Its been 16 years since Final Fantasy III was released on the NES (otherwise known as the Famicom in Japan) and gaming consoles have moved on a lot in that time from simple 2D pixel art to the modern, 3D polygon models that strive to aim for realism. Over the past few years, Square-Enix have been busy porting many of their classic Final Fantasy titles over to various systems and now, Final Fantasy III (FFIII) gets a complete remake along with some extra content added in.


The original 2D Famicom version of the game.
First, lets be clear that FFIII never made it to the West and never received an official English translation until this remake. Many have the game confused with the English version of FFVI which was released sometime back for the SNES and renamed as FFIII. It had to be renamed at the time because none of the previous FF games had received an English release yet. Thus they had to renumber the titles for continuity. It wasnt until the English release of FFVII before the numbering scheme was restored and later re-releases of earlier titles were allowed to keep their names.


A crystal looms through the skies.
Final Fantasy III tells of a world where the power of light and darkness are kept in balance by magical crystals. One day, the balance is broken and darkness begins to engulf light. With little power remaining, one of the light crystals uses its power to guide four young orphans to it, entrusting them with the task of restoring the balance and saving the world.

Starting up the game, you are greeted by one of Square-Enixs spectacular pre-rendered opening movies, introducing you to the exciting world of FFIII and playing on both screens of the DS simultaneously. After watching that, you are ready to start playing.