Countdowns seem to be more and more popular these days as a way to announce a game–well, popular with publishers anyways, as most fans cannot bear to sit there and wait for the timer to end–but at least we still have old media there to spoil the party. Eventually a copy of a magazine gets into the hands of someone with a scanner, and then the entire Internet knows what is planned before the countdown finishes. Things were no different for Square Enix’s latest teaser countdown, which first showed a sketch of a farm and bridge with the number “4”, then a dragon, then a boy riding a dragon, then a girl alongside him. As you can guess, this was pretty ambiguous, and there were plenty of opinions out there as to what it may be.

With the music sounding as old-school as it did, I figured it was going to be something retro in a way, maybe a new entry into the Final Fantasy Legend series, or at least some kind of spiritual successor. What we found out thanks to leaked scans of Shonen Jump was that Square Enix will be releasing Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Based on the brand’s power, I think it’s safe to assume this will also hit North American shores. This indeed does sound like a return to roots for the Final Fantasy series, although there are some changes. There are no magic points apparently, and one of the menu options is “Charge”, but it is menu-based, and your goal is even something as simple as saving a princess. We’ll have more details as they come out, but for now, you can enjoy the tunes and neat looking sketches on the teaser site.

About The Author

Marc Normandin was gaming editor of Blast from 2008 to mid-2010. You can reach him via e-mail at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @Marc_Normandin

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