GENRE
	RPG
	DEVELOPER
	Square-Enix
	PUBLISHER
	Nintendo
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
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So, a remake is a remake, right? There have been oodles, doodles and kaboodles of SNES games that have found their way onto the GBA, so does one more really matter? Well, if the piece of software in question happens to be one of the signature entries in one of the most influential series in gaming history, then perhaps it kind of...does.

In a sense, Final Fantasy IV Advance is opening the floodgates for the series on the GBA--by the end of this year, five of the first six entries in the series will be playable on the platform, save only for Final Fantasy III, which is headed to the DS. Some naysayers might claim that the title is actually just Square-Enix (and, to some extent, Nintendo) cashing in on grown-up gamers' nostalgia, but the truth is that Final Fantasy IV Advance fixes some problems that the original SNES version possessed.

visuals

The truth is that this game's graphics are nothing to boast about. The original was one of the first SNES titles developed, so the visuals in Final Fantasy IV do have room for improvement. Here and there are a few tweaks, but for the most part, the in-game graphics haven't seen too much of an upgrade. That fancy Mode 7 scaling is still present during those exciting airship rides.

Yoshitaka Amano's portrait art has seen something of a revision, which is evident more for some characters than others. In addition, the appropriate portrait will also be placed next to a character's lines when speaking, which enhances the dialogue quite a bit.

audio

This could have been a hot-button issue for Final Fantasy enthusiasts. A lot of SNES ports onto GBA have suffered from inferior soundtracks (Breath of Fire II, stop looking the other way!), which is due to the simple fact that the GBA doesn't have as many sound channels to utilize as Nintendo's 16-bit console. Fortunately, the programmers at Square-Enix really put their noses to the grindstone and came up with a great rendition of these classic cuts. Every song is faithfully reproduced, and even if the instrumentation can't always produce identical sounds, players can rest assured that every PART of the song will be represented in some way.

gameplay

Final Fantasy IV was the first of its series to introduce the Active Time Battle system, in which each of the heroes in the party, as well as any hostiles, have a turn meter which is constantly filling. After it has filled, the character has a chance to perform an action. What made this system different from the RPG standard was that actions could occur while the player selected a choice from the menu. Essentially, it made reaction time a factor in menu-based RPG combat. If Cecil took to long in choosing what to do, he or one of his companions could be smacked by a monster before he had a chance to act.

Things have changed slightly in Final Fantasy IV Advance, although not in any earth-shattering sense. For instance, the turn meters are now visible, where they were not in the original version. The flow of battle seems to pause while the player characters take actions, but not when enemies attack. Part of this is no doubt due to the GBA's hardware--there are even some loading times during battles, which is probably the game's largest flaw.

Notable also is the new translation. While American gamers had the chance to play through the Hard-Type version of the game in the Final Fantasy Chronicles on the original PlayStation (as opposed to the Easy-Type Americans saw as Final Fantasy II on the SNES), the script of the game has been re-translated and polished for its GBA debut. While such fanciful and classic utterances as "You spoony bard!" have no place in this new script, on the whole, it's pleasant to see this game receive a well thought-out localization.

Two optional dungeons have been added to the mix, as well, including the Cave of Trials, which features individual missions for each character ranging from fetch quests to arena-style fighting matches, and there is definitely some fanservice included. A bestiary keeps track of monsters which have been encountered in battle, which is far more useful than it might initially seem. Players can also swap available characters in and out of the party, something which was not possible in previous versions of the game.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

When thinking of games to remake on the GBA, there are certainly far worse choices than Final Fantasy IV. And, to come right down to it, Square-Enix has really produced a fine piece of software here, not only because of the quality of the original title but also because of the fantastic attention to detail. Instead of programming an SNES emulator and slapping it together on the cartridge with the original game program, the developers have come up with a true port--a version of the game which is specifically tailored to run on a particular piece of hardware.

Some gamers like this title more than others, so depending on that factor, some series veterans may want to pick up Final Fantasy IV Advance more than others. For those who are new to the series, or have simply never played the game, rest assured that this GBA game not only holds its own tradition up well, but also stack up nicely against other RPGs on the platform.

8.6/10