Nintendo and Square reunited

Nintendo has repaired the breach between itself and colossal Japanese developer Squaresoft. After five years out in the cold, Nintendo fans can look forward to Final Fantasy games appearing on GameCube and GameBoy Advance, the first of which is anticipated before the end of 2002. The last Nintendo console to play host to Square was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which went the way of the dodo many moons ago. Squaresoft plans to establish a subsidiary to develop Nintendo versions of its most popular franchise, and this subsidiary will be backed by Fund Q, a videogame development fund started by Hiroshi Yamauchi, long-standing president of Nintendo. Final Fantasy on GameCube could be the key to bolstering Japanese interest in the console. Having recently invested a reported $116 (£81.5 / €132.7) million in Squaresoft, Sony may have something to say about all this as the company's second-largest shareholder. As far as we're concerned though, this is something to celebrate. Related Feature - Final Fantasy X preview