Tales of Phantasia is an action role-playing video game developed by Wolf Team and published by Namco for the Super Famicom. Originally released only in Japan in December 1995, it is the first title in the Tales series. It was later ported to a number of other platforms, including a Japan-exclusive version for the PlayStation in December 1998 and a Game Boy Advance version published by Namco in Japan in August 2003 and later published by Nintendo in North America and Europe in March 2006, which marked the first time the game was officially available in English. A PlayStation Portable remake known as Tales of Phantasia Full Voice Edition followed in September 2006, featuring full voice acting during story scenes, which was later included with further enhancements as part of Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X in June 2010. The game's producers have given it the characteristic genre name Legendary RPG beginning with the PlayStation version, with the Full Voice Edition given the moniker Legendary RPG Embellished with Voices. An unofficial fan translation of the original Super Famicom version was released on February 12, 2001 by Dejap.
The game takes place in a fantasy world of Aselia and follows Cress Albane, a highly-trained swordsman who is driven by vengeance after his hometown is destroyed. But after discovering his identity as being the descendant of one of the four warriors, he quickly becomes entangled in a conflict concerning the war-mongering Dhaos, the game's main antagonist, after his release from imprisonment. As a result, Cress must make use of time travel to gather allies who can help him put an end to Dhaos's rampage once and for all.
The game was written and programmed by Yoshiharu Gotanda, designed by Masaki Norimoto, and scored by Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura and Ryota Furuya. The character designs were created by manga artist Kōsuke Fujishima. A short anime series based on the game, called Tales of Phantasia: The Animation, was released in 2004.
Tales of Phantasia was highly anticipated but faced numerous delays and development setbacks, ultimately releasing at the end of the Super Famicom’s lifespan in 1995. Tales of Phantasia is considered one of the crowning achievements for its time. It has graphics that push the console to its limits, an original never-before-seen battle system, and the addition of actual voices and voice actors. It is also the first and only Super Famicom game to feature an entirely original, vocalized theme song featured directly in the game. It has sold over 1.3m units in Japan alone, making it the second best-selling game in the franchise in that region and one of the best-selling games in the franchise as a whole.
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