The Spiral Slasher

The second of the NOTHING items has been dubbed the "Spiral Slasher." Originally, I reported that it seemed to have no effect, other than being sold for 100 Meseta. Afterwards, Marek Ctrnact and The Nameless Archologist, readers of these pages, discovered the true use of this item. We have them to thank for much of the information on this page, and Marek also coined the name "Spiral Slasher." The item is, in fact, a slasher that both Alys and Kyra can use. Personally, I am rather disappointed that this weapon was not included in the game as a usable item. Why, you ask? The reason is simple: it is perhaps the best slasher in the entire game.

The Spiral Slasher, with regard to attack power of slashers, is second only to the Moonslasher, which only Kyra gets to use. However, the Spiral Slasher has an added effect. Sometimes, when enemies are damaged by the Slasher, they will fall asleep. Of course, a sleeping enemy is an enemy that's not attacking your party, and that factor, in my opinion, makes the Spiral Slasher better than even the Moonslasher.

Now, let's take a look at how the Spiral Slasher works. As I have stated, it occasionally puts enemies to sleep. There are two types of sleep-inducing attacks in Phantasy Star IV. The first of these types is used by the Bindwa and Earth skills and the Dream-Rod weapon. As shown in the pictures below, these methods create blue "spirals" around the targeted enemy. The second type, used by the Spiral Slasher (shown to the right) and Hahn's Rimit technique (shown below), creates green "spirals."

Bindwa

Dream-Rod

Earth

Rimit

According the the game manual, Rimit affects an enemy's nervous system, causing unconsciousness. Given that the Slasher's effect uses the same graphics, it is likely that, story-wise, the Spiral Slasher also damages enemy nervous systems.

Moonslasher

Spiral Slasher

There's one other difference in how the Spiral Slasher works. When thrown in battle, a slasher can been seen travelling off the screen to the right or the character, and then back onto the screen and through the enemies. As the slasher is travelling through the enemies, there's a trail of sparkles that follows it. You can see this effect from the Moonslasher in the first image to the left. With the Spiral Slasher, the trail of sparkles is not displayed correctly. The first time I used it in battle, the trail was black, and very hard to see. In a second attempt, it appeared as shown here, with a light blue color. The third time around, a darker blue trail appeared. You can also notice from the screen shot that the trail appears above the slasher graphic, rather than behind it.

We've got one more buggy feature of the Spiral Slasher to look at. The LOOK command of the item menu is known to display different things at different times. The first image below is one from my first research into the NOTHING items. As you can see, it shows a description of the item, but no window listing who can equip the weapon. The second, more recent image, however, shows that Alys and Kyra can equip it, but leaves out a description. The reason for these different ways of displaying information is unknown at this time.

There is no clear reason for this weapon to have been removed from the game. Unlike the Blood Axe, censorship is not an issue. I believe, however, that the Spiral Slasher was removed due to the length of time that a slasher user is in the party. Alys leaves near the halfway point of the game, and Kyra remains only briefly. Personally, I think the removal of this item was a mistake on Sega's part. I would have preferred to find the Spiral Slasher in a chest in Garuberk Tower to finding the Moonslasher there. The added benefit of less damage due to sleeping enemies would have been a great help when wandering lost in those halls.

Here's a basic rundown of the statistics of the Spiral Slasher: