What's new with the upcoming Curtain Call edition of Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy

Last week we brought you the first word on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, the sequel to the FF-themed rhythm game Square Enix released last summer on the 3DS. This week's issue of Famitsu features a more in-depth preview of the game, outlining the new songs, modes, and other additions Square Enix and the developers at Tokyo-based outfit indieszero are working on.

According to the preview, Curtain Call will feature more than 90 songs in addition to the full track list from the original Theatrhythm, including tunes from such offbeat sources as FF7: Advent Children and the Super NES title Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. "The way that Masahiro Suzuki, the director over at indieszero put it, it's all really obvious song selection to him," joked Ichiro Hazama, producer on the Theatrhythm games. "It's most important that you keep customers happy, but we're certainly having fun developing this, too, and the song selection plays a part in that."

Other new features include a 'quest medley' mode that combines field and battle tunes into a single experience, collectible cards you collect to power up your characters, and a new multiplayer mode where players compete on the same battle song to try and outscore their opponent. "It's a bit like competitive multiplayer on a falling-block puzzle game," Hazama said. "As you make successful taps and beat monsters, your gauge fills up and you'll trigger effects to get in the way of your opponent's game."

Curtain Call is due out next spring in Japan, and as Hazama describes it, between this and the DLC tracks he has planned out for the future, this'll probably be it for the series. "We're thinking that we'd like this to be the final Theatrhythm," he said. "It'll be the newest, the best, and the final one. A lot of rhythm action game sequels don't include the songs from the original game, but with our project, if we didn't include tunes like 'Clash on the Big Bridge' [FF5] or 'Isn't It Wonterful' [FF10], you can't place the FF crown on that. So instead of just adding new songs, we want to have this game be the base upon which we add new songs and try to get as close to a complete song list as possible."