Square Enix has published a plethora of Final Fantasy sequels and spin-offs. In fact, the company will be releasing the twelfth installment of its timeless franchise this fall, which makes the release of Final Fantasy III all the more bizarre. Its November 1st debut on the Nintendo DS marks the first time that it's seen the light of day on Western shores (the SNES FFIII released in the U.S. is actually FFVI), except this version is no standard port, making it worth playing even if you've had your fill of its aged counterpart.

Final Fantasy III was originally released for Nintendo's Famicom nearly twenty years ago, and at the time, its 2D visuals placed it in a class by itself. But the remake doesn't contain flat 2D sprites. Square Enix has elected to remodel the game in glorious 3D, and while it appears that the player will be unable to manipulate the camera (which makes the graphics more pseudo 3D), the classic RPG still looks phenomenal, or at least as phenomenal as it could look running on the DS hardware, which is a bit more powerful than the Super Nintendo. All of the characters are cute, despite featuring flat faces, and the towns and the dungeons look marvelous. And to complement the in-game visual treats, the developers have crafted several gorgeous FMV sequences that should serve as a message to developers the world over that the DS is capable of some fantastic stuff.

On top of the visual face lift, FFIII also features touch screen control, allowing you to complete the game by tapping various menus with a stylus. However, if that doesn't interest you (or you just want to mix things up), you can also use the d-pad and face buttons.

Up next is the special Mognet system, which has been brought over from Final Fantasy IX. This enables you to send mail to characters that you've previously met, and doing this may open up new side quests and items. Furthermore, you'll be able to send mail to other players that own the game, and while Square Enix hasn't confirmed exactly how you'll be able to do this, there are rumors that the game will be Wi-Fi enabled. Thus, you'll be interacting with people the world over.

Aside from those new additions, FFIII is the same as its predecessor. It still follows the same tale of four young adventurers on a mission to restore balance to their world by harnessing the power of magical light crystals, and the gameplay is exactly the same. You'll travel to a host of towns, interact with tons of NPCs, purchase items, and level up. You can even assign jobs to your characters such as warrior, monk, ranger, white mage, black mage, and ninja (just to name a few), and doing this will empower them with new abilities.

The game's combat is turn-based and very old school. You'll basically explore a world map from a classic top down perspective, and as you wander the countryside you'll get dragged into random battles with a host of enemies such as goblins and gigantic turtles with sharp spikes on their shells. From there, you'll select whatever attack is available, whether it be melee or magical, and you'll take turns with the enemy and manage your HP (hit points). Throughout these battles, at least from what I've seen, the DS handles things like a champ. Things don't slow down, though it'll be interesting to see how the system performs when characters perform attacks that are far more advanced than simple sword slashes.

Thus far, Final Fantasy III looks incredible, but there's more going on here than Square Enix filling the DS' RPG void. Not only does it prove that the publisher is willing to bring big games to Nintendo's machine (the tepid Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles wasn't exactly great), but it may be a catalyst that results in serious damage to Sony's PSP. That's not to say that Sony's hand held will perform poorly this holiday season, but given the popularity of the DS the world over (as well as its stranglehold on the Japanese market), a full-fledged Final Fantasy game (especially one released during the holidays) will have an enormous impact on not only Japan, but also the Western territories. GameDaily will have more on this game as soon as new information becomes available, and expect to see a review after Square Enix releases it on November 1.