Final Fantasy VII Remake for DS? Full Report
Nintendo 64 to get last laugh from grave?
Hot rumour from Japan enticing RPG gamers over the weekend foretells of a high-budget remake of Final Fantasy VII for Nintendo’s DS portable, news that if true proves the games industry can match any soap opera for drama and twist.
The rumour began with Square Enix producer Tetsuya Nomura confirming to Japanese PlayStation 2 magazine Dengeki PS2 that Final Fantasy VII will have a significant showing at next year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, building on the company’s comments from last year when SE promised “…polymorphic [Final Fantasy VII] content providing well-known properties on several platforms, allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible.”
Of course, this rumour stands in contradiction with established talk that a high-budget PlayStation 2 remake of Final Fantasy VII is in the works, though it could be argued that it makes far more sense for a DS version to be released.
As you may well know, Final Fantasy VII was - to put it mildly - something of a controversial PlayStation game. The RPG was originally in development for Nintendo’s new home console, a 64-Bit machine going by the name of Nintendo Ultra 64. The code was in a fairly advanced stage and Square was at the time amongst the most active of companies lobbying Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to ditch cartridge-based media in favour of a CD-based system. Yamauchi - a stubborn man - rejected all calls to move away from the relatively secure cartridge, and in turn assured Square that any game could be accommodated, even if it meant spreading its new RPG across several cartridges. Square rejected this idea and, under constant courting from the emerging PlayStation camp, cancelled Ultra 64 Final Fantasy and announced that it would be releasing Final Fantasy VII as a PlayStation exclusive.
This news sent shockwaves through the Japanese games industry and is widely seen as a turning-point in the fortunes of the Nintendo 64. The console was by no means a failure, though it was crippled by reluctant third-party support; the angle with which Sony rose to dominance over the old guard.
And for years afterwards, Nintendo - under Yamauchi’s control - openly derided Square, with the Nintendo president always on hand with a word or ten of discouragement for his one-time ally. Then something happened. The launch of the Game Boy Advance had fans up in arms, requesting Final Fantasy and other Square RPG properties for Nintendo’s new handheld, in essence a portable SNES. Nintendo was seeing profits tail off as the Pokemon boom faded and so Yamauchi - reluctantly, we are told - allowed Nintendo to re-enter talks with Square. After the second meeting, both parties were highly positive and Yamauchi made the surprise announcement that he would chair the next meeting. Legend has it that the perceived betrayal of Nintendo by Square stood as the lowest point in Yamauchi’s career and the great man seemingly wanted to iron out the wrinkly past, with an agreement in principle being reached during that third meeting, ending more than a decade of tension between the two Japanese giants.
History lesson over, it is a fact that a considerable amount of the code which comprises Final Fantasy VII was tapped in using Ultra 64 development kits and this code can easily be ported across to Nintendo DS. A DS remake will make more financial sense and require considerably fewer resources than an enhanced PlayStation 2 remake.
As we mentioned, the videogames industry can hold a candle to any soap opera, though it must be said that Final Fantasy VII DS would even trump the murder, return and murder (again) of Dirty Den.
Speaking to SPOnG this morning, a Square Enix representative said, “Final Fantasy VII is one of the franchises that we aim to really explore using our polymorphic content principal. There has been talk of a remake for sometime now as you know. We are aiming to deliver such properties in many different ways and on many different platforms and FFVII will be the first to really show this strategy to its fullest potential.”
Expect more in the coming months.
The rumour began with Square Enix producer Tetsuya Nomura confirming to Japanese PlayStation 2 magazine Dengeki PS2 that Final Fantasy VII will have a significant showing at next year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, building on the company’s comments from last year when SE promised “…polymorphic [Final Fantasy VII] content providing well-known properties on several platforms, allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible.”
Of course, this rumour stands in contradiction with established talk that a high-budget PlayStation 2 remake of Final Fantasy VII is in the works, though it could be argued that it makes far more sense for a DS version to be released.
