Miyamoto & Final Fantasy producer talk about the DS

[A Black Falcon]

October 07, 2004 - The gaming stars came out at yesterday's NDS press conference in Japan, voicing their support for the DS platform and hinting at things to come for the system. One of the big names at the event was Square Enix's Akitoshi Kawazu. The producer of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles spoke on-stage with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto about upcoming NDS support.

Following a teaser trailer that announced Final Fantasy III's new status as a DS game, Miyamoto commented, "This is the first time that Final Fantasy III has appeared on hardware outside of the Famicom (Japanese NES), isn't it?" Offering up memories of the Wonderswan version of the game, which never surfaced despite a lengthy development time, Kawazu responded with, "Over the past 15 years we've tried numerous times, but as we couldn't get it to work, this time we've decided to make the game for DS."

No actual gameplay footage or screens of Final Fantasy III were shown, but Kawazu gave some hints at what we can expect from the game. "The interface has completely changed," he offered. "Please look forward to seeing how the game has been given a new life."

Steering the conversation towards other games, Miyamoto offered, "Aside from this, Square Enix is also in development with a new Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, right?". Kawazu responded with, "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles was played by connecting the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, but for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, that paradigm is gone, with the game played just on the DS. It's easier to get into."

Miyamoto used Awazu's talk of one of GameCube's big connectivity hours to segue into a bit on Nintendo's own plans. "At the time of GameCube and Game Boy Advance connectivity," Miyamoto recalled, "you had to connect the system to four [Game Boy Advance] systems, so the entry was a bit high. However, the DS has two screens and WiFi support, so we feel the threshold is a lot lower. We're thinking of bringing Zelda: Four Swords to the DS, so let's compete!"

Returning to the topic of Square Enix, Miyamoto moved on to the internet side of gaming, asking, "Square Enix brings up thoughts of the internet. We're thinking of doing something where the DS connects to the internet, but what do you have planned?". To this, Kawazu responded with, "Moving the stuff that we currently have running onto the DS would be difficult from a hardware standpoint, but if we were to try our mobile contents on the DS, we feel the network threshold would drop." Miyamoto managed the last word, offering, "Preparing a wireless LAN network can be difficult, but if you just have that, all you have to do is turn on the power and you can instantly play the game."

Kawazu's final comment could hint at another Final Fantasy game for the DS. Currently, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII is the big-name mobile network-based game from Square Enix. In its cell phone version, the network play is limited to just e-mails, but on the DS this could definitely become something a bit more involved.

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