Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable

Lore & Background

The game was first announced in a February 2006 issue of Shonen Jump magazine for a release in 'Spring 2006'. While designed to look and play similarly to Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, it is not a port but a new game with more boards and characters. It was released in Japan on May 25, 2006, and later re-released as part of Square Enix's Ultimate Hits alongside Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth on March 6, 2008, in Japan.

Reader's Guide

Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable received mixed reviews. IGN felt it was a solid game that did not use its licenses well, stating that the franchises did not add much to the experience. Siliconera recommended it more for fans of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest than for party game enthusiasts, noting that the game's appeal lay mainly in its mascot characters rather than improvements to the Itadaki formula. A later comparison by Siliconera between the PSP and Nintendo DS versions concluded that the Portable version was best for mature gamers with friends nearby who also owned copies, while the DS iteration was more accessible to general audiences. Famitsu gave the game a score of 32/40. Commercially, it was the fourth best-selling game in Japan in its release week and remained in the top ten the following week, but sales stalled around 110,000 copies—far less than the PlayStation 2 iteration (over 380,000) or the Nintendo DS iteration (over 413,000). The Ultimate Hits version sold about 40,000 copies.

Did You Know?

• The game includes 16 playable characters at start, eight from Final Fantasy and eight from Dragon Quest, with eight more unlockable.
• It was the second Itadaki Street game to feature characters from both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, after the 2004 PlayStation 2 title.
• The game was released as part of Square Enix's Ultimate Hits with Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth on March 6, 2008, in Japan.

Development & Creative Ambition

After the commercial triumph of the original Final Fantasy, Square's team set out to craft a sequel that would feel distinctly its own. Hironobu Sakaguchi returned as director, bringing back designer Akitoshi Kawazu, programmer Nasir Gebelli, artist Yoshitaka Amano, writer Kenji Terada, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The group deliberately sought to distance the second entry from its predecessor, drawing narrative inspiration from the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back and overhauling the combat structure entirely. Kawazu conceived a usage-based growth system in which a character's statistics shifted according to how they were employed in battle rather than through traditional experience points. The team aimed for a fresh setting and a story that would feel accessible to new players while rewarding those who had enjoyed the first title. Yet even within the studio the ambition raised eyebrows: Kawazu himself later reflected that the group had perhaps pushed too far in differentiating the sequel, a tension that would echo through the game's reception and the design choices of its immediate successor.

The Usage-Based Progression System

Rather than relying on experience points and class promotions, Final Fantasy II let players shape their party through direct action. A warrior who swung a particular weapon type repeatedly would grow stronger, more accurate, and more adept with that specific armament. Hit points rose when a character absorbed heavy damage, while magic points expanded through frequent spellcasting. This meant a character's identity was sculpted by how the player chose to fight them, making party management a deeply personal exercise. The system also introduced a back row in turn-based combat, where occupants were shielded from most physical strikes but remained vulnerable to ranged and magical attacks. Battles still accommodated up to four characters, though the game permitted parties of fewer than four—a flexibility the first title lacked. However, the design carried unintended loopholes: players discovered that having characters attack one another or loop spells could inflate statistics far beyond what the developers intended, a quirk that became a well-known part of the game's folklore.

A World of Rebellion & the Word Memory

The story unfolds in a fractured fantasy realm where the Palamecian Empire has embarked on a ruthless campaign of conquest, swallowing neighboring lands such as the kingdom of Kashuan and the dragoon homeland of Deist. A resistance takes shape around Fynn Castle, but the Empire's opening assault shatters the fortress and its surrounding town, setting the four protagonists—Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon—on a path of rebellion. Guy carries the wildness of his upbringing among wolves, while Leon, Maria's brother, serves as a temporary ally of the Empire, adding moral complexity to the conflict. Supporting figures like rebel leader Hilda, mage Minwu, and Kashuan's heir Gordon flesh out the political landscape. Exploration blends overworld travel with dungeon delving, and a novel Word Memory mechanic lets players memorize keywords from one NPC and repeat them to others to unlock new information or actions. The chocobo, introduced here as a fast-travel mount, and the recurring figure Cid both debuted in this entry.

Reception, Legacy & the Road Ahead

Final Fantasy II was warmly received in Japan at its 1988 launch, and retrospective critics have consistently praised its narrative as more compelling than that of the original. Yet the same usage-based progression that set it apart also made it one of the most divisive entries in the franchise, with players split between those who embraced its organic growth and those who found it punishing or confusing. By 2003 the title had surpassed one million copies sold worldwide. Its most enduring contributions to the series are the chocobo and Cid, both of which have appeared in every subsequent main-line game. The negative player response to the combat redesign directly prompted Square to revert to the original experience-point system for Final Fantasy III in 1990. Kawazu, undeterred, carried his usage-based philosophy into the SaGa series, debuting it in 1989's Makai Toushi Sa-Ga for the Game Boy. The title has since been remade or ported for WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PSP, and mobile platforms, with a 2021 Pixel Remaster finally bringing the experience to a broader international audience.