Twenty-two years ago, a small game developer known as Squaresoft was in danger. They'd released a few games on the NES, but none were popular enough to make game development a profitable venture. Hironobu Sakaguchi recognized that his company was in peril, so he knew that he had to act quickly. This now legendary producer decided to create a fantasy title that could have easily been his last. It came to be known as Final Fantasy, and would not only keep its creator afloat, but would also spawn a franchise of games that continues to be produced to this day.

The original Final Fantasy arrived on the NES in 1990 (three years after its original Japanese release), so it's been a long time since North American gamers have touched the beginning of this legendary RPG franchise. This classic was then well-regarded for its complex job system, world-spanning quest, and its epic storyline that bested the 'save the princess, defeat the Dragon Lord' formula found in Dragon Quest.

However, as you probably realize, many NES RPGs have aged poorly due to their focus on grinding and minimal storylines. Certain aspects of the NES version of Final Fantasy probably share this fate, but to remedy this problem, it's been revived on the PSP. Does the PSP revival of this NES classic warrant a purchase? Or does it belong in your grandma's closet along with her slide projector? Perhaps this review will answer that question.

From a visual standpoint, Final Fantasy for the PSP is a stunner. It has a look that is a cross between Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 6, but the visuals are more crisp due to the resolution of the PSP screen. The large, colorful character sprites are a brilliant reimagining of what were iconic, but relatively basic characters on the NES.

The character sprites aren't the only aspect of Final Fantasy's visuals that have received an overhaul. The detailed towns, dungeons, and world map are stunning recreations of what were once relatively basic environments. What were fairly bland dungeons and caves before are now convincing environments, in part due to the PSP version's special effects.

In each town and dungeon, you'll find subtle environmental details that bring Final Fantasy's world to life. In the dwarf cave, you'll notice rocks crumbling and will hear the clinking of hammers; the town of Corneria has bright sunlight and shadows; another town yet has passing clouds that cast a shadow. These seemingly minor details create a convincing world that you likely imagined while you were playing Final Fantasy as a kid.

Final Fantasy PSP's gorgeous visuals aren't the only aspect of this remake that'll impress fans of the original. Its soundtrack is also a superb recreation of some excellent songs that were originally butchered by the NES' poor sound quality. Each of the game's songs have a near-orchestral quality to them, and you'll easily recognize familiar themes ranging from Matoya's theme to the triumphant song that plays in the final dungeon. Even the battle song has received a noticeable upgrade, and you'll encounter a couple new additions such as boss themes for the Four Fiends and the final boss (these fights had standard battle music on the NES).

So the new musical renditions are great, but how does the NES original's gameplay translate to the PSP? Actually, it works quite well -- in part due to some new features for the PSP version, but I'll get to those after I describe some aspects of the battle system shared by both versions of Final Fantasy.

One of the reasons Final Fantasy was so well-regarded back when it was released was because it allowed players to not only name their four characters, but also assign them job classes. Each of your four characters could be made into a Warrior, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage, Red Mage, and Thief. For those who wanted an offensive and defensive powerhouse, the Warrior was an ideal option. If the player didn't mind their character having relatively low defense, they would probably opt to choose a Monk, which is the most powerful offensive class in the game.

However, if the player was looking for an agile character, they could choose a Thief, but unfortunately, this class was quite worthless in the NES original. Those who wanted to add some magic to their fighting crew could choose from a Black Mage which casted offensive magic, a White Mage which casted healing magic, and a Red Mage which could cast both offensive and defensive spells in addition to wielding powerful weapons.

In the PSP version of Final Fantasy, most of these classes remain true to those of the original, but the Thief is better at evading attacks and is slightly more powerful than his NES counterpart. Magic users have also received a boost in that they can now cast more spells.

Final Fantasy for the NES assigned eight levels of spells that players could purchase at shops. For each level of magic, the player could only equip three spells out of the four that were available. These spells would be purchased in towns, but could only be equipped if the characters had high enough levels to wield certain levels of magic.

Once these spells were equipped, each character had a certain number of uses of magic from each spell level. For example, say a particular character's level one spells were 'Fire', 'Thunder', and 'Slow'. If the character had eight points, he could then cast spells eight times -- choosing whichever of those three he wanted to use. This process was similar for other levels of spells, and more points could be obtained through gaining levels.

The PSP version has characters buying and equipping spells in the same manner, but the way in which spells are used is different. Instead of having a stock of points available for each magic level, a character is given MP that can be used for every magic level. MP is far more plentiful than the points given for magic in the original, so magic can be used far more often, and that's even before the now plentiful ethers come in to play.

So magic classes have received a significant upgrade, but is there anything else about Final Fantasy's customizable characters that has changed? Well, this is a minor addition, but you can now give characters names that are over four letters long. Other than that, there isn't much new. You'll still find that all of the characters are male (with the exception of the White Mage), and you'll still be able to transform into one new job class part way through the adventure.

