If you're reading this, then you are curious about the tricks used to speedrun Phantasy Star II, widely considered to be one of the most difficult and grind-heavy RPGs of the 16-bit era. If that is the case, then I welcome you to this guide that will go over the basic glitches and tricks that the speedrunners use no matter which category they run (unless you're running a glitch-less run, in which case good luck).

There have been many discoveries and advancements over the years for this game and the route has changed dramatically. This guide, however, is NOT to go over what the current route is or what is the best way to run this game.

I will say that if you prefer a video description of the speedrun, I suggest checking out Jiseed's English Tutorial on the speedrun (also listed under guides). He uses an old route in the video and one strategy is not discussed, but the general concept of the glitches is talked about. His video does not go over the Power-Up Glitch described below.

So without further ado, let's get onto the glitches.

Contents:

1. Inventory Glitch (Updated 7/1/20)

2. Underflow Glitch

3. Item Duplication Glitch

4. Equipment Glitch

5. Teim Glitch

6. Power Leveling Glitch

7. Power-Up Glitch

8. Hidapipes

9. Storm Gears/Crystal Equipment

10. Visiphone Point/Skure Skip (Updated 4/20/19)

11. INVENTORY GLITCH -What?- The most important glitch by far is what is called the Inventory Glitch. The idea behind this is to have one character with an inventory that can access parts of the game's code, allowing you to pull items out of certain stats of the character next in line. If it sounds confusing, fear not. It is rather simple once you get the hang of things.

-Why?- The reason we use the glitch is many. With it, we can get key items early (such as the Key Cards or the Nei Items) without having to go through the dungeons to get them. By adjusting the Equipment of the character next to the one with the glitched inventory, you can continue to pull out different items based on the Hex value of the item (what I mean by next to is the character who shows up next in the game's story, which in order is Rolf, Nei, Rudo, Amy, Hugh, Anna, Kain, Shir).

-How?-

1. Remove all items from the character whose inventory you wish to glitch (we will use Rolf in this example).
2. Go to the Control Tower in Paseo and enter the ROOM.
3. Select KEEP BAGGAGE and select a character who has an inventory (we will use Nei).
4. CANCEL out of the second character's inventory and then select the character whose inventory is empty (Rolf).
5. You will notice that you will see an empty panel, but you can move the cursor up or down. Move it up to where the NEXT button would be to take you to page 2. Now you can move the cursor above or below the panel. Moving the cursor anywhere below the panel will store the invisible item into storage (if the item can be stored).

Below is the list of all items in the game and what value contains that item (and in some cases, what letter, which is explained later in this section). EDITED 7/1/20: The Xbox Live Arcade version allows you to use lowercase letters and numbers in naming of characters. This gives quite a bit of other options. These are listed as well below.

