I don't think a spherical world map would be hard to implement if you approximated it to a icosahedron then subdivided each triangular face into 3 smaller ones and repeat until you get the desired resolution you need for it to appear spherical enough when flying over, then map over that new structure :p Whether that can be done on a SNES, I don't know (probably not), but they had no excuse to not try that on the PSX :p
Back to the phrase though, does anyone know what it says in the Japanese version, or am I going to have to play that far? I've only just arrived on the Veldt so still got quite a way to go if I'm to check for myself :p