Last week our own Shaun Musgrave noticed a curious update to the Final Fantasy 3 and 4 iOS games, which we reported on at the time. What happened is that Square Enix updated both titles with new names and new app icons which clearly delineated these versions as the “3D Remake" versions of the games. This was curious because, well, these games have been on mobile for a number of years and it’s always been pretty clear that they were based off of the Nintendo DS 3D remakes. Why would Square Enix all of a sudden feel the need to clarify that these games were 3D remakes NOW unless they were planning on releasing other versions of the games? Shaun’s Spidey Sense was dead on, as today during the Square Enix Presents digital showcase at E3, they officially unveiled a new project called Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.
This project will feature the first 6 Final Fantasy games, and they’ll be given the, uh, “pixel remaster" treatment, whatever that means. Given the extremely uneven quality of Squeenix’s remastering of previous titles, this could mean practically anything. Lightly retouched original art with modern niceties like widescreen support? Totally brand new art assets? A weird mishmash of old and new art that doesn’t go together in a pleasant way at all? Anything is possible. One thing that is clear is that these will be 2D versions of these games, which makes the updates to Final Fantasy 3 and 4 last week make a lot more sense. This will also be the first time the original version of Final Fantasy 3 will be released in English, which is very exciting all on its own. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is said to be “coming soon" so hopefully that’s true so we can see what it’s all about.
i wish these remaster to be on par with PSP's FF1, 2 and 4
so finally i can play 5 and 6 in better visual than the current ones on mobile
don't hold your breath, the trailer shows them being played and it's not the PSP FF4 (however it's also not the remakes of FF5+6.)
Seems to me that these might be along the lines of Octopath Traveller in terms of graphics, with rebuilt backgrounds and pixel characters.
If so that will be amazing!
You don't know what the upgrade means? ummm, did you not watch the trailer? You can clearly see all 6 games being run, they are all widescreen with minimaps added, they show them all starting 16 seconds into the trailer and they show the games running for a full 5 seconds. FF1+2 seem to use the PSP/3DS (FF2 was not on 3DS) versions graphics (improved over the WSC, GBA sprites), FF3 uses the Famicom/NES graphics instead of the drastically superior WSC cancelled version's graphics, FF4-6 seem like the super family computer versions, not the amazing FF4 on the PSP, nor the generally disliked yet superior FF5+6 remakes. All modified to have minimaps and widescreen (including FF3.) Glad Steam is getting these, android is a nice bonus. Console versions are pointless due to the time limit on consoles (who needs a port on console that won't even be used anymore in 10 years, steam and android have a drastically longer lifespan, just makes the most sense.)
Also, this will be incomplete if it doesn't include the FF4 sequel.
This will also mark the occasion Steam will have those games for the first time. So I think thats the main purpose of this.
I’d rather Square Enix update the Final Fantasy IX app so it runs on current devices and iOS versions before they shove more apps on the App Store.