Square Enix Launches Final Fantasy V for iOS

Final Fantasy V is now available on iOS devices. The role-playing game developed by Square Enix has officially launched for nostalgic iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users yearning for the gameplay days of the early 1990s.

Twenty years after the original title was released in Japan, the classic RPG is being revived with the same medieval magic that helped popularized the series.

According to the app description, the game takes players on "an epic adventure" as four heroes — Barz, Princess Lenna, Galuf, and pirate captain Faris — embark on a quest to save powerless crystals needed to keep peace in the world.

But gamers need not worry about losing out on the true Final Fantasy experience by playing on a mobile device. Square Enix boasted the return of designer Kazuko Shibuya, who recreated the original characters and graphics, as well as refined and remodeled 2D graphics and touch-screen controls optimized for the 21st century mobile machines.

There is more to the game, though, than updated visuals and wireless gameplay. The new version allows players to customize characters with the Job and Ability System "that lets you mix and match to your heart's content," Square Enix said.

It also comes with "The Sealed Temple" dungeon from the 2006 Game Boy Advance version, as well as optional super-boss Enuo from one of the game's other designers, Tetsuya Nomura.

The $16 Final Fantasy V game is currently available for download in the Apple App Store.

Meanwhile, the Final Fantasy XI expansion pack Seekers of Adoulin is now available for download on the PC and Xbox 360. The latest addition to the decade-old game features new areas to explore, new jobs to master, and new beasts and monsters to defeat.

Square Enix also released the Windows Phone-compatible Chaos Rings, a tale of love and loss 10,000 years in the making, according to the company. The $10 game is available now for Windows Phone 7.5; a Windows Phone 8 version will launch at a later time.