Final Fantasy Anthology
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| Final Fantasy Anthology | |
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Ffabox.jpg North American box art Missing image FF_Anthology_Europe.jpg European box art North American and European box art | |
| Developer(s) | Square Co., Ltd. |
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| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) USK: Free For All ELSPA: 11+ |
| Platform(s) | Sony PlayStation |
Final Fantasy Anthology is a compilation of two Square Co., Ltd. computer role-playing games, remade and rereleased for the Sony PlayStation. The North American release includes the games Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, while the European release includes Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V. In Japan, all three games were released both individually and packaged together as part of a limited edition box set called Final Fantasy Collection. Although all three games differ litle from the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System versions in terms of gameplay, graphics, and sound, a number of additional omake sequences are included, including art galleries, bestiaries, and full motion video cutscenes not present in the original releases.
The original Super Nintendo Final Fantasy V had not previously been released outside of Japan, although an English language software localization was produced for an abortive Microsoft Windows port. The original Super Nintendo Final Fantasy VI had previously been released in North America as Final Fantasy III, and the script from this localization was used, with minor changes (the item "Fenix Down" was renamed "Phoenix Down," for example), for the North American Final Fantasy Anthology release. Neither Final Fantasy IV nor Final Fantasy V had previously been released in Europe in any form.
Final Fantasy Anthology was met with mixed reviews, especially from North American audiences who tended to be especially critical of the load time inherent in the CD-ROM format utilized by the PlayStation, but not in the original cartridge format utilized by the Super Nintendo. Players could expect a 2-4 second load time when accessing the items menus, and the transition between fight scenes also suffered from lags.
As the North American release did not include the PlayStation remake of Final Fantasy IV, that title was subsequently packaged with Chrono Trigger and released as Final Fantasy Chronicles. The PlayStation remake Final Fantasy VI was released separately in Europe. Early versions of the PlayStation 2 console were incompatible with both the North American and European versions of Final Fantasy Anthology, although these incompatabilities have since been addressed in later hardware revisions.