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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.

12 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. 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?
  2. Wow by (trb001) · · Score: 3, Funny

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

    --trb

  3. 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 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
    2. 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
  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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).

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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)

  10. 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".

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