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The Niigata International Animation Film Festival returns to the Chubu region city in spring for a six-day event from March 15 to 20. The festival will be full of talks, screenings and retrospectives on the history of anime in Japan. Today, the festival revealed the line-up for the Satoshi Kon retrospective, the first screening in Japan of the Studio Bones documentary Bones 25: Dreaming Forward and the first screening of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within since 2001 and more. As part of the festival’s Satoshi Kon retrospective, which already includes screenings of all his feature films, Niaff also confirmed that Roujin Z (which Kon worked as Art Director) will also recieve a screening. There will also be talks after the screenings of Millennium Actress , Paprika and Perfect Blue . On March 15, the A Turning Point in Japanese Anime CG event will be held all night . It will include a screening of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within...

Fantasy role-playing video games owe a huge debt to Hironobu Sakaguchi's "Final Fantasy" franchise. Since 1987, Sakaguchi's games have shaped the core tenets of the genre with their emphatic focus on character dynamics and cinematic narrative style. "Influential" does not begin to describe "Final Fantasy" and the way it has wired our expectations of combat-heavy role-playing titles; everything from "The Witcher 3" to "Mass Effect" has been influenced by this franchise in some form. This firmly cemented legacy is still going strong, as a few hours into the recent, critically acclaimed "Final Fantasy XVI" will make it amply clear that these sweeping, high-stakes stories are only going to get better. However, a creative misstep in 2001 almost destabilized the franchise's credibility, leading to Square Pictures — the production company that was poised to kick off a string of "Final Fantasy" films — being shut down.

This expensive, one-of-a-kind animated film was 2001's "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,...

While not every movie can be a financial hit, the biggest box office bombs of all time prove that some projects can take down careers, genres, and even studios. While movie studios do everything possible to ensure they take as few risks as possible, investing in a film is always a gamble. The common criticism that Hollywood only produces reboots, sequels, remakes, and spinoffs is not without justification. This claim comes from the fact that, for studios, an intellectual property with proven potential and a built-in fanbase will always be more appealing than an unknown, original prospect.

However, this approach does not always bear fruit. The box office failure of superhero movies in 2023 shows that no genre is going to be a surefire hit forever. While superhero movies were once the biggest earner, they have now made for some costly losses. This can be the same for big ambitious productions that spiral out of control,...

Steve Buscemi is many things to many people. To cinephiles, he's Garland Greene, the Marietta Mangler. To New Yorkers, a volunteer firefighter was once arrested in protest of the shuddering of several firehouses. And to the dinner crowd at Bubba's Fish Market in south Dublin, he's a hero.

While visiting Ireland,...

Poor Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Its production team poured enormous effort into a film that was a dire box office failure. After years of breaking ground in the video game space, The Spirits Within was the first time Square Co., the developers behind the revolutionary Final Fantasy game series, took a financial hit. The Spirits Within's $137M budget bombed by earning only $85M worldwide. The disappointment was severe enough that it temporarily put Square Co.'s merger with the Enix company in jeopardy. And where Square Co. became Square Enix, Square Pictures, the movie division hoping to produce more features, closed entirely.

I Am Nobody is a refreshing blend of martial arts, mystical sorcery, and multi-tiered humor, offering a satisfying surprise for American audiences with its free availability on YouTube. The introduction of an AI-generated actress in the series sparks curiosity and intrigue, but her role is minor and not visually revolutionary. While AI innovation is making strides in the entertainment industry, I Am Nobody proves that human actors still play a crucial role and won't be replaced by computer creations anytime soon.

Besides being adapted from a beloved Chinese webcomic called Under One Person, which was written by author Dong Man Tang in 2015 (which was also later made into a Chinese/Japanese anime titled Hitori no Shita: The Outcast about a year later), the newly released live-action retelling called I Am Nobody that Tencent Animation and Comics have produced is a refreshing blend of martial arts, mystical sorcery, and multi-tiered humor.

Streaming services are now trying to ration their upcoming original content due to the ongoing actors strike and the only recently-resolved writers’ strike, so we’re going to see a thinning-down of new releases across the board over the next six months at least. Hulu will be adding a lot of library TV shows and movies in November, but there are only a few new major original projects hitting the streamer this month.

