Nintendo eShop updates with a double-dose of Final Fantasy

By Danny Cowan Published March 7, 2022

Final Fantasy fans can grab the series’ latest spinoff and a beloved classic as part of this week’s Nintendo eShop update in North America.

This week marks the release of the Nintendo 3DS action-RPG Final Fantasy Explorers and a Virtual Console port of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, giving franchise fans access to dozens of hours of character building and strategic combat.

Final Fantasy Explorers takes cues from Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, challenging players to defeat hordes of enemies and monstrous bosses in single-player and multiplayer modes. Featuring little in the way of narrative, Final Fantasy Explorers instead focuses on action and equipment crafting as its heroes quest for life-giving crystals.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance features strategy-oriented, turn-based gameplay that unfolds across a series of creative battle scenarios. Originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is newly available for the Wii U as part of Nintendo’s Virtual Console service.

Both of this week’s eShop Final Fantasy releases feature a job system that allows characters to take on new professions in order to learn class-specific skills, abilities, spells, and monster summons. The mechanic has been a key element of many past Final Fantasy games, including mainline series entries Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy XII.

The Nintendo 3DS eShop hosts a handful of new titles in addition to Final Fantasy Explorers this week, including the combat-oriented flight sim RV-7 My Drone, rhythm-driven cooking game Hello Kitty’s Magic Apron, and railway puzzler Crazy Train.

Nintendo Wii U owners, meanwhile, can check out the isometric stealth game Level 22, co-op puzzler Shadow Puppeteer, survival horror experience Joe’s Diner and digital compilation Mini-Games Madness Volume #1 as part of this week’s eShop update, along with the superhero-themed multiplatform action game Lego Marvel’s Avengers.

Topics

Contributor

Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…

Gaming

The best armor in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

Cloud from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Just like in Remake, you only have one valuable armor slot per character in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Deciding on what you want to put there is more complicated than you think, since each piece of armor has multiple factors that determine how effective it will be, and you may want to prioritize different things for different characters. New armor will become available as you go deeper into the world of Gaia, and you can even make some yourself with the new Transmutation system, so comparing and contrasting them all can be a major chore. We get it, you're just a merc looking to get the job done, so let us worry about figuring out the best armors so you can just put them on and get back to the action.
The best armor in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Armor in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth have three major factors to consider when you're equipping some: the physical defense rating, magic defense rating, and Materia slots. The best armor will either focus heavily on one of these or have a strong balance of them all. Here are our picks.
Garm Bangle

The Garm Bangle is an amazing piece of physical-focused armor that becomes available once you hit the Nibel region. It has a fantastic 59 rating for regular defense, aplus a decent 28 for magic defense to keep you from being totally vulnerable to spells. Offensively, it has two pairs of linked Materia slots plus a spare, so you can still make plenty of killer magic combos for your mages.
Hades Armlet

Gaming

Whatever you do, don’t skip Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s card minigame

Queen's Blood

If you're getting ready to start your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth adventure, let me offer you fair warning: it is a long game. If you're planning to do every sidequest, minigame, and Chadley combat battle, you'll be wandering around Gaia for 100 hours. That's not an exaggeration; I hit credits in 73 hours and I still had a massive checklist of side content to complete.

Considering that length, you'll want to prioritize the best content if you want to get through the story in a timely matter. Some minigames are safe to skip, but there's one you absolutely should not sleep on: Queen's Blood. Not only is it a surprisingly deep deck-builder, but it contains a secret story all its own that makes it Rebirth's absolute best minigame.
All hail the queen
Introduced early in Rebirth's story, Queen's Blood is an optional card game that appears all over the world. It's essentially Rebirth's Gwent equivalent, giving players an in-world deck-building game to obsess over. That's become a bit of a cliché in modern open-world games, but Queen's Blood is the best take on the idea I've ever seen.

Gaming

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preload guide: release time, file size, and preorder

Cloud and his friends overlook a scenic field.

It's time to start sharpening your buster swords and slotting your Materia because Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is right around the corner. This second chapter in the remake trilogy is one of the most anticipated games of 2024, so fans are no doubt eager to rejoin Cloud and Avalanche as they step out of Midgar to continue the hunt for Sephiroth.

For an adventure this big, you need to be ready the moment the game becomes available so you don't waste any time making space on your PS5 or get stuck waiting for a massive download when you could be playing. While Chadly is away, we will give you all the necessary data on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's preload information.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release time