Retro Gaming Australia

Final Fantasy X was one of the biggest games of the PlayStation 2’s 2001 line up in Japan and North America, though European and Australian fans had to wait until mid 2002 to get their hands on it. A HD re-release is currently planned for the PlayStation 3 and Vita, but probably won’t be out any time soon.

After the smashing success of Final Fantasy VII in the West, Squaresoft needed to strike while the iron was hot. With Final Fantasy VIII still months away, they threw whatever they could out there, which included Chocobo Racing. Fans were not impressed, due in large to the game’s lack of features and low difficulty.

Xenogears is a slightly more mature RPG than its contemporaries, featuring a heavy emphasis on theology and philosphy, including the works of minds like Nietzsche, Freud and Jung. If that doesn’t float your boat, it’s also got big robots.

Final Fantasy IX was a return to the more traditional roots of the early Final Fantasy games when compared to Final Fantasy VIII. Series creator Hironbu Sakaguchi has referred to FFIX being his favourite as it was the closest to his ideal view of what Final Fantasy should be.

Tactics Ogre is a remake of the first game in the series, Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, originally released for the Super Nintendo in 1993. Some may get confused by the series naming, which seems to shift between Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre with each release – made more annoying in this case, where the game has been released under both names.

Once upon a time, Squaresoft used to make games that were not RPGs. This nearly bankrupted the company. 3D World Runner was one such game. You play as a space cowboy on a mission to save the galaxy from some snake-like creatures, which somehow correlates to running on a constantly forward scrolling screen. You can choose to play the game in 3D using a pair of old red and blue 3D glasses, hence the name.

Reprints ho!

The Final Fantasy Legend is probably better referred to as Makai Toushi Sa·Ga, since it’s technically part of the SaGa series rather than a Final Fantasy game. Anyway, Squaresoft originally released three Legends games in the early 1990s, but Sunsoft decided to take the oportunity to cash-in on the success of Final Fantasy VII and VIII and re-release them and Final Fantasy Adventure (the first Mana game) in 1998.

God bless the ring!

Ehgreiz is a 3D fighting game developed by Dream Factory and brought to arcades by Namco and Squaresoft. The game gained fame for featuring Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart as playable characters – Squaresoft published the PlayStation port, where even more FFVII characters were added into the mix.

As part of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the Metal Gear series this year, Konami and Kojima Productions have been working with Square Enix to produce figures of the most popular characters from the series.

The first figure, the Cyborg Ninja/Gray Fox, is now available in Japan. You can get it for 4400yen from AmiAmi.

The lighting in this room is awful, but I figured you all might like to see the actual box and figure, rather than the same old promotional stills.

Final Fantasy’s 25th anniversary will occur in December, if I am not mistaken, and Square Enix is intending on making the most of the celebration throughout the year.

The first thing they’ve announced is a pair of piano opera CDs – in other words, piano orchestrations of classic tracks from the Final Fantasy series.

The first CD, PIANO OPERA FINAL FANTASY I/II/III released today in Japan. It features 13 tracks from the first three games in the series and will set you back 2800 yen. The second CD PIANO OPERA FINAL FANTASY IV/V/VI will be out on May 16. You can buy the first CD here.