Hulu’s spotlight streaming series in November is Black Cake, which is based on the bestselling book by Charmaine Wilkerson. Part family drama, part murder mystery, the show features a globetrotting story that will cover decades of events after a bereaved family find a flash drive that contains some shocking secrets about the hidden history of their late matriarch.

Also dropping on Hulu this month is the original film Quiz Lady, starring Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, Jason Schwartzman,...

Though Huluween is almost officially over, Hulu is not slowing down at all as the new month approaches! The streamer will head into November with plenty of new additions to un-spook yourself and keep warm, including the new Awkwafina and Sandra Oh-led “Quiz Lady”; Christmas classics like “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” and “The Polar Express,” and much more.

On the TV side, Hulu will have the exclusive two-episode premiere of FX’s limited murder mystery series “A Murder at the End of the World” starring Emma Corrin. “Fargo” fans can also catch the next-day streaming premiere of Season/Year 5, which will star Jon Hamm, Juno Temple, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Plus, in comes more of the debut season of “Spellbound,” a serialized re-cut of Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” and several original series premieres, including “Black Cake” on Nov. 1.

Find out everything coming to Hulu in November, and check out The...

Hulu has released it’s full list of what will be added to it’s library throughout the month of November 2023!

The streaming service revealed all of the TV shows and movies that are coming to it’s platform, including quite a few fan favorite movies and some holiday features as the holiday season kicks off.

Get more info inside…

Among the movies being added include The Holiday, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Pacific Rim, Shallow Hal, Twister, Men in Black, Armageddon and many more.

On the television side, Hulu will be adding the new original series Black Cake and Drive with Swizz Beatz, season two of Arthdal Chronicles, LA Law, Wahlburgers season five, and Spellbound season 1B.

There will also be many Christmas movies from Hallmark and A&e being added!

Keep reading below to see the complete list of what’s being added to Hulu in November 2023…

November 1

Arthdal Chronicles...

Soulcatcher is a Polish sci-fi film directed by Daniel Markowicz. The Netflix original film follows a military contractor as he’s hired to seize a weapon which was originally designed to cure cancer but it turns people into savage killers but when his brother becomes a victim of the device his desire to save him gets in the way of his job. So, if you also loved Soulcatcher here are some similar movies that you should watch next.

Spectral (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Synopsis: When an otherworldly force wreaks havoc on a war-torn European city, an engineer teams up with an elite Special Ops unit to stop it.

Outside the Wire (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Synopsis: Set in the future, Harp (Damson Idris), a drone pilot, is sent into a deadly militarized zone where he finds himself working for Leo (Anthony Mackie), an android officer, tasked to locate a doomsday device before the insurgents do.

The massively successful Overwatch video game series and multimedia franchise recently premiered the first of three special anime episodes associated with the game's universe, entitled Genesis. The first part, Dawn, we released one week ago and has already accrued more than 640,000 views on YouTube. Now, the second episode, Innocence, has just debuted.

If you need to catch up, you can watch the first episode here. Then, check out the new episode, Genesis - Part Two: Innocence, below.

The Overwatch franchise is set in a future dystopia on Earth in which artificial intelligence has been turned against humanity, leading to something called the Omnic Crisis. The U.S. launched a secret super-soldier program, somewhat similar to the whole Captain America mythos, to combat the sentient AI threat (which feels more and more relevant with each passing day).

This is hardly the only animated series or special related to the Overwatch franchise,...

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” promises to put Universal on the animation throne long occupied by Disney. It also shows that video games, not comic books, are where Hollywood should be sniffing around for new franchises.

With a comparatively modest $100 million budget, Universal and Illumination’s video game adaptation shattered box office records for animated movies, earning $204 million domestically and $376 million worldwide over the long Easter weekend. But the movie also set a record for box office derived from a character that audiences likely first encountered in an arcade or on a console.

“I think we are going to see a lot more video games being made into movies,” Gerber Kawasaki CEO Ross Gerber told TheWrap. “’Super Mario Bros.’ is huge and kids relate to gaming characters. I expect way more of this.”

