The FFVII Mobile Game Initiative (2004-2008 Era)

Shademp · Oct 6, 2017

Correction to previous post: Lost Episode was released on August 18, not August 22. Though a press release about Lost Episode was also released on the 22nd.

Of course it's not impossible that the release date for Lost Episode was changed: The initial release date for the PS2 game was August 22 but this was later changed to August 15.

August 22 Press Release said:
To support the deployment, Amp'd will feature video previews and mobile game highlights of DIRGE of CERBERUS LOST EPISODE within Amp'd branded kiosks at retail outlets nationwide, including independent wireless dealers and Best Buy, recently announced as a core Amp'd Mobile distributor. Fans will also have a chance to participate in a limited online giveaway to receive a highly articulated Vincent Valentine action figure with purchase. Amp'd will also be featuring DIRGE of CERBERUS LOST EPISODE at GamOrz Ball (co-sponsored with mtvU). Lastly, Amp'd will feature DIRGE of CERBERUS LOST EPISODE in Amp'd The Magazine.

All of these advertisements sound quite exciting and I very much wish I could get my hands on them all. I expect most have been lost to time though. There are no video previews for Dirge to be found when searching Amp'd with the Wayback Machine but flash videos for a few other games were preserved.
- Amp'd Live: Four Game Previews

A reference to the "limited online giveaway to receive a highly articulated Vincent Valentine action figure with purchase" can be found via the Wayback Machine.

- Amp'd Main Page: 2006 October 12 capture

Only the above capture includes the advertisement and following the link reveals that the page for the "Final Fantasy Game Package" has not been archived. I have found no more references to this deal, so the details of Amp'd Mobile's FF Game Package and how long it lasted are unknown to us. It is only because of the press release that we can be confident the action figure was that of Vincent Valentine but we don't know the exact model.

After browsing all of Amp'd Mobile's press releases I've confirmed that there are no references to Square Enix or Final Fantasy. Apart from the Dirge of Cerberus product in the games section, the only Square Enix reference I found was in the profile page for Seth Cummings.

Seth Cummings has been developing television, Internet and digital entertainment content for over twelve years. As Senior Vice President, Content Development & Programming, he brings a broad mix of experience and creativity to Amp'd Mobile.

Cummings is responsible for developing and managing all aspects of the Amp'd content division, including business affairs, mobile advertising, international content deployments, and the development, production and programming of the Amp'd Live mobile entertainment portal and Amp'd TV network. Cummings also oversees all live broadcasts and original programming development. Additionally, Cummings heads operations at its Los Angeles production studio, including management of the company's video production and editing facilities, outdoor broadcast trucks, and original BREW application development.

Cummings is responsible for closing over 100 content partnerships at Amp'd including NBC, CBS, UPN/CW, ABC, Bravo, Warner Bros, Turner, Adult Swim, E!, Style Network, WE, Oxygen, Soapnet, A&E;, Biography Channel, History Channel, Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, Playboy, Girls Gone Wild, Suicide Girls, AVN, Naked News, Facebook.com, Break.com, CollegeHumor.com, Livejournal.com, TMZ.com, NBA, MLB, ESPN, FOX Sports, Speed, FUEL, CSTV, Sports Illustrated, MotoGP, NASCAR, Primedia, UFC, PBR, Sportsline.com, Danny Sheridan, Oakley, EA, THQ, Gameloft, Taito, Namco, Square Enix, DUB Magazine, Ford Models, MAXIM, FHM, Accuweather, Bunim-Murray, Liveplanet, and a broad content portfolio with MTV Networks. Cummings also services as Executive Producer of over 25 Amp’d original series including “Lil Bush: Resident of the United States”, set to debut in 2007 on Comedy Central.

Prior to Amp'd, Cummings was at Boost Mobile where he launched and led Boost Live, its data services and content division. At Boost, Cummings developed youth-focused wireless content while managing all consumer web portals and online marketing efforts. Previously, he founded the wireless division at Eyematic Interfaces - one of the first mobile developers for QUALCOMM's BREW platform - which was subsequently spun off and acquired by Google.

Cummings began his career in television development at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, working on series such as "The Sopranos", "The Steve Harvey Show", and "Politically Incorrect." He earned his M.B.A. and M.S. in Television Management degrees from Boston University and his B.S. degree in Television Production from Framingham State College. Cummings resides in North Hollywood with his wife and two dogs.

