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Working Designs led the RPG charge by releasing four awesome games. Popful Mail was an incredible side scrolling action/RPG that needs to be re-released and Vay, though frustrating with its random battles, was a neat little romp with one of the first character deaths on console (Phantasy Star II beat them to it). Their greatest achievements, without a doubt, have to be the two Lunar games.
In 1994 JVC released a console that combined a Genesis and a Sega CD into a single unit. While it wasn’t successful due to overpricing, the X’Eye (Wondermega in Japan) is now being snapped up by collectors at every opportunity. Read all about it in the first installment of our series The Many Faces of Genesis.
There were many factors that allowed Phantasy Star to be so innovative in every respect. Sega did manage to develop some very capable systems early in console development. That, coupled with great designers, led to very technologically advanced games. However, Sega’s business practices and general corporate attitude toward the game designer teams are what affected the game development most. In fact, Sega’s success (or lack thereof) with each game seems to parallel changes in the company’s business practices. The changing corporate attitude of Sega can be seen in the quality of the stories and the marketing used for each of the Phantasy Star installments.
Many people defend the 32X as a decent piece of hardware. Many others bash it mercilessly, unable to find a single redeeming feature. Join us as we take a look at some titles that might have resolved this debate for good and possibly have given the 32X a bit more credibility. Originally printed in issue #2 of GameGo! Magazine, which never saw print, here is the article in its entirety, along with some gems from the SegaBase article on lost 32X titles.
In an industry dominated by men, Rieko Kodama is a woman who has managed to make it all the way to the top, becoming one of the most respected designers of the last two decades. You may have seen her credited in a slew of titles as “Phoenix or Phenix Rie,” as she used that as her credit name until 1993. She is commonly referred to as “the First Lady of RPGs.” It’s a title that is well deserved, and we’ve compiled a short retrospective of her career.