There’s only so long that studios can get away with rebooting “Spider-Man” or spinning off of “Star Wars.

With The Super Mario Bros. Movie pulling in record breaking numbers this weekend, we wanted to know what movie based on a video game has been your favorite. If you don’t see your favorite, click “Other” and let us know in the comments.

Favorite Video Game MovieSuper Mario Bros. (1993)Double Dragon (1994)Street Fighter (1994)Mortal Kombat (1995)Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)Wing Commander (1999)Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)Resident Evil (2002)Lara Croft: Tomb Raider- The Cradle of Life (2003)House of the Dead (2003)Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)Alone in the Dark (2005)Doom (2005)BloodRayne (2006)Silent Hill (2006)Doa: Dead or Alive (2006)Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)Postal (2007)Hitman (2007)In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008)Far Cry (2008)Max Payne (2008)Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)Tekken (2010)Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)Need For Speed (2014)Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)Warcraft (2016)Assassin’s Creed...

Much has been made of titles being quietly removed from HBO Max over the last few week, but while the number of films departing the service in September is substantial, at least subscribers have a heads up.

As is the case every month, various movies are due to leave HBO Max in September, and below we’ve got the full list of which films are leaving and when so you can prioritizing some viewing options. Noteworthy removals include the 2021 Warner Bros. thriller “The Little Things” starring Denzel Washington (leaving Sept. 16), the 2020 “Freaky Friday” horror riff “Freaky,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films, the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, “Super 8,” “Tootsie” and the Nancy Meyers classic “The Holiday.”

Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in September below.

September 4

Meet the Patels, 2014

September 5

Turner Classic Movies: Follow the Thread, 2022

September 8

Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, 2018

September 9

Horrible Bosses 2,...

Final Fantasy VII Remake was one of the biggest games of 2020 and the Yuffie Dlc for PS5 expanded one of its smaller side characters in a way that added depth and value not in the original story. The reimagining of Final Fantasy VII allowed the game to give greater depth and gravitas to its many side characters, making them a more integral part of the story.

There are tons of characters to choose from, especially with many getting more spotlight in Remake. Final Fantasy fans would’ve never thought Jessie would compete with Aerith for their favorite, but it's happening. Luckily the zodiac signs map onto these characters and can help players know which they are most like.

Sony's PlayStation 2 is one of the most acclaimed and best-selling video game consoles in the industry, building up an impressive library of games in its extensive lifespan. And of all the major genres of games ingrained in the mainstream, RPGs proved to be some of the PS2's most prominent titles.

The voting community at Ranker put together a list of their favorites on the console. Unsurprisingly, JRPGs reign supreme on this list, including high-profile franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Shin Megami Tensei, its spin-off series Persona, and more.

In a fascinating interview regarding the history of Final Fantasy 11, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida (aka “Yoshi-p”) talks about his personal and professional history with the first Final Fantasy Mmo and reveals a few of the clever ways he’s helped keep the game alive.

For those who don’t know, Final Fantasy 11 was first released in 2002. The game was very well-received at that time, but it never quite reached the mainstream popularity heights of MMOs like World of Warcraft and Everquest. While Final Fantasy 11 was eventually “replaced” with a new Final Fantasy Mmo (Final Fantasy 14), Ff 11 enjoys a loyal following of fans who still play the Mmo to this day. In fact, in 2012, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 11 had become the most profitable Final Fantasy game ever.

Still, it can be expensive to maintain and update an Mmo game, even when it’s an Mmo as respected and successful as Final Fantasy 11. Fortunately,...

Series like Final Fantasy may get more international attention, but Dragon Quest has also been consistently producing some of the best RPGs ever since the series' inception in 1986. With Dragon Quest Xii: The Flames of Fate on the way, fans are understandably excited for the future of the franchise too.

For hardcore Dragon Quest fans, the question of which title in the long-running series is the best can be a topic of fierce debate. Luckily, the review aggregator Metacritic provides an easy way to see which of the modern Dragon Quest titles is the subject of the most acclaim.

