Final Fantasy fans certainly had plenty to be happy about during today's Nintendo Direct presentation, most notably thanks to the fact that Final Fantasy IX stealth-dropped onto Switch immediately after the show. Yep, it's out now.
It only received the briefest of segments in the Direct, but we can confirm that it has appeared on the Switch eShop for £16.99 / $20.99. The game's blurb mentions that players can "experience the adventure once again with characters and pre-rendered movies featuring in high definition, as well as a new booster system with a selection of various modes".
If that wasn't enough for you, it was also revealed that Final Fantasy VII will be launching on 26th March - that's just over a month away. We never thought we'd see this one arrive on a Nintendo platform, but here we are. Lovely stuff.
Will you be grabbing Final Fantasy IX today? Looking forward to VII coming out next month? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 84
Woohoo! I'll be downloading shortly!
Holy bawls it’s $20.99! Lol, I’ll still get but wait for sale or more spare cash. I wanna support SE on Switch so we get all the SE goodies, but just too broke atm.
No planned physical releases?
Downloading tonight. I don't mind the price. No android version could compare to playing on a proper console.
Way too many other games to clear first and a touch steep on the price again. Eshop only right?
Have it on PS4, got it in a sale but not played yet. It's one I haven't played yet but hope to one day as have already played FF7 a few times over. It is pricey though.
Going to the local game store ASAP to pick up a physical copy of this game for switch.
Not surprised about the price. PS4 was the same
Glad to see Final Fantasy is returning to Nintendo platforms. Not interested in it now but will look for it down the road.
@kobashi100 Yeah but people seem to think everything should be cheaper or free on Nintendo. Because: entitled.
Favorite entry in the series, must buy for me! I prefer a physical version. I will give this another playthrough on my switch. (Still own the original 4 disc box on PlayStation and got the download on PSN)
It's a shame this port botched most of the sound effects (based off PC port)
Want to buy; want to play; but too many similar JRPGs in progress for me to just stop and play this.
Already bought and waiting in the download queue. Used my gold points so cost just over a dollar.
@GameOtaku is there such a thing? I hope so!
Sorry to be Ill-educated, but why the disappointment at the price? It seems remarkably cheap for a Final Fantasy?
(Bear in mind my last non-Nintendo console was a PS2, so a lot of games are new to me, not ports).
Going to buy FF7 when that drops because it's terrific but IX was one of my least favorite entries in the first ten.
6 when, guys? I know you can do it
@GameOtaku
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but....you’re going to be really disappointed if you go to the store to buy a physical copy.
@GameOtaku Why would there be a physical copy? It's a download. PS4 didn't get a physical version of it, either.
Are these remasters? Because I remember buying the original PS1 FF VII digitally for PS3 & PS Vita (Cross-buy) for 3.99 GBP years ago...
So these are HD versions, right?
Not the same games for 4 times the prize, for sure?
@misterMike the models and the videos are said to be updated.
But let's be honest, I already bought it. I feel better about this purchase then I do at this point about the 60 dollars I spent on Pokemon Let's Go when it released.
Oooh, I can finally play my favorite FF on a Nintendo system!
So this is what... the third time I've bought this game?
Second favorite game in the series behind VI.
@Heavyarms55 @kobashi100 From what I can tell its a little more expensive in UK than on PS4 and/or Steam. Don't know about phone price.
By a little more only £1. Now if they price FF7 the same as FF9, that will be annoying as its a lot cheaper elsewhere at non-sale price.
I screamed in joy so loud because it was releasing today that I hurt my friend's ears because he was sitting next to me. Needless to say he was less stoked about it than I was. Still it's my all time favorite Final Fantasy game so I'm super hyped to see this come out!
Yay.... 😃
But I will wait for possibility of physical release.
@construx Yeah they are remasters of sorts. Graphics are shaper but are still 4:3. There are a bunch of quality of life improvements as well. Though nothing game changing. Depends if you want the game on Switch with some little added bonuses.
Already playing it!
75% complete downloading...
I've never played this game, so this is an instant-buy for me.
...
My minutes remaining for this game have been bounding like crazy. Must be everyone swarming the eShop at once. ^^;
Yes having Zidane and Vivi on my Switch is sweet.
I'm so glad we are getting these! Hope they announce the rest at some point!
waiting to see which version it is before downloading. Not interested in yet another cellphone port.
Give us a Resident Evil 2 quality kind of remake please...otherwise, I’m good with Octopath and the upcoming Fire Emblem Three Houses.
@XenoShaun I would be quite surprised if they made them the same price. But they might, because they know people will buy it.
They better have done a lot of upgrades to charge $21. When I can get it for the PS3/PSP for $10 and frequently on sale for $6.
@misterMike It is cheaper. It was a full price retail game 19 years ago.
