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Final Fantasy 9 surprises Switch owners by releasing today

Final Fantasy 9 isn't just coming to Nintendo Switch. It's out today! Surprise!

Ozzie Mejia

February 13, 2019 3:10 PM

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Final Fantasy fans got a nice surprise during the February 13, 2019 Nintendo Direct. During a quick block on the Final Fantasy titles, Nintendo casually dropped that the classic Final Fantasy IX is available today.

Nintendo first outlined plans to release most of the Final Fantasy backlog during the September 13, 2018 Nintendo Direct, but no release dates were issued at that time. Nintendo has not only issued that release date for FF9, but dropped it on unsuspecting viewers right now.

This isn't the first time that Square Enix has dropped Final Fantasy IX as a stealth release. Back in 2017, Square Enix announced the game would be coming to PlayStation 4 during that year's Tokyo Game Show, releasing the game on the PlayStation Store on that platform on that same day. This continues the FF9 revival that began with the game's PC release back in 2016.

For the unfamiliar, Final Fantasy IX is the PS1 classic that tells the story of Zidane Tribal and the Tantalus Theater Troupe, who have kidnapped Princess Garnet. What they don't know is that the princess wanted to escape the castle all along, as the princess eventually slides right into the troupe ranks and ventures along with them on a new adventure. The typical Final Fantasy turn-based battles are back, along with abilities like equipping items, the Trance gauge, and some engaging mini-games. The game goes for $20.99 on PC, so expect a similar price point on the Switch.

Fans of the original Final Fantasy VII got some news, too. The classic game featuring Cloud Strife and his battle against the evil Sephiroth is finding its way onto Nintendo Switch on March 26. Those looking for more of a Mystery Dungeon type of game will be happy to hear that Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY! will release on Switch just a week before that on March 20.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?