The nostalgia factor is enough to overcome both the asking price and the clunky control mechanics.
Final Fantasy on the iPhone has done the improbable: it fit a long, arduous, but fun adventure right into your pocket. These games tend to have a base playing time of 40 to 70 hours, just for the main missions without ever going to look for extras, such as weapons, accessories, and the like. While not as deep as today's console versions, Final Fantasy was revolutionary on the NES. And fitting this 70 hour monster of a game onto the iPhone is a technical miracle. All the familiar elements are there, with the four warriors of light coming in to save the day and protect mankind from total destruction.
Of course, if you have an NES, you should pick up the console version immediately, if you can find it, as this version is buggy and slowed to a near fault. The awkward control pad messes with movement and interactions are clunky, making the experience somewhat watered down and not as crisp as the original NES version. However, this is a minor fault that anyone can get over, especially when considering this is the game that revolutionized an industry and laid the foundation for countless other games to follow suit.
Coming from a time when games didn't baby you around, you won't find a control manual anywhere on this game (although an infant could figure out how it works nowadays, as theres only 2 primary face buttons), and enemies wont "test" you out in the early goings. No, there's no practicing, you either get it or you don't and with endless hoards of monsters coming at you from all directions in something that the producers called "random encounters," you'd better learn fast and train hard or you'll find yourself on the receiving end of some sad Game Over music and a long trip back to the last town. While this may turn off some of today's gamers, the truly industrious will find the challenge satisfying, if not endearing, and leap at the chance to show off their talented thumbs.
The iPhone version of Final Fantasy may lack the crispness and precision of its console days, but the nostalgia factor is enough to overcome both the asking price and the clunky control mechanics. Anyone looking for a deep and intuitive portable game need look no further.