Letter Value Item 0 null 1 Small Key 2 Dynamite 3 Key Tube 4 Maruera Gum 5 Green Card 6 Blue Card 7 Yellow Card 8 Red Card 9 Letter 10 Recorder 11 Maruera Leaf 12 Plasma Ring (NOTE: Item cannot be given away) 13 Prism 14 Telepipe 15 Escapipe 16 Hidapipe 17 Monomate 18 Dimate 19 Trimate 20 Antidote 21 Star Mist 22 Moon Dew 0 23 Head Gear 1 24 Ribbon 2 25 Fiber Gear 3 26 Silver Ribbon 4 27 Silver Crown 5 28 Titanium Gear 6 29 Titanium Helmet 7 30 Jewel Crown 8 31 Jewel Ribbon 9 32 Crescent Gear 33 Snow Crown 34 Wind Scarf 35 Color Scarf 36 Storm Gear 37 Laconian Gear 38 Laconian Helmet A 39 Neimet B 40 Neicrown C 41 Magic Cap D 42 Mogic Cap E 43 Carbonsuit F 44 Carbonvest G 45 Fibercoat H 46 Fibercape I 47 Fibervest J 48 Titanium Armor K 49 Titanium Cape L 50 Titanium Chest M 51 Ceramic Armor N 52 Ceramic Cape O 53 Ceramic Chest P 54 Amber Robe Q 55 Crystanish R 56 Crystal Cape S 57 Crystal Chest T 58 Laconinish U 59 Laconian Cape V 60 Laconian Chest W 61 Nei Armor X 62 Nei Cape Y 63 Shoes Z 64 Sandals a 65 Boots b 66 Knife Boots c 67 Long Boots d 68 Hirza Boots e 69 Shune Boots f 70 Garda Boots g 71 Carbon Shield h 72 Carbon Emel i 73 Fiber Shield j 74 Fiber Emel k 75 Mirror Shield l 76 Mirror Emel m 77 Ceramic Shield n 78 Ceramic Emel o 79 Aegis p 80 Green Sleeves q 81 Truth Sleeves r 82 Laconian Emel s 83 Laconian Shield t 84 Nei Shield u 85 Nei Emel v 86 Knife w 87 Dagger x 88 Scalpel y 89 Steel Bar z 90 Boomerang 91 Slasher 92 Sword 93 Whip 94 Ceramic Sword 95 Ceramic Knife 96 Ceramic Bar 97 Laser Slasher 98 Laser Sword 99 Laser Bar 100 Laser Knife 101 Sword of Ango 102 Fire Slasher 103 FIre Staff 104 Laconian Mace 105 Laconian Dagger 106 AC Slasher 107 Laconian Sword 108 Nei Sword 109 Nei Slasher 110 Bow Gun 111 Sonic Gun 112 Shotgun 113 Silent Shot 114 Poison Shot 115 Acid Shot 116 Cannon 117 Vulcan 118 Laser Shot 119 Laser Cannon 120 Pulse Cannon 121 Pulse Vulcan 122 Neishot 123 Prison Clothes (NOTE: cannot be given away) 124 Teim 125 Visiphone

(BIG credit to https://www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/526675-phantasy-star-ii/faqs/10358 for the item values).

That is how you set up the glitch. In the example, Rolf will now have no inventory but you will be able to pull items from certain slots regardless (though you will not be able to see the item). By going to the second page and then moving the cursor down, you can continue past the panel and even off the screen entirely. This becomes tricky as you will have no indication as to where your cursor is and will have to rely on your own counting skills.

So what exactly does one do with this? Well, consider this. Consider the first page of Rolf's inventory inside the panel to be Slots 1-8 with the second page INSIDE the panel to be Slots 9-16. When you move the cursor below the panel on the 2nd page, you are effectively on Slot 17. Another down, you're at slot 18, 19, and 20. Once you go to slot 21, you will notice the cursor is no longer visible. You can move it back up to go back to Slot 20, or continue to move down, counting in your head, to slot 22 and beyond. After you've gone to a slot you want to, you select the slot and GIVE the item to someone WITHOUT the Glitch in place (like Nei in the example).

NOTICE: Giving an item to a person with an inventory glitch or obtaining a chest where the item would go to that character (whether the character with the glitch is in the lead or whether the characters in front of the party line have full inventories), that item will disappear.

What is important is WHAT each slot references and what you can get from them.

SLOTS 17-20: These are generally status slots and remain empty most of the game. However, the value in them is generally set to "38", which is the Normal Condition. A value of 38 also nets a Laconimet, which is a strong Helmet for Rudo and Kain and sells for 14500 Meseta. Pulling any item from these slots will cause a blank "checkbox" to appear above the name of the person in battle and in the menu. This is normal and there is no ill effects of doing so.

SLOTS 21-24: These are the NAME values of the person WITH the inventory glitch. Each letter has its own value, and based on what you name a character, you can get a wide variety of items. This is, in fact, how 4 of the 8 Nei Items can be obtained. The item list above shows what items you can get from what letters (anything from Neimet to Sandals)

So for example, if you name Rolf at the beginning of the game "ABWX", then you would be able to pull the Neimet, Neicrown, Nei Armor, and Nei Cape from his name (common practice in the Any% runs). Once you pull out an item, you will noticed that the that letter in the character's name is replaced by an empty "checkbox". This is normal and there is no negative effects of doing so.

Every slot number 25 and BELOW affect some sort of stat of the NEXT person in line (in the example, this would be Nei).

