We now have new rumors suggesting that Square Enix is at work on a remake for Final Fantasy 9.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Giantbomb reporter Jeff Grubb went on the record on this, saying “I will say I heard very recently, once again, Final Fantasy 9 remake is real, that is real and happening.”
Gematsu subsequently released their own report corroborating the claim of a Final Fantasy 9 remake.
This title had already been in contention for a remake for some time. In the 2021 GeForce Now database leak, Final Fantasy 9 came up alongside Kingdom Hearts 4, the Final Fantasy 7 remake, and the Chrono Cross remaster.
Originally released in 2001 for the PlayStation, Final Fantasy 9 occupies a strange place in the franchise’s lineup, releasing in between more famous and beloved entries such as Final Fantasy 7, which itself is getting a full remake split into three games, and Final Fantasy X, or rather, Final Fantasy X-2.
Still, Final Fantasy 9 is well regarded, for its nature as a throwback to the 2D Final Fantasy games that came before it.
While few will call this a bad game, it has definitely been low on the totem pole of possible remakes and releases. However, Square Enix did make the decision in the past decade to keep their legacy games relevant by commissioning remasters and rereleases of said games.
So, we may have expected rereleases and remakes of Final Fantasy 7 and the like, but it was really the rerelease of Final Fantasy 8 and Final Fantasy 9 that made it seem like a remake of these less popular Final Fantasy games was even possible.
If there is a reason for Final Fantasy 9 to get the remake treatment over Final Fantasy 8, it would be artstyle. Final Fantasy 9 used a strange superdeformed style for the characters, not only in the gameplay sections, but also in cutscenes.
A proper remake could either lean in harder on that superdeformed style, making something that looks even more uncanny valley, but in a way that breathes new life to the franchise. Or perhaps, more commonsensically, Square Enix could just remake the game with a realistic art style, and possibly one that recreates the medieval world in a way that wasn’t possible on the original PlayStation.
Since the original had been released as recently as 2019, Square Enix would have had to have done something special to justify this remaster. It will certainly be interesting if this game is confirmed, and what that special something is that Square Enix came up with.