Seth Cummings makes an appearance in an article about Lost Episode and Amp'd Mobile's exclusivity deal with Square Enix. This is also where we find our third reference to the multiplayer and this time specifically in the context of Amp'd, though the information isn't really new and the original source might as well have been the official Square Enix press release.

DIRGE OF CERBERUS: FINAL FANTASY VII: LOST EPISODE / 1 JUN 2006
AMP'D FOR DIRGE OF CERBERUS?
Exclusivity deal keeps the Square Enix FF7 actioner on one carrier this summer.
BY LEVI BUCHANAN

Square Enix and Amp'd Mobile announced a special exclusivity deal for the upcoming action game Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode that keeps the game only on Amp'd handset for a full three months this summer. The 3D action game, based on a side story from the Final Fnatasy VII universe, follows the exploits of Vincent Valentine. The game launches as a single-player game, but a multiplayer component is in the works that allows for head-to-head competition between Amp'd subscribers.

"Launching Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode - Final Fantasy VII with Amp'd mobile is extremely exciting," says Daishiro Okada, President and COO, Square Enix, Inc., "Amp'd Mobile's focus on the youth market and their powerful 3G network make them a great partner for continuing the legacy of Final Fantasy VII."

"We met with Square Enix at last year's QUALCOMM BREW conference and immediately targeted this title as an exclusive on Amp'd," says Seth Cummings, Senior Vice President, Content, Amp'd Mobile. "We're excited to announce deployment of Final Fantasy on Amp'd one year later. Our commitment to deploying only best-of-breed titles is exemplified by our partnership with Square Enix and we look forward to collaborating on future deployments."

Shademp · Oct 6, 2017

My next post about Amp'd Mobile will have to wait because I just browsed a dope-a$$ link in the Wayback Machine! :headbang:

- The Official NA Square Enix page for Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode

Going by the captures, the Lost Episode page disappeared at some point between 2011, September 9 and 2015, November 4. Observing when the main hub page for the North American "Square Enix Mobile" page disappeared and when other parts of the site vanished, we can narrow the time of death down to...

2012 April 2 <---> 2013 July 3

With a total of 54 functional captures for the official NA DoC: Lost Episode page we can observe how it changed overtime. Perhaps most usefully, it increases our list of officially compatible phones! The old compatibility list for Verizon phones stemmed around the game's release around November of 2006 and indeed the official NA Square site starts with the same list. By June 11 of 2007, four more phones had been added to the Verizon Wireless list!

- Motorola K1M KRZR
- Motorola L7 SLVR
- Motorola V3C RAZR
- Motorola V3M RAZR

No more phones were added to the list after this point, neither for Amp'd nor for Verizon phones.

The "Key Features" initially (October 17) writes about the planned multiplayer mode, with text copied STRAIGHT from the May 11 press release about Lost Episode.

Deepground Elite (DGE) Mode offers online head-to-head action with other players. This mode allows players to take on the role of a Deepground soldier and battle other players in intense battles over the mobile network.

Indeed you'll recognize that even more text from the press release was copied onto the Key Features section. :awesomonster:

Between November 30 and December 20, these two sentences about the multiplayer were removed. However, the question about the multiplayer (read the FAQ section) remained the same throughout all 54 functional captures of the page.

Q. When will the ONLINE BATTLE MODE be available?
A. TBA. Please wait for more information.

The instructions on how to download the game via Amp'd Live starts out like this in the site captures.

To download DIRGE of CERBERUS Lost Episode -FINAL FANTASY VII- to your Amp’d Mobile phone follow these simple steps:

1. Select MENU, use the left navigation key to highlight AMP’D LIVE. Press the OK to proceed to AMP’D LIVE.
2. Select GAMES.
3. Select category and download game. (category TBD).
4. Select Dirge of Cerberus.

Between November 20 and December 30, the third point is FINALLY updated to read:

3. Select the Action category."

The download instructions for Amp'd Live remains at all times, despite all of Amp'd Mobile's services being discontinued by midnight of July 31, 2007.

So what about the Verizon instructions? At some point between December 20, 2006 and February 2, 2007, instructions were added.

