Tales of Phantasia

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. Seeking further answers, he finds out that this is none other than a scheme to free the war-mongering Dhaos, the game's main antagonist. To prevent further catastrophes, Cress is aided by the use of time travel to gather allies from the past who can help him put an end to Dhaos's rampage in his own time.

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 experienced several delays and development challenges prior to its release in 1995, near the end of the Super Famicom's lifespan. It attracted attention due to its graphics, its original battle system, and its use of voice acting. It is also the first and only Super Famicom game to include an original, vocalized theme song. It sold over 1.3 million units in Japan alone, making it the second bestselling game in the franchise in that region, and one of the bestselling games in the franchise as a whole.