"Silly tree, you must be drunk, oranges are supposed to grow in your branches, not your trunk!"
Strange, luminous flora that can be randomly encountered in Sega's 1989/1990 Phantasy Star II Sega Genesis roleplaying video game [Japanese: ファンタシースター II 還らざる時の終わりに (Fantashi- Suta- II: Kaerazaru Toki no Owari ni), which translates to Phantasy Star II: The End of the Lost Age]. Said title has also been ported to many other consoles, often as a selection on various Sega compilations. Phantasy Star II was also completely revamped for the Japanese Sony Playstation 2 Sega Ages 2500 budget line of games in 2005, where it was the seventeenth release and bears the slightly modified name Phantasy Star Generation 2.
The monsters Forest, Glowstick, and Neo Kaitonia all share the same game sprite; they differ only in hue and statistics. In earlier translations of Phantasy Star II, Neo Kaitonia bore the moniker "Kite Dragon" (shortened to "Kitedrgn", as names were limited to eight characters). The Japanese phonetic katakana spelling for the English word "kite" is "kaito" (カイト), so, I can understand where that portion of the sinister plant's proper title got confused. In comparison, the names for the Forest and Glowstick creatures have remained consistent over the years, other than the truncating of "Glowstick" to "Glowstik", which, again, was due to text constraints. Part of me would like to believe that labeling this organism as Kite Dragon was an intentional reference to the evil tree that was always devouring Charlie Brown's kites in the Peanuts comic strip, but that's admittedly pretty far-fetched.
Although this monstrous flora is permanently rooted in place, the Neo Kaitonia's immobility does little to hamper its lethal effectiveness. By channeling and focusing the energy pulsating in its many globular cysts, the plant can launch a giant ball of plasma from the center of its trunk, which arcs high into the air, much like a flare, before raining down on its foes with devastating results. While a Neo Kaitonia can accurately strike targets up to 30.5 meters (100') away, the plant generally waits until its intended prey is much closer, so that its extensive root system can take advantage of the nutrients that seep into the soil as the corpse of the victim(s) decomposes. Scavengers attracted by the smell of rotting flesh soon join the pile, as does anyone foolish enough to try to remove said bodies for burial. One would think that the blasted earth and heaps of bones radiating outward from the spot where a Neo Kaitonian grows would be sufficient warning, but, alas, the scintillating lights produced by the plant's cysts, which can be seen for miles at night, have a hypnotizing effect on any organism that stares at them for too long, compelling the watcher to draw ever closer...
Materials:
Newsprint, white glue, and acrylic paint.
Dimensions:
4.4 cm (1.7") x 3.9 cm (1.5") [widest point x highest point]
Time:
Two days: May 17 and 18, 2013.
The heroes and heroines (L-R) Nei (ネイ), Rudger (ルドガー), Eusis (ユーシス), and Anne (アンヌ) wage battle against a pair of Neo Kaitoniae (ネオカイトニア), and a Breach Leech (ベリッチリーチ) in the 2008 Japanese Nintendo Wii port of Phantasy Star II.
The updated (L-R) Forest, Glowstick, and Neo Kaitonia battle sprites from the Sega Ages 2500 version of Phantasy Star Generation 2. I think the addition of unique background graphics for all of the different locations where you fight monsters is a particularly nice touch (compared to the minimalist grid environment used in the original version, as seen above).