SLOTS 25-26: Unknown values. They are set to 0 so there is nothing to pull from them. It is assumed that it could possibly be related to the negative curses that Dark Force gives, but this has not been proven. SLOTS 27-28: These are the CURRENT HP values. If current HP is 255 or BELOW, Slot 27 will be 0. SLOTS 29-30: These are the MAX HP values. If max HP is 255 or BELOW, Slot 29 will be 0. SLOTS 31-32: These are the CURRENT TP values. If current TP is 255 or BELOW, Slot 31 will be 0. SLOTS 33-34: These are the MAX TP values. If max TP is 255 or BELOW, Slot 33 will be 0. SLOTS 35-36: These are the LEVEL values. Max level is 50, so 35 should NEVER have a value other than 0. SLOTS 37-40: These are the EXP values. Usually best to leave these slots alone. SLOTS 41-42: These are the STRENGTH values. If STR is 255 or BELOW, Slot 41 will be 0. SLOTS 43-44: These are MENTAL values. If MTL is 255 or BELOW, Slot 43 will be 0. SLOTS 45-46: These are AGILITY values. If AGI is 255 or BELOW, Slot 45 will be 0. SLOTS 47-48: These are LUCK values. If LUK is 255 or BELOW, Slot 47 will be 0. SLOTS 49-50: These are DEXTERITY values. If DEX is 255 or BELOW, Slot 49 will be 0. SLOTS 51-52: Unknown values at this time. Could be linked in with ATK (from next two slots), but no info at this time. SLOTS 53-54: These are ATTACK values. If ATK is 255 or BELOW, Slot 53 will be 0. SLOTS 55-56: These are DEFENSE values. If DEF is 255 or BELOW, Slot 55 will be 0. SLOTS 57-61: This is where the equipment information is stored (Head, Right Hand, Left Hand, Body, Feet). SLOTS 62-64: Unknown values. SLOTS 65-80: The current Inventory of the next person. SLOTS 81+: Same as slot 17+, only for the next person. So slot 81 in the example would be Nei's status value instead of Rolf's.

Out of all the slots, there are very few that you can actually change to get the items you want from them. Current HP relies heavily on what damage enemies would do to you (or damage tiles). Current TP is a bit easier, but still tricky. Level takes some time, but can be reliable as long as you don't over-level (I'm looking at you, Slugmesses). Most stats are affected by level and the value it goes up per level varies game to game. That leaves Attack, Defense, and Agility, all of which you can affect by equipment. This leads to the next glitch.

2. UNDERFLOW GLITCH -What?- Out of the three stats you can alter, only Defense and Agility can be underflowed. Doing so will give you a character who is nearly invulnerable (except for fixed-damage attacks) or who is really fast. This glitch actually goes hand-in-hand with the Inventory Glitch for most run categories.

-Why?- Though doing this glitch is actually an outdated method of powering up your character's defense and agility, the glitch is still used in being able to grab certain items with the right combination of equipment.

-How?-

1. Using the Inventory Glitch, go to Slot 56 and pull out whatever item is there (for instance, Nei's defense at the beginning of the game is 22, so you'd get a Moon Dew). This will make Nei's defense value 0.
2. Unequip any piece of defensive gear (in this example, remove the Carbonvest from Nei). You will notice the value drop below 0, but since the game cannot read a negative value, it goes all the way up above 65000, though you will see a glithced number. This is okay.
3. Pull out the item from Slot 56 again (in the examples, you would get Teim). This again will set the value in that slot to 0 (though at that point, Slot 55 will have a value, though that is best left alone).
4. Repeat as much as you'd like, removing or adding any equipment you wish.

There are two things to note here.

1. You can also do this with slot 46 for Agility, since some pieces of gear will alter agility, though very little.

2. It IS possible to OVERFLOW the values back by leveling. If you level too much or equip too much powerful gear, the values can wrap back around to 0 and other low numbers. Though with the current route for Any%, you should not have to worry about this.

3. ITEM DUPLICATION GLITCH -What?- This simple trick will allow you to make multiple copies of an item in your inventory. This glitch can be done without using the Inventory Glitch, though doing so will cause you to lose other items in your inventory.

-Why?- This trick can save money and inventory space. It also can be used to access the TEIM GLITCH or create multiple Star Mists or Moon Dews for safer travel.

-How?-

1. Select the item in the an inventory you wish to duplicate (do not select USE, GIV, or TOS). Press Cancel.

2. Go to ANY character (though this is safer to use one with a glitched inventory) and go to the 2nd page of their inventory.

