After the evil Nikademus was defeated, the land of Scandor enjoyed a time period of peace, which lasted twenty years. However, when a ship sent to the Skull Island disappeared without trace, Scandor's inhabitants realized a new threat was rising... Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes is the fourth entry in the RPG series Phantasie, and the only one that was released exclusively for Japanese computers. Gameplay-wise and visually, the game is very similar to the previous installments. The player creates a party of adventurers (up to six active combatants, including the series' trademark "random creatures", such as ogres, minotaurs, lizardmen, etc.), which then roams the top-down world-map, descending into dungeons, and fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat. Battles allow specific commands such as "Thrust", "Parry", "Throw", etc., and - similarly to the third game - placement of the characters in rows on the battle screen. A new feature is the possibility to choose parents for the characters the player creates. They can both belong to the same race, or produce an offspring in a mixed marriage - which, naturally, influences the newborn's parameters, affinities, etc. Theoretically, it is possible to create a party that consists entirely of children born to troll fathers and gnoll mothers, however, these "random creatures" (unlike the privileged races such as humans, dwarves, and elves) can only be either thieves or fighters.