- "Your eyes... It is those eyes that see rare, delicious chicken..."
- — The Colonel
Colonel Sanders (Japanese: カーネル・サンダース) is a recurring cameo character in the Phantasy Star Portable series, including Portable 1, Portable 2, and Portable 2 Infinity. He is an enterprising gentleman that is the founder and caretaker of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Gurhal Branch restaurant.
Upon discovering his hidden KFC shop, the player can purchase collaboration items such as weapons and room goods. After talking to the Colonel for the first time, he will present his partner card that allows him to be summoned to assist the player in battle.
Characteristics[]
- "To meet such people... Let's give this a commemoration!"
Appearance[]
Colonel Sanders wears the usual attire associated with the real world chicken mogul. He has gray hair with a matching Van Dyke styled beard. He has black-rimmed glasses and wears a plain white suit, white dress pants, and a black bowtie. His shoes are black and polished.
Personality[]
Mr. Sanders is a man beaming with enthusiasm for battle, and strives to share his delicious chicken to everyone across the universe. Upon meeting a new customer, he knows right away that the soul gazing beyond those eyes has the desire to relish that which heretofore has yet to have been savored: Kentucky fried chicken.
Partner Card Information[]
- Name: Colonel Sanders
- Race: Human
- Sex: Male
- Class: Force
- Note: "I'm traveling around the world providing delicious chicken."
Colonel Sanders is a very active partner character. He will run, jump, and destroy his targets alongside the player. He has an unusual fondness of light-based attacks, having a tendency to spam grants and damgrants against enemies.
Why KFC? Why in Phantasy Star?[]
KFC Gurhal Branch store
Why not KFC? The famous Kentucky Fried Chicken is immensely popular in Japan on a scale beyond what is seen with westerners. It is not uncommon for Japanese families to celebrate Christmas with a bucket of the Colonel's famous chicken; in fact, it is so popular that, according to the BBC, an estimated 3.6 million Japanese savor the juicy morsels during the Christmas season.[1] According to various sources, this was made possible as a result of the viral marketing campaign of "Kentucky for Christmas!" in 1974.[2]
As for why Sega decided to collaborate with the fast food chain, a possible reason is that KFC is a company part of the Yum! Brands chain of restaurants. Pizza Hut is another famous restaurant in this chain, and coincidentally was also worked into some of the games. The Phantasy Star franchise had a pizza parlor named Coco Hut already in the lore. The next logical, albeit unique, step would be partnering with a big name brand in order to promote their video games.
References[]
- ↑ BBC article: Why Japan celebrates Christmas with KFC
- ↑ Smithsonian: Why Japan Is Obsessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas