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Final Fantasy I & II Remakes Confirmed For GBA

Posted by simoniker on from the nintendo-and-squeenix-smooching dept.

Thanks to 1UP for its story revealing Square Enix has announced a Game Boy Advance compilation of Final Fantasy I & II, due to debut in Japan this July. The article mentions: "That's the same pair of 8-bit RPGs that came to North America for the PlayStation as Final Fantasy Origins. However, the GBA remakes will feature a few new extras on top of the content from the original games", including new dungeons and substories - the remake also "seems to use the magic point system from later games in the series", and a U.S. release is likely but unconfirmed.

25 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Great. by Vargasan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's about time.
    They've been out for the Wonderswan for ages.

    --
    Putting the romance back into necromancer.
  2. Sweet by j0nb0y · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've been hoping for this ever since I saw a Gameboy-game shaped box for Final Fantasy Origins. Then I noticed that it said Playstation on it and not Gameboy. It was just a ploy to lead me astray.

    Now, finally, my hopes will be realized. I can't wait.

    --
    If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
  3. Wow by (trb001) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apparently, the Square guys really do read and take to heart Slashdot comments...

    --trb

  4. Square milks the cash cow again by Pluvius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Thanks again, Square, for not including FF3 in your compilation in order to make even more money when you put it in another compilation somewhere down the road.

    Rob

    1. Re:Square milks the cash cow again by May+Kasahara · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You should see the icon that's on the front page of Crunk Games regarding this particular piece of news... I think it compliments your comment nicely ;)

      And I too would like to see a US release of the original FF3. As I recall, Square had been planning on releasing a port of this game for the Bandai Wonderswan, but it got cancelled :P

    2. Re:Square milks the cash cow again by JabberWokky · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What is the difference between doing this and a traditional book publisher doing reprints? Some reprints even come with a new author's foreward or a couple of extra maps. Often they are cheap paperbacks or nicely bound collector's editions. That's pretty much the same as the $10-$15 "classic reissue" video games or the special anniversary editions. Of course they are going to republish. That's what publishers do - publish a work as long as there is interest. Bantam is going to publish the new Song of Ice and Fire novel, "A Feast for Crows" this year. It's the fourth in the series, but the first novel, is still being reprinted. There have been 44 different covers, I have no idea how many editions. Or maybe you are saying that Lord of the Rings shouldn't be published because there are "new, interesting" novels out, and it's an "old product". What about Hamlet? That's public domain, and it's still being actively printed. Horrible. The fact is, there are people who want this, who want it for GBA, and the publisher is working to satisfy that demand and make a living doing it. Nothing wrong with either side of that equation as far as I can see.

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    3. Re:Square milks the cash cow again by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It costs money to republish a book; most people aren't going to read a book off of a computer screen, or waste time and money printing it themselves. A game, on the other hand, is simple to re-release; just provide it for download with an emulator (they could even use P2P if they want to minimize server costs). Playing a game on a PC is not very different from playing a game on a console, especially if you get a PC gamepad or controller converter. There are emulators for consoles too, if you're really adamant about it, and flashcarts for the GBA. The bottom line is that I'm not sure how Square can justify charging $20 or more for a 15-year-old game.

      Oh, and one other thing; the book hasn't made any leaps in technology since the invention of the printing press. Video games make leaps every year. Hamlet is not obsolete; FF1, in its current form, is.

      Rob

    4. Re:Square milks the cash cow again by JabberWokky · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Uhm... I'm still looking forward to Final Fantasy Eight. I'm also waiting for PS2 prices to drop so I can get one (game machine and games).

      A good game from ten years ago is still a good game.

      As for the emulator issue, book publishers could release their books as text files (then your computer emulates a book, basically). Baen is doing this as an experiment. That might happen eventually, but that's not how it works right now. It would be nifty if we had a space elevator and a nanotech assembler commerce society, but right now, authors make money from publishers who make money by publishing. That's the way it works if you want to make a living writing either books or video games.

      I'm not sure how Square can justify charging $20 or more for a 15-year-old game. [...] Hamlet is not obsolete; FF1, in its current form, is.

      If it is obselete, nobody will buy it. I would; I was watching the Wonder Swan with interest. FFI is a fun game. Hell... I drop a quarter into just about every Ms. PacMan machine I see because it's a fun game.

