“It wasn’t so much about ‘wanting’ to make it a trilogy – the accurate assessment is that, upon objectively evaluating the sheer volume of the story and the content that needed to be depicted, no option other than a trilogy was realistic,” he explained.

Among the changes made to Final Fantasy 7 to facilitate the trilogy was to heavily expand on the earlier parts of the story for Final Fantasy 7 Remake. While the city of Midgar served as a relatively small part of the larger RPG, the 2020 remake instead turned it into a dense, massive game in its own right. This level of density and sense of scale was the team’s intention with all of the locations of Final Fantasy 7.

“The Midgar segment of Final Fantasy 7 is a relatively short part of the original game, but it is incredibly dense with information regarding the game’s world, characters, and story,” he said. “It became clear early on that if we were to faithfully recreate this using modern techniques, we would need a substantial amount of content just to make it work as a standalone title.”

Hamaguchi also discussed the work that the team had to do in order to create clear breakpoints in the story of Final Fantasy 7, where each entry of the Remake trilogy could end. One example of this is the end of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

“In the original plan, the story didn’t clearly break at the forgotten capital and Aerith’s fate,” he said. “At that time, I suggested to producer [Yoshinori] Kitase-san, ‘Considering the narrative focus, wouldn’t it be better to treat Aerith’s fate as a natural break to this section?'”

Co-director Tetsuya Nomura added on to Hamaguchi’s statement by saying, “From there, the overall framework for the entire trilogy came together very smoothly.”

Just last month, Hamaguchi had also spoken about how the development team was avoiding making any large changes to the Final Fantasy 7 story, since it is “one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about.” The few changes that were brought in, he said, were largely to better align the story’s emotional beats with the player’s own emotions and flow while playing the games.

“It wasn’t so much a matter of adding or changing the story, but rather adjusting things in a way that ensured that the player’s emotional pacing aligned with the flow of time,” Hamaguchi explained. “That process required revisiting scenes again and again, and honestly, it was one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about.”

While no announcement has been made for a title or release date for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, the studio is currently working on bringing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on June 3rd. For more, check out our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.

While these are still just rumors, RnK_Clan’s claims are noteworthy because the leaker had previously accurately predicted the addition of Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui to the game back when it was still on its Year 2 pass. LVCKYJ’s claims are also similarly noteworthy due to their previously leaking the fact that Alex would be part of Capcom’s Year 3 plans for the fighting games.

While the addition of Gouken and Hagar to the Street Fighter 6 roster would be interesting, the headlining name in the leak is Tifa Lockhart. The Final Fantasy 7 character is well known in her own game for her focus on melee attacks and martial arts training, and as such, would fit in with the rest of the Street Fighter 6 roster quite well.

Adding yet another wrinkle to the story is YouTuber Rooflemonger claiming to have known about Tifa and Vega’s presence in the Year 4 plans for Street Fighter 6 “quite some time ago.” They even went as far as to note that their “personal source”, who had previously told them about the addition of Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui to the roster, as well as the general existence of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, was able to corroborate the idea of Tifa joining Capcom’s upcoming fighting game.

As already noted in this report, Street Fighter 6 is no stranger to crossover characters at this point, with Fatal Fury‘s Terry Bogard having joined the roster back in 2024. Fellow Fatal Fury character Mai Shiranui would join him in Capcom’s fighting game just a few months later. Tifa Lockhart, however, would mark the first time we see a Final Fantasy character in a mainline entry in the Street Fighter franchise.

The last time we saw a character from Square Enix’s long-running fantasy RPG series in a fighting game was Final Fantasy 16‘s Clive Rosfield joining the roster of Bandai Namco’s Tekken 8 back in 2024.

While neither Capcom nor Square Enix has confirmed whether or not Tifa will be coming to Street Fighter 6, the character could end up being the fourth one in the Year 4 pass, which would also have the side-effect of her release marking the 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy 7 next year. It could also be a way for Square Enix’s marketing plans for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, which is set to feature Tifa heavily in its overall story.

