Final Fantasy IV is coming to your DS on July 22, 2008, Square Enix says.

The highly-anticipated rebirth of quite possibly one of the most beloved FF games in 8-bit history got its release date after months spent lusting over the import copy (reviewed here).

Touted as the ultimate treat for FFIV veterans and loaded with rich CG cutscenes and Touch Screen functionality, IV is the story of the dark knight Cecil and his struggle to find the path of honor in a land filled with crystals, monsters and your standard Final Fantasy trappings that make the series so addictive. Gameplay introduces an all-new Augment System for assigning character abilities and an Active Time Battle system to go with the remixed Nobuo Uematsu score.

Though technically not confirmed for a US release until today, there was no doubt in our minds we’d see this glorious re-imagining in the hands of Western gamers. Now we just need to sit back and wait for July.

Apr 10, 2008