Final Fantasy IV: The After coming to the Wii @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 27, 2009

News: The sequel to one of the all-time great Final Fantasys is coming to America.

A new listing on the ESRB website for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years has revealed that Square-Enix plans to bring the cell phone-only sequel (currently only available in Japan) to Final Fantasy IV to Nintendo's console. As it is a cell phone game, it's possible The After Years may be released on the WiiWare service. It would fit in quite nicely next to Mega Man 9 after all. It would also explain the complete lack of news about the title even though it's already been rated by the ESRB (Nintendo likes to keep WiiWare titles a secret until the last possible minute). But we won't know for sure until an official announcement comes out of Square-Enix.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years picks up 17 years after Final Fantasy IV and follows the adventures of Ceodore, the son of main characters Cecil and Rosa. The game will play very similarly to the 2D turn-based RPG that Final Fantasy IV was, as the ESRB Ratings Summary shows:

This is a 2D role-playing game in which players embark on an adventure involving magical crystals and a mysterious kingdom. Players traverse across a field map or through dungeons and can enter into turn-based battles along the way. Players use a menu screen to select attacks or magic spells against tiny enemies (e.g., leopards, birds, knights, fish monsters, etc.) that blink and disappear when defeated. An item called "Bacchus Wine" is occasionally used to defeat enemies in battle.

Since the game still doesn't officially exist yet, it doesn't have a release date yet.