Hmm never beat ix. Perhaps I should jump back in.
Good now we can have some real games...
My absolute top-favourite Final Fantasy game FINALLY on a Nintendo platform. I've wanted this for so long and the day has finally come.... thank you Nintendo! Thank you Square Enix!! <3
$31.95 Australian??? Do me a favour! Of course, I'd happily pay full price if this was physical. Maybe it will be eventually. I have a feeling they'll do a physical version of FFVII.
So which version is it? The mobile version or the PS1 version?
That much for an unenhanced port of a 20 year old game? Yeesh.
I am sure the game itself is awesome, graphics don't define a game bla bla bla (I agree with it) but it is still a shame that Square did not save up higher resolution background images back then, otherwise this edition could have used such stuff. The disparity between characters definition and the blurred backgrounds is a bit striking.
@ClampedDownHard Um, it's not "un-enhanced" as you think it is . Time to cut back on the mescaline, dude.
This was definitely a pleasant surprise! What's the download size of this on Switch?
@gamekill There's been some amazing work done on this game recently using deep learning to upres the backgrounds. See https://steamcommunity.com/id/thepilot/screenshots/
I liked the original game a lot, but the encounter rate was way too high and the load times for battles were glacial. Not sure if they fixed anything or if it is a straight-up emulation. Would be more interested in this if they had a speed-up mechanic ala FFXII: The Zodiac Age.
@Blitzenexx 2.1GB, I think. I left it at home to download while I went to work.
@wollywoo If the Switch version of IX has anything to do with the Android or PC version, it has both speed-toggle and encounter-toggle.
@masterLEON: Thanks!
Always wanted to play this, but there's enough competing for my attention that I'll probably never get to it. That and I'll admit that nothing turns me off quite like dated 3D graphics.
Already downloaded, cant wait to finally finish this game!
Will get IX on sale. Same with VII. Not super in to Final Fantasy, but enough that I'll buy when the price is right.
Sweet! I almost beat this game, then my pc broke! Let's do this!
Already bought it. Graphics look terrible but the 32/64bit era did not age nearly as well as 16bit so that's to be expected. Still a great game tho.
@gamekill
Yup, backgrounds are super blurry and washed out but I have only been playing for a little while and I already feel like I am getting used to it.
Aaaand I'm broke. But, tomorrow is payday. And my state return may hit too lol
This game is ruined by stupid ugly borders. Do not buy!
Lol at people moaning about the price! The original was £40 when it came out on the PS1. For less than £20 you get the same 50+ hours of gameplay and you can play it on the bus.
This was one of my only hopes for this Direct and it came true!!! Best entry in the series easily with 6 close behind.
Please give us a physical, I will hold off..............who am I kidding, downloading now!!!
They should give these games the physical treatment. At least VII, a staple of video games. I've never played it and I would have liked it physical. I'll have to wait, as with the others, for a digital sale and then switch eShops in order to get them the cheapest possible.
I’m not sure I’ll get Final Fantasy IX, but Final Fantasy VII is pretty likely that I’m getting at some point.
@embison yes but those systems are old now. getting parts for it when it's broken its much harder. you don't want to stick to the old systems too long though if you can get it on current hardware. with that said
I don't think I'll get it right away. I have played the original on PS1 so many times and I have some other games (including RPG:s) to finish. I think I'll be a cheapo and wait for a sale. Still, great to have FFIX and VII on a Nintendo console and the ability to play them on the go. Even tho the PSP and Vita could do it but those loading times on the original IX seem like forever on todays standards.
I hate this trailers without any gameplay in it because they just steal my time and give no information about the game.
But ok, maybe I just should know more about the game more then I already do.
I rather wait for the X and X-II HD release.
Hard Pass. I passed on ps4 & ill pass now until much cheaper. Still have my PS1 copy. I'll just get starlink from Amazon for $25 instead. Wash that disgusting taste from my mouth from renting that crappy travis strikes back game.
@Heavyarms55 this is incredibly ignorant, bordering on willful stupidity. People don't want 'cheaper' games because it's 'Nintendo'; people want games that are priced evenly with the same game on other platforms, not £10 more.
@Mogster Yeah, only it's totally not. I regularly see people wanting games to be cheaper on Nintendo platforms. Not in line with other services, cheaper.
My favorite of the 3D FF games, but at $21 not a chance. I'll be waiting for FF12 to arrive in the mail, a real version to justify a higher price (plus it's the one I missed.) Had this been a physical release, somewhere in the world, and in english I'd have imported it to be clear.
Will put in wishlist, will wait for a decent sale (not setting my hopes high though). I mean, it's $30 in Canada. For a PS1-era game. $30. Hahaha. No.