The new job classes you'll be rewarded with are one of the most exciting parts of Final Fantasy, and should cause you to carefully consider your class selection towards the beginning of your journey. The new classes are all quite powerful, but some may fit your fighting style more than others. In order to keep this relatively spoiler-free, I won't reveal what those positions are.

Now that Final Fantasy's job classes have been discussed, let's move on to the meat of this title: the battle system. The original Final Fantasy's battle system was unique in that it had your four heroes line up on the right side of the screen and the enemies on the left whenever you entered a random battle. This was a significant change from Dragon Quest's system that had a vertical layout with only a single enemy on screen and no character.

Your four characters in Final Fantasy had basic attack and spell animations, but they'd stand in place when attacking instead of actually making physical contact with the enemy. Likewise, your opponents were just static portraits, and the only indication that their attacks hit you was the menu text and them briefly flashing. As in Dragon Quest, you'd only discover the amount of damage you performed and received through a text box on screen (numbers would not yet appear over enemies' heads).

The NES version of Final Fantasy was also unique in that it allowed for nine enemies to appear on-screen at once. To slay your opponents, you could select from 'Attack' and Magic', and you also had the option of fleeing or healing with items. Whenever you selected 'Attack' or 'Magic' and an opponent had already been defeated, your character would attack the air and a turn would be wasted.

Fortunately, this problem is not an issue in the PSP version. When you attack an enemy that has been defeated, you'll simply target another foe in its place. The battle system has also been updated to match other Final Fantasy titles with numbers that appear over your opponents' heads when you attack. These two seemingly minor additions make Final Fantasy's fights a far more pleasant experience, but the rest of the combat system is left intact to make it feel true to the original.

Two other important battle system additions to the PSP version are significantly easier battles and faster level gaining. In the original, grinding was necessary (especially in the early portions of the game) to obtain equipment and spells that were essential for defeating enemies, but you'll rarely have to go out of your way to grind in the remake.

Some Final Fantasy purists may cry foul at the easier nature of this remake, but I welcomed the toned down difficulty. Considering that the original Final Fantasy is mostly combat, I didn't mind shedding a few hours of tedious gameplay. But enough about the battle system; let's get to Final Fantasy's world-spanning quest.

In Final Fantasy, you play the role of four Light Warriors who're out to save the world from its impending destruction. The seas are raging, the winds have stopped, and the earth has decayed, so it's up to you to set things right. First, however, you're tasked with saving Cornelia's princess from the kingdom's most powerful knight named Garland, who's gone rogue. Once you've defeated the scoundrel within the game's opening hour, the king thanks you and builds a bridge that'll take you to northern lands.

After this brief, entertaining jaunt, you'll set out to battle four elemental fiends that have torn the world asunder. This 12-15 hour quest will have you defeating pirates, sailing the seas, battling a dark elf, descending into the ocean via a bathysphere, and piloting the world's only airship. Even though some of these elements sound cliché now, it's truly an epic adventure. The storyline is basic compared to modern RPG fare, but those who've experienced 8-bit titles will realize that this experience was unprecedented (at least on consoles).

Fortunately, this remake features an excellent translation that conveys the story appropriately, while remaining true to the original. I really appreciated that a few classic lines were kept intact such as Garland's infamous, "I'll knock you all down." Also, I felt that the villager dialogue was relatively clear (unlike that of the first Dragon Quest), so finding my destination generally wasn't too difficult. There were a few confusing moments, and I had to do some exploring on my own, but for the most part, I didn't get lost.

The PSP version of Final Fantasy is easily the best iteration of the first game in this legendary series, but is it for everyone? Unfortunately, no. For many players, there are simply too many battles and not enough gameplay depth. The job system introduced in Final Fantasy was certainly revolutionary, but it doesn't pack the depth of the systems found in later FF installments such as Final Fantasy 3 and 5. Unfortunately, this makes some of the later dungeons with long-winding paths feel like a chore.

Another problem players might have with Final Fantasy is the significant difficulty ramp-up at the end. Most of the game isn't too difficult as long as you fight plenty of battles, purchase equipment and magic regularly, and watch your characters' health, but the final battle is quite difficult. I actually don't even remember the final boss being that difficult in the original, so be prepared to lose more than once if you don't have high enough levels.

If the high enemy encounter rate and challenging final boss battle of Final Fantasy don't scare you, you should consider purchasing this excellent remake of what is often considered the first good console RPG. The core experience by itself is solid, but the amount of polish that has been put into this remake is simply stunning. The gorgeous visuals, superb music, battle system enhancements, and lower difficulty make this a great way to experience the original Final Fantasy. These additions and the fact that you can now save anywhere clearly make this the definitive version of Final Fantasy. If you've ever wanted to experience the beginning of this franchise, now is the time.

Score: 8.0

Pros:

• Features beautiful 2D visuals and impressive graphical effects
• Superb renditions of Final Fantasy songs with near-orchestral quality sound
• The battle and job systems are now far more accessible
• Excellent translation that captures the feel of the original, but leaves classic lines intact
• You can now save anywhere

Cons:

• Some dungeons are overly long
• Battles are too frequent
• The final boss is far more difficult than anything else you'll encounter