Nintendo’s SNES Classic announcement this morning means 21 stellar retro games are coming back in a mini console bundle this September. The list includes some obvious favorites, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, and Earthbound. But one notable addition worth pointing out is Final Fantasy III, which most North American gamers might not recognize because of a localization name change.
‘Final Fantasy VI’ is an RPG masterpiece worth replaying
In Japan, Final Fantasy III is actually the excellent Final Fantasy VI, making the SNES Classic a great way to replay the iconic role-playing title, or try it out for the first time. FFVI is widely considered one of the best, if not the best, in the series for its sprawling cast of characters — the most in a Final Fantasy game to date — and its prototypical RPG villain Kefka, who set the standard for later maniacal and showy bad guys like Sephiroth, Kuja, and Seymour.
When the game was first released for the SNES, back in 1994, it was the third Final Fantasy installment to make its way to North America, but the sixth game in the mainline series. Nintendo and developer Square (now Square Enix) chose not to release FFII, FFIII, and FFV in North America, and the companies thought it would be confusing to drop the sixth installment in a series that had only ever received two English language releases. And so FFVI became FFIII, until later localizations and rereleases saw the name changed back to its original.
You can play FFVI on a number of other platforms, including iOS, Android, Wii U, and PlayStation Vita (and older systems like Game Boy Advance and PSP). But what better way to enjoy the game in all its original glory than with an SNES controller? Of course, the only issue at this point would be getting your hands on a SNES Classic when it launches on September 29th.