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The History of Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 11 takes an in-depth look at three Final Fantasy-related spin-off games (like the Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 10, which looked at the Chocobo titles, FF: Mystic Quest, and every other FF-related piece of media).

First up is Final Fantasy Legend I, II and III for the Game Boy. An offshoot series that really has nothing to do with Final Fantasy and were actually the first games in the “Saga” franchise, which finally got it’s original name back in the United States when the 7th installment, for the PS1, was released in the US as “Saga Frontier” (the last game in the series being Unlimited Saga on the PS2, which received mixed reviews).

They then look at Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004 (US). Created by Game Developers Studio, a company made specifically to work on the game, it marked Square’s glorious return to Nintendo systems. Square had entirely skipped the Nintendo 64 era for Sony exclusivity when the cartridge-based N64 format became a limitation to game-development. But with the power and disc-based GameCube system, Square could once again unleash their creativity to the joy of Nintendo consumers.

Crystal Chronicles would mark a highly unique and innovative action RPG spin-off that would become it’s own branch of the franchise. There are now two upcoming Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles games in development: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS) and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii). Also a brand-new game, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land was just announced as an exclusively-developed WiiWare title, that will be available for download in the future!

The core Final Fantasy games however still remain exclusive to Sony, including the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, with Final Fantasy 11 being the only core FF game to be released on multiple platforms at it’s debut (although some people don’t consider the MMORPG to be a core game in the series). There is a direct-sequel to Final Fantasy XI in development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC by the way.

Finally, the retrospective takes an in-depth look at the Kingdom Hearts games, including the original, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the Game Boy Advance, Kingdom Hearts II, and the three upcoming Kingdom Hearts games in development.

Overall, once again a great, great retrospective that no fan of the Final Fantasy titles or any of these games should miss! Enjoy.

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In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS, you will explore a variety of Disney worlds in not only single player mode. But also in (cooperative) multiplayer missions made possible by the unique networking features of the DS in an all-new and mysterious Kingdom Hearts storyline.

The latest issue of the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reveals the first screenshots of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It gives a nice look at what to expect from the DS action-RPG. Square Enix will let Japanese developer H.A.N.D. make the new game, but the Kingdom Hearts people are overseeing the project. Tetsuya Nomura is the director, with Tomohiro Hasegawa, who served as art director and was responsible for texture work in Kingdom Hearts II, serving as co-director. On the H.A.N.D. side, the head of production is Kouji Yamamoto. He previously worked on Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book.

The storyline will focus on Roxas and his time with Organization XIII. The game will tell the story of why why Roxas attempted to enter the Organization XIII, and eventually why he attempted to leave. The game starts off when Roxas enters Organization XIII, but we could end up seeing his birth in the game’s prologue.

Looking at the Kingdom Hearts story timeline, the game takes place before Kingdom Hearts II, during the one year period where Sora is asleep. Sora’s memory is being reconstructed during that time. The development staff is currently thinking up some methods for incorporating the ability to see Sora’s memories into the game; this is just in the idea phase, but it could involve something that focuses on the connection between Sora and Roxas.
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