Hello, since there are three of you, it would be great if you could introduce yourselves and describe your individual roles on Phantasy Star Online. Read on for revelations of the game’s darkest secrets, including the infamous “black screen of death.” Sonic Team had to try to get everything right before it committed the game to disc, and was only able to fix mistakes with the release of Phantasy Star Online Episode 2. With Phantasy Star Online, the designers and programmers at Sonic Team found themselves in uncharted territory.įor instance, there was no way to patch a console game in those days. Younger gamers who have grown up with the always-on, connected nature of today’s consoles won’t necessarily remember the excitement, aggravation, or challenges of connecting a Dreamcast, PlayStation, or GameCube (or Saturn, if you were really ambitious) to the internet on a dial-up modem. Now we’re digging into the nitty-gritty with a roundtable featuring three original team members - lead programmer Akio Setsumasa, character programmer Yasuhiro Takahashi, and enemy programmer Masakazu Miura. Over the past four weeks, we’ve posted chats with producer Yuji Naka, director Takao Miyoshi, composer Hideaki Kobayashi, and script writer Akinori Nishiyama/effects designer Takanori Fukazawa. With 2020 being the 20th anniversary of Sega’s Dreamcast RPG Phantasy Star Online, we’re looking back with a series of interviews featuring key team members who worked on the game.

Phantasy star save editor