Final Fantasy III may be 16 years late to the North American party, but Square Enix's DS conversion of the Japanese classic is so wonderful that many of you will forgive the delay. Final Fantasy III takes me back to the early days of the series without having to deal with the sub-standard graphics of that era.

Final Fantasy on the Nintendo Entertainment System was my first taste of the series and I remember playing it like it was just yesterday. My brother, myself and a friend had rented the game and spent the next 48 hours taking turns playing it before it had to be returned to the video store. We finished the game in that marathon gaming session, unlocking all the high level character classes, finding the hidden balloon and completing the high end of the adventure with reckless abandon. At that point in our lives, it was the greatest role-playing game I had ever played.

Over the years I played many other Final Fantasy games but the early games in the series always held the fondest memories for me. The Final Fantasy series grew up and I played it here and there when it attracted my attention, but there's no greater love than your first love. But there was one game in the series I never got to play - Final Fantasy III. I couldn't afford to import the game back then and my gaming tastes moved into other circles, so I quickly gave up hope that the game would make its way stateside. Back then, the Japanese and American gaming markets were two totally different universes that barely ever intersected, so expecting some cool game making waves in Japan to come here was usually a fairytale with an unhappy ending...

So, while 16 years is a very long time to wait for that classic role-playing game, long time fans will be pleased to know that Final Fantasy III retains the original flavor of the early Final Fantasy series but uses the graphic capabilities of the Nintendo DS to deliver a slick, cute and wonderful overall presentation.

Probably the most dramatic change to Final Fantasy III is the overall presentation, which has been completely redone thanks to the 3D capabilities of Nintendo's DS system. This includes 3D models for every character and monster - particularly during battle sequences. Characters are rendered in the classic cute style you'd expect from an early Final Fantasy game. That's mainly due to the efforts of renowned artist Yoshitaka Amano, who did a grand job of retaining that classic art style of the series while modernizing for a new generation. The game also features a splash of full motion video sequences here and there, though not as much as you'll find in the new iterations of the series... like Final Fantasy XII. Despite this overall enhanced presentation, the game maintains the familiar dungeon crawl feel of the original complete with random battles and the familiar side-by-side combat sessions.

Final Fantasy III lets you use the touch screen to control a good portion of the game but traditionalists will be happy to know that you can use all the other buttons to direct your activities in the world if you so choose. The game retains the traditional menu system in combat which you can control using your stylus and when exploring you simply hold the stylus on the screen and move it around to get your party going. The control scheme works pretty well no matter how you tackle it, though using the touch screen is a much easier way of doing things. While exploring towns and dungeons players can also zoom in for a better view, which is handy in this new and exciting 3D world created by Matrix Software. When you do that you get a better look at the NPC's, objects and other attractions and it all looks pretty crisp even close up.

The real meat of Final Fantasy III falls under combat and players will see a lot of it as they traverse caves, dungeons and other exotic locales. The game uses a random encounter system as you would expect from an early Final Fantasy game, but these battles truly are lightning quick. If you're strong enough, you can plow through a random battle in 10 - 20 seconds with ease. Of course, those wanting every battle to be more tactical can certainly take their time as every thing is turn-based. But it's very cool that you can simply slam through a random battle in no time at all, especially considering that you have all kinds of special effects and extra animation in there.

As you battle you'll gain experience, money and points towards your job level. Final Fantasy III offers around 22 job levels to choose from, many of which will be familiar to long time fans. Players start out with the basic job class of Freelancer. As the plot unfolds and you get a number of battles under your belt you get access to higher level classes like Warrior, Thief, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage and the versatile Red Mage. Further progression will unlock higher job levels that are much more powerful skills and magic like the Ninja, Summoner, Dark Knight, Dragoon, etc. The great thing about the job system in Final Fantasy III is that it allows you to change back and forth at your leisure, so that players can adjust their job to any given situation. Sure there is a slight temporary penalty for doing this, but it gives players the freedom to create whatever kind of party they desire at any given moment..

There are also a lot of little touches that both long time fans and new players will enjoy like in-game plot sequences, full motion video, some familiar heroes that are a trademark of the series and music composed by Nobuo Uematsu that provides some nice ambience as you travel overland and underground. And of course, we can't leave out the beloved Moogles. Moogles are used much like Square Enix's massively multiplayer online role-playing game, allowing players to send mail to real players using the Nintendo's Wi-Fi capabilities or to in-game NPCs you've encountered in your adventure. This system also hides a number of unlockables that we can't discuss in this preview, but needless to say players should be pleasantly surprised.

We're looking forward to having some more quality time with this slick remake of this Final Fantasy classic when it hits retail later this month. Long-time fans of the Final Fantasy series should find this game strikes a delicate balance between modernized presentation and classic gameplay. You can learn more about the game by visiting na.square-enix.com/ff3 . - James Fudge.