2022 features quite a few notable video game anniversaries but few are bigger than the 35th anniversary of Final Fantasy. While many fans (ourselves included) will soon be finding ways to celebrate that landmark anniversary, popular clothing brand Uniqlo’s new t-shirts may be trying a bit too hard to celebrate Final Fantasy.

For those who don’t know, Uniqlo is a clothing retailer/designer founded in Japan that regularly releases products designed to celebrate major video game franchises. For instance, the company released a series of t-shirts designed to celebrate Super Mario‘s 35th anniversary in 2020, and they’ve regularly released various products based on the Pokémon franchise. While Uniqlo produces a lot more than merchandise based on video games, the company is well-known, and largely respected, among fans looking for the occasional piece of video game-inspired apparel.

So, it makes sense that Uniqlo decided to release a series of...

Most veteran fans are aware of the Game Boy Advance's heavy-hitting classics like Pokémon, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, the swathes of Mario games, and more. However, a game console as successful during its time as the Game Boy Advance is bound to collect some hidden gems along the way.

Related: 10 Best PS2 Action-Adventure Games, According To Ranker

The voting community at Ranker put together a list of their most underrated Gba titles. As expected, the list contains a variety of deep cuts from that era across a host of different genres, ranging from RPGs, run-and-gun, platformers, and more.

Final Fantasy VII is one of the best Final Fantasy games and most iconic titles of all time. From its characters, to its music, to its locations, the legendary Jrpg has lived within the hearts of fans for twenty-five years now and, with the release of Remake in 2020, will likely remain there for decades to come. Of course, with any turn-based Jrpg, a major highlight is the special attacks, or as they’re called in Final Fantasy VII, limit breaks.

Remake has lovingly recreated and updated several aspects of the original, and the limit breaks are certainly no exception. With two decades of technical upgrades in gaming since the first’s release, these special attacks have never looked better. But which ones are the most powerful?...

Square Enix started May off with a bang by announcing that the company sold Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive, as well as those studios’ respective franchises, to Embracer Group. That umbrella organization already has its fingers in many game studios and franchises (such as Thq Nordic’s Darksiders and Deep Silver’s Saints Row), and this recent sale has only added more potentially valuable franchises to Embrace Group’s already sizable library.

Of course, this transaction raises obvious questions about what games Embracer Group actually gets out of the deal. As is often the case with these kinds of deals, the answers to those questions aren’t as straightforward as you might think.

Obviously, Square Enix franchises such as Final Fantasy were never on the table, and the announcement also states that Square Enix will retain ownership of Western-developed games such as Just Cause, Outriders, and Life is Strange. Of course,...

While not on the level of Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, Square Enix of Final Fantasy fame has announced that they’ve entered into an agreement to sell Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer Group for 300 million. This deal also includes several IPs, including the Tomb Raider, Thief and Deus Ex properties, as well […]

The post Square Enix Sells ‘Tomb Raider’, ‘Legacy of Kain’ And ‘Deus Ex’ Developers to Embracer Group appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Since the first Final Fantasy game, to the new Fire Emblem and Triangle Strategy, more and more people have become absorbed by the magical and exciting world of JRPGs. With the growth of studios and titles across multiple generations of consoles, the genre has become one of the most celebrated in the video game industry.

Related: 10 Classic JRPGs Coming To Nintendo Switch

But which ones are deemed the best? Using the ranking website Metacritic and looking at the plethora of games under the role-playing category, these are the games from Japanese developers that made it onto the list.

Although the representation hasn't always been the best, JRPGs have been one of the few major video game genres that actually feature many prominent female characters. Even in famous franchises like Final Fantasy, which still often have more male protagonists, there will also be a large selection of excellent female protagonists.

Related: Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Top 11 Bosses Ranked

With how large the Final Fantasy franchise is, including the recent edition of Strangers of Paradise, it can be difficult to only choose a handful of memorable leading ladies. But, there are a couple of individuals who manage to especially shine among the rest.