As you may well know, Final Fantasy VII was - to put it mildly - something of a controversial PlayStation game. The RPG was originally in development for Nintendo’s new home console, a 64-Bit machine going by the name of Nintendo Ultra 64. The code was in a fairly advanced stage and Square was at the time amongst the most active of companies lobbying Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to ditch cartridge-based media in favour of a CD-based system. Yamauchi - a stubborn man - rejected all calls to move away from the relatively secure cartridge, and in turn assured Square that any game could be accommodated, even if it meant spreading its new RPG across several cartridges. Square rejected this idea and, under constant courting from the emerging PlayStation camp, cancelled Ultra 64 Final Fantasy and announced that it would be releasing Final Fantasy VII as a PlayStation exclusive.
This news sent shockwaves through the Japanese games industry and is widely seen as a turning-point in the fortunes of the Nintendo 64. The console was by no means a failure, though it was crippled by reluctant third-party support; the angle with which Sony rose to dominance over the old guard.
And for years afterwards, Nintendo - under Yamauchi’s control - openly derided Square, with the Nintendo president always on hand with a word or ten of discouragement for his one-time ally. Then something happened. The launch of the Game Boy Advance had fans up in arms, requesting Final Fantasy and other Square RPG properties for Nintendo’s new handheld, in essence a portable SNES. Nintendo was seeing profits tail off as the Pokemon boom faded and so Yamauchi - reluctantly, we are told - allowed Nintendo to re-enter talks with Square. After the second meeting, both parties were highly positive and Yamauchi made the surprise announcement that he would chair the next meeting. Legend has it that the perceived betrayal of Nintendo by Square stood as the lowest point in Yamauchi’s career and the great man seemingly wanted to iron out the wrinkly past, with an agreement in principle being reached during that third meeting, ending more than a decade of tension between the two Japanese giants.
History lesson over, it is a fact that a considerable amount of the code which comprises Final Fantasy VII was tapped in using Ultra 64 development kits and this code can easily be ported across to Nintendo DS. A DS remake will make more financial sense and require considerably fewer resources than an enhanced PlayStation 2 remake.
As we mentioned, the videogames industry can hold a candle to any soap opera, though it must be said that Final Fantasy VII DS would even trump the murder, return and murder (again) of Dirty Den.
Speaking to SPOnG this morning, a Square Enix representative said, “Final Fantasy VII is one of the franchises that we aim to really explore using our polymorphic content principal. There has been talk of a remake for sometime now as you know. We are aiming to deliver such properties in many different ways and on many different platforms and FFVII will be the first to really show this strategy to its fullest potential.”
Expect more in the coming months.
Companies:
Square Enix
Read More Like This
Comments
Showing the 20 most recent comments. Read all 62.
deleted 3 Apr 2009 13:47
43/62
jamboy wrote:
2 words - two cartridges
N64 carts went upto around 512 Megabits or 64 MegaBytes
DS carts can currently hold upto 2048 Megabits or 256 MegaBytes
taking into account the Ultra 64 Dev of the game ran across (lets assume) 3 carts that still leaves space for compressed FMV with very low res screen compared to the CD version, id say there is plenty of room, and i dont think there are limits on DS mem size,
I for one would like to see it recreated on PSP, or at least make the original on the PS store.
GrayFox3635/Michael 4 Apr 2009 03:38
44/62
haritori wrote:
jamboy wrote:
2 words - two cartridges
N64 carts went upto around 512 Megabits or 64 MegaBytes
DS carts can currently hold upto 2048 Megabits or 256 MegaBytes
taking into account the Ultra 64 Dev of the game ran across (lets assume) 3 carts that still leaves space for compressed FMV with very low res screen compared to the CD version, id say there is plenty of room, and i dont think there are limits on DS mem size,
I for one would like to see it recreated on PSP, or at least make the original on the PS store.
