Highlights
- The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series updates the graphics of the original games while remaining faithful to the source material, giving them a refreshed look with a vintage vibe.
- The updated music in the Pixel Remaster is a bright spot in the collection, with full-scale musical arrangements of the unforgettable songs that inspired generations of gamers.
- While the Pixel Remasters bring many improvements, some fans were disappointed that the collection lacks the additional content from the 2000s-era ports, such as extra dungeons, found in the Game Boy Advance versions.
Final Fantasy’s Pixel Remaster series is a fresh take on classic games that already received the remaster treatment multiple times. Square-Enix now offers a way to enjoy the first six games of the series in one collection, removing the pain of trying to sort through all the prior remasters across multiple platforms.
The Final Fantasy series has gone strong since 1987, and though newer games in the series look and sound much different, many fans still contend the earlier releases are the best. Over time, the graphics and music in these games have become dated, but stories like these remain as powerful as ever.
Updated August 31, 2023 by Quinton O'Connor: Now that the Pixel Remasters are out on PS4 and Switch, we've added a bit more about the font issues, and taken a moment to change some of our perspectives on the list in general. We've also added a part about the lack of GBA content, which is a bit of a bummer!
11 Graphics: Refreshed Look, Vintage Vibe
The most obvious change from the original games to these remasters is the graphics update. While the original sprites are iconic, the Pixel Remaster finds a way to bring the originals into a high definition and widescreen package while remaining faithful to the source material.
Square-Enix called upon an old friend to make sure these pixels brought the original characters back to life. Kazuko Shibuya, a pixel artist who worked on the original release, returned to oversee the remastering of the characters she helped create more than three decades ago.
10 Music: Masterpieces Reimagined
Final Fantasy’s music has long been a staple of the franchise. When the first game was developed on the Nintendo Entertainment System, composer Nobuo Uematsu was limited by the system’s hardware but was able to create songs that would inspire generations of gamers.
Nearly 35 years later, Uematsu was able to supervise full-scale musical arrangements of those unforgettable songs. The updated music is a bright spot in the new collection.
9 No Peninsula Of Power: Grinding The Hard Way
Most Final Fantasy games have some excellent places to level up your party, but thanks to a minor coding issue in the original Final Fantasy, you come across one very early in the game: the Peninsula of Power.
The original game’s random encounter system divides the world map into grids where you encounter different sets of monsters depending on where you walk. The system is meant to give you different monsters on different continents, but the peninsula northeast of Pravoka is home to some strong monsters meant for the continent to the north.
The Pixel Remaster patches out this phenomenon, so you will have to grind for levels the old-fashioned way, or wait to face tougher monsters once you can travel on your airship.
8 Move Diagonally: Small Change With Functional Benefits
Something you will notice pretty quickly is the ability to move diagonally when traversing across the map or in dungeons. Most 2D role-playing games only give you the option to move vertically and horizontally, so this will feel pretty foreign when you start moving around.
This seems like a pretty simple change that should not make a big difference, but there are some benefits. If you are poisoned, moving diagonally reduces the number of steps you take, so you can keep your HP up a little longer. Speedrunners will also be able to shave precious seconds off their time with the new feature.
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6 Capacity Points Gone: Change Your Job Whenever
Final Fantasy 3 was a pioneer in the job system. While the first Final Fantasy allowed you to choose a class for each of your party members when you start the game (and other Final Fantasy games expanded the job system), Final Fantasy 3 was the first game in the series to allow players to switch their characters’ job classes whenever they wanted.
While changing jobs is an option, it comes at a cost in the original game. To switch a character’s job you needed to spend capacity points, but that is no longer the case in the Pixel Remaster. Players of the new collection can swap classes whenever they want without penalty.
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No 2000s Content: Taking A Step Back From Advance
For as many things as the Pixel Remasters get right, the devotion to perfecting the 'original forms' of these six games can border on slavish to the point of self-defeating. The biggest grievance fans have with the Pixel Remasters is that they lack the added content Square Enix put into the games during their (mostly) 2000s-era ports.
Put another way, it's the stuff that the Game Boy Advance ports in particular boasted. Final Fantasy 1 and 2: Dawn of Souls had extra dungeons. Final Fantasy 4 did, too. Final Fantasy 5 and 6? You got it, extra dungeons, and some superb ones, at that. It's a shame, because while not everything's quite up-to-par with the main games, a lot of it is, and for the first two FFs in particular, it can add quite a bit more fun to an otherwise-short affair.
3 Fonts: Fans Hate It, But You Can Change It
One of the first and loudest complaints about the Pixel Remasters was the font used in the English version of the game. For a story-driven game without voice acting, getting a font that works is crucial.
The default font is really narrow, leaving a lot of blank space in the text boxes and making things hard to read. Luckily, some folks have found a quick fix to swap things out and make things easier to read. The PS4 and Switch releases added another font option, which - while arguably still not quite there - is a considerable improvement. Hopefully, the PC and mobile versions get this in an eventual update.
2 Maps: Never Get Lost Again
One of the more impactful quality of life updates in the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is the map feature. For a series with as many big maps as Final Fantasy, this is a welcome addition. The top right of the screen displays a map of your current location. These maps are also terrific for locating treasure chests.
Gamers on their 20th playthrough may know these dungeons by heart, but if you are a first-timer, or it has been a while since you dove into these worlds, the new map is great. Do you prefer to play it the old school method without the map? You can toggle the map off at any time.
1 Quick Save: Save From Anywhere
Old-school JRPGs can be unforgiving once you get into a dungeon, especially if you are new to the game and do not know what to expect.
The last thing you want to do is find yourself deep into the heart of a dungeon with a beaten-down party and no way to heal them. With the new in-menu quicksave, you can save your progress anywhere in the game. Make use of this new feature, it can be dangerous out there.