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Produced by HOT・B Co., Ltd., Star Odyssey was originally released in Japan
under the title Blue Almanac, in 1991. Star Odyssey was the title chosen for
the game's English localization, which was scheduled for release in the United
States in the early 1990s. Though this version of the game was advertised in
several print magazines of the day, its release was ultimately cancelled.
In 2007, the only known English language prototype of Star Odyssey was acquired
by Super Fighter Team. Upon verifying its completeness, the company approached
current IP holder Starfish-SD in order to negotiate a license to produce and
publish the game worldwide. An agreement was officially reached between the
two companies in 2009, paving the way for this long awaited game to finally
reach eager customers outside of Japan. The finished product was released on
June 22, 2011, for use with all NTSC and PAL based Genesis, Mega Drive and
compatible video game systems.
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What appears below is a detailed account of the development process
undertaken by Super Fighter Team in order to prepare Star Odyssey for its
official, worldwide release.
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The quality of the original English translation was extremely poor, so the
entire script was heavily edited and rewritten to improve its overall quality,
as well as to add depth, excitement, humor, et cetera.
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A critical bug existed in one routine, which would cause the game to go to
a black screen and become unplayable. The affected routine was reprogrammed
to eliminate the bug and ensure that the game always runs smoothly.
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Initially, the heroes could only be named using uppercase letters. Now, both
upper and lowercase letters may be used.
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A programming oversight made it so that attempting to speak with a certain
character toward the end of the game brought up an empty dialogue box. This
was corrected; the previously affected character now communicates with the
heroes.
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The original Japanese language version of the game featured an impressive
color change effect which was displayed during the introduction of the
title graphic. This effect was adapted into the new version.
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A flaw in the game's design caused one of the boss enemies to display
incorrect graphics if it was defeated before it had a chance to attack the
heroes. This flaw was fixed to ensure that the correct graphics are always
displayed for this enemy, regardless of circumstance.
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The animated cut scenes between chapters were not present in the
English language prototype, so they were adapted into the new version
of the game based directly on the data from the original Japanese language
version.
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The original game data included voice recordings of male and female screams,
intended to be played when one of the heroes dies during combat. However,
no code existed to link these voices to the combat routine, thus leaving
them unused. Now, the game makes use of these screams every time one of
the hero characters is killed.
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Only two ways existed to revive a fallen hero: via a visit to the doctor
(cheap but often requiring extensive travel) or through the use of Force
magic (quick and easy but requiring a high level character with powerful
Force abilities). To balance the difficulty, the function of the
Excel item was modified: in addition to being able to heal one of the
heroes, it now has the added ability to revive a dead one.
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An option to heal the heroes of a condition known as Shock was offered at
the doctor's office, but there is no function in the game code to cause
this condition. Therefore, the Shock treatment was removed from the doctor's
office menu, as it served no actual purpose.
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All content © Super Fighter Team. All rights reserved. Reproduction without prior written consent is prohibited by law.