Well it is possible because Final Fantasy VII was going to be for N64 but there is a rumor that a remake will come out for the wii (possibly wiiware) but a remake might happen its possible
more comments below our sponsor's message
Eyedunno 4 Apr 2009 12:28
45/62
haritori wrote:
very low res screen compared to the CD version
Um, I'm not sure what you're talking about here. The PS1 FMVs were around 320X200, IIRC. The DS screen is 256X192. So that would mean they wouldn't be "very low res" in comparison to the PSX version. I think the DS can use much better video compression though (PSX used simply atrocious MJPEG), and, as FFIVDS showed us, cut scenes can be done excellently with no FMV at all. So I do think you're right that the game could probably be remade within a 256MB limit (or certainly a 512MB limit).
I just don't think it's gonna happen. This rumor is from 2005, and there's been no evidence since. If it's remade, the PS3 seems most likely to me, but I'm not even holding my breath on that one...
BlackBird 15 Apr 2009 17:26
46/62
If it comes out for the PS3 i doubt it'll be exclusive to it, most likelly will come to the 360 too.
awarkle 30 Apr 2009 20:43
47/62
People laugh at the DS being underpowered to run a game such as FFVII however i recently started replaying and to be honest the graphics are not that amazing OR cutting edge even by ds standards, if you have played the remakes of FF 3 and 4 and even crystal chronicles you will see that the game is feasable to be ported to the DS. I think most playstation fans remember the amazing graphics but forget that the backgrounds for the FFVII game was all pre rendered with cut scenes put in when needed. The actual models for the characters and fight scenes wernt that detailed most relied on gouraud shading or very low rez texture maps.
Even the game being spread over 3 cd's isnt really that of a problem either SD memory is dirt cheap, weather or not the DS was designed with upscaling in mind and you never know they may have put a cap on maximum cartridge size. but even then you dont have to have super high rez images they will easily go onto the smaller screen.
One issue though would be those parts of the game that really zoomed out it might be hard to pick out what cloud is doing or if there is a box / potion near by. Also the save system would have to be altered to allow saving at any time instead at the pre determined points.
I do think it would be better to just take the existing FFVII story and rebuild the entire thing for both the 2 main consoles, 360 and ps3 and then do a cut down variant for the psp and ds. Im sure the ps3 fans will be up in arms about it being released on 360. But in the end square are a company and the more people they make it available for the more money they make
Even the game being spread over 3 cd's isnt really that of a problem either SD memory is dirt cheap, weather or not the DS was designed with upscaling in mind and you never know they may have put a cap on maximum cartridge size. but even then you dont have to have super high rez images they will easily go onto the smaller screen.
One issue though would be those parts of the game that really zoomed out it might be hard to pick out what cloud is doing or if there is a box / potion near by. Also the save system would have to be altered to allow saving at any time instead at the pre determined points.
I do think it would be better to just take the existing FFVII story and rebuild the entire thing for both the 2 main consoles, 360 and ps3 and then do a cut down variant for the psp and ds. Im sure the ps3 fans will be up in arms about it being released on 360. But in the end square are a company and the more people they make it available for the more money they make
deleted 30 Apr 2009 22:43
48/62
awarkle wrote:
I do think it would be better to just take the existing FFVII story and rebuild the entire thing for both the 2 main consoles, 360 and ps3 and then do a cut down variant for the psp and ds. Im sure the ps3 fans will be up in arms about it being released on 360. But in the end square are a company and the more people they make it available for the more money they make
If i could play a rebuild of FFVII (with very minimal changes to game play strat and story, on my 360 in glorious HD, i would die a happy man! sadly i know reality and this will never ever happen, because i dont think SquareEnix like money.