People like me aren't criticizing Switch game prices in themselves. It's not about the price. It's about the value of what you get for that price. Now, if this was a remake or a remaster that you feel lots of work actually went into, I don't think it would be a problem (as long as it's priced in the same price bracket as other versions of the same product available elsewhere - which is often not the case on Switch, but that's another subject).
An original game require tons of work to be done, with writters, artists, modelers, music composers, along with the teams responsible for most of the technical aspects (engine, programming, etc...). A port usually only require a couple of people adapting the code to work on another system, which costs almost nothing in comparison to developping a game from scratch.
At almost $30, a PS1 game with only slight improvements doesn't convey to me the feeling I'm getting my money's worth. It's not about the price, it's about value. A game like Zelda BotW is worth all of the $80 I paid for it. Same with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The $20 I paid for Lego City Undercover was nice. The $30 I paid for the Lego Harry Potter collection was bordering too much, but still, somewhat ok.
But there are games like Doom, which is still $80. vs about $25 everywhere else. Same for Skyrim. And countless other games on the Switch that are priced more (sometimes MUCH more) than on competing systems.
So it's not about the price. It's about the value you get for that price, on the Switch. And currently, the Switch is the platform where games are the priciest of all the current systems out there, on average. And when you constantly see the same games being sold for less everywhere else, it's hard to feel you're getting your money's worth. That's what most people complaining about prices are saying.
Everyone here is gonna freak when they see this game on Steam
@Realnoize This game is 21 USD on every other platform (except PSone classics). It's not a Switch thing, this time.
Is final fantasy 7 the remake one in March?
@Borngis
$21 is still high, but not as bad as $28 over here. And in Canada, it is $24 on Steam, but $28 on the Switch.
I would have less of a problem with the game being $21. Even if more or less the same in exchange rate, no one is getting their wages adjusted because our money is worth less, so to us Canadians, games are indeed pricier than what they used to be. Or we all earn less money now than we used to. However you look at it, games in Canada are costing a bigger chunk of our available money than they used to.
Not so long ago, games were priced practically the same here as in the US. And while games stayed more or less in that range in the US, now, a new release in Canada costs $80. And most other games are much pricier than before. But no one earns more to compensate. So to us, games are pricier than they used to, even if they are priced the "same" in terms of currency value.
So... $30 for a game made during the PS1 years, without much additions to it... no thanks. There are much better uses of my money than this.
@wollywoo
Wow.. that made me give up on the Switch version un/fortunately.
Thanks for sharing that!
Where is the option to turn the ugly borders off? They ruin the experience!
I wouldn't complain too much - the PS4 version is $21 and also looks terrible due to the discontinuity of the sharper (but kind of clunky - I'm not quite sure what is wrong with them) character models against the blurry, pixelated PS1 backgrounds and the awful looking text/menus. (The cutscenes are OK though.) Mobile version is cheaper but also looks bad, though maybe slightly better on a tiny screen. It probably looks slightly better on PSVita and PSP, which simply emulate the PS1 version and also benefit from the tiny screen effect.
The game looks (much?) better (to me at least) on a PS1/2/3 hooked up to a CRT television (or in an emulator that supports CRT emulation.)
On the other hand even a mediocre version of a great game is still pretty good if you can overlook the visual flaws. If SE could fix the backgrounds it would look a lot better. If they could fix the ugly typeface, the unnecessary mobile-style menus, and some of the battle effects it would be more much more pleasant to play.
@jobvd Wait, you can't turn off the grey borders? I don't remember them on other versions of the game (and you can also play in stretched mode if you prefer.)
@blecch how do I play in stretched mode?
@Mii_duck because for some reason people always want to complain about price... Like really what is $20 it must be a bunch of kids on this website because I make that an hour almost lol.. And even if I didn't it's only $20 it's nothing it's what people spend on crap everyday and don't even notice it.. I myself am going to enjoy the game just like I did when I was a kid back in the 90s on my PlayStation.. I'm ready to revisit Vivi and the crew.
@Heavyarms55 I agree with you people always complain about the price of the Nintendo games but what they don't understand is they can't pick that PlayStation 4 up and walk around with it and play it anywhere and then put it back in its dock and play it and also the cost of the cartridges cost more than CDs...I own a PlayStation 4 and I enjoy my PlayStation 4 but what I want to play something on the go I can't pick it up and take it with me but I can my switch so thats why I don't mind paying more because of the cartridge which enables you to take the system with you... Hence if you can't afford it don't buy it is what I tell people live within your means..
@NintendoGangstar People also seem to think that porting a game from one device to another is an easy process if it is just an old game. They seem to think it's just a matter of dumping the game files onto a Switch cartridge (or PS4 disc or whatever). They don't respect that work goes into converting a game from working on one system to another.
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