Final Fantasy Legend II
Encyclopedia
Final Fantasy Legend II, originally released in Japan as , is a role-playing video game developed by Square Co.
for the Game Boy
handheld console as the second game of their SaGa series. Initially released in December 1990 for Japanese audiences, the game was translated and released in North America in November 1991 by Square America Co, and again in 1998 by Sunsoft. Like its predecessor, the English version was re-branded as a Final Fantasy
title due to the series' popularity in the Western world. The game's development was headed by lead designer Akitoshi Kawazu
, who had worked on the previous title, with a music staff consisting of Kenji Ito
and Nobuo Uematsu
. In 2009, an enhanced remake of the game was announced for the Nintendo DS
titled , featuring three-dimensional graphics, new story elements, and an arranged soundtrack.
The game is set in a fantasy
world where the player assumes the role of one of eight different characters of varying race and gender who leaves on a journey to find their lost father and discover the secret of "Magi", a substance created by the gods that holds powerful magic. Final Fantasy Legend II was largely well-received worldwide during its original release, with readers of Japanese magazine Famitsu
voting it the 94th greatest game of all time in a 2006 poll.
s. Most of the game occurs in towns, castles, caves, and similar areas. To aid exploration on the field screen, Final Fantasy Legend II makes use of various signs within towns. Initially, the player is limited to the First World to explore, and given access to later worlds as they progress through the game. Players can save their game anytime and anywhere when not in combat to the selected save slot for later playing.
Players can journey between field screen locations via the world map
, a downsized representation of Final Fantasy Legend IIs various worlds. Players can freely navigate around the world map screen unless restricted by terrain, such as water or mountains. The goal in each world is to obtain enough "MAGI" to progress to the next world. Like other Final Fantasy related games, travel across the world map screen and hostile areas is occasionally interrupted by random enemy encounters
.
Exploring their world, they learn that there exist other worlds connected in a Celestial World by a winding twisting tower called the Pillar of Sky, and using MAGI they can use it to reach each world. They learn that new gods have risen to power in various places using the MAGI, and not all are benevolent to their surroundings. Seeking to become more powerful, the gods are looking for the other fragments, but the heroes learn that if all the fragments of the MAGI are brought together and the statue of Isis is reassembled, a terrible calamity will destroy all worlds.
Unlike the previous title of Final Fantasy Legend where defeat in battle means game over, in this game the heroes are brought before the god Odin where he offers to revive them if they are valorous and return to the same battle they were defeated in to try again. They may retry a battle as many times as they wish, but if the heroes refuse, then the game is over, only to restart at the last save; once the heroes defeat Odin himself in battle, they no longer have this option.
The heroes battle to collect the MAGI themselves while at the same time trying to retrace the lead character's father's path. They must battle with various foes and oppressive gods, including Odin who appears when the heroes are defeated and is encountered as an opponent later in the game. The heroes eventually reunite with the main protagonist's father at the Guardians' base, but the base is found and raided by the minions of aforementioned new gods and the father sacrifices himself to rescue an ally from a previous world being held hostage.
As the heroes have nearly collected all 77 MAGI, another character appears from one of the previous worlds to blackmail the group into turning over all their MAGI. Unable to pursue the villain due to being cut off from the Celestial World with no MAGI and fearing the destruction of the world is at hand, the protagonist's father reappears and reveals the Guardians spread misinformation about the MAGI and that there are actually 78. They join forces, recover the last MAGI, and re-enter the Celestial World to challenge the villain, who tries to release the full power of the Isis statue. Believing the combined power of the MAGI makes its owner invincible, the villain engages the heroes, but missing the last piece, the process goes awry and the villain succumbs to the power and explodes.
The father is mortally wounded in shielding the other heroes from the backlash of power, and the Celestial World and all the worlds connected to it tremble violently. The heroes decide to assemble the complete MAGI, hoping that its power can save the protagonist's father. The goddess Isis revives, notices the earthquakes, and after treating the hero's father (who remains unconscious), joins the party in descending to the center of the worlds where everything is now off balance. Upon reaching the center, a pair of massive mechanical Arsenals acting as a security system must be defeated to gain access to the core and stop the worlds from shaking.
