Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest remaster releasing next month
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest is getting a re-release. No, we don't know why.
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was a bit of a weird project. The 1992 SNES game was designed as a simplified, accessible JRPG, and released outside the US under the title Mystic Quest Legend (Europe and beyond) and even Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest in Japan. It likely paved the way for the release of Final Fantasy 6 in North America, after several years of western gamers missing out completely.
There are no save points or random battles, and the whole thing is pretty fluffy - a shallow plot and more emphasis on action gameplay rather than inventory management. It's sort of like The Legend of Zelda - which is great, obviously, but it didn't strike a chord with JRPG audiences or inspire Zelda fans to change allegiances.
For whatever reason UK studio Dark Design is making an HD remaster of this, uh, classic, and it looks like a lot of fans have come out of the woodwork in celebration. Who knew?
Square Enix hasn't said anything about the project but is listed as a client on Dark Design's website, where you can also pre-order the remaaster.
The remaster will apparently run at 60 FPS, with improved visuals and sound. It's coming to PC on March 13, with Android and iOS ports to follow. Here's a trailer:
While I was double checking some details for this article, I was reminded of the existence of Game Boy game Final Fantasy Adventure, which was released in Europe under the title Mystic Quest because in the 1980's and 1990's game publishers were villainously plotting to confuse future gamers. It was the founding entry of the Mana series (Secret of Mana, Legend of Mana) which is rightly celebrated on its own merits, but is unrelated to this project.
Thanks, Gamespot.