Whether you are a veteran of the 16-bit days of Final Fantasy III or a new role-playing game fan who wants to see the earlier titles in this popular series, there is something for you in Final Fantasy Anthology. The major attraction of this game is that it includes not only an old fan-favorite in Final Fantasy VI, but an entirely new game with the inclusion of Final Fantasy V. Since this is the first Square Soft release of Final Fantasy V in English, it is worth the purchase to most fans for that game alone. Of course, this does not mean that Final Fantasy Anthology has little else to offer.

The games themselves, while holding close to the original, have a few surprises if you know where to look. The first and most obvious difference is the inclusion of several movie sequences. Each game has one beautifully rendered movie clip at the opening and ending of the game. For Final Fantasy fans, this is a good opportunity to see those well-known 2D sprite characters with 3D cinematics applied to them. Once they have been "found", one can also look on the Final Fantasy VI disc to view all the older movie clips without having to finish the game every time. For the people who like to play through the game multiple times, the log records on that disc will also keep track of your strongest party and fastest times. This feature would have been better in the original since most people who would replay the game that many times over already did so with the original when it was released. There is also a monster list in Final Fantasy VI, which again would probably have been better suited to the original, but it will still appeal to the most hardcore of role-playing fans (who like to analyze their enemies).

The actual gameplay holds very true to the originals and is just as much fun as it always was. Those who were big fans of Final Fantasy III for the Super NES will get a nostalgic feel for the game when they play the new version. The storyline is long and involved and the kind of thing that games of the series is known for. Combat is simple compared to more advanced games, but still quite addictive in its own right. The magic system, which has always been unique to each Final Fantasy game, adds a lot of strategy into character development, something which lacks from most 16-bit role-paying games. Final Fantasy V does not share quite the same plot depth, but makes up for it in depth of strategy. The five characters in the game have no abilities when they are first acquired, meaning that the party configuration is entirely open-ended. As new jobs and abilities are made available, more options and combinations are left to the player. Though this feature will appeal to many people, there are those who would think it a bit cumbersome compared to the simpler character-building strategy of many other games in the genre.

Though most of the few changes to the original Super NES games were good ones, there are a few annoyances in the PlayStation versions. The most noticeable of these is the speed of play. Most of the time this difference is minor, but in areas with a lot of movement from one screen to another, the loading time can be a bit of an annoyance. The combat is noticeably slowed down as well, and those few extra loading seconds in every random encounter can change a tolerable area of the game into an annoying one. Most of the other changes lie in the name differences, such as Exdeath and the Cleft of Dimension changing into X-Death and the N-Zone, which were often best left with the original names. Overall, Final Fantasy Anthology makes for a good (and addictive) gaming experience, whether you are new to 16-bit role-playing games or you just want a nostalgic feel for the past. ~ David Borowski, All Game Guide

The video clips are beautiful to watch and it is nice to see some of those famous characters as actual people instead of small sprites. To the gamers who are looking for a graphical masterpiece, they will not find it in these versions of the Super NES games. The graphics were good for the release times of the original games, but on this version they are just that... new versions of old-looking games. ~ David Borowski, All Game Guide

The sound has been slightly remastered from the original games but for the most part, the difference is not noticeable. This is not a bad thing though, since these older Final Fantasy games are known for having some of the best music in the gaming industry. For those who just can't get enough of the music, the audio CD by composer Nobuo Uematsu has a few selected tracks from each game, and is definitely worth a listen to any fans of his music. ~ David Borowski, All Game Guide

This is where all Final Fantasy games seem to shine, and typically these games are tough to put down once you start playing them. Whether it is strategy, music, storyline, or just character development that you desire, these two games have it all. ~ David Borowski, All Game Guide

There is no doubt that these games are addictive enough to warrant a few plays through but unfortunately, by the time of this release, many people have played through the originals several times over already. There are even a few features on Final Fantasy VI that have replay in mind, something which is not (but should be) seen very often in the genre. ~ David Borowski, All Game Guide