To download DIRGE of CERBERUS Lost Episode -FINAL FANTASY VII- to your Verizon Wireless mobile phone follow these simple steps:

1. Select MENU, and then select GET IT NOW. Then scroll down and select Get Fun & Games.
2. Scroll down and select the V CAST Ganes category. Find and select Dirge of Cerberus FFVII.
3. Choose either Subcription or Unlimited download. Continue to begin downloading.
4. Launch the game from the Get It Now menu.

Between May 13 and June 11 of 2007, the instructions for the point 2 changes.

2. Scroll down and select the Action Games category. Find and select Dirge of Cerberus FFVII.

The "V CAST" was Verizon's section and branding for the most recent, hottest content they had available. At some point in 2007, all V CAST references disappear from their website. Ergo, the removal of Dirge of Cerberus from V CAST had nothing to do with the game becoming old news but rather the entire section being removed from their website and marketing.

Shademp · Oct 7, 2017

With Verizon, we have no clear timeline for Lost Episode's presence on its game store. The game is approximated to have appeared on November 2006 but we have no exact date and we can't even confirm the YEAR that the game disappeared from the online store. It's even difficult to pin down exactly WHEN Verizon Wireless stopped providing games!

With the Amp'd Mobile version, the story is very different. We know Lost Episode was released in the third quarter of August 2006 and that Amp'd Mobile ceased all their services on midnight July 31, 2007 (or midnight August 1, the exact midnight is a little unclear). The newest archived reference to Dirge in the Amp'd Live store is from July 6, 2007. We can pretty confidently say then that Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode was available in this online game store for just over 11 months.

There is reason to debate whether the release date was August 18 or August 22, since I noticed just now that the standard practice was for NA Square Enix to have press releases on the DAY a game became available in stores. This would make Lost Episode the odd one out if it wasn't released on August 22, given the press release from that day. Still, that limits us to the third quarter of August and a four-day window.

Browsing the archived Amp'd Mobile homepage was quite the journey. With Amp'd marketing themselves towards 18-35 year-olds and early adopters of tech, the site's marketing became focused on:

- Sports: Motocross, snowboarding, skateboarding, NASCAR, bull riding etc.
- Music: Plenty of rappers and youth bands.
- TV Shows & Movies
- Games in THREEEEEE DEEEEEEEE
- Hot chicks!!! Remember how Seth Cummings helped Amp'd partner up with Playboy, Girls Gone Wild etc.

Just like on Verizon Wireless, two-thirds of marketed mobile games had "3D" in their title. :wacky:

It's humorous but raises nostalgia for how unattractive one found the whole cell phone game market to be at the time.

On June 1, 2007, Amp'd filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy. So what happened?

This article about "12 Epic Financial Failures" describes the end of Amp'd in the most concise, entertaining fashion I could find.

Amp'd Mobile takes the crown for money-burning with $360 million in losses, and being forced to finally file for bankruptcy protection in June 2007. The company’s major problem was that its young customers weren’t able to pay their bills.

When the company started out with Verizon Wireless as its operating partner, chief executive Peter Adderton ignored the standard 30-day waiting period after signup (that customers were given to prove they could pay their bills) and gave them 90 days instead, to attract more customers. Amp’d also created a large-scale marketing campaign that appealed to young people, many of whom had low credit scores. So before too long, they had loads of new customers.

Between November 2006 and February 2007, Amp’d had more people signing up for their service than any other provider had ever experienced. As the company began tallying their profits, they found it to be an amazing idea — at least for the first 90 days. When the 90-day mark rolled around, Amp’d started checking on their clients’ abilities to pay. That’s when they discovered that nearly half of their new customers would not be able to pay their bills — the official report places the number at 80,000 of the company's 175,000 customers.

Rest in peace, Amp'd Mobile. We hardly knew ye.

✝
Q4 2005 - July 31, 2007

EDIT: The sources are a little unclear if the Amp'd services discontinued on the midnight transitioning from July 31 to August 1, or the midnight of August 1 transitioning to August 2

Shademp · Oct 7, 2017

The official Square Enix NA page for FFVII Snowboarding has not been archived. However, there are pages that temporarily hosted the full information page for advertising purposes. The newest archived information page for FFVII Snowboarding is from September 21, 2005. Only two phones are listed here, with the Audiovox 8940 and Samsung A890 yet to be added. Ergo, the archives won't reveal to us any more compatible phones. Thanks to Marcelo X we have confirmation for a total of four phones.

