Final Fantasy 1-6 Are Coming Back With Pixel Remasters

Announced today during the Square Enix E3 presentation, a pixel remaster is coming for the first six Final Fantasy games, hitting Steam and mobile platforms. While no date was given, the presentation did say they were “coming soon”.

While the old-school Final Fantasy games have been available on Steam and mobile platforms for ages, many players disliked the new graphic styles, UI, and interfaces of those versions compared to their classic pixel looks - including me. In fact, this announcement may be one of the coolest things to come out of E3, in a subtle fashion. While I absolutely love the classic Final Fantasy games, it can be an absolute pain to track down the hardware to play the old games in their original, pixelated incarnations. These remasters should give players like me exactly what we’re looking for, and it’s also wonderful for streamers that want to show off the games with their stylized, if simple, presentations.

With the exception of Final Fantasy II, which is more of a Saga game, the original lineup of Final Fantasy titles is impressive and mostly holds up, even in the face of the fabulous cinematic presentations and alternatives to turn-based combat that the series has embraced today. 

Final Fantasy 1 is the original, landing at a time when RPGs were incredibly simple affairs like Dragon Warrior, and gave players the chance to select their own team of characters from classic archetypes. Final Fantasy 2 is the odd duck of this bunch, but players might want to engage with it as a unique game that doesn’t play like the rest of the bunch. Final Fantasy III introduced the job systems that would go on to define some of the franchise’s best titles, and while I consider it rather slow and uneventful, it’s a solid title. Final Fantasy 4 is my favorite game in the entire catalog, a classic tale of good and evil with heartwarming characters and larger-than-life opponents. Final Fantasy 5 brought the job systems to life and made them a staple, with all kinds of unique classes to play as, from geomancers to rangers that summon squirrels. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about 6, which is widely regarded as the best title in the entire series, featuring a huge cast of memorable characters and a jovial, maniacal villain.

Are you excited to see these pixel remasters bring back the classic Final Fantasy titles? Let us know in the comments!