How many times has SQUARE ENIX re-released the earlier FINAL FANTASY games? A-friggin'-lot, that's how many. The latest series of releases comes in the form of FINAL FANTASY Pixel Remasters, remakes of the first six FF entries. And because SQUARE ENIX felt like being on some Nintendo ish, they decided to toss these games to the PC and mobile market. Because getting these remakes on consoles would take demand.
Psst. Hey, SQUARE ENIX. I don't know if you know but THIS IS FINAL FREAKING FANTASY!!! OF COURSE THERE IS DEMAND!!! Of all the tone deaf... *Ahem*
Bringing Pixel Remaster to consoles, especially the Switch, just seems like it would be a no brainer. We have updated versions of FINAL FANTASY VII, VII, IX, X, X-2 and XII on consoles. Why keep remakes of the first six games off those same systems? The Switch has sold over 80 million units in just a little over 4 years time. That sucker prints money. FINAL FANTASY is a cash cow franchise and the Pixel Remasters will have some people's favorites among them. My personal fav is FINAL FANTASY VI and I was hoping I'd be able to play a version of it on the Switch someday. Looks like I'll still be waiting since SQUARE ENIX has to see if there is enough demand for them to be on consoles.
This is a wait and see approach that isn't even needed. Pixel Remaster carries the FINAL FANTASY name. On mobile and the PC market, these remakes are going to sell like gang busters. Now that Pixel Remaster of games I, II and III have released and word is getting out that fan's initial reaction was overblown, I suspect more people that refused to buy these remakes or were on the fence about them will be making purchases.
Actually, let's talk a bit about said overblown reaction, shall we?
When the Pixel Remaster games were first announced, they drew ire from gamers that weren't digging the new sprites. I get that these aren't the original sprites, but I wouldn't call them awful and they are heads and shoulders above the character sprites from the mobile versions of FFI-VI. Warrior of Light actually keeps his fierce NES-era expression in battle and the sprites have the, well, old-school pixel look of early FF games. Basically, the Pixel Remaster sprites do a better job of portraying the original sprites than the mobile versions.
If you're still having trouble adjusting to the new sprites, take comfort in the fact that Kazuko Shibuya, a pixel artist that has worked on the original six games FF games (and more), has returned to work on the remakes. So think of these new sprites as tweaked versions of the older ones. Lighter in color but still very expressive. Until I was writing this up, I didn't know Ms. Shibuya had a very important hand in creating some of my favorite games. So I learned something today.
I also wasn't aware that Pixel Remaster has new music arrangements, supervised by the man himself, Nobuo Uematsu. I'll have more to say about the music in these remakes in later blog post.
I do believe we will see these games on the Switch sometime. A pity that sometime isn't right now.
Screenshots from SQUARE ENIX.
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