      "Obselete" is not defined as "Pluvius is not interested in it". More to the point, a story (even one as simple as the Light Warriors against Chaos) or a game (even one as simple as the original FF battle engine), never becomes obselete. Aesop's Fables are simple stories, and checkers is a simple game, but they aren't obselete after thousands of years... and are still published.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  5. Re:Thisis why we NEED emulators.. by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually the GBA doesn't feature version encoding.

    You can play Japaneese games on a US game boy and vice versa.

  6. Are you as confused as I am? by gklinger · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I saw this news posted elsewhere and was instantly confused by which versions were being released because the Japanese and North American numbering schemes are different. I had heard that what was released as Final Fantasy II in North America was called Final Fantasy IV in Japan and Final Fantasy III in North America was Final Fantasy VI in Japan. I did some web searching and came across an interesting site about the History of Final Fantasy that cleared up all my confusion. I highly recommend checking it out.

    Numbering scheme aside, it's nice to see these games being (re)released so that fans can relive the good times and new RPGers can experience what all the fuss was about. And if Square Enix and Nintendo can make a few bucks, great. Everybody wins.

  7. port/remakes show a complete lack of originality by radimvice · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How many times are videogame companies going to expect people to dish out money for the same exact games? These 'technological update' port/remakes are completely against the progressive nature of technology because they depend on the suppression of our rights to play games that we have already purchased. Instead of allowing people to continue to play classic games they have already paid for on new hardware (via official emulators and hardware ROM extractors and the like), they rely on the short life-cycle of console systems to sell us the same games again in a new packaging. While they do update the technological presentation, they don't make any significant changes, or even create superficially different levels and challenges to make the games any different the second (PSX), third (WSC), fourth (GBA) time around. It's even more revolting than sequelitis. If they -must- remake, instead of making a re-re-re-release of FF1-2, why don't they remake FF3 for once and use the opportunity to localize the only Final Fantasy still officially missing in the US? While it's proven to be more successful to re-release classic games on new hardware than to actually develop new games, it also shows that the monolithic Square can't come up with any better games than their last-ditch effort twenty years ago when they were a two-bit videogame company on the verge of bankruptcy (which, oh the irony, is what the 'Final' in FF actually stood for at the time).

  8. Addendum by May+Kasahara · · Score: 2, Interesting

    (not to say that the Wonderswan was a system popular over here, but the Wonderswan ports of FF1 and FF2 did find their way to the US as Final Fantasy Origins... Maybe if the FF3 port had been completed, we'd have that game as well)

    1. Re:Addendum by shadowcabbit · · Score: 3, Interesting

      [...]but the Wonderswan ports of FF1 and FF2 did find their way to the US as Final Fantasy Origins... Maybe if the FF3 port had been completed, we'd have that game as well[.]

      All things considered, it still might. Assuming S/E decides to bring this over (and let's be totally honest here, they'd be insane not to), it's very likely that any hopes for a US localization of FF3 will hinge on sales of FF1&2.

      I bought Origins when it came out, played through it sporadically for a while until I finished FF1, and then sold it because I had no intentions of going through FF2 on my PS2. The games' repetitive nature (read: combat every fifteen seconds) makes them very well-suited to the GBA, and once the cart is released here, I'll be starting FF2. Personally, I'm surprised this wasn't S/E's first title on the Game Boy.

      I haven't read the article yet-- will do so when I get home-- but the idea of using the MP system just feels so alien to me. Sure, I played through FF1 on Easy Mode, but it was far more challenging than some other RPGs I've played because you actually had to think about your magic use rather than use the time-honored tradition (snicker) of "use Ultima on all enemies, chug Ether, repeat until final boss is crispy".

      --
      "Why Subscribe?" Good question...
  9. AFAIK... by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ever since FFVII came out, Square doesn't refer to the US numbering scheme anymore for identifying it's previous games (it'll say something like FFIII US if they were trying to make that distinction. Otherwise they'll say FF VI. So FF II is the real FF II, not FFII US (which would be FF IV). Capiche?

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  10. Re:port/remakes show a complete lack of originalit by dyefade · · Score: 2, Interesting

    so? I've been looking for an excuse to buy a GBA, assuming this comes to Europe fairly quicky, this will probably be the reason I do. I've never owned or played FFI/II, but I kept intending to buy Origins for the PSX, now I'm thinking I'll hold off and get this instead.
    Square at a profit-based company don't forget, and they make good games. Isn't it better that they release good games and occasionally go off and re-release them for profit that not make good games at all?

