I recently wrapped up Sega Ages Phantasy Star on the Switch. It’s my 3rd or 4th time finishing this game in one form or another, and I can confidently say that the Switch version is the best way to play it. From the FM Sound Unit to the auto mapping in dungeons, I can’t really imagine ever revisiting another version of the game.

As far as the end section of the game itself (spoilers, I guess), it’s just another way this game continues to impress 30+ years later.

The entire game you’re hunting Lassic, in a mission of revenge. You finally find him, he calls you “his children” and then asks if you want to kill an old man.

That’s weird.

You defeat Lassic, get your revenge, and then it’s off to The Governor’s mansion on Motavia to share the great news. This should be your Dragon Quest I-esque victory lap through the land, but it’s not. Enemies continue to attack as if you haven’t just overthrown the tyrannical ruler of the Algol System.

That’s weird.

You get to The Governor’s mansion and he’s not there. You fall through a trap door, into a dungeon beneath the mansion.

That’s… hmm…

The dungeon looks and sounds similar to others in the game, and there aren’t really any enemies (I only encountered a single Red Dragon). Still, I find a dungeon simply existing beneath the mansion of a government official to be pretty unsettling.

You get to the end and OH HI DARKFALZ.

There’s our creepy final boss. Defeat it and get the “true” ending, in which it turns out the Governor was possessed (hmmmm). We also learn that Alis is descended from a royal bloodline, and she is given the option to reign as queen of the Algol System (I chose “no”).

Regardless, peace is restored, and the ending implies that the people of Algol will never really understand the full scope of these events. It kinda feels like a metaphor.

R.I.P. to a legend. Thank you Rieko Kodama for making Phantasy a reality.