In the meantime, take a look at a teaser trailer to prepare for Ingrid’s arrival in Street Fighter 6. Capcom hasn’t yet announced a release date for her, however. Street Fighter 6 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

the wrinkle I will add to this story?Heard about Tifa and Vega quite some time ago, yep!The other 2? I actually heard 2 other names besides them so who even knows whats real cause I sure don't!Make sure to take this all with a grain of salt until you see some trailers

— Rooflemonger (@rooflemongerreal.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T21:50:01.891Z

yeah i've been dealing with that for years, that's why I never say anything until something gets outmy personal source has done things like tell me about terry and mai long before their reveal, and Tokon's existence a year before it got announced though so inclined to believe them

— Rooflemonger (@rooflemongerreal.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T21:59:15.743Z

While this one is a free upgrade for owners of the original game, know that this is the only version of the game you can currently purchase. The older version of the game is now listed as Final Fantasy 7 – 2013 Edition, and its saves aren’t compatible with the new one.

While that might be a bummer to some of you hoping to continue an old playthrough, you might be pleased to know that if you’re starting from scratch, you get to run the game at three times its normal speed for most of your travels and battles, along with specific events. That’s quite the time saver, and it’s going to work well with the ability to turn off random battles in the world as you explore it, and even activate constant HP and MP regen when you do get into a fight. That’s a quick way to enjoy a game that’s probably given you many fond memories.

Of course, if you’re playing it for the first time, you’ll want to ignore those new settings and experience it as intended. Either way, this one’s going to keep you occupied for a while.

We thought of quite a few titles that were developed since 2020, but ultimately decided that remakes of older titles would be a great way to showcase the manner in which modern graphics enhance the games that they aim to recreate. Without further ado, let’s dive right into our picks for games that demonstrate just how much graphics in video games have evolved over the years.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Konami’s decision to give a modern makeover to Naked Snake’s original adventure was a decision we wholeheartedly supported after seeing the end result. While the original game did have its charms, its graphics did show their age after several replays over the years.

However, the remake did a great job of giving the experience a complete overhaul on the graphical front. Naked Snake and his fellow cast of memorable characters looked better than before with improved character models, while the world his adventure takes place in was blessed with a sheen of immersion that had us glued to our screens for every second of it.

This one was an excellent showcase of the point we’re trying to make, and a lovely way to enjoy a source of many fond memories over the years.

2. Resident Evil 2

This last-gen remake was an already solid take on the original adventure, its improvements pushing the title into a new era of relevance among gamers who may not have had the chance to try it out back in the day. But it was the current-gen updates that truly brought Leon and Claire’s efforts to escape Racoon City to life, with improved resolutions and ray-traced graphics that made every area in the game feel fresh yet familiar.

The nostalgia was well backed up by the graphical marvels that this one brought to us, making the entire experience hit harder as a result. This one certainly wasn’t afraid to punch up, and continues to be a beacon for modern-day graphics in gaming.

3. Silent Hill 2

The Bloober Team sure hit gold with this one. It was everything a remake of the original experience should have been, and the graphical overhaul it received made it surpass even the original experience.

The very air around James seemed to shimmer with malevolence as he made his way through the painstakingly crafted levels of the game, each of which is a lovely argument in favor of evolved graphics, lending a fresh layer of realism to a title that’s probably been played too many times to count among its loyal fans.

Silent Hill 2 is as good as they come on the graphical front, and is another great game made even better with a graphical overhaul.

4. Shadow of the Colossus

Allow us to level with you. We approached this 2018 PS4 remake with a fair bit of trepidation. It isn’t easy to forget the many hours of frustration that a game that’s designed to be as opaque as it can be gives you. Each of the mighty colossi we took on back in the day had us feeling despair and frustration, considering the fact that we were quite young when we tried it out.

But Bluepoint’s efforts to invigorate the experience with a graphical overhaul are nothing short of spectacular. We soon found ourselves in the thick of the action, our muscle memories prompting our intentions against the giants we were taking on. It wasn’t a coincidence that this one sold approximately 70% over its original release. Bluepoint probably used a lot of the lessons it learned with this one to make its take on Demon’s Souls be as awesome as it was.