The PlayStation 2 was a titan of the gaming industry in its time, and it still stands as one of the most successful consoles ever. That generation saw Sony's flagship pad out an impressive catalog of games, with many of them being in the action-adventure genre. Action-adventure has the potential of being one of the most versatile genres in gaming, and the PS2 took great advantage of that.

Related: Final Fantasy - 10 Best Spinoffs, According To Ranker

By combining it with subgenres like stealth-action, open-world, and RPGs, these games each offer something that gave the PS2 its variety. The voting community at Ranker put together their list for the 10 best PS2 games in this category, and they all range within the aforementioned subgenres as well.

The hype for Kingdom Hearts 4 rolls on as fans continue to theorize over what the next installment of the franchise will include and what they want to see next. Gameplay improvements have yet to be revealed by creators and fans could be waiting until at least 2023 to see them come to life unless another surprise trailer is dropped in the meantime.

Related: 10 Final Fantasy Characters Redditors Want To See in Kingdom Hearts 4

There is still not much known about what the game will include or when it will be released but that hasn't stopped Redditors from discussing what gameplay elements they want to see get an upgrade or be eliminated completely.

Founded in 2003, the Japanese video game conglomerate and developers at Square Enix have worked on many beloved gaming titles and franchises since their inception. Some of their most popular names include Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts.

Related: The 10 Longest Video Game Cinematics Ever

Square Enix has contributed to many other game titles over the years, and they are a familiar name within the industry. But which games are the best? Players have rated their favorite Square Enix exclusive games on IMDb as they have been released.

Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise is an iconic staple of the Jrpg genre in gaming, and it has a rich and varied catalog to match. The anthology-style mainline entries are understandably the ones that get the biggest spotlight, but part of that variety comes from its collection of spin-off games as well.

Related: 10 Final Fantasy Games With The Best Soundtracks

They provide an important change of pace from traditional mainline formulas, and the voting community at Ranker put together their top 10 list of their personal favorites. The Tactics subseries expectedly has good representation there, but others are ranging from the arena-fighting games and the direct sequels to mainline entries.

It's been three long years but Square Enix has finally announced Kingdom Hearts 4 with a mysterious trailer showing Sora in a more realistic world than fans have come to expect from the Disney/Final Fantasy crossover.  The story so far has melded some of the best features of both universes - grand fantasy epics that the Final Fantasy series is known for, and more grounded and cute stories that Disney has perfected.

Related: Every Character Confirmed In Kingdom Hearts 4 So Far

But at this point in the series' lifespan, it has come to rely less upon the pre-existing Final Fantasy characters that fans knew, and more upon the Disney worlds and characters that are so recognizable. While Kingdom Hearts 3 had no Ff characters in it, the series continues to have fans begging for more additions to the Kh world and Redditors have weighed in on who they want to see join Sora's adventures next.

In terms of video game franchises, Square Enix's sprawling Final Fantasy series is one of the most enduring in the industry. The IP is a titan of the RPG genre and Jrpg subgenre, with a pantheon's worth of great games to choose from. As expected, which games are considered the best will likely result in wildly different answers.

Related: 6 Video Game Franchises Franchises That Still Need An Animated Series

The voting community at Ranker has compiled their top 10 list of best Final Fantasy games. Unsurprisingly, the mainline games take up the lion's share of the list, but there are a couple of noteworthy spinoffs, too.

Although most games still primarily feature male protagonists, the Role-playing game genre is one of the few genres that has had a relatively large amount of incredible female protagonists since the '90s. Besides horror franchises like Resident Evil or visual novel series like Ace Attorney, RPGs usually have some of the most impactful and memorable female characters in video games.

Related: 10 Best Games That Focus On A Female Protagonist

Since plenty of classic RPG titles and series, such as Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem, feature many remarkable women, it's difficult to pick only a few examples. But, there are some characters that stand out among the rest.

It’s been 30 years since The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was released in North America, and every day since the game’s debut has only made it easier to appreciate the many ways it remains the definitive Legend of Zelda experience.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean that A Link to the Past is the best Zelda game ever or the game that invented all the concepts that set the series apart. In fact, I tend to see at least a few other games get placed above A Link to the Past on fans’ personal franchise rankings, and it’s hard to deny that A Link to the Past was the “Super” version of the original Legend of Zelda in many ways.

