Final Fantasy made its debut in 1987 and has grown into one of the most popular names in RPGs. Its popularity skyrocketed after a decade when Final Fantasy VII was released on the original PlayStation, which was a shock considering the previous entries had been Nintendo exclusives. The new-found popularity led to an increased interest in the franchise which resulted in older games being localized for western audiences for the first time for re-release on modern hardware. The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series is the latest reissue of the classic games that were released for PC and mobile devices in 2021 and 2022, which are now finally available on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
The Pixel Remasters are remakes of the first six Final Fantasy games. Unlike other remakes that come to mind such as Final Fantasy VII Remake or Trials of Mana, the Pixel Remasters are designed to be as true to the original as possible, with modernized upgrades and quality-of-life improvements. The games that were originally released for SNES/Super Famicom look similar to the originals, save for updated graphics for spells and certain iconic scenes. The reception of the graphics by fans was divisive when these games were released. Many argued that the Game Boy Advance or PlayStation Portable versions had better graphics, though no one claimed the sprites the sprites in the old Steam versions of Final Fantasy V and VI looked better. Others were upset it didn’t get a full on 2D-HD remake. But that’s not the point of these particular remakes as they were meant to combine modern improvements while still looking like the originals. Admittedly it’s an odd choice since the art style split the difference between a straight port and full on modern remake, but I actually think these games look good as they are, so long as expectations of how these remakes should have been are removed.
The first three Final Fantasy games follow a similar art style to the original 8-bit releases but are reimagined to resemble how these games may have looked if they launched in the 16-bit era. Because the Pixel Remasters are based on the original releases, none of the bonus content that was added to subsequent re-releases on GBA or PSP are included. There are some new features added to console versions which will be discussed in more depth below. Reviewing each game again for console release is redundant, so for convenience here are links to the reviews for the PC version which are applicable to the console versions minus the added changes and would receive the same score:Final Fantasy,Final Fantasy II,Final Fantasy III,Final Fantasy IV,Final Fantasy VandFinal Fantasy VI.
Two of the more cosmetic changes were the font and the music. The text on the original PC Pixel Remasters was universally reviled by a vocal fanbase. The console versions have an option in the configuration menu to switch to a font that looks like it came straight from a classic pixel game, which is more befitting of these games. Another option some fans wanted was the inclusion of the original music, which can also now be toggled in each game’s configuration menu. The remixed music, overseen by Nobuo Uematsu, sounds amazing. The new remixes are improvements for the most part, but there were a couple instances where the changes sounded off compared to the original. Having this option is nice for the people who want the full nostalgia immersion, but it’s also nice since some of these games never had their original soundtrack included on any ports in this country before. The original chiptunes are still impressive compositions especially given the limitations of the older hardware, and there’s a huge difference in sound quality especially in the first games. When listening to the different mixes of the soundtracks it’s easy to imagine that the original mix is what Uematsu was able to produce based on the hardware and the newer versions is how he imagined they would sound. But regardless of whether a player wants to go full nostalgia with the original tunes or experience the wonderful reworking of them, both options are available and can be switched at any time. From a purely academic standpoint it was fun to listen to the 8-bit original sounds and then immediately contrasting it with the modern mix.
The boost feature is the biggest game changer with the console release. This is found in the configuration menu in all games and it can be used to customize the difficulty of each game to some degree. The player will have the option to toggle how much money they receive from battle along with the associated growth points with each individual game, whether it be experience, job growth points, Esper growth points or the individual attributes in Final Fantasy II’s unorthodox character growth system. If the player is looking for easier time they can double or quadruple these values. The Pixel Remasters, however, are far from the most challenging versions of their respective games around so the player could also adjust these values to only giving half the normal amount or nothing at all. This is a good option for players wanting to do a low level run of any game or for reaching a more specific goal like stunting level gains in Final Fantasy VI until they acquire the Espers that provide good stat increases with level gains.
The last addition is the most drastic quality-of-life improvement and that’s the ability to turn off random encounters. For players experiencing these games for the first time it’s recommended to not play with these features too much since they take away from the original experience, but for players who have completed this games more times than they can remember, this is a great convenience factor. It could, however, be exploited by players with a party on death’s door and basically cheat their way to the next save point. Using this feature for that type of reason may be frowned upon, but there may be cases where the player needs to get to a specific part of a dungeon to find an elusive monster to complete the bestiary, and may already be too powerful for anything in the dungeon to pose a challenge and just don’t want to be bothered with the random encounters.
While there are legitimate arguments as to why the Pixel Remasters are not the definitive versions of each respective title, they’re still great games that do justice to the original releases. There’s still one issue with these that will draw ire from many fans, however, and that’s the lack of the added bonus content found in some of the subsequent re-releases. It’s no secret that target audience for these games is the nostalgia market, and people who are old enough to have played these games on their initial release may consider the original versions complete and don’t miss the new content that much. But these games have been around long enough and released enough times there are plenty of people whose introduction was on the handhelds with the added content. If the handheld versions are the point of reference these version will feel incomplete. Additionally, the end game content that was added to the handhelds was enjoyable enough where even the people who don’t miss it would probably have fun with it. Adding it to these versions after waiting almost two years for the console release would help make the wait more worthwhile, but as it stands these remain based on the originals. Here’s hoping it gets added as DLC later on.
Are the Pixel Remasters the definitive version of any of their respective titles? That’s a tough question to answer, and most people would say no. Most of the omitted bonus content doesn’t significantly add to the story, but is fun enough in its own right. The graphics are great recreations of the 16-bit era, but most would say by any objective standards the best-looking versions of these games are on PSP. The original music does wonders for nostalgia as hearing the soundtrack as it originally sounded brings back memories of the first time playing these games, but taking the nostalgia filter off the remixed music is overall the best out of all the prior versions of these games. But regardless of debating over which particular version of each game is the best, the Pixel Remasters are great incarnations of these games. Replaying these classics on PC a couple years ago was a blast, and replaying them on PlayStation is just fun. Stating the PSP has better graphics or wishing it was redone in graphic style of Octopath Traveler are valid statements, but that wasn’t what the developers were going for here. They might not check all the boxes of what an individual’s ideal remake of classic Final Fantasy titles and the omission of GBA bonus content is unfortunate, but taken for what they are, the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters are still six great games.