The main page also advertised FFVII Snowboarding for well over a year, before it was replaced with news about Lost Episode.

Instructions on how to download FFVII Snowboarding:

To download FINAL FANTASY® VII Snowboarding™ to your Get It Now℠ enabled phone follow these simple steps.

● From the mobile phone’s Main Menu, select the Get It Now℠ option.
● Select Get Fun & Games
● Select Get New
● Select V CAST Games
● Select FINAL FANTASY® VII Snowboarding™

I am yet to find an information page on Verizon Wireless for this game and it's not likely that I will find one. Not even the page for Lost Episode has been saved. We only have references to it in archived game lists when it comes to the Verizon archives.

An archived page from Gamespot teases us with a non-archived video of Ichiro Otobe and Kosei Ito being interviewed in the context of FFVII Snowboarding's release. The video is no longer hosted on Gamespot.

Thumbnail preview:

The video probably contained the same general info found in this Gamespot article from that time but it still irks me that it hasn't been saved. I created a topic about this on the Gamespot forums but I expect nothing to come of it.

The Twilight Mexican · Oct 7, 2017

I didn't even have a phone that could have played shit like this until 2012. How did all this happen in the mid-2000s?

Shademp · Oct 7, 2017

Something to potentially be careful for when shopping for phones at Yahoo JP Auction: Mock-ups, albeit honest ones.

- P903i color set, mock-up versions (?)

At first glance it might look like this is showing off a phone with Lost Episode on it but that probably is not the case.

The auction advertises a site called "hodogaya-mock". The same image as above is used for this article at hodogaya-mock.

The description for the Yahoo auction includes the following:

弊社のネットショップでは常時２３００機種以上のモックアップをよりお得にご用意しております！
http://hodogaya-mock.ocnk.net/

(Google Translate)

We are preparing more than 2300 mockups more than usual at our online shop!
http://hodogaya-mock.ocnk.net/

------
Ｑ２→本物の携帯と間違えて落札してしまいました
Ａ２→お取引していただけない場合は落札者様都合による削除を行います。システム上自動でマイナス評価となりますのでご注意ください。返品もお受けできません。

(Google Translate)

Q2 → I made a successful bid by mistake as a real mobile
A2 → If you can not trade, we will delete it by the highest bidder convenience. Please note that it will be minus evaluation automatically on the system. Returned goods can not be accepted.

Since the auction title includes the text "Non-working dummy hand model" I'm suspecting that those screens in the picture are actually stickers, rather than actual phone screens. :wacky:

Posting this here to raise awareness so that nobody bids on items such as these under false assumptions...or to be proven wrong because I somehow misread the article. :monster:

EDIT: Hito confirms that my understanding is correct that these are fake phones, though they are from official store displays.

Hito said:
yeah, they're just models with weights inside for store displays

from the listing:

さて、当商品は携帯電話・ＰＨＳのディスプレイサンプル（通称：モックアップ）です。携帯電話の販売店に展示するために製作される非売品です。内部にはおもりが入っており、機械や電池は入っておりません。

This product is a mobile phone/PHS display sample (commonly called mock-ups). It's a not-for-sale item made to display in mobile phone retailers. There is a weight inside, and they do not having any machinery or batteries.

they give suggestions for uses like a toy for kids, for people who make phone accessories to work with, props for video makers, collectors, etc.

Shademp · Oct 7, 2017

Ever heard of Kingdom Hearts V CAST? I hadn't (or at least not placed it in memory) until today. It was released on Verizon's V CAST on February 4, 2005.

The game consisted of four downloadable parts, seemingly in this order from first to last:
- Swordman Island
- Wonderland
- Agrabah
- Maleficent's Fortress

On July 13 of 2016, the files for the first part emerged! User "Wedge" of 4chan contributed with this treasure after finding his old LG Chocolate phone in the basement, then using BitPim to rip the files. The game is not yet possible to emulate but extracting and opening the files reveal game manuscript, images, music and 3D models. The emergence of these files is quite a happy story!

- Music Playlist
- 3D Models
- Textures, Game Manuscript, etc

On the KHInsider forum, Wedge writes...