However, there are quite a few reasons why A Link to the Past remains the quintessential Zelda experience three decades after its Western launch helped change everything.

With the recent release of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the Final Fantasy franchise continues to prove the old joke that it’s anything but final. Not only does the 35-year-old series boast 15 mainline RPG titles (with another currently in development), the franchise itself contains a multitude of spin-off titles, ranging from RPGs, fighting games, and even rhythm adventures.

Related: All Returning Characters In Final Fantasy Origin, Ranked

While some of these spin-offs were simply retitled and repackaged in the West as Final Fantasy games, the true ones were developed purely to expand the franchise beyond the mainline adventures in the form of direct sequels, team-ups, or wholly original stories.

The Kingdom Hearts franchise has entertained gamers for two decades by combining the disparate worlds of Final Fantasy and all of the characters Disney has to offer. However, while Disney’s library of properties has grown significantly since Kingdom Hearts’ humble beginnings, the House of Mouse has yet to introduce its Marvel or Star Wars franchises to the series. But according to some eagle-eyed gamers, that’s exactly what’s happening in the next entry.

Square Enix recently released a special 20th anniversary trailer for upcoming Kingdom Hearts games. At the halfway mark, the video unveiled the news almost every audience member was expecting/hoping for: Kingdom Hearts 4. The final half of the anniversary trailer then devotes time to showcasing the modernized world of Quadratum and Sora’s new photorealistic look. However, before the video jumps to Quadratum and Sora, the trailer displays clips of a forest. On one hand,...

The Kingdom Hearts series brings together iconic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Final Fantasy's iconic Cloud and Sephiroth, and, of course, memorable original characters such as Sora, who was the final champion to be added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate last year. With three mainline titles and a ton of revamps and spinoffs, the series' cast of characters has captured fans' imaginations.

Related: 5 Best Disney Worlds In Kingdom Hearts (& The 5 Worst)

Considering just how big the character pool of Kingdom Hearts is, also including beloved Disney and Pixar characters, fans of the series are spoiled for choice when it comes to picking a favorite. Thousands of players on Ranker voted on who they think deserves to be considered the greatest Kingdom Hearts character, leading to something of a crowd-sourced consensus.

With acclaimed RPG titles such as Final Fantasy and Suikoden, the PlayStation remains one of the all-time great consoles for fans of the genre. Along with the Super Nintendo, the PlayStation carried prestigious RPG producers like Square Enix and Capcom, who are still at the heart of the roleplaying genre today.

Related: 10 Best Fantasy RPGs, Ranked

With its all-star lineup of RPG titles, it could be difficult to determine which were the best in the PlayStation library. But with thousands of gamers on Ranker voting for their favorites, the picture is made clearer via their crowd-sourced opinions.

Exclusive: Blade star Wesley Snipes and his Maandi House Studios have partnered with Gifted Rebels and Pcb Entertainment on a new graphic novel, titled The Exiled.

The comic will follow Detective Niles “Roach” Washington as he pursues a serial killer in the aftermath of a deadly gas attack. As the killer rips the spines from his victims, using tools over 5,000 years old, the world outcasts Roach for his theories. But his instincts keep pushing him forward. With enemies on all sides, and within, he wades into the darkness to find the killer and uncovers Earth’s darkest secret.

Gifted Rebels’ Adam Lawson is adapting the comic book script from a story he created with Snipes and Pcb Entertainment’s President Keith Arem, with Gabriel “Eskivo” Santos (Knightwraith) doing the art and Valentina Bianconi handling the colors. Among The Exiled‘s unique features are hidden codes, which...

Boss battles are the bread and butter of Team Ninja, who developed Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. They truly proved their impressive abilities to design rewarding, engaging, and thematically compelling boss fights in their previous work on the Nioh series. Today, they continue to provide players with incredible fights in their latest game.