The heroes learn that Isis was set aside by an ancient civilization to safeguard this pillar system, as the worlds would eventually become old and need to be repaired. Isis stays at the core, fixing the damage from the tremors, and the heroes return home with the protagonist's father. After the credits roll, the protagonist is awoken in the middle of the night by his or her father again much as in the beginning of the game, with the father saying he must leave again, this time on account of the Lost Ark. The main protagonist demands to come with him this time, and the father agrees. They begin to leave before they are stopped by the protagonist's mother who wants to join them and not be left alone again. They agree, the three of them leave through the open window, and the game ends.
s are low-ranking deities who aid the Hero.:: A butterfly fairy Muse.: A centauress Muse.: A cybernetic Muse.: A mermaid Muse.: An east oriental Muse. and : Twin sister Muses, Polynia wears red and has bladed gauntlets while Melmene wears blue and has shield gauntlets.
in 1990 under its original Japanese title Sa・Ga2: Hihō Densetsu. The project was headed by Akitoshi Kawazu
and Hiromichi Tanaka, who had previously developed the game's predecessor, The Final Fantasy Legend one year earlier. Like its predecessor, Final Fantasy Legend II was designed to be difficult and have advanced gameplay, described by Kawazu as the main difference between the SaGa and Final Fantasy series. The game's music staff consisted of Nobuo Uematsu
, famous for his involvement in the Square's Final Fantasy
series, and Kenji Ito
. In December 1991, the game's music would be released by NTT Publishing on a compilation soundtrack featuring themes from the first three Final Fantasy Legend games called All Sounds of SaGa. The album's popularity would allow it to be reprinted in December 2004.
In November 1991, the game was translated and released in English by Square America
, and like its predecessor was renamed Final Fantasy Legend II in order to tie into the popularity of the Final Fantasy brand. Due to the popularity of the game, Sunsoft America Corp. entered into a deal with Square to obtain the publishing rights to a re-release of the three Final Fantasy Legend titles, which were made available in April 1998. Despite advertising the game as being compatible with Nintendo's Game Boy Color
handheld, the re-released version featured no enhancements.
announced that a remake of Final Fantasy Legend II for the Nintendo DS
was being developed and directed by Kawazu himself and would feature fully three-dimensional cel-shaded
graphics. In an interview with Famitsu
magazine, Kawazu stated that he and his team had been planning a remake of the game ever since they remade The Final Fantasy Legend for the WonderSwan Color in 2002, and went ahead with the project now that they felt "the time was right". Youichi Yoshimoto, who had previously worked on Unlimited Saga
, was appointed project supervisor, along with Kenji Ito who arranged the game's soundtrack. Gen Kobayashi, character designer for Square Enix's The World Ends with You, provides the game's new promotional and character artwork.
The remake was produced to add new features but still keep the core story and gameplay of the original, and is designed to retain the Game Boy version's play time of "ten-odd hours" from start to finish, which Kawazu feels is adequate for a handheld role-playing game, stating "This is on a portable system, and for that I think it's better not to have a game you must sit down and play for hours on end, but rather something you can enjoy in small pieces at a time." Unlike the Game Boy version, battles in the Nintendo DS version no longer occur randomly, and were adjusted to be more like later games in the SaGa series where enemies appear on the field screen along with the player and are encountered when touched. Also unlike the original, where a character's stat increases through gaining levels was largely randomized, characters now become stronger in a "less opaque" fashion, with more defined growth tables for each playable character. A new multiplayer boss arena allows up to four players to battle the game's bosses to win various rare items. The game's released in 2009 coincided with the 20th anniversary of the SaGa series, and was made available as part of a limited edition Nintendo DSi
bundle.
magazine as part of its "All Time Top 100" poll.
