Trivia / Phantom Breaker

• All-Star Cast: The game's English dub for Phantom Breaker: Omnia features a cast of industry veterans of voice-actors from other popular anime, fighting game, and visual novel series featuring the likes of Erica Mendez, Cristina Valenzuela, Erica Lindbeck, Amber Connor, Matthew Mercer, Patrick Seitz, SungWon Cho, Alejandro Saab, Sarah Anne Williams, and Monica Rial. Trina Nishimura and Carrie Savage also reprised their roles for the English voices of Kurisu Makise and Rimi Sakihata from their respective dubs of Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head.
• Creator Backlash: On May 2013, 7sixy posted a (quickly-deleted) rant on their Facebook page regarding the localization troubles of Phantom Breaker in which they blamed the video game market, retail business model, and fans of the game for not showing enough interest in the game's localization after delaying the game multiple times since 2012. Fans of the game did not take their complaints lightly. In months that followed, the developers of Phantom Breaker cut their ties with 7sixty, and 7sixty's parent company SouthPeak Game went under in July, sealing any hope of Phantom Breaker seeing a release overseas by them, and September of the same year saw a release of Phantom Breaker: Extra was released in region-free form on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Thankfully, a localized version of the game finally saw the light of day on March 15, 2022 with Phantom Breaker: Omnia by Rocket Panda Games.
• Creator-Driven Successor: Phantom Breaker was developed by Masatoshi Imaizumi and Masaki Ukyo, former game designers and programmers of Fill-in-Café. They worked on the Asuka 120% series, Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force, and Panzer Bandit before the company filed for bankruptcy, while Masaki Ukyo also worked on Guardian Heroes, Silhouette Mirage, and later Code of Princess. Phantom Breaker also shares similar themes featuring pretty girls (and pretty boys in this game's case) participating in an fighting tournament trying to fulfill their goals.
• Development Hell, Quietly Canceled: The localization of the main game by 7sixty has put off from its intended 2012 release and the years that followed, which also resulted in people's pre-orders of Phantom Breaker being canceled by the retailer it was pre-ordered from. What's also ironic is that it looks like the translations are already done from a few early gameplay videos on YouTube.^note The initial localized release of the game by 7sixty did exist in some form, though it was only showcased and/or distributed at an anime convention in Houston, Texas in 2011, review copies, and the early gameplay trailers shown. Making it one of the very rare games for the Xbox 360 that exists, but not to the public. At around sometime in 2012 after the cancelation of Phantom Breaker's English localization, 7sixty along with their parent company, Southpeak Games, have since been folded (out of business or closed down in simpler terms). As of 2022, however, the English Xbox 360 release still technically exists in some form, though unprofessionally translated, but the gameplay is entirely intact. The rights to the Phantom Breaker IP has since been claimed by Rocket Panda Games.
  • Saved from Development Hell, Uncanceled: Phantom Breaker: Omnia has been released worldwide by Rocket Panda Games across all platforms of the 8th generation and PC, complete with dual-audio support for English and Japanese voice-overs while containing both stores from the original Phantom Breaker and its Extra re-release.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition:
  • The Japanese version of Phantom Breaker's Limited Edition included 15 illustrations along with a soundtrack CD which includes all character themes along with the OP/ED in a box with alternate cover art. However, the U.S. release of the main game's Special Edition was supposed to have fold out posters, a mini guide with character strategies and artwork, but that never came to pass.^note Technically, that same LE exists in an already physical form, previewed by ScrewAttack [1], just never released to the public due to whatever unknown reasons 7sixty couldn't bother to bring it out The Japanese version of Phantom Breaker: Extra's Limited Edition included a guidebook and a soundtrack CD, both version's boxed Limited Edition art varied by both PS3/360 versions, the cover art to the game however is just the logo with a bland blue background.
  • There was also a Japanese Limited Edition release bundle with a downloadable voucher for Battle Grounds, an art/guide book, and a CD soundtrack.
  • The Limited Run Games Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Limited Edition, however, came packaged with a physical release of the PlayStation 4 and Vita versions, a diorama box to recreate scenes from the game, an artbook, soundtrack CD, and 10 Phantom Breaker trading cards. Additionally, only the PlayStation 4 version has a reversible cover art and all DLC included on disk. The Limited Edition box design also varies between both the PlayStation 4 and Vita versions as well. Phantom Breaker: Omnia would get a similar Limited Edition treatment by Limited Run Games for the PlayStation 4 and Switch version that includes a physical copy of the game, a soundtrack CD, artbook, acrylic standee, an enamel character pin set, and M's bunny plush.
• No Export for You: The Xbox 360 release of the original game. Though there were plans for an English localization until it got cancelled. However, Phantom Breaker: Extra, thankfully, is region-free for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
  • Late Export for You: After a decade of the original Phantom Breaker being lost in localization hell, Phantom Breaker: Omnia was finally released overseas for 8th generation consoles and PC with support for multiple languages with dual-audio support for English and Japanese voice-overs.
• Remade for the Export: The original Phantom Breaker stayed in Japan as well as its Extra re-release, though unlike the former, the latter was released in region-free form, even on Xbox 360. It wasn't until another updated re-release built on Extra, Phantom Breaker: Omnia, the game has seen a release overseas.
• Role Reprise: Asami Imai and Kaori Nazuka reprise their roles as Kurisu and Frau, respectively. For Phantom Breaker: Omnia, the English voices for Kurisu (Trina Nishimura) and Rimi (Carrie Savage) will also reprise their roles from their respective anime dubs of Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head.
• Schedule Slip: Phantom Breaker: Omnia was announced by Rocket Panda Games that the game would be slated for a world-wide 2021 release window, but it was pushed back to late 2022 instead, citing that they wanted to polish the game in a state they felt comfortable with, which led potential fans to become skeptical whether or not the game would ever get released overseas and fall into the same fate as the original Phantom Breaker did when its failed localization was under 7sixty's hands. Masaki Sakari, the game's producer and director, however has ensured fans that the development team were working with Rocket Panda Games on releasing the game overseas this time, which has indeed came to pass.
• What Could Have Been: According to an interview with Masaki Sakari found in the Phantom Breaker: Official Design Works artbook, the game was originally going to be a hybrid of both a fighting game and a visual novel with an extensive Story Mode, but when the decision came to decide on which aspect of the game development team wanted to focus on, Sakari reluctantly (and later, regrettably) made the decision to cut a substantial fraction of the game's dialogue to focus on the gameplay and the pacing for the Story Mode.^note To put things into perspective: Mikoto's storyline originally had about 2,000 lines of dialogue planned. Roughly only about 500 of them made the cut during development.

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