Related: 10 Final Fantasy Games With The Best Soundtracks

Players of SoP: Ffo will experience an incredible number of deeply challenging bosses over the course of the game, many of which are either inspired by or directly referencing other past Final Fantasy games. How these bosses make the players feel is important to the experience of the game and important to the story itself. Not all bosses are as critical as the next, however.

I love “so bad, they’re good” movies. From canonical classics like Plan 9 From Outer Space and The Room to deeply flawed gems like Miami Connection and Samurai Cop, the best “so bad, they’re good” movies are more than simple guilty pleasures. As that designation suggests, they’re movies that make it genuinely hard to answer the seemingly simple question “Is it good?”

When it comes to gaming, though, it’s always been tougher to find proper “so bad, they’re good” titles. Games like Deadly Premonition, Metal Wolf Chaos, and Harvest all arguably belong in that category, but most bad games are just fundamentally unenjoyable experiences that are fun to mock. Games that fall so far into “bad” that they somehow end up landing closer to “good” are rare.

That’s what makes Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin so special. In some ways, it’s a legitimately good game.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Xiv: Endwalker was the big winner at the 2022 SXSW Gaming Awards, taking home multiple prizes including video game of the year. The ninth annual ceremony, hosted by Jana Morrison and Samathan Aucoin of Syfy’s Astrid & Lilly Save the World, took place virtually on Saturday.

The SXSW Gaming Awards, produced by executive producer Laurie Lockliear of Georgia-based Peach Maria Productions, recognized achievements of the wide reach of gaming across art, design, music, gameplay and more across 12 categories. In addition to SXSW Game of the Year, the Final Fantasy online game also won Excellence in Narrative and Excellence in Original Score. Also taking SXSW awards were Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which led the final nominees going into the ceremony; Unpacking, Resident Evil: Village and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

“The last two years of the pandemic have been hard for so many — the entertainment industry was among those affected,...

Warning: This article contains potential spoilers for the upcoming Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an upcoming action game from Square Enix and Team Ninja. It aims to blend Tetsuya Nomura's stylish character designs with the action gameplay of Ninja Gaiden. Despite being mocked upon its reveal for its edgy tone, the reception has changed. People are now excited for the honest cheesiness of this upcoming title.

Related: 10 Final Fantasy Games With The Best Soundtracks

Stranger of Paradise is aiming to be a reimagining of Final Fantasy 1 from the Nes, but it does not appear to be a remake as several new plot elements are present. However, returning faces are popping up in the game's marketing, and some with incredibly different designs.

The new "Kingdom Hearts" original TV series from Square Enix adapts the "Kingdom Hearts" video games and manga series, with ‘Mickey’, ‘Donald’ and ‘Goofy’ interacting with “Final Fantasy” game characters, streaming in 2022 on Disney+:

"...blending characters from Disney and 'Final Fantasy', the game features famous Disney movie settings in 'The Lion King', 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean', including Disney characters 'Simba', 'Beast', 'Jack Sparrow' and a whole lot more.

"In the 'Kingdom Hearts' game, 'Micky Mouse' became an inter-dimensional magical overlord, while 'Goofy' and 'Donald Duck' became the sidekicks of 'Sora' to fight evil..."

Click the images to enlarge...

JRPGs live and die by their characters. After all, it’s hardly worth the effort to sit through approximately 16 Avengers Endgames worth of content if you can’t stand a game’s characters. While every gamer has their favorite Jrpg casts, most will agree that the party members of Final Fantasy 7 stand head and shoulders above some considerable competition.

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of Final Fantasy 7. The game showed audiences the power of 3D graphics and pre-rendered cutscenes, all while providing a story fueled by memorable characters and unforgettable moments. Final Fantasy 6’s Kefka Palazzo might be the best Final Fantasy villain ever because he actually succeeded in his plan to destroy the world and become a god (that is not up for debate), but Final Fantasy 7 features some of the best protagonists in this series’ history.

However, while Final Fantasy 7’s cast...

While there’s so much to say about the latest trailer for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy, it’s hardly a surprise that the part of the preview that’s catching everyone’s attention is its use of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way:” a seemingly strange needle drop that is actually oddly fitting.

