Sega moved its science-fiction RPG to the Mega Drive on the largest console cartridge yet made, dropped the original's first-person dungeons, and killed off a main character mid-story.
Follows: Phantasy Star
What Changed
Replaced the first game's first-person dungeons with top-down exploration
Switched battles to a third-person view
Moved the series to 16-bit hardware on a record 6-megabit cartridge
Told a darker story including the permanent death of a party member, Nei
Key Facts
Released in Japan on 21 March 1989; North America and Europe in 1990
The first game on a 6-megabit cartridge — the largest console game of its time
Set 1,000 years after Phantasy Star on the planet Mota