Once you've beaten a world, you're given the options of either restarting, or downloading the next episode. Choosing the latter option overwrites the files in the games mod folder with the appropriate assets for the next environmnet.

In order to rip the remaining parts of the game, we would need to find three people who stopped playing in Wonderland, Agrabah, and Maleficent's Castle respectively (assuming the Verizon servers needed to grab the game are down). The possibility of that actually being done is up in the air though, considering those people would need access to their old phones, as well as a willingness to pull the files out of the game's directory.

We do not know the extent of Wedge's research and how he can be confident that this is *exactly* how download packets worked but it sounds reasonable enough.

When Shinra Employee #080729 reviewed the English version of Lost Episode, they wrote...

The Lost Episode (which is currently only available through Amp’d Mobile.) costs 4.99 to subscribe to or 11.99 to own; yet costs 50 cents or less for each packet download. The packet downloads consist of around 3 events; which can be either stages or cut scenes.

...

The game is setup as 7 Chapters (as I refer them as) which are broke down into 33 parts.

"33 parts" is likely meant to read "3 parts", thus meaning that Lost Episode consisted of three download packets: The initial download, then two more download packets to play the remainder of the game.

If the packet download model applies here the same as Wedge wrote about it for KH V CAST, with each new packet overwriting the former, then any files we find for the English version of Lost Episode will consist of only ONE of the game's three "acts".

Ryuman · Oct 8, 2017

Yeah, V-Cast... I never even considered that its download system would apply to Lost Episode. Unfortunate if so.

Shademp · Oct 9, 2017

After some deep exploration in the Wayback Machine, I found references to FINAL FANTASY VII Snowboarding, MUSASHI: MOBILE SAMURAI and Kingdom Hearts 3D (known commonly as "Kingdom Hearts V CAST") in the official Verizon V CAST store.

- Link 1
- Link 2
- Link 3

The product pages have not been saved for these games and so we can't retrieve information like the official list of compatible phones. All we have are the game preview summaries. Images below are not from the Verizon archives.

FINAL FANTASY VII Snowboarding
Square Enix U.S.A., Inc.

Play the snowboarding game from FINAL FANTASY VII on your mobile phone! This is a complete port of one of the minigames which was in FINAL FANTASY VII, bringing 3D snowboarding action to your phone!

MUSASHI: MOBILE SAMURAI
Square Enix U.S.A., Inc.

MUSASHI: MOBILE SAMURAI™ is an original 3D action game that offers spectacular graphics, rich sound effects and fast-paced action that are optimized for the mobile phone experience.

Kingdom Hearts 3D
Walt Disney Internet Group

Explore new worlds in this original adventure as Sora must overcome obstacles and fend off enemies to find a cure before he becomes one of the Heartless forever. Airtime is required for use.

Kingdom Hearts actually makes a tiny appearance at the end of this commercial, as one of the thumbnails you are meant to drag across the phone for some kind of effect. Nothing happens when you drag the thumbnail. I assume this was either meant to take you to a product page or show some additional flash animations.

With Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode I have found a total of 4 different archived URLs (thus far) where the game is mentioned. I am confident that the product page has not been archived. The product name here is "Dirge of Cerberus FFVII", which is consistent with the instructions on the official Square Enix NA Mobile page. On the Amp'd store the game was simply titled "Dirge of Cerberus" and on Verizon it was "Dirge of Cerberus FFVII". Ergo it is likely that if the game files are ever found, the main folder name will not include the "Lost Episode" subtitle.

- Link 1 (January 28 & February 3 captures)
- Link 2 (January 26 & February 2)
- Link 3 (February 2, February 6 & February 10)
- Link 4 (February 2)

Dirge of Cerberus FFVII
DIRGE of CERBERUS Lost Episode -FINAL FANTASY VII- reveals a missing chapter from the PlayStation®2 title DIRGE of CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII- via advanced mobile phone technology.

Shademp · Oct 11, 2017

We have an example from as recent as the 25th of August 2016 of a person in Japan downloading and starting up Before Crisis! From the Twitter of sshin(HIN):

- Before Crisis and FFVII Snowboarding in the online shop
- Before Crisis downloaded and booted up

As shown in the second Twitter convo, even a person in Japan (user gomigesu) thought that it was no longer possible to play Before Crisis. Strictly speaking, we have only seen the start-up screen, we haven't seen the game actually being played.

