Square certainly isn't wasting any time making the jump to the GameCube; in recent discussions with Reuters, Yoichi Wada, the company's president, revealed that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle will be released within the current fiscal year in Japan. While no specific date has been mentioned, this does mean the game will be appearing by March 2003.

This announcement is a mixed bag, since on the one hand, it does mean that the game cannot have had a particularly long development cycle. On the other hand, it does mean that the GameCube will be getting an RPG in short order, and with the current somewhat limited roster the GameCube has to offer, that can hardly be seen as anything but good news. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle has yet to be confirmed for North American release, although the presence of the Final Fantasy name in the title makes it difficult to imagine a localization not coming to pass.