Ultimate Hits

The nihongo|Ultimate Hits|アルティメットヒッツ|Arutimetto Hittsu range is a Square Enix budget range in the NTSC-J regions, which include Japan and the rest of Asia.

History

Square Enix first announced the Ultimate Hits collection in July of 2005, encompassing several PlayStation 2 titles for re-release in September of that year. [cite web | author=Anoop Gantayat| date=July 1, 2005 | title=Square Enix Announces Ultimate Hits Collection | url=http://ps2.ign.com/articles/630/630790p1.html | work=IGN.com | accessdate=2008-07-06] The following March, three Game Boy Advance games were released under the budget label. [cite web | author=Spencer | date=January 16, 2006 | title=More Ultimate Hits are rolled out | url=http://www.siliconera.com/2006/01/16/more-ultimate-hits-are-rolled-out/ | work=SiliconEra.com | accessdate=2008-07-06] The Ultimate Hits lines was a huge success, selling over half a million copies by the middle of 2006. Sixteen additional titles, including several PlayStation games, were added to the release schedule for July of 2006. [cite web | author=Ziyad Khesbak | date=July 15, 2006 | title=Ultimate Hits a hit | url=http://squarehaven.com/news/2006/07/15/Ultimate-Hits-a-hit | work=SquareHaven.com | accessdate=2008-07-06] By early 2008, the Ultimate Hits line had sold over 1.5 million copies. Two more titles, both PlayStation Portable games, were released that March. [cite web | author=soul| date=February 12, 2008 | title=Square Enix adds two titles to its "Ultimate Hits" | url=http://www.forever-fantasy.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=960&mode=&order=0&thold=0 | work=Forever-Fantasy.net | accessdate=2008-07-06]

A similar line of budget games was re-released by Square Enix in 2007. Titled "Legendary Hits," this collection included five PlayStation games. [cite web | author=Spencer | date=November 15, 2006 | title=Square-Enix reprints their Legendary Hits| url=http://www.siliconera.com/2006/11/15/square-enix-reprints-their-legendary-hits/ | work=SiliconEra.com | accessdate=2008-07-06] The wholly-owned subsidiary Taito also re-released several PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable titles in its "Eternal Hits" collection.

Packaging

Ultimate Hits titles are recognizable by a platinum/silver colored band on the game's casing. For PlayStation 2 games, this band normally run along the left-hand side of the case's front, with the original game cover cropped. The game disc features the original release disc's design, with added "Ultimate Hits" designation on the disc. For PlayStation games, a detachable (separate) leaflet colored silver, with the name of the game is included and attached at the disc cover on the left-hand side. The disc contains no indication if the disc is released as Ultimate Hits. The manual contains no indication of Ultimate Hits. Instead the manual included is identical to the original release. This applies to both PlayStation and PlayStation 2 Ultimate Hits releases.

List of Ultimate Hits Games

PlayStation

*Chrono Cross
*Chrono Trigger
*Dragon Quest IV
*Dragon Quest VII
*Final Fantasy Tactics
*Final Fantasy VII
*Final Fantasy VII International
*Final Fantasy VIII
*Final Fantasy IX
*Front Mission 2
*Front Mission 3
*
*Legend of Mana
*SaGa Frontier
*SaGa Frontier 2
*Vagrant Story
*Valkyrie Profile

PlayStation 2

*Dragon Quest V
*Dragon Quest VIII
*
*Final Fantasy X
*Final Fantasy X International
*Final Fantasy X-2
*Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission
*Front Mission 4
*Front Mission 5
*Kingdom Hearts
*Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
*Kingdom Hearts II
*Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+
*
*Star Ocean 3 Director's Cut
*Valkyrie Profile 2

PlayStation Portable

*Itadaki Street Portable
*

Game Boy Advance

*Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
*
*

See also

*Platinum range, PAL region budget range
*Greatest Hits, North American (NTSC U/C) budget range
*Player's Choice, a similar distinction for Nintendo titles
*Platinum Hits, another similar distinction for Microsoft titles
*Sega All Stars, the version for Sega's Dreamcast

References

External links

* [http://www.square-enix.co.jp/uh/ "Ultimate Hits" official site] at Square-Enix.co.jp
* [http://www.square-enix.co.jp/lh/ "Legendary Hits" official site] at Square-Enix.co.jp
* [http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/title/2007/eternal_hits/ "Eternal Hits" official site] at Taito.co.jp