Final Fantasy III

In 2006, Final Fantasy III received a complete rebuild for the Nintendo DS, made not by original developer Square Enix but by the external studio Matrix Software, which specialized specifically in remaking older Final Fantasy titles for the new generation of handhelds. This wasn't just a graphical coat of paint – the game was built from the ground up in 3D with a new engine, reworked character and environment models, and a fundamentally revised job system that added unique abilities for each profession and the ability to further improve a job by gaining experience directly within that class, something that didn't exist at all in the eight-bit original.

The remake also added content the 1990 original never had at all: new optional dungeons with their own bosses, expanded and better-explained personalities for a foursome that had previously had almost no names or character, reworked difficulty balancing, and a range of tweaks making it easier to find your way around a sprawling world split across two continents. It also added expanded dialogue and narrative passages through which the remake fleshed out each character's motivations in a way the cartridge space of a 1990 Famicom cart could never have allowed, and it filled out the worldview of the various nations the heroes visit along their journey. It was also the game's first-ever official release outside Japan – Western players got their hands on the third entry for the first time, sixteen years after the Japanese original, and in a form that differs from it both visually and in the amount of added content, as well as in its overall approach to storytelling and the pacing at which characters' motivations are revealed. It's precisely this combination of a new development studio, reworked content, and different technology that makes it a version in its own right, not merely the same game carried over to different hardware.

Why play: An ideal entry point for players who want to experience the third entry's story without reaching for an emulator or needing to know Japanese, and who will appreciate a more modernly balanced job system along with new content the 1990 original never had at all.