Yuji Naka has talked some more about Phantasy Star Online for the Nintendo Gamecube. In particular, he’s revealed how the version’s four-player mode came about – and would you believe it, it’s all because the development team had single machines lined up next to each other.
“At the beginning of the year, our R&D people spent two months just studying the capabilities of the Gamecube,” Naka-san said in a recent interview. “When we began actual development, we wanted to have something ready for E3. So we began porting Phantasy Star Online, but we wanted to add new features.
“During this time, our staff had several machines lined up side by side, so we could discuss things while we played. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to include the four-player split-screen mode. We’re still trying to decide the best way to split up the screen and make the multiplayer mode work.”
Naka-san also revealed that Sonic Team is working on several other new features for PSO Gamecube, but stopped short of saying exactly what those features would be.