The blue color indicates that a game is compatible with the phone. The games in the list are...
- Final Fantasy
- Final Fantasy II
- Final Fantasy IV
- Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (full subtitle is ジ・アフターイヤーズ -月の帰還- but it's cut off here)
- Final Fantasy Dimensions (full subtitle is レジェンズ 光と闇の戦&#22763

- BEFORE CRISIS -FINAL FANTASY VII-
- FFVII Snowboarding

Many thanks to Radigar "Midgar Team" for reporting this discovery. They engaged in conversation with sshin and received an additional photo, showing Before Crisis in an applications menu.

Radigar is responsible for the Spanish fan translation of Before Crisis. You can see their work here.

With this we have confirmed that just over a year ago, it was at least possible to download some basic Before Crisis package. The extent of the available downloads and whether the servers are up TODAY is unknown.

The phone used by sshin is the P-03A, a phone released in late 2008.
- Wiki page about the NTT docomo STYLE series P-03A
- YouTube video demonstrating the phone

It came pre-installed with Snoopy animations and two games in their incomplete form to be upgraded to the full versions: Professor Layton and the Curious Village Prologue and ZOOKEEPER DX Ver.P. The latter was a simple line-up-three-or-more puzzle game.

Radigar · Oct 11, 2017

I'm excited about this :excited:

, thanks to Shademp for revive interest about this. With this thread more people will research about them since they didn't launch it outside japan.

I have some contribution:

QR-Codes for download FFMobile decoded:
[i-mode] ファイナルファンタジー モバイル http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/ff/url_i.html
[ez-web] ファイナルファンタジー モバイル http://ffez.sqexm.net/mobile/index.cgi
[yahoo] ファイナルファンタジー モバイル http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/ff/url_v.html

Source: Final Fantasy Mobile Official Website

(JP) BEFORE CRISIS

Sources:
Game Diary 44
Game Diary 45
Game Diary 49
Game Diary 52
Full Posts by category Before Crisis

FAQs Before Crisis

mova 505i App:

Sources:
Article "TribuneIndia" about DoCoMo's third-generation Foma
Article "GameWatch" about new Foma Model
Article "ITMedia" about new Foma Model

- Animated Cloud, Tifa y Aerith Avatars

Dowload Video .3GP Aerith Greeting
Dowload Video .3GP Aerith Expresion
Dowload Video .3GP Aerith Clapping

Dowload Video .3GP Cloud Greeting
Dowload Video .3GP Cloud Expresion
Dowload Video .3GP Cloud Clapping

Dowload Video .3GP Tifa Greeting
Dowload Video .3GP Tifa Expresion
Dowload Video .3GP Tifa Clapping

Source: Old Spanish Website called "Square-RPG"

I hope you like it

Shademp · Oct 11, 2017

WOAH! Great contributions there, Radigar!

I was unaware of the blog and those two images showing the SH505i app!

Source for the big photo.

I had already explored the official FF Mobile website and I have copied over the Before Crisis FAQ page text to an Excel translation document. Thanks for posting about them though for all to see!

To shorten the size of your posts, you can use spoiler tags.

[SPOILER*]
Put text and images here.

[/SPOILER*]

Remove the * and you get this.

Put text and images here.

Thank you for your enthusiasm! ^_^

UPDATE:

*sees the added download links to animated avatar videos*

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Shademp · Oct 13, 2017

We find another photo of the SH505i "3D Cloud" from TGS 2003, posted here.

The description to this image makes me wonder if the 3D Cloud app was ever released to the public.

SH505iでの展示で、キャラクターの向きを変えたりできる。配信予定はないデモ用のアプリ

(Google Translate)

"Final Fantasy 7 character cloud animated" cloud 3D ". You can change the direction of the character in the exhibition at SH505i. Applications for demonstration not scheduled to be distributed.

Thus far there are no confirmed images showing the 3D Cloud outside of showcase events. Reviews of the SH505i phone have so far not included photos showing the Cloud model. This is quite disconcerning.

