Nowadays, it’s hard to believeFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewas once considered unthinkable. The only major AAA franchise close to making a total reimagining of a classic game successful wasResident Evil, with Capcom releasing a remake of the first game on GameCube in 2002. In turn, Capcom’s experience with the first remake ended up making one of the best video game remakes of all time inResident Evil 2’s 2019 remake. However, when the PS3 tech demo ofFinal Fantasy 7eventually manifested into a fully-fledged remake on PS4, Square Enix saw great success. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that something like aFinal Fantasy 9remake exists.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeeventually coming to PC is an inevitability, but a recent Nvidia GeForce Now leak seemed to also confirmed a remake forFinal Fantasy 9. Granted this is not the only surprising leak as part of the Nvidia GeForce Now leak, but aFinal Fantasy 9 Remakewould be a surprising announcement. Especially beforeFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeis finished, andFinal Fantasy 16hasn’t released yet, announcing another acclaimedFinal Fantasyremake would be a surprise to say the least. That being said,Final Fantasy 9would be the ideal choice for a true reimagining in the wake ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’s success.
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A Final Fantasy 9 Remake Is The Logical Next Step
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeis obviously a special case; built up over years of fan requests brought on by Square Enix itself, even if it was unintentional. That initial PS3 tech demo from 2005 impressed plenty of fans at the time, thus planting the seed forFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’s development. If aFinal Fantasy 9 Remakeis in development, then it’d be for a totally different reason:Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s success is a proof of concept. Even if there hasn’t been a next-gen rendering or tech demo ofFinal Fantasy 9to build off of, the ninthFinal Fantasygame is arguably one of the better choices for the next remake project, in comparison to otherFinal Fantasygames.
BothFinal Fantasy 7andFinal Fantasy 9are like two sides of theFinal Fantasycoin, to some extent.Final Fantasy 7wasn’t quite the inaugural game to kick-off the sci-fi/steampunk inspiredFinal Fantasygames (Final Fantasy 6), but consideringFinal Fantasy 7is the most popular entry of all time, its remake made sense.Final Fantasy 9occupies a very different subsect of theFinal Fantasyfandom; one that harkens back to old-school fantasy whilst still maintaining (at the time) modern tendencies.Final Fantasy 9was a celebration ofthe previous NES/SNESFinal Fantasygamesin modern format, and few recentFinal Fantasygames have captured the same spirit.
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Other Final Fantasy Remakes Wouldn’t Make Sense
Final Fantasy 16seems set to do it next, but there hasn’t been any previously released mainline entries, beyondFinal Fantasy 9, that have harkened back to traditionalFinal Fantasyin the same way. There’s beenFinal Fantasy 11andFinal Fantasy 14, but MMOs inFinal Fantasyhave typically been reverent of the series' origins inherently.Final Fantasy 12came close, but that also came alongside a revamped RPG and combat system, alongside being considered underrated for a long time next to otherFinal Fantasygames. Plus, it certainly helps thatFinal Fantasy 9’s story and characters are some of the best in the entire franchise.
In truth, there are very few remakes that would make particular sense as the next project afterFinal Fantasy 7 Remake.Final Fantasy 9andFinal Fantasy 7are drastically different games compared to surrounding releases.Final Fantasy 6is largely where the steampunk and sci-fi inspirationscame into the franchise for the first time, popularized inFinal Fantasy 7.Final Fantasy 8andFinal Fantasy 10both took on more traditional tendencies, but still had a degree of sci-fi and contemporary influence. Plus, games fromFinal Fantasy 10onward, it’s arguable whether or not those games are modern enough to even warrant a remake, not that fans would say no to them.
Beyond that, even if there is aFinal Fantasy 9 Remakecurrently in production, it’s likely not coming until far afterFinal Fantasy 7 Remakehas finished. At bare minimum,Final Fantasy 16will almost certainly release before another remake project is released. That being said, given the early success ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, it would theoretically make sense for the next remake to beFinal Fantasy 9. A primarily medievalFinal Fantasygame is sorely missed, andwhileFinal Fantasy 16might get the job done, it’s not quite the same as a traditional turn-based JRPG.
Final Fantasy 9 Remakeis rumored to be in development.
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