Usually, when the box art for an upcoming game is revealed, it’s not Earth-shattering, news-worthy information. When said game is a long awaited title in one of gaming’s oldest series, though, most of us take a moment to fully comprehend the image that will grace its cover. And when the words “Final” and “Fantasy” followed by a Roman numeral are printed on the box as well, all bets are off. As a franchise known as much for its art direction as its melodramatic plots and buckle-clad characters, a lot is expected of any artwork associated with the Final Fantasy series. With the reveal of the game’s North American cover art today, we thought it was as good a time as any to go back and take a look at Final Fantasy North American pack shots from the last twenty years.



Final Fantasy I

When this game was released for the NES in 1990, there were no expectations; in fact, as Squaresoft was on the verge of bankruptcy, it was expected to be their last game (hence the title). The box art featured no characters, which made sense, since your party consisted of four class types of your choosing—there was no actual protagonist, no love interest, and none of the character-driven moments you would expect from modern games in the series. The sword and axe give it the look of a generic adventure title, but the crystal ball, as well as the floating city contained within, shows that there’s a little something more to the game.



Final Fantasy II

For this game, we had to take a look at the box art for the 2007 PSP remake. This is because when Final Fantasy II came out for the SNES in 1991, it was actually Final Fantasy IV. FFII and III weren’t localized upon release, and in order to avoid confusion, the game was simply renumbered in North America (this actually caused much more confusion than it avoided). FFII was later released for the PS1 and Game Boy Advance as part of a compilation, but the PSP remake marked the first time that it was sold as a standalone title in North America.

As for the cover art itself, FFII PSP just features some simple but distinct artwork. Of course, at this point, the name itself, as well as the promise of updated graphics and new features, is what sold the game, not what was on the box.



Final Fantasy III

This game was also skipped over by Square Enix the first time around, but made its way to North America on the DS in 2006. At this point, it was sixteen years old, and fans of the series couldn’t wait to finally play the lost adventure. You would think that, after waiting so long to localize the game, Square Enix wouldn’t have gone with the most boring cover imaginable, but you would be wrong. All we got was the game’s logo against a bland white background, but I can tell you from personal experience that this didn’t deter gamers at all. I picked it up the day it came out and probably spent all of two seconds looking at the box before ripping off the plastic wrap and placing the game in my DS.



Final Fantasy IV

As previously stated, this game was first released under the title Final Fantasy II in North America. The SNES box art seems kind of generic at first glance, save for the glistening sword replacing the “T” in “fantasy”. However, you have to read the fine print. Just look at all of those features! Not only was it a 16-bit role-playing game, but the cartridge came with built in memory and the ability to save up to four different games—actually kind of a big deal in 1991. The box also advertised a 76-page strategy guide, which I’d personally prefer if I had to make the choice between that and a prettier box.



Final Fantasy V

Once again, either Square or Nintendo didn’t deem this game worthy of getting a North American release, so it remained in Japan until being released on the PS1 as part of a compilation in 1999. In 2006, it finally got a standalone release on the Game Boy Advance, following the successful release of Final Fantasy I, II, and IV on the portable system. Ditching the logo against a white background approach of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (which would later be replicated with FFIII DS), FFV Advance featured some pretty character art behind the logo. Of course, since GBA game boxes were so flimsy, it would only be a matter of time before the cardboard case became ripped, misshapen, or was thrown out altogether.



Final Fantasy VI

This is one of the most beloved entries in the series, which again caused a lot of confusion when it was released as Final Fantasy III for the SNES. It wasn’t until years later that the actual number of games in the series became a widely-known fact, and some people still refer to FFVI as FFIII. The Super Nintendo box does have the best cover art of the 16-bit era, though. The shining sword returns, and the logo is overshadowed by what appears to be a threatening force. My focus immediately goes to the Moogle, because Moogles are awesome.



Final Fantasy VII

In my opinion, this is where Final Fantasy cover art really started getting epic and interesting. You can see a character from behind; he’s sort of mysterious, he’s got spiky yellow hair, and a giant sword. He’s staring up at a building: large, intimidating, ominous. As we all now know, this is Cloud, and the structure before him is the Shinra building, the headquarters of the evil mega-corporation responsible for much death and destruction. Also, three discs! For the formerly cartridge-based series, that was kind of a big deal.



Final Fantasy VIII

Another excellent cover. We have our hero and antagonist, back to back; between them is a beautiful girl. In the logo, Squall and Rinoa can be seen embracing, and fading into the background is the dark sorceress Edea. If that’s not enough, it can be plainly seen that the game is on four discs, one more than its predecessor. That means it’s clearly an improvement, right?



Final Fantasy IX

The art style took a different direction in this game, which some fans of the series didn’t care for; I liked it, though. It’s more stylized, and some of the characters are a bit younger than past party members; additionally, not everyone who will join your party is human. Though a love story develops between Zidane and Garnet, it’s not emphasized on the box because there is so much more to the game; each of the main characters has a personal discovery to make, and you can see a bit of that in this artwork.



Final Fantasy X

The first PS2 game in the series returned to the more realistic style of graphics, which were better than ever before in 2001. The only character seen here is Tidus, the game’s protagonist, and the water motif is also obvious: he’s standing in water, and has a water sword. The bits of light around him don’t seem to have any significance unless you’ve played the game, but the look on his face seems to say “I’m ready for adventure”.



Final Fantasy XI

It’s Final Fantasy. It’s online. It’s an MMO. Let’s move on.



Final Fantasy XII

This cover art has a lot of content, but doesn’t say a whole lot about the game. The seriousness of all of the characters seems to reflect the change in tone from emotional to political, a big move for the series. Vaan (and his exposed midriff) is in the middle of it all, surrounded by supporting characters, airships and battleships filling the skies. It’s not my favorite, but I wouldn’t call it uninteresting, either.



Final Fantasy XIII

Surprise! It's exactly the same as the European box art we saw earlier today, only with the PEGI rating replaced with a T from the ESRB. I personally found it a little boring in comparison to other box arts from over the years, but others seemed to enjoy its simplicity. One thing is for certain, though: the cover and the ESRB rating means that Final Fantasy XIII in North America is on the verge of becoming a reality. That's something that no box art can dispel my excitement about.