A surprise success in the US, but nowhere near as in Japan...

 April 25th, 2001 - After years of uncertainty as to whether Squaresoft would ever release English language versions of the PlayStation Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger remakes, it has emerged that they are to do so by delivering Final Fantasy Chronicles to the US this July.

Originally both games for Nintendo's 16-bit console, the Super NES, Final Fantasy IV (1991) and Chrono Trigger (1995) have since been converted to the popular Sony PlayStation system with extra cinema scenes and touched-up graphics. However, these remakes had only been released in Japan up until now as it was thought demand for these aging games would not be high in the west, but after pressure from fans it seems Square has finally given in and decided to bring out this two-game compilation, similar to 1999's Final Fantasy Anthology.

The Japanese remake of Chrono Trigger contained animé-style FMV sequences, which were not found in the original SNES release, at various points throughout the story. These expanded on the plot of the game and set it up as a great prelude to the game's sequel, Chrono Cross, which immediately followed the remake's debut in Japan around 18 months ago. The version which is to appear as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles is expected to be a virtually identical English language version of this edition.

Final Fantasy IV, originally known as Final Fantasy II for its US SNES outing, has been brought out in CD form with extra introduction and ending CG sequences in Japan both separately and as part of the Final Fantasy Collection, which contained episodes IV-VI of the saga. When the US version of the Collection, Anthology, was released without FF IV, gamers were outraged, but now all may be forgiven as it transpires that the version of FF IV to be included in Chronicles will be a re-translated edition of the original Japanese FF IV, which has never been seen outside Japan, rather than the watered-down "easy type" FF IV which was released as FF II for the US SNES.

Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy to truly impress players with graphics and sound...	...something that was to become a feature of the series from herein.

As mentioned previously, Final Fantasy Chronicles is slated for a mid-July release, at a suggested price point of $40 and with an "T for Teen" rating. There has been no word as yet of a European version of the collection and, as with Final Fantasy Anthology, it seems unlikely that Square's European distributors would risk releasing it.

SCEE to Once Again Publish Square Games in Europe
In other news, Square has confirmed that it is returning to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe as publisher of its games in PAL territories. The news comes after the previous distributor, Square Europe, went bust towards the end of last year, which resulted in the European version of Final Fantasy IX being delayed until February.