Final Fantasy® Vi Advance

[wraggster]

Heres the press release and screens via comments

Join the revolution! The Gestahlian Empire, armed with the secrets of Magitek, threatens to enslave the world ... until a young woman named Terra frees herself from its control and joins a band of rebels known as the Returners. Armed with Terra's magical powers, the Returners struggle to uncover the secrets of the ancient War of the Magi and the source of the Empire's power.

Players command a ragged band of heroes in a desperate quest to free the world from the Empire's grasp. With Edgar's tools, Terra's magic, Sabin's fists and the skills of more than a dozen additional characters, the Returners need only one thing to seize victory from the Empire: you.
Summon the power of the espers, magical creatures enslaved by the Empire. Enlist several new additions to the roster, like Leviathan, Cactuar and Gilgamesh, to help tackle challenges like the all-new Dragon's Den dungeon.
Just because the adventure ends doesn't mean the action has to. Players can study their foes in the Bestiary and then face them all in a continuous battle in the Soul Shrine, or enjoy their favorite songs in the bonus music player.
Featuring bonus content, a new translation and a remixed soundtrack, FINAL FANTASY VI ADVANCE is the definitive version of this classic role-playing game.

Game storyline: Ages ago, the War of the Magi pitted three gods against one another. They waged battle by enslaving magical beings called espers and using them as soldiers in their battle. After the war's end, the gods freed the espers, who then retreated to a new world of their own. Centuries later, the Gestahlian Empire has breached the boundaries of the espers' world and captured many espers, using their magic to fuel the Empire's Magitek research program. When an enslaved woman named Terra frees herself from the Empire's mind control, she joins a band of rebels called the Returners, who seek to enlist the aid of the espers in their struggle to prevent the Empire from taking over the world.

How to progress through the game: FINAL FANTASY VI ADVANCE is a turn-based RPG with gameplay broken down into two distinct phases: exploration and battle. In the exploration phase, players wander through towns or dungeons, sail through the sky or travel across the "overworld" (anywhere outside of a dungeon or town), speaking with the people they meet to gain clues and advance the story. In certain locations, players will get into battles, either randomly (when wandering freely) or by design (when they fight a creature as part of the main story). Players can equip their characters to customize their arms and armor as well as their relics and magic.

Characters:

Heroes: Terra, a young former slave of the Empire who is connected to the espers. Locke, a treasure hunter (read "thief") skilled at stealing from enemies. Edgar, King of Figaro and master of various tools. Sabin, twin brother of Edgar who abandoned his claim to the throne to pursue a life of freedom as a martial artist. Shadow, a mysterious assassin who travels with his dog, Interceptor. Celes, a Magitek knight who abandons the Empire after she learns of Kefka's plan to poison an entire kingdom. Mog, a world-traveling moogle who has left the caves where his people live to see more of the world beyond the caverns. And many, many more!

Villains: While there are many enemies, Kefka and Ultros stand out as the most memorable. Kefka starts as a court mage for the Gestahlian Empire – he receives the power to wield magic during an infusion of esper power that drives him insane. Ultros is a large, purple octopus who serves mostly as comic relief, providing challenging battles but also proving to be somewhat ineffectual as a villain.

Special features: FINAL FANTASY VI ADVANCE features 14 "main" characters, even though the players can have only four characters in their party at any time. The story branches in several key points, and the player must break the party into separate groups, splitting time between each of the groups and seeing their aspect of the story. Each character possesses a special ability, like Locke's Steal (which grabs items from enemies) or Mog's Dance (each dance has a different effect).

Players find and equip magicite crystal pieces to their characters. Magicite teaches spells to the characters equipping it and allows them to summon espers in battle as well. The espers have different powerful effects, ranging from healing the whole party to attacking large groups of enemies with different physical or elemental attacks.

Screens Via Comments

[Mikaa]

Thank the Elements. Pity the GBA is on its way out, though. I was hopeful that GBA remakes of Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Super Metroid...

Maybe they will see remaking/porting onto the DS. Preferably without touch controls... >_>; Some of us like our classic game play unaltered (a la New Super Mario Bros.)

Mikaa

[DanTheManMS]

Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are both playable in the latest version of SnezziDS...