Final Fantasy III Euro date

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 December, 2006

DS version due in spring.

Square Enix is gearing up for a busy first few months of next year - with Final Fantasy III on Nintendo DS now down for release in the spring.

That's in addition, of course, to PlayStation 2's Final Fantasy XII, which we're told to expect early in the year.

Originally only released in Japan for the NES, Final Fantasy III has taken around 17 years to make the transition (which is pretty poor even by Squenix's standards), but early reviews suggest that its quality has held up surprisingly well - perhaps partly thanks to the new work Squenix has done, introducing touch-screen controls, Wi-Fi Connection capabilities, and more.

Or perhaps it's none of those things. We'll find out soon though, because, well, sod spring - you can always import it from the US instead.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Kafeen #1 5 years ago

    Its about time. I was looking for a Euro release date a few days ago. Couldn't find one so I ordered an import version.

    Oh, and First!!!! =)

  • Eraser #2 5 years ago

    Is this the one that's been remade in 3D?

  • Cosmopolitan #3 5 years ago

    Any reason why this should not be bought from overseas right now?
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/06 @ 11:59

  • kincaide #4 5 years ago

    Excellent game - I am really enjoying FFIII. Get it now whilst the dollar rate is so good !!

  • djchump #5 5 years ago

    Yes - this is the 3D one and it's awesome :-)
    It's £21 quid on import so if you can't wait, get a US copy! :-D
    http://ww w.movietyme.com/catalog/product...
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/06 @ 10:43

  • Steroyd #6 5 years ago

    What's the story behind FFIII i thought FFIII = FFVI but FFVI was re-named FFIII in America so the real FFIII was... what?

    And i hope when SE say early next year for FFXII i hope they mean before March... i'll be skint before the PS3 launches if that happens. :D

  • Muddtallica #7 5 years ago

    Steroyd: The US numbering system shouldn't really be paid much mind, given it was little more than Square's attempt to cover up the fact that they were skipping out half the series. The game released on the SNES as Final Fantasy III in the US was actually the Japanese FFVI, as you say. The real FFIII was released on the NES only in Japan, and is only now making the jump over to the US and Europe, in the form of this 3D DS remake.

    Also: what's the deal with making us wait on this? It's not like they need to translate or even re-encode anything. They could just ship us a crate of the US copies and we'd be good to go. What gives?

  • jonchoo #8 5 years ago

    It's FFIIIj Famicom that was never released outside Japan.

    Agree with the others, import this.

  • Blerk #9 5 years ago

    What's the story behind FFIII i thought FFIII = FFVI but FFVI was re-named FFIII in America so the real FFIII was... what?

    Japanese --> US
    FF1 (NES) --> FF1
    FF2 (NES) --> Unreleased
    FF3 (NES) --> Unreleased
    FF4 (SNES) --> FF2
    FF5 (SNES) --> Unreleased
    FF6 (SNES) --> FF3

    iirc.

  • Steroyd #10 5 years ago

    Muddtallica the only reason i'm uber confused is because Square had two opportunities to re-sell FFIII and they didn't.

    On the PS1 they relaunched FF Origins, Anthology, 1, 2... 4, 5, 6. (which were never launched in Europe)
    On the GBA they re-launched Final Fantasy 1, 2 ... 4, 5, 6.

    So i'm only wondering why the heck they've left out III up until now. :/

  • Grim... #11 5 years ago

    Er...
    'Spring' isn't a date, it's a *season*.

  • onyxbox #12 5 years ago

    I've given up waiting for DS games over here, just get 'em of ebay/local importer. FFIII is old news already never mind next spring.

  • Muddtallica #13 5 years ago

    Steroyd: Err...actually, now that you mention that, I'm confused about that too. What's so special about III that made them keep it back for so long, then release it now with the full fanfare and remake treatment? From the reviews I've read, it's a very good but standard early Final Fantasy, with all the positives and negatives that come with it...

  • jonchoo #14 5 years ago

    @Steroyd, because it was difficult. Well that was what I heard anyway.
    Makes sense as most of the reviews by mainstream sites are marking down the remake due to difficulty (which isn't).

    Also Bandai had the publishing rights to the Wonderswan remake. Square always wanted to remake the game, but lucky for us (well me), it was delayed long enough for the DS platform to be considered.

  • Steroyd #15 5 years ago

    o_O Difficult?

    As in difficult to re-make or difficult as in hard to play.

    Neither is a good enough reason TBH it was made on the Nes just like FF I & II.

  • MoGamer2006 #16 5 years ago

    Difficult? Buncha wimps!

  • TakeTheVeil #17 5 years ago

    yeah i got it off play-asia.. playing it right now acutally.. pretty good.. as difficult as i remember the early final fantasys to be. Dont see why any european english speaking DS owner doesnt import their games seeing as they're cheaper and usually out earlier

  • varsas #18 5 years ago

    Difficulty is a slightly far fetched reason for never releasing it although I think that was a reason for the Fire Emblem games not making it over to Western market.

    As for the reason for the wait, the EU version includes translation into other languages not just English. We have to wait for the additions to our version of the game afaik.

  • Agent_Llama #19 5 years ago

    Tis an excellent excellent remake and I thoroughly recommend it. Far better than FF 1 and 2.

  • jonchoo #20 5 years ago

    I agree the game isn't difficult (I would even consider it easy), but I read that was one of the reason the game didn't make it out of Japan. Another reason was the SNES was already out and Square didn't think that anybody would want to purchase a NES game.

    With FF Origins, they could just recompile the existing NES games for the PS1. They probably didn't think it was worth translating a whole NES game for what is basically a give away bundle. Remaking it makes more sense, and judging by the sales in Japan, was worth it commercially.

  • Feanor #21 5 years ago

    The characters look like crackheads, but in a cute way.

  • Lyingarden #22 5 years ago

    Picked this up at the weekend, god bless importing. Haven't had that much time to play it yet but i'm enjoying it so far.

  • spongebob #23 5 years ago

    They are so fast with the Ninty releases, aren't they? Plain wrong if you ask me.

  • CitizenGeek #24 5 years ago

    Wow, nice to see a speedy localisation as with all Square Enix games. I think I may just import it this for christmas though. Or I might get a PSP. Or I might just try to finish Vagrant Story and start Star Ocean and FFIX. Oh, decisions, decisions....
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/06 @ 16:48

  • aine #25 5 years ago

    Difficulty doesn't have much to do with it... with an RPG it's a relatively trivial matter to tweak a few stats and make enemies less powerful. Which is what happened with the GBA remakes anyway, from what I've heard. So, yeah, I have no idea why this was never remade or ported until now... probably a matter of the Wonderswan dying out before they finished it, considering the Wonderswan versions were always the basis for the PS1 and GBA ports.

    As for why it was never released outside of Japan on the NES - Final Fantasy 1 was only released in the US in 1990. By the time Square got around to preparing FF2(J) for a US release, it was 1991, the NES was on its way out and they decided to focus on the SNES instead. So FF2's US release was cancelled, FF4 was renamed FF2, and FF3(J) was never even considered.
    Edited by 2 at 07/12/06 @ 13:01