With Final Fantasy 7 Revelation now on the horizon with a launch window slated for Spring 2027, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is effectively nearing its end, thereby leaving the future wide open for what it can do next. While it will undoubtedly be great whenever a brand-new Final Fantasy game arrives, what we know now is that Square Enix mentioned at a recent shareholders meeting that it’s willing to do more traditional turn-based remakes of the series’ older games if that’s what fans want. Well, in that case, the next big remake for the developer to tackle feels blatantly obvious.
Of course, opinions will stay opinions, and there will always be a Final Fantasy game other than the “obvious” choice that fans will say deserves the remake treatment first. However, one classic Final Fantasy game remake has been on the wish lists of many fans for quite some time now, not to mention the fact that rumors about a potential remake of the title have circulated for nearly 5 years now. That game is none other than Final Fantasy 9, the beloved 2000 PS1 RPG that many still regard as one of the purest expressions of what Final Fantasy is supposed to be.
A Final Fantasy 9 Remake Is the Obvious Next Step for Square Enix
If we’re talking about Final Fantasy games that deserve a traditional turn-based remake, then Final Fantasy 9 is the obvious choice for one major reason: it was already designed as a return to classic Final Fantasy. After FF6, Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 took a more sci-fi and modern approach to the series’ iconic formula, effectively pulling it away from what the series had defined as “fantasy” up to that point. However, Square Enix then came along with Final Fantasy 9, which it explicitly labeled as a “return to roots” for the franchise even in 2000 and regarded as the perfect way to close out the series’ single-digit era.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
In other words, Final Fantasy 9 is already in the perfect place for a traditional turn-based remake because its legacy was originally defined by tradition. Given the direction Square Enix chose to go with remaking Final Fantasy 7, even in spite of its success, returning to the entry that initially arrived on the scene with the intention of bringing Final Fantasy back to its roots would undoubtedly please those who feel that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy lost a bit of itself by being modernized a little too much. A faithful remake of FF9 would therefore give Square Enix a way to modernize one of the franchise’s most beloved classics without asking longtime fans to sacrifice the very qualities that made it such a favorite in the first place.
Plus, Final Fantasy 9 already sits in that sweet spot between Final Fantasy‘s past and its present, after it had gone through its more traditional origins and before Final Fantasy 10 entered the picture and completely changed standards and expectations for the series. Final Fantasy 6 absolutely deserves a remake as well, but deciding whether to go full 3D, HD-2D, or something else is a much bigger philosophical question. Final Fantasy 8 would require Square Enix to rethink divisive systems like Junction and level scaling, lest they cause further controversy in a remake that essentially doubles down on them. And Final Fantasy 10 still holds up better visually and structurally than most pre-HD entries, so it and anything after it really doesn’t need a remake.
Final Fantasy 9 Remake Rumors Have Been Circulating for Years
Then there are the Final Fantasy 9 remake rumors that have been circulating for, at the time of writing, almost 5 years. An Nvidia GeForce Now database leak on September 13, 2021 listed Final Fantasy 9 Remake among several unannounced projects and since then, fans have been champing at the bit for Square Enix to come out and say for sure whether the beloved Final Fantasy game was, in fact, being remade. However, considering Square Enix just said it would be open to more traditional turn-based remakes once the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy concludes, it feels like those rumors are even less likely to be true now.
At the same time, that’s precisely why Final Fantasy 9 remains the most obvious choice for Square Enix’s next remake project. The rumor mill has already been spinning for years, and it would be the ultimate payoff for the Final Fantasy developer to come out and corroborate those rumors with an official announcement. More importantly, it would allow Square Enix to answer nearly five years of speculation with the kind of remake many fans have wanted all along, rather than another modern reinterpretation that risks reopening the same debates sparked by the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.
If Not FF9, Then Final Fantasy 6—But Nothing Post FF10
Final Fantasy 6 is really the only other classic entry that could complicate the remake debate, and that’s simply because plenty of fans still consider it the best Final Fantasy game ever made. In fact, there are many who would put it above Final Fantasy 7 entirely, which makes it at least a little wild that FF7 is the one Square Enix chose to remake first on such a massive scale. Of course, that decision still makes sense, as Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most recognizable RPGs ever made and arguably the most marketable game in the franchise, but FF6 has still always been sitting there as the other obvious giant Square Enix has yet to properly revisit.
Final Fantasy 9 is already in the perfect place for a traditional turn-based remake because its legacy was originally defined by tradition.
The problem is that a Final Fantasy 6 remake would come with a much messier creative question than Final Fantasy 9. Taking one of the most beloved 2D RPGs ever made and deciding whether to rebuild it in full 3D, remake it in HD-2D, or preserve more of its original presentation would immediately split fans before the game even had a real chance to prove itself. FF6 absolutely deserves the remake treatment someday, especially given how highly many fans still rank it, but FF9 feels like the cleaner next step right now because its PS1-era presentation gives Square Enix more obvious room to modernize it without having to completely change what the game should look like.
By comparison, anything from Final Fantasy 10 onward really doesn’t need that same treatment yet, even if remasters are still fair game. Final Fantasy 10 was the game that pushed the series into full voice acting, more cinematic storytelling, and a presentation style that still feels close enough to modern Final Fantasy that a full remake would be hard to justify right now. Unless Square Enix waits another console generation or two, remaking anything from FF10 onward would just feel like we’re revisiting games that are still recent enough to stand on their own with the right remaster.
So, sure, Square Enix has more than one strong option once Final Fantasy 7 Revelation brings the Remake trilogy to a close, but Final Fantasy 9 still feels like the path of least resistance in the best possible way. Final Fantasy 6 deserves its day, and it would be absurd to pretend otherwise, but FF9 is the remake candidate that already has years of rumors, a built-in fan demand, and a legacy rooted in preserving what Final Fantasy used to be. If Square Enix really is willing to give fans a more traditional remake after FF7‘s massive reinvention, then Final Fantasy 9 is the choice that makes the most sense, by far.
- Released
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2027
- Prequel(s)
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Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
