As of July 7, 2025, it has been 25 years since the original Japanese launch of Final Fantasy 9, and celebrations are already underway. Artbooks, posters, music, and more are pouring online courtesy of Square Enix, and there could be more to come if rumors of a Final Fantasy 9 remake hold true. Some insiders have cited development hell as to why something that big missed the festivities, but the original Final Fantasy 9 remains available on all platforms, so the community can still come together and celebrate this classic Final Fantasy.
While Final Fantasy 9 isn't as famous as Final Fantasy 7, it still gained a loyal following by bringing a unique charm to the franchise’s PS1 era. Employing a softer art style in a more traditional high fantasy setting than the last few FF games, FF9 pays homage to the series’ NES origins, all while pushing its battle system and narrative complexity forward. FF9’s touching story is one of its most acclaimed features and a great reason to revisit it today. However, Final Fantasy 9 wasn’t perfect, and one of its strangest flaws has haunted players since it was released.
A Final Fantasy 9 Remake Would Be Wise to Follow Oblivion Remastered’s Approach
The long-rumored Final Fantasy 9 remake could benefit by learning from a surprise release strategy that helped Oblivion Remastered succeed.
Final Fantasy 9’s Official Strategy Guide Was Awful
Mistimed Online Integration Made The FF9 BradyGames Guide Useless
Coinciding with the North American launch of Final Fantasy 9 in November 2000, the FF9 BradyGames strategy guide has become known as one of the worst official game guide books ever. That's not to say it had bad advice, as it actually derived a lot of its information from Squaresoft itself. Instead, it’s likely the most incomplete strategy guide to hit store shelves, owing to Squaresoft’s attempt to synergize with its PlayOnline website. Details were frequently replaced with instructions to input codes on the PlayOnline site for more information, making the book essentially useless on its own.
Needless to say, this came as a nasty shock to young readers at the time, especially since previous BradyGames Final Fantasy guides had been generally helpful. What's worse, internet access was not as ubiquitous around the turn of the millennium as it was even a few years later, and anyone with it probably used a slow and buggy dial-up connection. At some point in the following decade, the FF9 portion of PlayOnline was also taken down, and only Final Fantasy 11’s PC skew keeps the site alive today, so this book even wound up with a limited shelf life.
Discussing Its Strategy Guide Has Become A Final Fantasy 9 Tradition
The full Final Fantasy 9 BradyGames experience may be gone, but it is not forgotten. Players began recounting their bad experiences with this guide once they had more reliable internet access, and some never stopped. Early threads, like those on Neoseeker in 2006 and Final Fantasy Forums in 2010, sometimes took a helpful stance and pointed out better guides for finding FF9's secrets, but the tone of GameFAQ threads, Reddit posts, and other social media sites about any FF9 guides prompted users to share their bad experiences with BradyGames’ own. The internet was so obsessed over this FF9 guide that Jason Schreier asked about it in a 2019 interview for Kotaku with a coworker of the guide’s authors.
FF9’s Bad Official Guide Is Another Part Of Its Legacy
While the FF9 BradyGames guide has seen its reputation dwindle over the years, infamy does bring some benefits. There were several efforts to archive the FF9 Play online site, and one with modern browser compatibility was released in August 2022. It's still a useful guide, even if it’s missing things like Chocobo dig sites, strategies for the final boss, and any help with FF9’s brutal superboss Ozma. The guide is also intertwined with FF9’s history, as the Resonant Arc podcast discussed it while analyzing FF9 in June 2025. This BradyGames guide may haunt Final Fantasy 9 forever, but at least it makes for a good story.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 81%
- Released
- July 7, 2000
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Violence, Mild Language
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Engine
- Unity
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Final Fantasy
WHERE TO PLAY
Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe have kidnapped Princess Garnet, the heir of Alexandria. To their surprise, however, the princess herself yearned to escape the castle. Through a series of unusual circumstances, she and her personal guard, Steiner, fall in with Zidane and set out on an incredible journey.
Meeting unforgettable characters like Vivi and Quina along the way, they learn about themselves, the secrets of the Crystal, and a malevolent force that threatens to destroy their world.
Learn new abilities by equipping items. When fully mastered, these abilities can be used even without equipping items, allowing for nearly endless customization options.
Fill your Trance gauge as you sustain hits in battle. When fully charged, your characters will enter Trance mode, granting them powerful new skills!
Never let items go to waste. Combine two items or pieces of equipment together and make better, stronger items!
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