5. Dead Space

Although EA wasn’t too happy with how this remake performed in 2023, that doesn’t take away from the fact that rebuilding the game from the ground up while letting the Frostbite Engine show off its chops was a smart choice. Dynamic lighting and blazing fast loading times ensured that Isaac’s fight against the Necrormorphs and his own psychosis were given a new layer of immersion and engagement.

With levels seamlessly loading into each other and each one popping out with incredible detail and a level of polish that the original game could not achieve due to the limitations of the systems it was meant to run on. But all of that’s in the past, as Dead Space is now a beacon for current-gen focused remakes that make use of the tech to make an experience that feels brand new.

6. Final Fantasy 7

Both the remake and intergrade really did a number on the original experience, making Midgar feel like a new world entirely. Cloud Strife’s adventure was made even better thanks to a more streamlined story and an improved combat system that benefited from buttery smooth framerates on current-gen consoles while also bringing all the bells and whistles of modern hardware to the table.

As a game that aims to recapture the magic of the original, this one did quite well to be more than just a fresh coat of paint, a feat made possible by the improvements that modern gaming hardware is able to enable.

7. Mafia: Definitive Edition

The Mafia franchise is already famous for its cinematic quality and presentation, but the first entry in the franchise was limited by what the PS2 could achieve at the time. But two generations of consoles later, Tommy Angelo’s rise to prominence within the ranks of the Salieri crime family is now an adventure that looks good and plays so well it’s hard to remember what the original game felt like.

Hangar 13’s effort to rebuild things from the ground up paid off, and the first Mafia title is now a great introduction to the franchise, given a new lease of life by graphical improvements that were facilitated by upgraded tech.

8. System Shock 1

We can’t help but wonder if the folks over at Nightdive Studios saw something we didn’t that prompted the idea to remake a 1994 classic that might have slipped under the radar of the modern gamer, considering the many years that had passed since its release.

However, your character’s attempts to stop the malevolent AI program SHODAN in its tracks were made all the better by a remake that feels oddly relevant today. That makes System Shock a game that was ahead of its time, made even better by its modernization and graphical overhaul. The seven years it took to develop this one were definitely worth it.

9. Yakuza Kiwami 2

This one certainly earned the Kiwami in its title. A Japanese word meaning “ultimate”, the last and current-gen versions of this game are a great display of how video game graphics have evolved.

There’s a reason this one won the awards it did, bringing a revival of the original experience that brought a lot of graphical improvement while also elevating the experience through them, Kazuma Kiryu’s adventure becoming all the more immersive alongside a very welcome additional chapter focused on Goro Majima.

10. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Colorful, charming, and confident. Those are the sentiments that were foremost during our time with the original games. But the N. Sane Trilogy took things up a notch with a visual overhaul of a largely faithful recreation of all three games that made this one truly stand out amongst a sea of remakes.

Hi-res textures, dynamic lighting, improved draw distances, and reworked animations did a very good job at giving the OG trilogy a new lease of life. Besides, Coco Banidicot being a playable character was just the icing on the cake. We’d go so far as to say that the improvements on this one were “N.Sane” enough to make us sit up and take notice of the painstaking effort that went into it.

And that’s a wrap on games that had a graphical leap that showcased just how far the gaming world has come, and the manner in which the experiences it brings to us year after year have now been elevated, thanks to how realistic the worlds they take us to have become.

As for Dragon Quest, it’s crossed 85 million in global shipments and digital sales since the first title launched on the NES in 1986. Meanwhile, Kingdom Hearts has shipped over 36 million units worldwide since the first game released in 2002 for PlayStation 2.

The future looks bright for all three franchises, with Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion all coming within the next 12 to 14 months. Kingdom Hearts 4 is also in development, though no release window has been announced. The next mainline entry in the Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate, is also in development, but there’s also Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake and Dragon Quest Treasures (which launches in December for Nintendo Switch).

