Phantasy Star Zero Announced for DS

quote Wii @ Everyday

キ ャ ラ ク タ ー 監 修 　 窪 岡 俊 之 （ ア イ マ ス）
シ ナ リ オ 原 案 　師 走 ト オ ル （PSO 元 オ ン ラ イ ン ク エ ス ト 担 当 　現 在 は 作 家）
シ ナ リ オ 原 案 　新 井 輝 （富 士 見 ミ ス テ リ ー 文 庫 作 家　PS ヘ ビ ー ユ ー ザ ー）
あ の PSO が DS に 登 場！　否！完 全 新 作 の 「PS0」 だ
WiFi 対 応、マ ル チ モ ー ド は 全 国 の み ん な と 遊 べ る
吹 き 出 し チ ャ ッ ト が ビ ジ ュ ア ル チ ャ ッ ト で 進 化
表 現 方 法 は 無 限 大（イ ラ ス ト を 送 れ る）
グ ラ ー シ ア 渓 谷 ・ リ オ ウ 雪 原 ・ オ ゼ ッ ト 湿 地 帯 さ ま ざ ま な 美 麗 ス テ ー ジ
巨 大 ド ラ ゴ ン 「 レ イ バ ー ン 」 現 る！

quote GAF

Publisher: SEGA
Developer:
- Characters Art style is similar to Rockman Zero.
- Character designer : Toshiyuki Kubooka (IdolMaster, Lunar)
- Scenario : Tooru Shiwasu (formerly in charge of the online quest on the original PSO, now a writer)
- Scenario : Teru Arai (mystery novels writer)
- New in the PSO series
- Support Nintendo WiFi connection
- Chat system supports sending of stylus sketches

quote 1Up

Phantasy Star, a series that's found release on nearly every game platform of the past decade, is finally heading for the most popular modern console of them all. In this week's spate of Japanese game mags, Sega officially unveiled Phantasy Star Zero for the Nintendo DS, a brand-new game that takes the series back to its online roots and offers full-on Wi-Fi multiplayer to a degree that's never been attempted before with DS RPGs.

The general premise of PS0 is unchanged: choosing from a variety of character types, you charge through action-RPG missions and fight bosses, either by yourself in the single-player story mode or with friends on multiplayer. The game's in full 3D and looks beautiful, but the multiplayer mode is undoubtedly going to attract the most attention with PS0 -- it allows up to four players to form a party and complete Hunter missions, either via local wireless or full-on Wi-Fi connection. Communication will be handled by word balloons, with you drawing messages on the bottom screen PictoChat-style. You'll be able to save these monochrome word balloons for instant retrieval during battle, suggesting that players will see some serious works of art akin to the loony emoticons seen in the Phantasy Star Online games.

PS0 is due to hit Japan this winter; a US release has yet to be formally announced.

quote PSO World

A brand new title in the Phantasy Star series was just announced by SEGA.



Entitled Phantasy Star ZERO, this will be the series' first outing on the Nintendo DS. ZERO is said to be a completely new game, though it will borrow heavily from the Phantasy Star Online series. This new title will feature a single-player story mode as well as multi-player online through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and local area networks (both up to four players). Multi modes will allow for communication through visual chat, which allows players to draw their own artwork or write their own text for their teammates to see.



Keeping in touch with its apparent predecessor, Phantasy Star ZERO will have the return of many race/job combos from Phantasy Star Online. This includes ones such as RAcast, FOmarl, HUmar and HUcaseal, but a few newcomers have also been revealed like the HUnewm and HUmarl. Furthermore, this new title will feature many new areas and lobbies to explore. Three such areas include the Glacea Ravine, Riou Snowfields and the Ozett Swamp. Information is a bit scarce on this new title, but we can expect to see more details in the coming months, as ZERO is slated for a Japanese release this winter.