DS owners will have something to shout about next month as the only Final Fantasy never to be translated into English arrives on European shores, almost 16 years after its initial Japanese release.

The RPG originally released on the Famicom (NES) has been given a complete graphical makeover, whilst remaining true to the particular gameplay mechanics established on the cartridge. With half a million copies sold in its first week in Japan, who doesn't have a good reason to get excited as we wait in unbearable anticipation for its European release?

Square have previously attempted to port the game to the (largely) unheard of Wonderswan, but encountered problems with converting the size of the game from the NES cart to the smaller portable format. This eventually led to the project being scrapped after several long delays and the disinterest in the Wonderswan becoming ever more evident.

The DS reiteration, however, finally finds FF3 a home outside Japan and strives to remain true to the original. Keeping the 'jobs' class system of the NES game and paying homage to the past incarnation both in terms of gameplay and atmosphere, whilst spraying on the extra polish needed to make the game fresh and interesting to a modern RPG audience.

Final Fantasy 3 brought many mechanics to the franchise that modern gamers perhaps take for granted. For instance, the game was the first to establish the now expected 'summon' ability found in every outing of the series since. It also allowed the special battle commands such as 'jump' and 'steal' amongst others to be added onto the battle command list. FF3 was responsible for the first appearance of the comical and cute moogle and fat chocobo (a summon spell in the popular FF7) and some new 'job classes' which would become a permanent fixture of future characters such as the Dragoon class found in FF9's Freya and FF5's Cecil.

In terms of gameplay, Square-Enix has seen fit to keep the job class system. This system may need some explaining to fans that are perhaps more used to the materia, junctioning or sphere grids of the more recent instalments in the series. The basic idea is that each party member (of which there are four, plus sub-characters who will join temporarily) can change 'classes' to use different abilities. The 'thief' class for example would add the 'steal' command and allow players to pillage enemies for goods otherwise unavailable or rare. Some of these abilities can be learned permanently after acquiring enough experience in a certain class, thus allowing players to master each class should they wish to do so but also change from a thief to a healer in a few clicks should the situation require it. This system appears to reward both flexibility and faithfulness to class appreciating both types of player styles and the variety of tactics available to tackle any given situation.

In terms of plot Square have admitted to adding new scenes and back story to flesh out the previously almost blank characters, helping draw the player in to get just that little bit more attached to there on screen counterparts. Despite these changes, the story will remain largely untouched and will not deviate too much from the established plotline of the original.

The basic premise of the game is that four orphans explore a cave and find the 'crystal of light' which bestows a certain power on them and instructing them to 'restore balance to the world' leaves the four youths mildly perplexed and adventuring out of there village to the big wide world and the trails and tribulations that lie ahead.

The game's graphics are overseen by Ryosuke Aiba (art director of FF XI) and are reminiscent of the polygon-esque characters of FF7, the quirky anime like characters are hugely stylistic and pay homage to the original Japanese RPG rarely seen here in Europe. The leap from 2D to 3D has been done very well with towns appearing virtually the same as they did all those years ago on the grey NES cart, fleshed out in glorious 3D. The game's added visual flair also looks amazingly clear and crisp on the DS screen especially as the game features a FMV intro (similar to those found in the PS ports) showing the graphical pulling power behind the DS.

Final Fantasy 3 is scheduled to be released sometime this Spring in Europe, and should help out with the lack of RPGs on Nintendo's box of tricks. It will at least help to tide you over until Zelda: Phantom Hourglass later in the year.