3. On page 2, move the cursor up to NEXT and press B & C (Cancel + Confirm) at the same time. (you will know you did this right when the USE/GIV/TOS panel shows up).

4. Selecting USE will let you use the item without actually using the item in question, which selecting GIV will let you create an extra copy of the item. NOTE 1: If you do steps 2-4 on a character WITHOUT a glitched inventory, doing this glitch will erase whatever item is in the first slot of the inventory. This is why it is generally safer to do those steps on someone with a glitched inventory. NOTE 2: You technically can skip Step 1 if you had already selected the item previously. For instance, if you pulled Teim out and given it to Nei using the Inventory Glitch, you can then access the menu and go straight to Step 2, as the game keeps track of which item was last selected.

5. EQUIPMENT GLITCH -What?- Similar to the Item Duplication Glitch, you can actually equip items from another character's inventory. Generally used to let characters who used the Inventory Glitch have weapons and armor.

-Why?- This glitch can save inventory space and time and allow characters who would otherwise be useless because of the Inventory Glitch to be able to assist in battle.

-How?-

1. Equip (or attempt to equip) an item on one character.

2. Go to the character you'd wish to equip.

3. Press B+C at the same time (Cancel+Confirm). You will know you did this right when the item is equipped, otherwise it will give you a message saying it cannot be equipped. If the weapon is one-handed, it will give you the option of which hand to put it in. NOTE: When equipping multiple items, you have to go to the next available slot (at least on a glitched inventory) to equip the item without overwriting the previous item.

4. TEIM GLITCH -What?- This glitch uses the duplication glitch in conjunction with the Teim item in order to create a glitch.

-Why?- This is a small time-saving glitch that will disable encounters until you change maps. Used mostly for safety at the early parts of an Any% run.

-How?-

1. Use the Item Duplication Glitch to create a 2nd Teim.

2. Enter the North Bridge (from the East Side) and play through the cutscene (one Teim item will be used).

3. Exit the North Bridge from the west side, then immediately re-enter.

4. You will automatically exit the bridge and walk a few steps to the left, then "teleport" slightly down (the 2nd Teim item will be used). Encounters are turned off because the game still thinks you're inside the North Bridge. The glitch and the hit detection will return to normal should you enter Oputa, the Bio Systems Lab, the West Bridge, or the North Bridge again and encounters will return to normal. NOTE 1: The map's hit detection is shifted a upward a bit, so you would have to go about a half tile above where a small bridge is in order to cross it. NOTE 2: If you try to interact with anything (the Jet Scooter for example if you attempt this later in the game), the game will soft lock.

5. POWER LEVELING GLITCH -What?- This glitch allows you to gain many levels in a small amount of time by using the Inventory Glitch. Though this glitch has been deemed outdated, it is still worth noting because of the effects that happens if you try to pull an item out of a character's level at Slot 36.

-Why?- It is possible to get a character with insane stat values in a short amount of time.

-How?-

1. Using the Inventory Glitch, go to Slot 36 and either GIV or TOS the item (some items cannot be removed, like Plasma Rings). This will set a character's Level to 0.

2. Get into a battle and win (do not run). The character whose level is 0 will gain levels equal to what level the game believes the character SHOULD be based on that character's EXP (so a character who was at level 15 before the glitch will gain 15 levels and with it all the stat gains and techniques that come with the level). NOTE: Using the glitch too often (to the point where technically their level would be above 50) will mess with a character's technique list. There could be missing techniques, some in wrong places, or empty spaces. Using an empty space technique in battle will soft-lock the game.

3. POWER-UP GLITCH (AKA ANTIDOTE-GLITCH, AKA ITEM INFUSION GLITCH) -What?- This is a new glitch discovered by Jiseed. Using this with the Inventory Glitch will give your characters insane stats more reliably and in a fraction of the time as compared to the Power-Leveling Glitch by simply adding items to a glitched inventory.

-Why?- While the Power-Level glitch does give you stats, it takes way to long to get the really high stats that will take out Dark Force and Mother Brain in a few turns. This will also dramatically effect a character's strength, attack, agility, and defense all at once.

