SaGa (サガ) is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the PlayStation 2. The series is notable for its emphasis on open world exploration, non-linear branching plots, and occasionally unconventional gameplay. This distinguishes the games from most of Square's other franchises.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action role-playing video game developed by The Game Designers Studio and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It was released in 2003 in Japan and 2004 in North America, Europe and Australia. A remastered version for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Android, and iOS was released in August 2020. A spin-off of the Final Fantasy series and beginning of the series of the same name, Crystal Chronicles was the first title in the franchise to be released for a Nintendo home console since Final Fantasy VI in 1994.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a 2003 tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. A spin-off of the Final Fantasy series, the game shares several traits with 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics, although it is not a direct sequel. The player assembles a clan of characters, and controls their actions over grid-like battlefields. Players are mostly free to decide the classes, abilities, and statistics of their characters.
Sword of Mana, originally released in Japan as Shin'yaku: Seiken Densetsu, is a 2003 action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown and published by Square Enix and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is an enhanced remake of the first game in the Mana series, the Game Boy game Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden, which was released as Final Fantasy Adventure in North America and as Mystic Quest in Europe. Sword of Mana was the fifth release in the series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows an unnamed hero and heroine as they seek to defeat the Dark Lord and defend the Mana Tree from enemies who wish to misuse its power.
E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a 1992 action-adventure game developed by Almanic Corporation and published by Enix for the Super NES. Combining traditional platforming mechanics with experience and leveling mechanics originating from role playing games, E.V.O.: Search for Eden involves the player navigating a creature through a number of side-scrolling levels while undergoing bodily evolution to cope with ever-changing environments. It is heavily based on Almanic's original title, 46 Okunen Monogatari ~The Shinka Ron~, released in Japan in 1990 for the PC-9801.
Final Fantasy XII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the Final Fantasy series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series: an open world; a seamless battle system; a controllable camera; a customizable "gambit" system, which lets the player control the artificial intelligence (AI) of characters in battle; a "license" system, which determines what abilities and equipment can be used by characters; and hunting side quests, which allows the player to find and defeat increasingly difficult monsters in the game's open world. Final Fantasy XII also includes elements from previous games in the series, such as Chocobos and Moogles.
Legend of Mana is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. It was the fourth game released in the Mana series, following 1995's Trials of Mana. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows an unnamed hero as they restore the land of Fa'Diel by creating the world around them and completing a number of interrelated quests in order to restore the Tree of Mana.
Unlimited Saga is a 2002 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation 2 as the ninth game in the SaGa series. It was released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in North America and Europe; its European version was published by Atari Europe. The story follows seven characters as they explore mysteries connected to the Seven Wonders, artifacts left by an ancient civilization said to be capable of triggering a golden age. Battles carry over the skill-based levelling systems and nonlinear structure of earlier SaGa titles, with an exploration structure similar to a board game.
Romancing SaGa is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fourth entry in the SaGa series. It was subsequently released for the WonderSwan Color in 2001 and mobile phones in 2009. A remake for the PlayStation 2, subtitled Minstrel Song in Japan, was released in both Japan and North America in 2005 by Square Enix. A remaster of Minstrel Song was released worldwide in 2022 for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows.
Front Mission 4, also known in Japan as Front Mission Fourth, is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix Co., Ltd. as the fourth main entry and sixth entry overall in the Front Mission series. Like other Front Mission titles, Front Mission 4 is part of a serialized storyline that follows the stories of various characters and their struggles involving mecha known as wanzers.
Front Mission 5: Scars of the War, also known in Japan as Front Mission Fifth: Scars of the War, is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix, released in Japan on December 29, 2005. Front Mission 5: Scars of the War is the fifth main entry and ninth entry overall in the Front Mission series. Like other Front Mission titles, Front Mission 5: Scars of the War is part of a serialized storyline that follows the stories of various characters and their struggles involving mecha known as wanzers.
Grandia Xtreme is a 2002 role-playing video game developed by Game Arts and published by Enix for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is part of the Grandia series. It was released by publisher Square Enix for PlayStation Network in Japan on December 17, 2014.
Fantasy Earth Zero was a 2006 massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed for Microsoft Windows. Originally developed by Puraguru and Multiterm under the title Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, it was released by Square Enix as a paid product through its PlayOnline service. It relaunched under Gamepot as a free game, and was later handled by developers SoftGear and Ocean Frontier and was transferred back to Square Enix. Under the premise of a world where rival kingdoms engage in frequent conflicts, players choose an allied kingdom and fight against each other in groups of up to fifty players. The game closed down in September 2022.
Koichi Ishii, sometimes credited as Kouichi Ishii, is a video game designer perhaps best known for creating the Mana series. He joined Square in 1987, where he has directed or produced every game released in the Mana series. He has also contributed to several games in Square Enix's SaGa and Final Fantasy series, and created the well-known chocobo and moogle characters.
The music of the video game Final Fantasy VIII was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. The Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack, a compilation of all music in the game, was released on four Compact Discs by DigiCube in Japan, and by Square EA in North America. A special orchestral arrangement of selected tracks from the game—arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi—was released under the title Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec Final Fantasy VIII, and a collection of piano arrangements—performed by Shinko Ogata—was released under the title Piano Collections Final Fantasy VIII.
The Last Remnant is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. It was released worldwide for Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Microsoft Windows in March 2009. A PlayStation 3 version was originally announced as well, but this version was cancelled. A remastered version titled The Last Remnant Remastered was released on PlayStation 4 in December 2018 and for Nintendo Switch in June 2019. The game follows a teenage warrior on a quest to end the war, in a fictional world divided into multiple city-states and inhabited by four different species. Their past includes a conflict over "Remnants", magical artifacts of varying forms. The game features a unique battle system in which the player commands multiple groups, or "unions", of characters rather than individual units.
Concerto Gate is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Ponsbic and Square Enix. The game was released in Japan in 2007, and a planned North American release was cancelled after a beta release in July 2008.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is an action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, and takes place near the end of the first game in parallel to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, leading directly into the events of Kingdom Hearts II. The game was released worldwide in 2009. The story is told from the perspective of Roxas, and follows his daily life within Organization XIII and his relationship with fellow Organization member Axel; it also introduces a fourteenth member, Xion, who befriends them.
Blood of Bahamut is an action role-playing video game developed by Think & Feel and published by Square Enix. It was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on August 6, 2009.
The Chrono series is a video game franchise developed and published by Square Enix. It began in 1995 with the time travel role-playing video game Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The music of Chrono Cross was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, the main composer of Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers. Chrono Cross has sparked a soundtrack album, released in 1999 by DigiCube and re-released in 2005 by Square Enix, and a greatest hits mini-album, published in 2000 by Square along with the North American release of the game. Radical Dreamers, the music of which heavily inspired the soundtrack of Chrono Cross, has not sparked any albums, though some songs from its soundtrack were reused in Chrono Cross. An album of arrangements of Chrono Cross songs was first announced by Mitsuda in 2005, and later intended to be released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the game in 2009; its release date was pushed back several times since then. In 2015, Mitsuda released an album of arranged music from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross entitled To Far Away Times to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of Chrono Trigger.
