Final Fantasy Fan Makes Incredible Find at Local Game Shop

Summary

One Reddit user found a sealed copy of Final Fantasy 4 Advance at his local game store.
The player purchased the game for around $100, with its value certain to increase over time.
Released in 2005, Final Fantasy 4 Advance featured improved graphics, two new dungeons, and a remade soundtrack.

A recent discovery at a local game store left one Final Fantasy fan awestruck as they stumbled upon a brand-new, sealed copy of Final Fantasy 4 Advance on its shelves. Though the game itself is fairly easy to find online, discovering an unopened game as popular as a Final Fantasy title in a brick-and-mortar store would excite any prospective game collector.

The series may have started its life on the NES, but developer Square Enix later ported some of the earlier Final Fantasy games to the Game Boy Advance with some new features and additional endgame content for fans to enjoy after finishing the main story. The system also had its own original entry in the series with Final Fantasy Tactics, which took the series in a more tactical direction as opposed to the traditional active time battle mechanic the series was known for at the time.

The iconic status of the franchise and the immense praise for the Game Boy Advance ports of Final Fantasy led Reddit user Salt-Entertainment91 to share their find of a sealed copy of Final Fantasy 4 on the official GBA subreddit. The user shared two images of the front and back of the game's case, which is sealed with protective plastic, implying that it is a brand-new, unopened copy, something incredibly rare for such high-profile games from older generations out in the wild.

Final Fantasy 4 On Game Boy Advance Is A Beloved Relic Of The Past

In the comments, the fan confirmed that they purchased the game for about $100, which is much more than a loose cartridge of the game goes for on eBay, but the plastic seal makes it much more valuable. Others in the comments stated that if the user were to hold onto it long enough, its value could increase even more, given how rare unopened games from that era can be.

Final Fantasy 4 has had multiple re-releases throughout the years, including a full 3D remake that was released on the Nintendo DS and Steam that included an epilogue tying up some of the story's loose ends. While this release was reviewed fairly well at launch, Square Enix unveiled their Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters later, bringing the entire original series to modern hardware with updated visuals and mechanics.

In any case, the 2005 Game Boy Advance version of Final Fantasy 4 is a rare relic of a bygone era for the franchise, which looks much different nowadays with its focus on action combat and cinematic storytelling. While the most recent entry, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, retains some elements of the series' roots with its ATB mechanics, Final Fantasy 16 fully embraced complete action gameplay and focused heavily on cinematic spectacles over traditional JRPG combat.

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