Summary
TheFinal Fantasyfranchise is one of the biggest in all gaming. Ever since the first game launched in 1987, JRPG fans have been in love with the series. Lucky for them, countlessFinal Fantasygames, main entries, and spin-offs have been released over the years. Of them all, one of the most beloved is easilyFinal Fantasy 7.
It’s one ofthe most timeless PS1 RPGSand was responsible for introducing an entire Western generation to the wonders of JRPGs. The game was so successful that it has spawned its own mini-franchise. Many gamers will be familiar with the original and the recent remakes but may not realize that otherFinal Fantasy 7games have been released over the years. Some of them are excellent, giving the original a run for its money, while others have been fairly shameful cash grabs.
1Final Fantasy 7 G-Bike
Attempted To Turn A Minigame Into A Mobile Experience
Square Enix realized long ago that releasingFinal Fantasy7 spin-offs is like printing money, especially in Japan. Over the last couple of decades, the company has had multiple attempts to cash in on theFinal Fantasy 7name with mobile games. Most of them have been an utter disaster.
Final Fantasy 7 G-Bikewas an attempt to takeFinal Fantasy 7’s most popular minigame and flesh it out into a full-blooded mobile game. While not exactlythe best motorcycle game ever made, it wasn’t offensively bad. Players race through levels as Cloud takes out enemies with his iconic Buster sword and materia while being aided by other popularFF7characters. Unfortunately for Square Enix, fans weren’t buying. More than anything, they were upset the game wasn’t the remake they’d been begging for. The game was never released outside of Asia and plans for other minigame-inspiredFF7tie-ins were quickly dropped.
2Final Fantasy 7 Snowboarding
A Port Of Another Popular Minigame
Back in the very early days of mobile gaming, Square Enix decided to cash in on fans' love ofFinal Fantasy 7by releasing a port of the popular snowboarding minigame that had seemed so advanced in 1997 and putting it on mobile devices.
Final Fantasy 7 Snowboardingported over the snowboarding segment from the original game and added in some extra courses. The original minigame was good, but no one would say it wasa great snowboarding game, so it’s safe to say this mobile game was pretty underwhelming. There’s really not much else to say, and good luck finding a phone that can run this today.
3Dirge Of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy 7
A Mobile Midquel To The PS2 Sequel
Plenty ofFinal Fantasyfans have heard ofDirge of Cerberus, a sequel to the original game that followed Vincent Valentine, but few outside of Japan have heard of that game’s mobile spin-off. Advertised as a “midquel,” this game fills in some of the blanks ofthe originalDirge of Cerberus' story, in particular how Vincent reaches Shinra Mansion.
The game was supposed to be Square Enix’s first attempt at making aFinal FantasyFPS and, in an odd move for the franchise, was aimed squarely at the American market. A multiplayer mode was planned but never launched, and the game has been impossible to play in its entirety since 2018. Because there’s next to no information about the game online, it’s probably not a great loss.
4Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7
Square Enix’s First Successful Final Fantasy 7 Spin-Off
Thankfully, fans can finally start being a bit more positive.Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7was Square’s first attempt at making aFinal Fantasy 7mobile game. It’s a prequel set six years before the original game and focuses on the Turks, Shinra’s covert operatives, who were chasing Cloud and his friends throughout the originalFinal Fantasy 7.
It was a real-time action game with RPG elements and a side scroller. It might look basic by today’s standards, but it was a big success when released. The game’s story did a decent job of fleshing out the world ofFF7and gave fans more background info on both the Turks and AVALANCHE. Sadly for those curious, the game has been impossible to play since 2018 (a theme with these early entries), but Square has incorporated story elements into laterFF7tie-ins, especiallyEver Crisis.
Launched in 2023,Ever Crisisis the first modern spin-off to appear on this list. It’s a free-to-play mobile anthology game that aims to cover all ofFinal Fantasy 7’s expansive lore through regular episode releases. Its story covers everything from the originalFinal Fantasy7 toCrisis Coreand evenAdvent Childrenand has its own prequel episode set fifteen years before the original. It’s a pretty good solution for anyone struggling to followFinal Fantasy 7’s ever-evolving timeline.
The game’s combat is inspired byFinal Fantasy 7’s turn-based ATB combat, although the gameplay has been simplified. The progression system also includes heavy gacha elements, which are sure to alienate some. Still, the game has been fairly successful since its release. Those wanting to discover the franchise’s story are still better off playing the original games, butEver Crisismakes for a good CliffsNotes-style refresher.
6Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier
A Failed Mobile Battle Royale
The craze is dying down now, but a few years ago it felt like every other game being released was a battle royale. WithFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketopping bestseller lists at the time and receiving critical and player praise, Square Enix decided to get in on the craze and release a spin-off that was also a battle royale mobile game. It didn’t go well, andFinal Fantasy 7: The First Soldierwas quickly shut down.
To be fair, it wasn’t a bad game, receiving fairly average reviews. It was set thirty years before the original and had a fairly cool premise—players were SOLDIER candidates taking part in a battle-for-survival simulation as part of their special forces training. That’s more explanation than most battle royales bother giving. Unfortunately, the game was hampered by frustrating controls on mobile devices and aggressive monetization. It seems what really doomed the game, however, is that no one asked for, or wanted, aFinal Fantasy 7battle royale game.
Of the earlyFinal Fantasy 7spin-offs,Dirge of Cerberusis easily the most well-known. Set three years after the events of the original game, it follows Vincent Valentine as he’s chased by the villainous group Deepground. They want to use his cells to wake a creature called Omega to destroy the planet.
Vincent was one ofFinal Fantasy 7’sbest party members, so fans were understandably excited to get their hands onDirge of Cerberus. It turned out to be a pretty major departure from the original. While still set in the same universe, the game was a third-person shooter with some role-playing elements. It was the first shooter entry in the franchise, and it’s clear that the developers struggled during development and the game underwent a fairly large overhaul before its Western release. It got a lukewarm reception from critics, who mostly thought the game was OKbut nothing special. The story received the most praise, although some people felt it was a little too detached from the original. These days,Dirge of Cerberushas a cult following and has seen a bit of a resurgence amongFF7fans.
The original version ofCrisis Corewas released in 2007 on the PSP, while modern platforms got a remaster/remake recently in the form ofReunion; both versions are excellent. The PSP version pushed the little handheld to its absolute limits and was incredibly impressive, whileReuniontook an already great game and made it accessible to modern audiences.
The game is a prequel set not too long before the events of the main game and follows Zack Fair as he works his way through the ranks of SOLDIER while uncovering a world-changing conspiracy. Zack only appeared in the original in short flashbacks, butCrisis Corecemented him as one ofFinal Fantasy’s most beloved protagonists. The game has one ofFinal Fantasy’s best endings, which is no small feat considering anyone who playedFF7knew how it would end from the beginning. Gameplay-wise,Crisis Coredid its own thing. The game has enjoyable real-time combat where players control Zack directly in hack-and-slash combat. The game’s story was linear with no world map, with most extra content coming in the form of optional missions that reused the same handful of maps. As good as the gameplay was, the star has always been Zack and his awesome but tragic story.
For over two decades,Final Fantasy 7fans begged and begged Square Enix to remake the game for modern hardware. In response, the company constantly teased fans with tidbits, including a mean-spirited tech demo at E3 2003 that used the PlayStation 3 to recreate the game’s iconic intro. Then, just as fans were about to give up, Square Enix finally announced in 2015 that the game was going to receive a full remake.
But no one would have guessed just how ambitious that remake would be. Square Enix has takenFF7and split it into three remakes. The first, aptly namedFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, is a good 30+ hours long and only covers the opening few hours of the original. Other changes include swapping the beloved turn-based combat for an excellent real-time system and experimenting withFF7’s lore. While the game’s opening hours are fairly faithful to the original, there are some major departures, including multiversal elements and a wholly original ending. While not all fans were happy with the changes, Square Enix deserves credit for how ambitiousFinal Fantasy 7Remakeis at a time when so many remakes/remasters feel half-hearted.
Somehow,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthmanages to be even more ambitious thanRemake. WhereasRemakeends just after Cloud and friends leave Midgar,Rebirthcovers the rest of Disc 1, so about 50-60% of the original’s story. Although, once again, it makes some pretty big changes to the original storyline.
Elsewhere,Rebirthtakes everything that madeRemakeso good and dials it up to 11. The excellent real-time combat is further refined and built upon and given more depth. Whereas some feltFF7 Remake’s zones were overly linear,Rebirthis made up of huge zones, some of which are the same size as the open worlds of entire games. The visuals are also nothing short of stunning, pushing the PS5 right up to its limits. Fans will likely have a long wait for the third installment of the remake trilogy, but ifRebrithis anything to go by, it will be worth the wait.
