I've spent hours with the "Final Fantasy XVI" demo already, and it's only made me more excited for the June 22 release on PS5. And as the hype train reaches maximum speed, I wanted to take this opportunity to call out some of the "Final Fantasy" spin-offs that are tiding me over until the Eikon apocalypse hits.
Of course, there are far too many "Final Fantasy" games to mention in one post, so feel free to shout out your faves in the comments. Now hop on your chocobo, and waddle down memory lane with me.
'Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles' (2003, 2020)
Playing the original game when it came out was surprisingly difficult. If you wanted to play with three friends, you needed a GameCube, four Game Boy Advances and four link cables. But in spite of the high barrier to entry, this co-op action RPG still developed a cult following, and helped mend some of the old wounds between Nintendo and Square-Enix.
They did end up remastering it for PS4, Switch and mobile a few years back, but the iffy online connectivity and lack of local play ended up keeping it from full redemption in broader gaming circles. Still, it's worth sitting down and playing if you can convince at least one other person to come fight alongside you.
'Dissidia Final Fantasy NT' (2015, 2018)
This three-on-three fighting game was exclusive to Japanese arcades for years. If you wanted to see what it was like to fight as Lightning, Cloud Strife and Tidus against Onion Knight, Squall Leonhart and Terra Branford, you needed to hop on a plane to Tokyo.
Thankfully, a home version eventually released on PS4 and PC with even more characters to choose from. It's not the slickest fighter of all time, but the nostalgic appeal and decent roster make it difficult to pass up.
'Final Fantasy Type-0' (2011, 2015)
Square-Enix was overly ambitious with their PS3-era "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy" initiative, and they announced a number of games that ended up having a troubled development cycle. "Final Fantasy Agito XIII" was supposed to be a portable game that fit into the broader "Final Fantasy XIII" universe, but eventually ended up releasing on the PSP as the unrelated action-focused "Final Fantasy Type-0" exclusively in Japan.
Many folks thought that we'd never get a release in the west, but an HD remaster made its way to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2015 with a proper English translation. It took about a decade to get there, but it's definitely worth playing.
'Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift' (2007)
"Final Fantasy Tactics" on the PlayStation and "Tactics Advance" on the GBA are still regularly referenced in online gaming communities, and with good reason — they still shred. Sadly, the follow-up on the DS rarely gets the attention it so richly deserves. In spite of releasing on a more popular platform than the other two games, it failed to hit the same kind of numbers.
Unsurprisingly, it hasn't been given a re-release, so your best bet for a legitimate purchase is hunting down a used copy on eBay.
'Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII' (2004)
The "Final Fantasy VII" sub-franchise holds the most cultural cachet, so we've seen a lot of ancillary releases: CG movies, bad PS2 shooters and a three-part re-imagining. But out of all of those spin-offs from the original PlayStation game, the one you're least likely to have touched is "Before Crisis" — a pre-iPhone Japan-only mobile RPG from the perspective of the less-than-savory Turks (the fictional group, not the ethnicity).
If you weren't lucky enough to have a Japanese phone in the mid-aughts, your best best is to track down a fan remake or watch a YouTube playthrough. Considering the severe hardware limitations it was working with, it's a surprisingly hefty game.
Excited to play "Final Fantasy XVI" on June 22? Get caught up, and then go play the demo.
[Image: Square-Enix, Steam]