- Wikiwand page on the SH505i

画面は、当時では最大級である2.4インチTFT液晶で、CGシリコンを採用し高画質な画面を実現した端末。3次元画像にも対応しており、プリインストールされている3次元画像のほか、自分で撮影した写真も3次元に変換することができる(一部変換できないものもあ&#12427。カメラでは、メガピクセルカメラを搭載しており、またシーンに合わせて夜景モードやスポーツモードといった最適なモード選択できる機能もある。

(Google Translate)

The screen was the largest 2.4 inch TFT liquid crystal at the time, terminal adopting CG silicone realizing high quality screen. It also supports 3-dimensional images, in addition to pre-installed 3-dimensional images, photos taken by you can also be converted to 3-dimensional (some can not be converted). The camera has a megapixel camera, and it also has a function that can select the optimum mode such as the night view mode or the sports mode according to the scene.

With the mention of the phone having some pre-installed 3D images, some hope is added that the phone might have come with the Cloud model. Honestly though my skepticism is growing.

The frustrating part is that I can't find a user manual for the SH505i on the official DoCoMo site. There are also no SH505i phones on sale at Yahoo JP.

On a related note, the D505i phone appears to have come with a 3D Chocobo at least.
- Source 1
- Source 2

Strangelove · Oct 13, 2017

Shademp said:
- Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (full subtitle is ジ・アフターイヤーズ -月の帰還- but it's cut off here)

technically, here it would be ジ・アフター since they didn't start adding the 'years' part to the japanese title until the wiiware port

Shademp · Oct 15, 2017

Assembler Games thread about the preservation of Japanese games.

- Project i-mode / EZweb, to preserve the dying unpreservable

Conclusions based on this thread since the two years it was made:

- Nobody on the project knows how to rip games from Japanese cell phones, whether it be by hooking up an active cell phone or by making a dump of the flash chip. Thusly, while plenty of knowledge has been acquired they are no closer now to downloading and preserving these games than they were two years ago.

- Japanese phones of this era have all their features switched off once the phone contract ends. Even if I acquire a Japanese phone and manage to boot it up, any games on the phones will be inaccessible. The only thing that is likely to work is the clock and the alarm.
ERGO, any phone I acquire with Before Crisis, FFVII Snowboarding or Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode will be impossible to play the games on. (It's not even guaranteed that I'll be able to tell the games are on there at all.)

- Emulation of DoJa-based games (Java application environment specification for DoCoMo's i-mode mobile phone) is highly limited. Member sheepytina managed to find an i-αppli development environment to play Japanese .jar games in a cumbersome capacity.

The download link to this "i-αppli development environment" has expired but I've contacted sheepytina about the files. I'll likely make a post in the Assembler Games thread later about the multitude of expired download links referenced in the thread and see if anybody can share the files and applications.

- Nobody can find Japanese forums that speak publically about emulation and rom creation of mobile games. This is in line with my anecdotal experience that the hacking of games and consoles is an even rarer niche in Japan, plus they are more secretive about it. Download sites for Japanese java/jar games will pop up from time to time but disappear rather quickly. There is no sign of FFVII games having been ripped.

- While numerous i-mode, Yahoo! and EZweb services are still online for the download of games, rumor is that they might go away in 2018.

Based on just how difficult it is to get together people with the right gadgets, knowledge and geographical location- and mobility, I have to make the assessment that by the time anybody can organize an effort to download and rip the games it will be too late. =/ We will be stuck to finding phones with games already on them.

Shademp · Oct 16, 2017

I read some promising details in the user manuals for the P903i and P903iX HIGH-SPEED, regarding what happens to the phone when it is "Initialized".

P903i Manual said:
Deleting Stored Data All at Once

You can delete the stored data and reset the setting contents of each function to the default.
See "Function List" for the setting at purchase. (See page 438)

● You cannot delete the pre-installed data. However, all downloaded dictionaries are deleted including the pre-installed dictionaries.
● You cannot delete the pre-installed i-αppli programs.
● You can delete the data stored in the pre-installed i-αppli programs. However, you cannot delete the data stored in the Osaifu-Keitai compatible i-αppli programs.
● The protected data is also deleted.
● Even if you have deleted the pre-installed Deco mail templates, Chara-den images, PDF files, and Decomail-pictographs, they are restored when you execute "Initialize". However, if you delete the pre-installed i-αppli programs, they are not restored.

The first point means that "Initialize" does not delete the pre-installed data on its own. You can delete i-αppli programs separately but they won't be removed simply by initializing the phone.