The game was mostly well-received during its release in North America. Nintendo Power
declared it to be superior to its predecessor, calling it "longer and more involving than Square Soft's original Game Boy RPG". The magazine also found it to be more user-friendly, stating that it "includes features that will make playing more enjoyable for both RPG enthusiasts and beginners", but found it mostly lacking in play control. During their annual Nintendo Power Awards, Final Fantasy Legend II was nominated for "Most Challenging Game Boy Game" of 1991. In their review of the 1998 re-release, IGN
found that the game had aged when compared to more modern role-playing titles and that "gamers jaded with today's FMVs and polygon graphics may find it hard to get drawn into a game with simple sprite characters." Regardless of the game's antiquity, the website still found it to be a solid game with "great character development, a breathtaking score and a solid Role-Playing game engine, there is very little that stands in the way of an RPG gamer and this title," calling it "by far" the best of the Final Fantasy Legend games. The game maintains a 90% average rating on aggregate review website GameRankings based on two reviews.
GameDaily
named it alongside the related Game Boy Final Fantasy titles as definitive games for the system, describing it as providing "hours of role-playing excitement, whether you were waiting in a dentist's office or on the way to Grandma's house." The sentiment was shared by gaming magazines Electronic Gaming Monthly and Pocket Games, the latter of which ranked the titles together 8th out of the Top 50 games for the Game Boy.
magazine. The game sold 146,000 copies by October 2009.
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
handheld console as the second game of their SaGa series. Initially released in December 1990 for Japanese audiences, the game was translated and released in North America in November 1991 by Square America Co, and again in 1998 by Sunsoft. Like its predecessor, the English version was re-branded as a Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
title due to the series' popularity in the Western world. The game's development was headed by lead designer Akitoshi Kawazu
Akitoshi Kawazu
is a Japanese game producer who was born in Kumamoto Prefecture. He studied ceramics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Kawazu joined Square in 1985...
, who had worked on the previous title, with a music staff consisting of Kenji Ito
Kenji Ito
, also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the Mana and SaGa series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays...
and Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
. In 2009, an enhanced remake of the game was announced for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
titled , featuring three-dimensional graphics, new story elements, and an arranged soundtrack.
The game is set in a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
world where the player assumes the role of one of eight different characters of varying race and gender who leaves on a journey to find their lost father and discover the secret of "Magi", a substance created by the gods that holds powerful magic. Final Fantasy Legend II was largely well-received worldwide during its original release, with readers of Japanese magazine Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
voting it the 94th greatest game of all time in a 2006 poll.
Gameplay
In Final Fantasy Legend II, the player navigates a character throughout the game world with a party of up to four characters, exploring areas and interacting with non-player characterNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s. Most of the game occurs in towns, castles, caves, and similar areas. To aid exploration on the field screen, Final Fantasy Legend II makes use of various signs within towns. Initially, the player is limited to the First World to explore, and given access to later worlds as they progress through the game. Players can save their game anytime and anywhere when not in combat to the selected save slot for later playing.
Players can journey between field screen locations via the world map
Overworld
An overworld is, in a broad sense, an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other video game genres....
, a downsized representation of Final Fantasy Legend IIs various worlds. Players can freely navigate around the world map screen unless restricted by terrain, such as water or mountains. The goal in each world is to obtain enough "MAGI" to progress to the next world. Like other Final Fantasy related games, travel across the world map screen and hostile areas is occasionally interrupted by random enemy encounters
Random encounter
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...
.
Plot
The story in Final Fantasy Legend II revolves around MAGI, the 77 shards of a shattered statue of the goddess, Isis. As a child, the main protagonist character is awakened by his or her father in the middle of the night, who explains he has to leave for a while. After leaving the protagonist with a MAGI and instructing the protagonist to never lose it, he makes his way through the protagonist's open window. Years later, having grown up, the protagonist decides to set out to find his or her father, learning he was part of a secret group called the Guardians hunting for the MAGI, fragments of an ancient statue that give power to their bearers. Accompanied by three friends, the protagonist sets out.Exploring their world, they learn that there exist other worlds connected in a Celestial World by a winding twisting tower called the Pillar of Sky, and using MAGI they can use it to reach each world. They learn that new gods have risen to power in various places using the MAGI, and not all are benevolent to their surroundings. Seeking to become more powerful, the gods are looking for the other fragments, but the heroes learn that if all the fragments of the MAGI are brought together and the statue of Isis is reassembled, a terrible calamity will destroy all worlds.