If you haven’t seen the new trailer, I highly recommend you set aside about five minutes of your day to give it a look. It’s even crazier than the game’s absolutely wild debut trailer:

As noted above, the trailer’s most bizarre moment occurs around the 2:45 mark when the otherwise fairly standard epic fantasy soundtrack suddenly fades away and is replaced by the 1969 Frank Sinatra hit “My Way.” It’s an unexpected needle drop that initially seems to be another strange choice in what has already been a series of strange choices...

In a year that saw Final Fantasy 14 steal so much momentum (and so many players) from World of Warcraft, there was a slight amount of trepidation surrounding the release of the Mmo’s latest expansion, Endwalker. While many Ff 14 fans certainly trust the game’s developers at this point, we’ve seen too many recent game releases ruin too much goodwill to not at least be aware of the possibility that Endwalker could derail this RPG’s incredible year and remarkable comeback.

Instead, Endwalker is a triumph. It’s not only the best Ff 14 expansion yet, but there’s a strong argument to be made that Endwalker is as good as an Mmo expansion has been and can possibly be.

That’s obviously a pretty big statement, but these are just a few of the ways that Endwalker manages to overcome the shortcomings of too many other Mmo expansions while...

To unfamiliar players looking from the outside in, Final Fantasy is a massive Jrpg franchise that can appear daunting to newcomers. There are many mainline and spin-off games, and there are more than 16 main games when including the remakes.

Related: 10 Best Final Fantasy VII Characters, Ranked

The franchise is over 30 years old, and some games in the series haven't aged gracefully, which is understandable. But when it comes to narrative, each main entry is disconnected from the others to make them more accessible. On top of that, several games are great starting points in terms of gameplay.

The new "Kingdom Hearts" original TV series from Square Enix and Disney +, adapts the "Kingdom Hearts" video games and previous manga series, streaming in 2022 on Disney+:

"...blending characters from Disney and 'Final Fantasy', the game features famous Disney movie settings in 'The Lion King', 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean', including Disney characters  'Simba', 'Beast', 'Jack Sparrow' and a whole lot more.

"In the 'Kingdom Hearts' game, 'Micky Mouse' became an inter-dimensional magical overlord, while 'Goofy' and 'Donald Duck' became the sidekicks of 'Sora' to fight evil..."

Click the images to enlarge...

“With the hope of new life has Gaia changed the phantom within.”

Celebrate The 20th Anniversary Of The Groundbreaking Epic Adventure Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within – Newly Remastered In 4K And Featuring Immersive Dolby Atmos Audio Available For The First Time On 4K Ultra HD November 16th

The year is 2065. A meteor has crashed onto Earth unleashing millions of alien creatures who roam the earth, decimating field and city alike, threatening to extinguish life itself. Prepare to be spellbound by an amazing woman, the brave individuals at her side and an astounding mission to save the Earth.

K Ultra HD Disc

Presented in 4K with HDR10All-new Dolby Atmos audio + original theatrical 5.1

Blu-ray Disc

Feature presented in HDOriginal Special Features:Two Feature-Length CommentariesInteractive Documentary: The Making of Final Fantasy®Original OpeningAki’s Dream ReconstructionOn the Set with AkiCharacter ProfilesVehicle Scale ComparisonsCompositing BuildsJoke OuttakesThe Gray ProjectTheatrical Trailers

Directed By: Hironobu Sakaguchi

Produced By: Jun Aida,...

The Final Fantasy franchise features an impressive cast of menacing characters -- from its many iconic villains and their maniacal world-rending schemes to terrifying monsters and characters with dark secrets. While it's not exactly a franchise known for its horror chills, Final Fantasy has never been a stranger to bizarre, unnerving, and downright spooky moments, which can be all the more surprising because JRPGs aren't typically known for their scares.

Related: Final Fantasy - 10 Best Couples, Ranked

Of course, these spooky moments could never happen without a cast of similarly spooky characters to make them come about, and any good villain must inspire a certain amount of fear in the player. Whether they're mad clowns, otherworldly forces of destruction, or unassuming beasts that conceal deadly threats, Final Fantasy has no shortage of terrifying characters to offer.