Square's hip in '99

    Square EA just recently announced their official line-up for 1999 (American releases, yes ;) after a few months of fans speculating what titles might be coming our way. Titles left out included SaGa Frontier 2, Legend of Mana, and Front Mission 3, although we may not know what Square has up their sleeve for next year. Here's a quick rundown of what we'll see:

Ehrgeiz (May 1999)
Ehrgeiz was originally an arcade game developed by both Square and Namco, it featured Cloud and Tifa of Final Fantasy VII fame, and more FFVII characters were added for the Playstation release. This one wasn't a suprise, Square had announced this for a U.S. release a few months back.

Final Fantasy VIII (August/September 1999)
This too was no suprise. I'm sure most of you already know enough (too much) about Final Fantasy VIII. ;)

Final Fantasy Anthology (Fall 1999)
Here's our chance to finally see an (official) translated Final Fantasy V. Final Fantasy Anthology (known as Final Fantasy Collection in Japan) will include Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, and suprisingly it will not come with Final Fantasy IV. Each game has added FMV intros and endings.

Chocobo Racing (November 1999)
Yes, the Chocobo has its own racing game. Essentially a Mario Kart clone, Chocobo Racing lets you choose from 8 characters (Chocobo, Moogle, Golem, etc.) and race it out in a variety of locales.

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 (Late 1999/Early 2000)
The U.S. didn't see the first title in this series, but Square's delivering us the second. Travel through randomly generated dungeons as that cute little Chocobo (with your sidekick, a Moogle) battling "cute" representations of enemies found throughout the Final Fantasy series.

    And there we have it. As the months pass, we will get more accurate release dates, but for now all we have are estimates. And don't think Square's leaving out Legend of Mana. It hasn't even been released in Japan yet, there would be no logic in preparing it for an American release this early.

Source: [IGN PSX]