To begin with, the game and story are very true to the original product, only seeing a cosmetic upgrade fit to the PSP's 16:9 dazzling display, along with a few fixes to the battle system and a redone soundtrack. The original product, of course, being a complete reinvention of what Final Fantasy established as a turn-based RPG and the accompanying leveling aspects. Features in the Anniversary edition include the Dawn of Souls' Soul of Rebirth addition, and the Arcane Sanctuary dungeon which makes use of the game's word-learning mechanic. One mentionable difference between this remake and Final Fantasy's is that Square-Enix managed to nick that annoying two-second load for the menus.

Final Fantasy 2 introduced character customization to the series, lots like pen-and-paper role-players had been doing for years prior, although it created an incredible flaw in design. Stats would rise or fall based on the types of attacks used, such as gaining health by taking hits, or expanding magic by using magic. Offsetting this method of leveling-up was that other stats would fall in favor of those abilities players used most often, such as losing strength as a result of becoming more adept with magic. Seeing this seesaw effect, gamers turned on their own party, manipulating the system of gaining experience through damage and attacking in an attempt to level up at a faster rate and balance out their party at the same time. This still remains in Final fantasy 2 Anniversary, as what is most likely a valiant attempt to stay true to source material.

This time around, the story gets a lot more focus in comparison to Final Fantasy's, as you follow the ragtag team of Firion, Maria, Guy, and Gordon through various quests in order to stop a corrupt Emporer on a rampage. The characters now have names, and although the game isn't story-heavy, it's definitely a step up in the series. Unfortunately, the amount of time spent monitoring your party with Final Fantasy 2's daft leveling system will contribute to the 45+ hours the game takes to finish, where those dozens of hours the game logs should have been invested in new and exciting areas and story elements. But let's not forget that this is a review of a 19 year-old game which has stood the test of time and seen 3 iterations of itself within that space -it's hard to criticize something which was based on an almost entirely different philosophy of game development than today's industry recognizes.

Perhaps the most forgiving feature of Final Fantasy 2 Anniversary is the update the graphics and music received. Everything sounds as crisp as a remade 8-bit game could sound, and the redrawn sprites are equally sharp. It's definitely a step up from the Final Fantasy Anniversary which sits next to this one in a sea of advertisements. The reading audience knows what this is all about, as do most gamers, and that's the point of Square-Enix's release of Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls housing both FF and FF2 on a single cartridge -both in extremely playable condition. Seeing as how both FF Anniversary games can total $70 whilst the GBA port is probably around ten bucks on eBay, the price-to-content ratio is extremely hard to swallow unless you're a diehard fan of the series or simply a serious collector with some spare change.

That's the target audience here. It's the collection aspect that will sell the Final Fantasy remakes that we'll see in years to come, just as we have in the past. Final Fantasy 2 Anniversary is a grand game to pick up if you're intent on playing it in an updated format made solely for the PSP, but not a good enough value to warrant purchasing it on curiosity or the nostalgic magnetism that draws gamers to remakes in the first place. The game's originally flawed gameplay is tolerable thanks to a pretty face, but even that pretty face isn't attractive enough for me to recommend blowing the dough just to carry it around in your pocket. Squaresoft may have almost taken the plunge a couple decades ago, but they're doing more than well for themselves these days. I'm personally more interested in moving on than gaining some nerd cred.