As you and your trusted companions enter the dark dungeon, a wave of deja vu sweeps over you: You've been here before, but somehow things feel different. Is it a trick of the mind? A spell from an evil sorcerer? Or have you just discovered the secret behind "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls?"
Anyone who loves role-playing games has likely spent countless hours immersed in the "Final Fantasy" universe, casting spells, fighting evil and embarking on heroic missions. Nintendo now resurrects the original installments of the multimillion-dollar Square Enix franchise that set the standard for role-playing excitement and adds bonus content to make the adventures new and fresh for even the most experienced players. "Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls," which launches today for Game Boy Advance SP, lets players revisit familiar sagas before throwing new challenges at them. Both games are contained on one game pak.
"Nintendo has taken two great games, added some twists and made the first true `Final Fantasy' adventure portable," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "It's easy to guess how excited the dedicated `Final Fantasy' fans are about the new spin on their beloved games."
The "Final Fantasy I" adventure follows four young adventurers as they use swords and sorcery to help restore order to their chaotic world. Players will discover a series of four bonus dungeons not found in the original game. Inside, players will encounter and battle an array of monsters from "Final Fantasy" games III through VI before fighting the final boss; to keep things interesting, the layout of the dungeons changes every time.
In "Final Fantasy II," a band of orphans leads a resistance force to free the world from the clutches of an evil empire. After four characters die in the main game, a bonus storyline follows them into the afterlife as they fight to defeat the emperor of Pandaemonium.
The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Nintendo GameCube systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.9 billion video games and more than 170 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as "Metroid" , "Zelda" and "Pokemon" . A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.
"Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls" is rated E for Everyone. For more information about the game, visit www.nintendo.com/finalfantasy.