasy Star franchise in the 8 bit/16-bit era was there take on console RPGs. While it never received the hype and success that the Final Fantasys got or is legendary revered as Dragon Quest, the Phantasy Star series was a pioneer when it came to plots, characters, and graphics.

The fourth one had gone through different revisions before settling on the Genesis but this version was just as epic. The story is the usual 'save the universe from unstoppable evil' but with past Phantasy Stars, the brutal gameplay keeps that device from ever feeling hokey or tacky. And in the fourth installment, it ties up all the past events from parts 1,2, and 3 and gives the story a little more levity and gravitas. And unlike Final Fantasy games, it just doesn't force a lot of flash for emotional resonance. But some of the boss battles are visually impressive. Speaking of impressive, the music is flat out awesome, getting a lot of depth from the Genesis's meager sound system.

Speaking of the difficulty, Phantasy Star IV is not nearly as difficult as past PS games due to the cleaner and shorter dungeon design. Trust me, your ass will get handed to you now and again, but the random encounters never seem tedious due to the Macros system, which adds a useful autobattling system, and the skill system which can be combined with other characters to new moves.

One thing that bothered me about PS IV is how close it reminded me of Mass Effect: the game doesn't tell you how to do anything at all. As soon as the game starts, you're just hoping you're selecting the right command to advance. And another thing that doesn't help is the weird use of the names for certain spells and techniques. This game was definitely made for people who knows that Foi means fireball. But that's what makes Phantasy star so pleasant: it attempts to be unique.

But, unlike the 16-bit Final Fantasys, Phantasy Star IV holds up remarkably well and doesn't need a remake. This is definitely one of the best RPGs on the Wii, one of the best games for a long winter, and an instant purchase.

Grade: A

The good: Stellar gameplay, great music, great plot The bad: There's no way to learn what's actually going on, there are no potions to recover technique points Seriously: The names for everything in here are just weird.