Unlike the previous title of Final Fantasy Legend where defeat in battle means game over, in this game the heroes are brought before the god Odin where he offers to revive them if they are valorous and return to the same battle they were defeated in to try again. They may retry a battle as many times as they wish, but if the heroes refuse, then the game is over, only to restart at the last save; once the heroes defeat Odin himself in battle, they no longer have this option.
The heroes battle to collect the MAGI themselves while at the same time trying to retrace the lead character's father's path. They must battle with various foes and oppressive gods, including Odin who appears when the heroes are defeated and is encountered as an opponent later in the game. The heroes eventually reunite with the main protagonist's father at the Guardians' base, but the base is found and raided by the minions of aforementioned new gods and the father sacrifices himself to rescue an ally from a previous world being held hostage.
As the heroes have nearly collected all 77 MAGI, another character appears from one of the previous worlds to blackmail the group into turning over all their MAGI. Unable to pursue the villain due to being cut off from the Celestial World with no MAGI and fearing the destruction of the world is at hand, the protagonist's father reappears and reveals the Guardians spread misinformation about the MAGI and that there are actually 78. They join forces, recover the last MAGI, and re-enter the Celestial World to challenge the villain, who tries to release the full power of the Isis statue. Believing the combined power of the MAGI makes its owner invincible, the villain engages the heroes, but missing the last piece, the process goes awry and the villain succumbs to the power and explodes.
The father is mortally wounded in shielding the other heroes from the backlash of power, and the Celestial World and all the worlds connected to it tremble violently. The heroes decide to assemble the complete MAGI, hoping that its power can save the protagonist's father. The goddess Isis revives, notices the earthquakes, and after treating the hero's father (who remains unconscious), joins the party in descending to the center of the worlds where everything is now off balance. Upon reaching the center, a pair of massive mechanical Arsenals acting as a security system must be defeated to gain access to the core and stop the worlds from shaking.
The heroes learn that Isis was set aside by an ancient civilization to safeguard this pillar system, as the worlds would eventually become old and need to be repaired. Isis stays at the core, fixing the damage from the tremors, and the heroes return home with the protagonist's father. After the credits roll, the protagonist is awoken in the middle of the night by his or her father again much as in the beginning of the game, with the father saying he must leave again, this time on account of the Lost Ark. The main protagonist demands to come with him this time, and the father agrees. They begin to leave before they are stopped by the protagonist's mother who wants to join them and not be left alone again. They agree, the three of them leave through the open window, and the game ends.
Muses
Exclusive to the DS version, the MuseMuse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
s are low-ranking deities who aid the Hero.:: A butterfly fairy Muse.: A centauress Muse.: A cybernetic Muse.: A mermaid Muse.: An east oriental Muse. and : Twin sister Muses, Polynia wears red and has bladed gauntlets while Melmene wears blue and has shield gauntlets.
Development
Final Fantasy Legend II was developed by Square Co.Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
in 1990 under its original Japanese title Sa・Ga2: Hihō Densetsu. The project was headed by Akitoshi Kawazu
Akitoshi Kawazu
is a Japanese game producer who was born in Kumamoto Prefecture. He studied ceramics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Kawazu joined Square in 1985...
and Hiromichi Tanaka, who had previously developed the game's predecessor, The Final Fantasy Legend one year earlier. Like its predecessor, Final Fantasy Legend II was designed to be difficult and have advanced gameplay, described by Kawazu as the main difference between the SaGa and Final Fantasy series. The game's music staff consisted of Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, famous for his involvement in the Square's Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series, and Kenji Ito
Kenji Ito
, also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the Mana and SaGa series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays...
. In December 1991, the game's music would be released by NTT Publishing on a compilation soundtrack featuring themes from the first three Final Fantasy Legend games called All Sounds of SaGa. The album's popularity would allow it to be reprinted in December 2004.