-How?-

1. With the Inventory Glitch active, go to any Tool Shop (Paseo is typically the one used, but any others will work).
2. Start buying Antidotes for a person with the Inventory Glitch. After a few buys, you will notice that the letters in that character's name you are buying them for start to turn into black boxes. (for example, buying these for Rolf will eventually replace the letters in his name with black boxes, one box per item).
3. After the 4th black box appears in that character's name (completely eliminating the name), buy 29-31 more Antidotes (if you've done the Underflow Glitch to pull items, generally Any% runs, buy 29, else buy 31). In the example, if you were to check Nei's inventory after buying the Antidote's for Rolf, all of Nei's stats would have a glitched square followed by a 40 (or similar number). The glitched box is what you are looking for, as this indicates a high number.
4. If you see normal stats instead of the inflated ones when checking the stats out, just go back in and buy extra until you have them full (so if you bought 28 instead of 29, you can go in and buy just one more to complete the glitch, you wouldn't have to buy it all over again.

There are a few things to note with this glitch.

1. When you get into battle for the first time, there is a chance that your character will be afflicted with a minor curse as though you were in the Dark Force battle. There is also a chance the Nei Sword will proc, even if you don't have it in your inventory.

2. Winning a battle will cause the game to level your character up a bit, until it corrects itself and puts your character to level 50. At this point, that character will not level up anymore. This can also cause a character's technique list to become messed up, much in the same way as the Power-Level glitch.

3. The damage your character deals will now be very high. However, there is a possibility that the damage is so high that it overflows to a low number. For this reason, it can be considered positive to equip your characters with two different items instead of two of the same. For the most part it all depends on the enemy's defense stat, but there are possibly other factors that haven't been fully discovered yet.

4. Gun-type weapons are on a fixed damage scale so are unaffected by the extra attack and strength.

5. Techniques are also on a fixed damage scale are are unaffected by the extra mental stats.

6. HIDAPIPES Though the Hidapipe can only be bought in one town on Dezo (which means you'll never buy one in a speedrun), it is possible to either steal it with Shir (in 100% only) or pull it out of a slot.

Though some research has been done on this, Jiseed has mentioned that so far he believes that using a Hidapipe will reduce the encounter rate between 33-50% and last until you change maps. These also can only be used outside, but in an Any% run, you only get encounters in one dungeon anyway. So in an Any% run, it could possibly be viable to attempt to obtain one if you can do so quickly enough and then use the Duplication Glitch to use them. In a 100% run, it has still yet to be determined considering the encounter rate is so high whether it would be worth using.

9. STORM GEARS/CRYSTAL EQUIPMENT Early on in the game, it can be beneficial to have a Storm Gear or Crystal piece of equipment for quick kills. In Jiseed's World Record Any% route, he equips items after getting the Nei Emel that lands him a Storm Gear, then duplicates it so that both Nei and Amy can have one should they run into an encounter that he cannot deal damage to by normal means, or if he feels the storm gears can just clear them. In my 100% runs, I give the letter S to Rolf when I name him and pull a Crystal Chest from Slot 21 for Nei to use (and Rolf to equip).

Technically speaking, Storm Gears cast GiZan while the 3 Crystal Items cast Gra. GiZan is more powerful than Gra (by about 10 HP per shot per enemy), but Gra's animation is also faster.

Though you do NOT have to use either of these items, depending on what route you are running and if you plan on using the Power-Up Glitch, it can be safer to at least have one, as running into a battle in which none of your characters can do a decent amount of damage will end your run or add so much time to your run that you're better off resetting.

10. VISIPHONE POINT This has been known for a bit but I forgot to update it here. If you use the Visiphone and save your game once in Skure, it will set your Telepipe/Ryuka point to Aukba. So once you arrive in Skure, using the Visiphone, save your game (this is a must!) and then a Telepipe will allow to to skip all of Skure.

In a normal US Any% route, you can get the Visiphone by discarding the Ribbon AFTER you obtain the Blue Card from Nei's Defense Stat. Pull from the Defense Stat again and you'll have a free Visiphone.

11. CONCLUSION As mentioned before, this is just a guide on how to achieve the glitches and tricks that are commonly performed in a Phantasy Star II speedrun.

I would like to thank Jiseed for being a huge part in the discovery and implementation of many of these glitches.

If there is anything that needs to be added or amended to this guide, do not hesitate to contact me.