The player first chooses a race, each with their own strengths: versatile Humans; powerful, hulking androids called CASTs; or nimble but fragile genetically engineered Newmans.

Similar to Phantasy Star Online, players can shop, bank, accept quests, and access combat areas from a city-like hub world.

In the offline Story Mode, the player gains AI allies and progresses a narrative, which includes multiple cut scenes and dialogue sequences.

Even considering its limitations, the preset phrases offer an unprecedented amount of communication between anonymous users from anywhere in the world over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

The decision to develop Phantasy Star 0 for the Nintendo DS was made to expand the appeal of the series to younger gamers.

[4] Artist Toshiyuki Kubooka, made famous by his work on the Lunar series and Giant Robo anime, designed the game's characters with an "uplifting" aesthetic.

"[8] Nintendo Power gave good remarks towards the game, but heavily criticized the menu setup and the loss to change weapons during gameplay.