Players control parties of characters, battling enemies and earning experience points to grow stronger.

[3] Although each game in the collections feature different characters and stories, they take place in the Algol planetary system, specifically on the planets Palma, Motavia, and Dezolis.

Although the first three games listed emerged in the West as a single compilation, Phantasy Star Collection was developed after publisher support for the Saturn had virtually disappeared,[4] and remains a Japan only title.

[4] Due to the native resolution of the Mark III, the original Phantasy Star is played in a frame.

Unlike the Sega Saturn release, Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium is not included.

The changes in gameplay can alter the speed of the characters (much like the option available for Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star III in the Saturn version, but available to all games) and also the difficulty, by changing how much money and experience the player gets from fights, which can drastically reduce the time necessary to complete the games.

Tim Tracy of GameSpot noted that "Longtime fans of the series will definitely be pleased with the results, and it's worth mentioning that all three of these games originally retailed for about $70 each.

[2] Adam Tierney of IGN complained that Digital Eclipse did not do anything for the ports, mentioning the "tinny" music, "grammatical errors", and "huge crash bugs".