Final Fantasy XIII may have come and gone but there’s still good news cropping up for franchise fans. Some not so cryptic hints insinuated that Final Fantasy IX might be heading to the PlayStation Network; well, the Japanese one anyway. According to some recent twittering from Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto, the downloadable version of the game has moved from “on its way” status to “ready to go.”
In a tweet to Japanese gamers, Hashimoto indicated that the PSN version of the game is complete. This doesn’t mean it will show up tomorrow, there is still some testing to get through, but it is probably safe to say that the game will be available for download in the near future. In Japan at least. As of yet there hasn’t been any word on the game being released in any other territories, though chances are it will make it to the North American PSN in due time. Considering the fact that both Final Fantasy VII and VIII have been consistent top sellers on the PSN, Square Enix would be mad to keep IX in Japan.
Final Fantasy IX is far from being the most popular in the series. Many gamers, introduced to the franchise by the decidedly sci-fi VII and VIII were simply put off by the more traditional fantasy setting of IX. Nonetheless, Final Fantasy IX has a devoted fan base that includes none other than Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, who has publicly stated it to be his favorite.
Even with Final Fantasy IX making its way to the PSN the flow of PS1 classics lately has been notably slow, with only one or two titles coming out each week. Many of them aren’t exactly big name games either. Sifting through the classics library you’ll often find a few standout games amidst dozens of others that don’t really merit a re-release. There are certainly more RPGs gamers would like to see. Vagrant Story is out in Europe and Japan, but has yet to hit US shores. Other titles like Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross, or even the Final Fantasy Anthology and Chronicles collections would be welcome additions. One just has to wonder why so many publishers would ignore the potential profits of re-releasing their retro content.
