Phantasy Star II is a Japanese role playing game for the Sega Genesis and the second installment in the Phantasy Star series.

The game received wide critical acclaim for its design, music, graphics and story, and is seen as a landmark title in the genre. It was the largest console game of the time, using an unprecedented 6 mega-bit cartridge.

Its more elaborate plot is set in the Algol solar system from the first game, a millennium later. This time it follows the journey of a young agent of the Motavian government who is assigned a mission to investigate the reason behind the creation of the so called "Biomonsters", man-made creatures that have been wreaking havoc on the planet. Accompanied by the mysterious human-Biomonster hybrid Nei and later joined by many other companions, he'll uncover a shady conspiracy that threatens the very foundation of the Algol system.

The game is noted for having an unexpectedly dark and deep story for its time that doesn't pull its punches. It's especially remarkable for featuring what was possibly the first death of a major main character in the genre, preceding Final Fantasy VII by nearly eight years.

Unlike in the original game, the dungeons in Phantasy Star II are presented in third person. They have been noted for their complexity, being made up of made up of elaborate layouts spanning various floors. Like its predecessor, it uses a turn-based battle system. An innovation is an optional auto-fighting feature that allows party members to take action without having to be issued commands.

These patches work to change the sound engine and PCM samples of one region's release of Phantasy Star II to the other's.

The original japanese release used a different sound engine than the west's. More knowledgeable people have said to this hack's author that it looks like it may have been translated into 68K assembly from Z80 assembly.

Meanwhile, the western releases (English, Brazillian Portuguese) used a rewritten 68K sound engine that (apparently) doesn't bear as much resemblance to a Z80 program.

The western release also changed the drum samples to some much quieter ones. In the original release, they were so loud that they got close to drowning out the FM music.

The FM music also plays a little differently between releases; To try to describe it, the various instruments' notes end less abruptly in the Japanese release of the game. (Think of it like holding the leftmost pedal for a moment after releasing a key while playing on a piano). Often this barely makes a difference, but once in a while it is extremely noticeable. The overworld tune is one such place. Perhaps one might describe it as a "smoother" experience.

Some of the more noticeable tracks (when played on real hardware; note that entering a battle seems to change some register that changes the timbre of a lot of instruments in both the original English and Japanese games, so the VGM's one'll find aren't quite accurate unless one goes to the sound tester (Ustvestia) without first entering a battle after loading your game):

* "Advanced"
* "Bracky News"
* "Pressure"
* "Death Place"
* "Violation"
* "Power"
* "Exclaim"
* "Never Dream"

It's noticeable at some point in most tunes, but these may be the most prevalent.

There are patches that simply convert a ROM to use the other region's engine, and there are also bonus patches that reduce the volume of the drum samples under the Japanese sound engine.

No Portuguese patch for now... But the sources (see gitlab link) should allow one to build one's own if one is so inclined.

Database match: Phantasy Star II (USA, Europe)
Database: No-Intro: Genesis (v. 20210226-213851)
File/ROM SHA-1: FCD032DED2235171F51DB316AD1B7688FBBDAFE4
File/ROM CRC32: D07D0EF

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