Based on observation, I'm just going to re-work how i was doing things with my trivia submissions and this thread, so here we go:
1. The Phantasy Star MMOs contain many references to other Sonic Team titles, including weapons such as the "Sonic Knuckles", which are actually Knuckles' gloves, armor auras, Chu-Chu Rocket themed Go Go Balls, several mag evolutions, cameos from sonic characters, background music for lobbies, player rooms and certain quests, and sonic anniversary lobbies.
A more subtle reference can be found in the christmas lobby music in Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online 2. They contain what sounds like an instrumental re-arrangement of the credits theme of Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, "You're my hero" as the christmas online lobby background music. Phantasy Star Online however, instead had an instrumental arrangement of "Jingle Bells".
PSU Christmas Lobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zje5H2ihPgo#t=34
PSO2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY3MxkhaNhM
"You're My Hero": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKYXOobaceQ
PSO1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuM3kzlo5Ms#t=19
I'm honestly not sure if the sega references apply to any of the other lobby music in these games by the way. This was really the only one I noticed. Also I don't know if every version of PSO1 had that lobby, so for now let's keep it generalized.
Sonic Knuckles: http://www.pso-world.com/items.php?op=vi...&artid=138
An example of one of the armor auras: http://www.pso-world.com/items/psu/3/180...ment_aura/
Mags: http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op...artid=1016
Sonic cameo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIW0EOkiOhA
Sonic Anniversary Lobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3f1rMPZVl8
PSO Go Go Ball, Music Disc, and Jukebox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sww572LC3Dw#t=852
PSU My Room BGM (they merged the jukebox and music disk mechanics): http://www.pso-world.com/items/psu/17/music_discs/
PSO2 My room BGM: http://pso2.cirnopedia.info/room_03.php
2.(I'm not even sure if I should separate the first one so I submitted this one as it's own trivia)
In the "Christmas On Ice" emergency quests, the kids version of "Dreams dreams" from NiGHTS into dreams is the background music.
Third year version of the quest: http://www.zippcast.com/video/3b8e637ddfe81251902
Here's the version for the first two years, judging by the upload dates, there's no goal difference between them though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I2c5myG4b0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLV1nBaA4c And here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8-otnxm4-o#t=27
3. The name Agol (The Star System from the classic games) is a japanese anagram of Ragol (the main planet of Phantasy Star Online) and ORCAL (The Arks fleet in Phantasy Star Online 2).
The name of the star system in Phantasy Star Universe, Gurhal most likely shares a name origin with Algol, which is named after the binary stars of the same name, whose name was derived from "Ra's Al Ghul" (رأس الغول) which was phonetically scrambled in Gurhal's case.
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207392 I can't find any sites that I know are reputable saying that the name Algol comes from Ra's Al Ghul, and wikipedia cites a book as their source: "P. Kunitzsch & T. Smart, Short Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Derivations (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986), p 49." though based on my research, most people seem to accept this as fact, and it should also be noted that the stars are collectively the brightest star in medusa's severed head as part of the perseus constellation (as well as being second brightest overall, which is why I'm guessing they were given the beta designation) ( http://www.constellationsofwords.com/stars/Algol.html this is fairly common knolwage as well, far as I can tell) , with a possible translation of "Ra's Al Ghul" being "Gorgon's head". As the source says, it's still possible that Ghurral is an anagram, and given the evidence, it's difficult to doubt that the word's origin has some connection to Algol.
1. The Phantasy Star MMOs contain many references to other Sonic Team titles, including weapons such as the "Sonic Knuckles", which are actually Knuckles' gloves, armor auras, Chu-Chu Rocket themed Go Go Balls, several mag evolutions, cameos from sonic characters, background music for lobbies, player rooms and certain quests, and sonic anniversary lobbies.
A more subtle reference can be found in the christmas lobby music in Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online 2. They contain what sounds like an instrumental re-arrangement of the credits theme of Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, "You're my hero" as the christmas online lobby background music. Phantasy Star Online however, instead had an instrumental arrangement of "Jingle Bells".
PSU Christmas Lobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zje5H2ihPgo#t=34
PSO2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY3MxkhaNhM
"You're My Hero": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKYXOobaceQ
PSO1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuM3kzlo5Ms#t=19
I'm honestly not sure if the sega references apply to any of the other lobby music in these games by the way. This was really the only one I noticed. Also I don't know if every version of PSO1 had that lobby, so for now let's keep it generalized.
Sonic Knuckles: http://www.pso-world.com/items.php?op=vi...&artid=138
An example of one of the armor auras: http://www.pso-world.com/items/psu/3/180...ment_aura/
Mags: http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op...artid=1016
Sonic cameo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIW0EOkiOhA
Sonic Anniversary Lobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3f1rMPZVl8
PSO Go Go Ball, Music Disc, and Jukebox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sww572LC3Dw#t=852
PSU My Room BGM (they merged the jukebox and music disk mechanics): http://www.pso-world.com/items/psu/17/music_discs/
PSO2 My room BGM: http://pso2.cirnopedia.info/room_03.php
2.(I'm not even sure if I should separate the first one so I submitted this one as it's own trivia)
In the "Christmas On Ice" emergency quests, the kids version of "Dreams dreams" from NiGHTS into dreams is the background music.
Third year version of the quest: http://www.zippcast.com/video/3b8e637ddfe81251902
Here's the version for the first two years, judging by the upload dates, there's no goal difference between them though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I2c5myG4b0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLV1nBaA4c And here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8-otnxm4-o#t=27
3. The name Agol (The Star System from the classic games) is a japanese anagram of Ragol (the main planet of Phantasy Star Online) and ORCAL (The Arks fleet in Phantasy Star Online 2).
The name of the star system in Phantasy Star Universe, Gurhal most likely shares a name origin with Algol, which is named after the binary stars of the same name, whose name was derived from "Ra's Al Ghul" (رأس الغول) which was phonetically scrambled in Gurhal's case.
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207392 I can't find any sites that I know are reputable saying that the name Algol comes from Ra's Al Ghul, and wikipedia cites a book as their source: "P. Kunitzsch & T. Smart, Short Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Derivations (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986), p 49." though based on my research, most people seem to accept this as fact, and it should also be noted that the stars are collectively the brightest star in medusa's severed head as part of the perseus constellation (as well as being second brightest overall, which is why I'm guessing they were given the beta designation) ( http://www.constellationsofwords.com/stars/Algol.html this is fairly common knolwage as well, far as I can tell) , with a possible translation of "Ra's Al Ghul" being "Gorgon's head". As the source says, it's still possible that Ghurral is an anagram, and given the evidence, it's difficult to doubt that the word's origin has some connection to Algol.