Play Phantasy Star (USA, Europe) (v1.2) Online

You play as Alis, tracking down your brother’s killer with a ragtag crew—including a fish wizard—while mapping out brutal first-person dungeons by hand. The combat’s clunky, but that soundtrack still rules.

Developer: Sega

Genre: Role-Playing Game

Released: 1988

File size: 512 bytes

Game Overview

Phantasy Star on the Master System was way ahead of its time—this thing had first-person dungeons when most RPGs were still stuck in top-down mode. You start as Alis, out for revenge after her brother gets killed, and before long you're recruiting weirdos like a cat-man thief and a fish wizard (yes, really).

The dungeons are brutal—no automaps, just graph paper and prayers—but there's something satisfying about scribbling your own maps while blasting monsters. And that soundtrack? Still slaps. It's janky by today's standards, but you can see where later JRPGs stole half their ideas from.

Fun fact: This was the first RPG where I ever saw a female protagonist who wasn't just there to heal dudes.