mayes 4 May 2009 02:03
49/62
thanks dear for your thought
mayes
[5 May 2009, 08:25: Message edited by 'tyrion']
Thanks for no spam
mayes
[5 May 2009, 08:25: Message edited by 'tyrion']
Thanks for no spam
Rezindez 27 Jul 2009 02:35
50/62
Dude, this part of the internet is a ghost town. Who likes Chrono Trigger? Anyone? What about you, guy who is reading this? That's right, YOU! :O
Slayer_Van 18 Aug 2009 07:01
51/62
be good game i hope
Merciless Gladiator Athene 20 Oct 2009 07:25
52/62
Almost 2010 and stil no new FF's FF 6 hasnt even been released yet
Zephern 18 Nov 2009 17:43
53/62
Sorry everyone, but I don't think this is really going to happen.
This may have been a REALLY bold idea, along with the DS can support it's graphics,
but this game already has been remade many, many times.
I would like it, but this whole thing is just a rumor.
This may have been a REALLY bold idea, along with the DS can support it's graphics,
but this game already has been remade many, many times.
I would like it, but this whole thing is just a rumor.
Daz 18 Nov 2009 21:37
54/62
@Zephern
you should think before posting, this game has NEVER been remade.
you should think before posting, this game has NEVER been remade.
xeal 12 Jan 2010 01:56
55/62
As most know, you can fit up to 8GB micro SD cards in the R4. FFVII could easily be ported or even remade and fit onto the DS. I am sure Sqare-Enix and Nintendo know this. This could be truly epic if remade for the DSL or DSLL (DSXL in US).
Yurick 29 Jan 2010 10:09
56/62
@haritori
In reality, it is only a limit of flash memory for the cartridge, there is no real technological brick wall incorporated into the DS firmware for the size of a game, it just proved too expensive to be viable to have massive games, as the production costs would be insane, resulting in a huge price for the game, since it has been quite a few years since the release of the DS, Flash memory has advanced leaps and bounds, and this curtails this restriction, allowing for much larger games to be designed. (most companies decline to do this, as they can still get the market price for a smaller game, without the added costs.)
In reality, it is only a limit of flash memory for the cartridge, there is no real technological brick wall incorporated into the DS firmware for the size of a game, it just proved too expensive to be viable to have massive games, as the production costs would be insane, resulting in a huge price for the game, since it has been quite a few years since the release of the DS, Flash memory has advanced leaps and bounds, and this curtails this restriction, allowing for much larger games to be designed. (most companies decline to do this, as they can still get the market price for a smaller game, without the added costs.)
Delgabrie 5 Feb 2010 17:25
57/62
...as FFIVDS showed us, cut scenes can be done excellently with no FMV at all.
@Eyedunno Not only FFXII showed AWESOME cutscenes but Ninja Gaiden DS got extremelly impressive graphics for the NDS and if FFVII had those graphics on DS it would be at least...INCREDIBLE :3
crowzone 8 Mar 2010 19:56
58/62
so would i im a real fan of final fantasy and i have bought every final fantasy so far! if it came out on ds i would be the happiest peep in the uk!!!! :)
CrypticWizard 12 Aug 2010 16:05
59/62
I think that instead of porting the existing code for Final Fantasy VII to the DS, they could just do a ground-up rebuild of the game like they did with Final Fantasy IV (the DS version is the best version of it ever). I think that would work, and if they added character voice to the FMV as well, many people would be very happy, myself included. Remember how anticipated Advent Children was, when fans finally got the hear the voices for their favorite FFVII heroes.
ff master 9 Sep 2010 03:49
60/62
uel i meid the ff7 ber for mai ds and sended a copi to scuer
ff master 9 Sep 2010 03:54
61/62
dud's thei send me a meseg scuer laiks mai game an der ofering mi a job as a disainer
jess 11 Oct 2010 23:42
62/62
i do know that the DS can hold carts much bigger than 256mb, as is evidenced by the use of homebrew kits that support micro sd cards of up to 16gb, more then enough for FFVII to be ported. I for one would love to see this happen