Trivia / Tales of Phantasia

• Bad Export for You: The first version that got exported, the GBA version, is widely considered to be a terrible port due to that one auto-correct error (Ragnarok -> Kangaroo) and the lack of Woolseyisms to make the dialog interesting (in relation to the DeJap Super Famicom fan translation). However, the fact that they removed Yume Wa Owaranai and replaced it with the overworld music instead of providing an English translation or even licensing the song for a western release at all still strikes the nerve of some of the fans of the game. The second version that got exported targeting iOS devices, well, see Porting Disaster under YMMV.
• Breakthrough Hit: For Telenet Japan's Wolf Team. It did well that Wolf Team became dedicated to Tales games under Namco.
• Fan Translation: One of the most (in)famous fan efforts ever released, due to its general quality and the length of time by which it beat an "official" translation. Because of the huge gap between the two releases, many fans go berserk when anyone uses any of the official English names, because people got so used to the romanizations DeJap chose. Many others will still use those names out of pure reflex, even with the official name spellings long since established.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Cress and Arche made their Western debuts in 1998 - in a cameo in Tales of Destiny, eight years before the GBA port finally got translated outside of Japan.
• No Export for You: This game languished in Japan for years due to Namco not wanting to touch 2D games that "wouldn't sell." It took Nintendo slapping a five dollar localization onto the GBA version to allow western audiences to play a non-fan translated version of the game. The original SFC, PSX remake, and PSP extra-enhanced versions have not officially seen the light of day in the west. And no, we will not talk about the iOS port.
• The Other Darrin: Several characters had their seiyuu changed between different versions of the game. Originally, Mint was voiced by Satomu Korogi. Beginning with the PSX remake, she is now voiced by Junko Iwao. Dhaos also had his seiyuu changed in the PSP remake due to Kaneto Shiozawa's tragic death in 2000.
• Vaporware: Despite being featured in Nintendo Power, the SNES game was not released in the West.
• What Could Have Been: Initially, the game, conceived as "Tale Phantasia", was incredibly ambitious, with the intended story more than three times longer than the one we got. Due to both creative differences and technical limitations the project was retooled into Tales of Phantasia proper, and a number of people working on it left to form tri-Ace. Some info on the original version can be found on its fansite.
  • First of all, the story was to be told from three different viewpoints. The first one would have been one about Winona Pickford (the bow-wielding girl from the intro), and tell about her meeting Dhaos, and then focus on his descent into villainy. The second viewpoint would have been one about Rhea Scarlet (a girl who we see only as a spirit possessing Arche), and detail the first war against Dhaos. The third story is the one that was adapted into the game, but even then it had to be abridged, reducing several villains to minor bosses.
  • Suzu and Brambert (the elven chief) were to become playable characters, with the latter even showing up in an early promo screenshot. Suzu was made into an Optional Party Member in remakes, but Brambert never was.
  • All designs were notably different and less flashy. Arche, for example, wore a sensible dress instead of her hot-pink poofy pants, and Mint had an ushanka for a Signature Headgear. These ones actually made it into the final version of the game, because Kosuke Fujishima made new designs when it was too late to change the sprites. Later games, however, pretend that SNES designs never existed.

---