Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive

The Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive books are a series of guidebooks concerning the first fourteen titles of the Final Fantasy series. The original Japanese editions are titled the Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania and released in December 18, 2012, 25 years after the release of the original Final Fantasy, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the series. They were later published digitally on February 1, 2018. The books were written and edited by Studio BentStuff, and supervised by Square Enix.

The books are primarily art books, featuring short profiles of the main characters and some commentary on the art. Much of the art has not appeared in any artbooks published prior. The book released in three separate volumes, the first covering the six NES and SNES titles, the second covering the three PlayStation titles, and the third covering the following five titles.

The Ultimania Archive English-language version was published by Dark Horse Comics, who previously published Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy and The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy, and released on three separate dates. Volume 1 is to be released on July 24, 2018.^[1] Translations have several inaccuracies from the original Japanese content. The translations also provide alternate names for the character (including the romanization "Gai" for Guy, but not "Gus").^[2] It was notable for providing Emperor Mateus's mother with a localized name.

A French edition of Volume 2 was published by Mana Books on October 5, 2017^[3], with Volume 3 later published on July 4, 2019^[4]. A German edition of Volume 2 was published by Carlsen Verlag on November 27, 2018, with Volume 1 later published on March 28, 2019.^[5]

Five years earlier the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania was released at the beginning of 2008 covering the first twelve titles and Final Fantasy X-2. Instead of being primarily an art collection, the Ultimania was divided into three editions focusing on characters, scenario, and the battle systems.

The Ultimania Archive is published on A4 which is atypical for Ultimania books and strategy guides which are usually published in A5.

Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania Vol.1: Language: Japanese; Edited by Studio BentStuff; Format: A4; Published by SE-MOOK; Published on December 18, 2012; Pages: 336; ISBN 978-4-7575-3769-9

Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania Vol.2: Language: Japanese; Edited by Studio BentStuff; Format: A4; Published by SE-MOOK; Published on December 18, 2012; Pages: 320; ISBN 978-4-7575-3770-5

Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania Vol.3: Language: Japanese; Edited by Studio BentStuff; Format: A4; Published by SE-MOOK; Published on December 18, 2012; Pages: 336; ISBN 978-4-7575-3771-2

Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 1: Language: English; Format: A4; Published by Dark Horse Books; Published on July 24, 2018; Pages: 336; ISBN 978-1-5067-0644-3

Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 2: Language: English; Format: A4; Published by Dark Horse Books; Published on December 18, 2018; Pages: 320; ISBN 978-1-5067-0662-7

Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 3: Language: English; Format: A4; Published by Dark Horse Books; Published on June 11, 2019; Pages: 336; ISBN 978-1-5067-0801-0

External links[]

References[]

[darkhorse-vol1-1] Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 1 (Accessed: March 30, 2018) at Dark Horse

[kotaku20180903-2] A Peek Inside Final Fantasy's Ultimania Art Book, Now In English (Accessed: March 30, 2018) at Kotaku

[mana-vol2-3] Encyclopédie Officielle Memorial Ultimania Vol.1 (Accessed: March 30, 2018) at Mana Books

[4] Encyclopédie Officielle Memorial Ultimania Vol.2 (Accessed: May 14, 2019) at Mana Books

[5] Final Fantasy Official Memorial Ultimania Book I-VI (Accessed: December 07, 2018) at Carlsen Verlag

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