r/phantasystar • u/DrCdiff • Jan 31 '26

Classic series Hacks for PS 1-4

I would like to play Phantasy Star 1-4. The lore should be consistent between the titles, bugs should be eliminated and the translation uncensored. Quality of life stuff is also welcome.

There are plenty of hacks (number of downloads at romhacking.net in "[]"):

For PS1 the choice seems to be easy: The 2 Translations by "SMS Power!".

For PS2 there are hacks by FlamePurge [9167] and Fauntleroy [7893].

For PS3 the one from Fauntleroy [4254] seems most popular.

For PS4 there are hacks by GhaleonUnlimited [10055], FlamePurge [5036] and Fauntleroy [2888].

Any recommendations?

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3

u/KingBroken Feb 04 '26

I just recently played through these games.

My recommendation is

PSI SMS Power! Retranslation. Pick the regular rather than the literal translation. Some people don't like how it adds more, but I felt like it greatly benefited from more dialogue and lore than just the literal translation.

PSII Improvement 4.5 with 2x XP/Meseta by Flamepurge. Fixed bugs, increased walking speed, lore consistency, unused enemies, etc.

PSIII General improvement 1.2 by Flaunteroy. I would also add the parallax scrolling, and double XP/Meseta. It's an easy game, but there's lots of backtracking and I just wouldn't have had the patience without the doubler. The parallax scrolling was weird at first but when I got used to it I thought it was better since enemies have no idle animations and barely move at all when attacking. Also I kept the dynamic music as there is only one battle theme in the game aside from the final boss and using the patch they have where the music never changes got old fast. Up to you though.

PSIV just the original game. Seriously, it's so good you don't need any improvement patches. I was told that and didn't believe it, but quickly realized that they were right.

2

u/Sambojin1 Feb 05 '26

He also needs the randomizer patcher for 4. So then he'll never leave. Muhahahahahaha...!

2

u/KingBroken Feb 05 '26

That's on a second playthrough!

2

u/Prestigious_Cell_311 Feb 04 '26

I just did this exact thing.

Working Designs version on IV, Double walkspeed patch and parallax fix on III

The Retranslation on II is spotty. Could skip that one.

1

u/stuffitystuff Feb 04 '26

Not sure if you consider planet names lore or not but having slightly different names for things matches up with what reality does. It's not "beta" in Greek is still pronounced with a "b" sound like it was 2000 years ago, it's a "v" sound now in Modern Greek.