    Also, hopefully this will improve relations between Square and Nintendo, having Squares support for the Gamecube 2 (or whatever it is) will really help Nintendo.

  11. Re:port/remakes show a complete lack of originalit by analog_line · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How many times are videogame companies going to expect people to dish out money for the same exact games?

    Probably as long as those games ported from older systems continue to be among the biggest selling GBA games. Hell, that's why I got a GBA, to be able to play all the older classic games without needing to deal with ROMs. Fully half, at least, of my GBA collection is remade SNES/NES games.

  12. Re:port/remakes show a complete lack of originalit by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I didn't know a 2004 Ford Mustang was almost exactly the same as a 1988 Ford Mustang.

    Learn something new every day!

    Rob

  13. Why? by sn2k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The first screenshots of the remakes also indicate that the original Final Fantasy will have a different magic system. Instead of the Dungeons & Dragons-style spell level system from the original game, it seems to use the magic point system from later games in the series.

    This seams like a weird thing to do. The original magic system was not confusing, just different then the current one. I think doing this would completly reshape how magic is used in the first final fantasy. Since there was not an actual picture of the screenshot, I am wondering if perhaps they saw a picture of final fantasy II which did have the MP magic system. I hope so because I would hate it if a major gameplay feature was altered.

    1. Re:Why? by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because the FF1 magic system kind of suckd.

      Ok, it really sucked.

      Some levels would be left without any good spells to use, especially with White magic, and there would not be enough points with the 9 max to use cure spells for white. It really limited the options you could use.

      The Easy mode on FF Orgins fixed it a bit, breaking the 9 a level limit, making White mages a lot more valuable, and the game a lot more enjoyable. An optional MP based system would be a nice thing to try as well.

  14. Re:port/remakes show a complete lack of originalit by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Friend: There is a difference between buying new and buying used.

    That has nothing to do with your flawed analogy. You said that buying re-releases of games is the same as buying new models of cars. I pointed out that it is not.

    As for playing old games that you didn't have the chance to play originally, that's what emulation and abandonware are for. (Sure it's illegal, but I don't see the FBI arresting people for pirating decade-old games. And it doesn't even have to be illegal if the copyright owners would make their old games freeware instead of milking them until there's nothing left.)

    Rob

  15. Re:Thisis why we NEED emulators.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm an Egyptologist, you insensitive clod!

  16. Re:Thisis why we NEED emulators.. by Hettch · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, the GBA has emulators (pogoshell) which you only need a flash cart and USB cable to transfer games over. I've been playing the NES version of FF1 on my Game Boy for quite a while. It's the only way I was able to get through some boring lecture classes. Google for Flash Advance for the cart, and Pogoshell for the OS (of sorts)

  17. No by MMaestro · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Are you as confused as I am?

    No. Given the insane game market at the time of the NES, I'm not surprised. We get the NES but shun the Sega Master System, Japan goes gaga of Dragon Quest and America laughs thinking its just a fad, Japan embrace video games openly, America blacklists them as 'only for children'.

    This sorta thing also happened to the Dragon Warrior series. America only recieved I - IV, and then jumped to VII. Wheres V and VI? Thank god Nintendo didn't form a habit of naming the Fire Emblem series with numbers as well. (Japan has been playing the series since the first NES and we recently got episode 'zero' on the GBA.) The only series that really made it over here intact with its numbering was the Megaman/Rockman series, but we still missed a couple side-games.

  18. Woo-hoo! by josh+glaser · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is so cool. I mean, new dungeons! I'm almost glad I haven't boughten Origins yet (although I'll probably end up buying them both - I get stupidly irrational when it comes to Square games). Now, if only they'd continue the trend and bring out CT, SMRPG, and, more importantly, FFIII.

  19. Re:port/remakes show a complete lack of originalit by josh+glaser · · Score: 2, Informative

    FFTA is not a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, the PlayStation game. It's entirely new - new story, new enemies, etc. I mean, it uses the same battle system, and the graphics are a bit similar, but it's about as far from a remake as you can get. An easy mistake, though.