The popularity of the Famicom (the Japanese NES) in the Far East can’t be underestimated. Nintendo themselves only discontinued repair services for the Japanese console last year. The last official release for the system was in 1994 though, in the form of Adventure Island IV, but since then a flow of pirate carts have steadily appeared in various Japanese retailers. Many of these are merely ‘100-in-1’ multi-game carts or hacks of existing games with sprites and names changed.
Recently, however, a rather sophisticated – not to mention unofficial – 2D conversion of Final Fantasy VII has popped up. Shenzhen Nanjing Technology Co, Ltd – a company that now creates MP3 and MP4 players – are responsible and according to Cinnamon Pirate (the source of this article) the developers have managed to pull of several graphics tricks that the NES really shouldn’t be capable off. Some sprites and music have been lifted from Final Fantasy III, but the storyline, most of the characters, locations and even the Materia system are present.
For an unlicensed effort it seems rather professional.