In a recent statement, Square Enix said, “Despite all our efforts to bring you regular updates with fresh and exciting content, we haven’t been able to deliver the experience that we were hoping and that you all deserve. So we have made the extremely tough decision to end service for Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.” Non-English languages see support ending on October 31st, 7 PM PT, after which only English text will be available.

Shinra Credits are no longer available to purchase in-game, but players can use any remaining Credits till the game shuts down. Updates will continue to roll out over the next few months, so existing players can expect new things to do.

Released on November 17th, 2021, for mobile devices, Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is a prequel to the mainline series. Though essentially a third-person battle royale shooter, it also featured several Final Fantasy elements like Jobs (called Styles in-game), magic, Summons, and even monsters on the battlefield. It’s seen numerous updates and seasonal content since its launch, with Season 4 currently ongoing.

The package includes Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which is the first part of the Remake trilogy. It covers the entire story up to the escape from Midgar while adding new content, story elements, and more. Compared to the PS4 version, there are improved textures, atmospherics and Photo Mode in this version.

Intergrade also includes Episode INTERmission which stars Yuffie Kisaragi. Along with a unique story parallel to the main game, it offers new gameplay mechanics (like team-up attacks), enemies, bosses and more. PC players also get bonuses like the Cacstar weapon (available only in the DLC); armor like the Midgar Bangle, Shinra Bangle, Corneo Armlet, Superstar Belt, Mako Crystal, and Seraphic Earrings; and Summon Materia like the Carbuncle, Chocobo Chick and Cactuar.

For more details on the game, check out our review here. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the next chapter in the saga, releases in Winter 2023 for PS5. Development on the third and final part has also already begun.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is an enhanced version of the acclaimed 2020 RPG, offering improved visuals, 60 FPS support, Photo Mode, new quality of life improvements, and much more (including an extension to that ending). It also includes Episode INTERmission, a DLC side story focused on Yuffie as she ventures to Midgar and infiltrates Shinra to retrieve some Materia.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available for PS4 while Intergrade is exclusive to PS5 and PC. For more details on the latter, you can check out our review here. Stay tuned for more announcements from the 25th anniversary celebration stream.

The Snitch, who accurately leaked announcements like the Persona series on Xbox and The Last of Us Part 1’s release date, recently tweeted an image from Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. It features Zack with Cloud on his left shoulder while Aerith is behind his right shoulder. The red, green, blue and black squares could hint at the platforms (namely Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and PC).

It may seem like a stretch to assume this is Crisis Core-related but The Snitch then liked a tweet from another user that said it could be. After all, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is already available on PC and PlayStation. It doesn’t make sense to hint at those.

As always, stay tuned for more details from the celebration stream. We may even see Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, the mobile remaster of the entire saga, receiving new details.

https://twitter.com/insider_wtf/status/1537172223160725504

https://twitter.com/ChrisRighteous/status/1537193902142328833

The stream will be roughly 10 minutes long, and Tetsuya Nomura – co-director of 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake and producer on its sequel – says that it’ll be “short and “sweet” but packed with “lots of information”- along with an “unveiling”.

The hope, of course, is that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) will be unveiled here. Earlier this year, co-director of the first game Yoshinori Kitase said that the plan was to announce the next game this year to celebrate the original Final Fantasy 7’s 2th anniversary. We’ll find out soon enough if that’s still the plan.

Interestingly, Square Enix’s senior influencer relations manager recently took to Twitter to urge people to catch the stream, saying, “DO. NOT. MISS. THIS.”

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy fans have plenty else to look forward to as well, with Final Fantasy 16 set to launch exclusively for PS5 in Summer 2023.

Join us next week for around 10 minutes to celebrate 25 years of @FinalFantasy VII: https://t.co/y074ldZMhg

Co-stream the broadcast and share your reactions with #FFVII25th. Please be excited. pic.twitter.com/DskOd2CxQj

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 10, 2022

“We will be streaming “FINAL FANTASY VII 25th Anniversary Celebration”. At only around 10 minutes long, it will be short and sweet, but we have packed in lots of information, so I hope everyone can look forward to the unveiling” – Tetsuya Nomura #FFVII25th #FF7R #FF7FS

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 10, 2022