In November 1991, the game was translated and released in English by Square America
Square (company)
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
, and like its predecessor was renamed Final Fantasy Legend II in order to tie into the popularity of the Final Fantasy brand. Due to the popularity of the game, Sunsoft America Corp. entered into a deal with Square to obtain the publishing rights to a re-release of the three Final Fantasy Legend titles, which were made available in April 1998. Despite advertising the game as being compatible with Nintendo's Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
handheld, the re-released version featured no enhancements.
Nintendo DS version
In January 2009, Japanese magazine Shōnen JumpWeekly Shonen Jump
is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
announced that a remake of Final Fantasy Legend II for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
was being developed and directed by Kawazu himself and would feature fully three-dimensional cel-shaded
Cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...
graphics. In an interview with Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
magazine, Kawazu stated that he and his team had been planning a remake of the game ever since they remade The Final Fantasy Legend for the WonderSwan Color in 2002, and went ahead with the project now that they felt "the time was right". Youichi Yoshimoto, who had previously worked on Unlimited Saga
Unlimited Saga
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation 2 as the ninth game in their SaGa series. Originally released in Japan in December 2002, the game was later made available for North American players in June 2003 and in Europe the following October...
, was appointed project supervisor, along with Kenji Ito who arranged the game's soundtrack. Gen Kobayashi, character designer for Square Enix's The World Ends with You, provides the game's new promotional and character artwork.
The remake was produced to add new features but still keep the core story and gameplay of the original, and is designed to retain the Game Boy version's play time of "ten-odd hours" from start to finish, which Kawazu feels is adequate for a handheld role-playing game, stating "This is on a portable system, and for that I think it's better not to have a game you must sit down and play for hours on end, but rather something you can enjoy in small pieces at a time." Unlike the Game Boy version, battles in the Nintendo DS version no longer occur randomly, and were adjusted to be more like later games in the SaGa series where enemies appear on the field screen along with the player and are encountered when touched. Also unlike the original, where a character's stat increases through gaining levels was largely randomized, characters now become stronger in a "less opaque" fashion, with more defined growth tables for each playable character. A new multiplayer boss arena allows up to four players to battle the game's bosses to win various rare items. The game's released in 2009 coincided with the 20th anniversary of the SaGa series, and was made available as part of a limited edition Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
bundle.
Reception
Game Boy version
As of January 2009, the Game Boy release of Final Fantasy Legend II has sold an estimated 850,000 copies in Japan since its release in December 1990. In March 2006, the title was voted the 94th best game of all time by the readers of FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
magazine as part of its "All Time Top 100" poll.
The game was mostly well-received during its release in North America. Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
declared it to be superior to its predecessor, calling it "longer and more involving than Square Soft's original Game Boy RPG". The magazine also found it to be more user-friendly, stating that it "includes features that will make playing more enjoyable for both RPG enthusiasts and beginners", but found it mostly lacking in play control. During their annual Nintendo Power Awards, Final Fantasy Legend II was nominated for "Most Challenging Game Boy Game" of 1991. In their review of the 1998 re-release, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
found that the game had aged when compared to more modern role-playing titles and that "gamers jaded with today's FMVs and polygon graphics may find it hard to get drawn into a game with simple sprite characters." Regardless of the game's antiquity, the website still found it to be a solid game with "great character development, a breathtaking score and a solid Role-Playing game engine, there is very little that stands in the way of an RPG gamer and this title," calling it "by far" the best of the Final Fantasy Legend games. The game maintains a 90% average rating on aggregate review website GameRankings based on two reviews.
GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
named it alongside the related Game Boy Final Fantasy titles as definitive games for the system, describing it as providing "hours of role-playing excitement, whether you were waiting in a dentist's office or on the way to Grandma's house." The sentiment was shared by gaming magazines Electronic Gaming Monthly and Pocket Games, the latter of which ranked the titles together 8th out of the Top 50 games for the Game Boy.
Nintendo DS version
The Nintendo DS remake received a 31 out of 40 scores from Japanese Weekly FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
magazine. The game sold 146,000 copies by October 2009.