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Don’t get us wrong, Crunk Games is still dead. But it started as a site where we (Ray and Alex; Hello) could put the stuff that we had no other place for, and it still is — the Game Center CX guide sure isn’t going anywhere. And so, this one-off podcast serves as something else that has no better home than here.

In July 2010, Alex and I reunited in person for the first time in five years, without the crappy pretense of a trade show — just a full-on vacation between a couple of bros. Months earlier, I had presented Alex with an idea to do a podcast for the upcoming 10th anniversary of Phantasy Star Online, a game that both of us had some history with, and it wouldn’t have made a good episode of Retronauts anyway, so why the hell not? The original idea was just to do it via Skype or something similar, but when my vacation was set, I brought up the idea again, because this time we’d be looking at each other (with a certain longing) and be able to react better.

And so, on the last night of my trip to Japan, we spent an hour and a half in Alex’s apartment going over the history of the Phantasy Star Online series, from the halcyon days of Dreamcast dial-up, misadventures online, loving if not preferring PSO as an offline game, and on through the less halcyon days of PS Universe and beyond. Unfortunately, we recorded it a little while before Sega announced Phantasy Star Online 2, so it’s not covered in our talk. Rest assured, we’re freaked out.

This podcast features chapter skips, so if you listen on a Steve Jobs Information Pod, you can delight in the wonders of skipping our discussions whenever you want! Enjoy the show, and we’ll see you in ten years. —Ray Barnholt

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Crunk Games Podcast Special: Phantasy Star Online 10th Anniversary
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Chapters

Part I: The Whole New World
0. Opening & Introduction (advantage Lucy – "Melody Apartment")

1. Alex’s Phantasy Star History [0:02:13]
2. Learning of PSO [0:05:33]
3. PSO’s Launch [0:11:28]
4. Post-Launch Play [0:13:35]
5. As a Phantasy Star Game… [0:17.28]
6. Characters [0:19:07]
7. PSO Versus "PS5" [0:21.32]
8. Cheaters and Their Cheating Cheats [0:24:57]
9. Phantasy Star Offline [0:29:52]
10. PSO Version 2 [0:31:46]
    Intermission (Brad Mehldau – "Dusty McNugget")

    Part II: Can Still See The Light

11. PSO Episode 1 & 2 [0:38:59]
    Intermission (Penguin Cafe Orchestra – "Nothing Really Blue")
12. C.A.R.D. [0:54:49]
13. PSO Blue Burst [0:59:19]

    Part III: Save This World

14. Phantasy Star Universe [1:08:34]
15. Phantasy Star Zero [1:13:05]
16. Phantasy Star Portable [1:18:58]
17. What Now? [1:20:14]
18. In the End… [1:23:33]
    Closing (advantage Lucy – "Kaze ni Azukete")

Thanks a ton to our talented friend Erin Mehlos for the artwork.