A weapon style that went on to become a signature of the Phantasy Star games was introduced for the first time in Phantasy Star II. This is the Slasher, a boomerang-like weapon. While boomerangs are hardly unique to this series, even among fantasy influenced roleplaying games, most Slashers are different from most other implementations of boomerangs in one key way: they are designed to hurt.
As one might surmise from this picture from the game manual, the Slasher is often a bladed weapon. When thrown at someone, the spinning of these blades can cause some serious damage to an unarmored foe. In later incarnations, Slashers would become even more deadly, sometimes manifesting as energy launching devices.