Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (video game)

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
North American GameCube cover art
Developer(s)The Game Designers Studio[a]
Publisher(s)Nintendo (GameCube)
Square Enix (Remastered)
Director(s)Kazuhiko Aoki
Ryoma Araki (Remastered)
Producer(s)Akitoshi Kawazu
Ryoma Araki (Remastered)
Programmer(s)Mitsuru Kamiyama
Artist(s)Toshiyuki Itahana
Rubi Asami (Remastered)
Writer(s)Masahiro Kataoka
Composer(s)Kumi Tanioka
Hidenori Iwasaki (Remastered)
SeriesFinal Fantasy (main)
Crystal Chronicles (sub)
Platform(s)GameCube
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Android
iOS
ReleaseGameCube
  • JP: August 8, 2003
  • NA: February 9, 2004
  • EU: March 12, 2004
  • AU: March 19, 2004
Remastered Edition
NS, PS4, Android, iOS
  • WW: August 27, 2020
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles[b] 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.

Players take on the role of adventurers who travel in a caravan gathering mystical fuel for crystals which protect the world's settlements from the destructive Miasma. The single-player campaign has the player escort the vessel carrying the crystal's energy, defending it from enemies and solving puzzles to progress. Multiplayer, which uses Game Boy Advance units connected using the console's link cable, has up to four players protecting the vessel.

Deciding to partner with Nintendo for game development following severe financial problems created by the failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, franchise creator Square formed the Game Designers Studio as a shell company to develop for Nintendo hardware without impacting games for Sony platforms. The development team wanted to create an accessible gameplay experience focusing on multiplayer. The music, written by Kumi Tanioka, made extensive use of medieval and Renaissance musical instruments.

Upon release, the title was positively received by journalists, and was nominated for multiple awards. Reaching high sales positions in Japan and the West, it went on to sell over one million copies worldwide. The remastered version saw generally mixed reviews, with many faulting the change to online-only multiplayer, and by-then dated gameplay mechanics. Subsequent entries in the Crystal Chronicles series have released for Nintendo consoles, beginning with Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS.

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  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference RemasteredSoft was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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