Yes, Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode is a pre-installed i-αppli program on the P903i and P903iX HIGH-SPEED phones. In other words, even if a P903i has been initialized, it will still hold DCLE (demo/incomplete version) as long as the user did not SPECIFICALLY delete that game.

Unfortunately I can't find info like this for the P900iV. In fact I can't find any details for the "Initialize" function at all, which is quite weird. It would be cool though if it worked like with the P903i, in that "Even if you have deleted the pre-installed ... Chara-den images ... they are restored when you execute "Initialize"."

That way we would be certain that a P900iV phone will have the Cloud, Tifa and Aerith Chara-den avatars no matter what. But right now we don't know if the P900iV worked in the same way as the P903i in this regard.

EDIT: In this awesome video about how to transfer files from the P900iV to your PC (see also the juicy download links in the description), a user even writes...

it is incredible there is no factory reset

...so apparently the P900iV lacks a straightforward initialize/factory-reset function.

About the YouTube video, I suspect that the phone-to-PC datalink will only work if you have an active contract with a phone company. Otherwise, the features on the phones will be encrypted and locked away, as described in the Assembler Games forum.

Radigar · Oct 21, 2017

First of all thanks to Shademp for all his efforts, he is doing a great data collection job. I remember seen before "assemblergames" thread but my tryings to obtain Before Crisis game data wasn't work.

But now, I'm triying to get it one more time and i noticed one thing. When you use the "simulatorII i-mode tool" and open the supposed download url of Before Crisis you get an 403 Forbbiden Error. This is a good clue because this let us know that endpoint exist and probably jar executable game is behind this check. We can see the uid flag variable equal to "NULLGWDOCOMO" as parameter in the url. I think that if we get a correct uid we can bypass this check and obtain some data as the game launcher at least.

Main repository of game data (should be redirect to the second URL):
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/ff/url_i.html
Supposed download file urls:
http://ffi.sqexm.net/mobile/index.cgi?uid=NULLGWDOCOMO
http://ffi.sqexm.net/mobile/servlet/Download?sid=001&pid=38030&comm=PAGE&uid=NULLGWDOCOMO

Interesting Source:Wikipedia page about UID variable in japanese devices

I await your answers

And as gift for all some treasures i found on the internet cache:

More Resources about: Animated Cloud, Tifa y Aerith Avatars

Download HQ Aerith avatar screens
Download HQ Cloud avatar screens

Video Real demonstration of Animated Cloud, Tifa y Aerith Avatars

Source:
Interesting "mokkori67" archive: Scans, translations and videos

Shademp · Oct 24, 2017

Well done Radigar on finding the personal file hosting site used by adventchildren.net!

For easy access, I've uploaded all the archived images and videos found under the mokkori67 URL.

- 98.5MB zip file

The familiar chara-den .3GP movie files are in there, along with the other chara-den media Radigar just shared. You will also find the Tifa chara-den videos in the .mov and .avi formats. Cloud's chara-den also comes in the .mov format.

The dog-like thing at the bottom right is called "Dimo". In the P900i phone, Dimo was a pre-installed chara-den along with a White Mage and Black Mage.

- Page 104 of the P900i Application User Manual

There was a "Dimo i-Pictograph" feature where animated characters would pop up to alert you of unanswered calls or unread messages. Since the Dimo chara-den did not come pre-installed on the P900iV, I assume that the Dimo in the piv_chara.wmv video (which advertises the P900iV) is alerting you of messages or unanswered calls. It seems a bit unexpected if you could facetime with the Tifa- and Dimo chara-dens simultaneously.

For those of us who frequented adventchildren.net back in the day, there is some nostalgia in the files found on mokkori67. "trailer_ac.wmv" shows an unfinished fangame by Velvet Nightmare, titled "Final Fantasy VII: Memory of Despair". My memory has reminded me of this video over the years but only now, over ten years later, do I get to see it again. :monster:

X-SOLDIER · Oct 24, 2017

Shademp said:
For those of us who frequented adventchildren.net back in the day, there is some nostalgia in the files found on mokkori67. "trailer_ac.wmv" shows an unfinished fangame by Velvet Nightmare, titled "Final Fantasy VII: Memory of Despair". My memory has reminded me of this video over the years but only now, over ten years later, do I get to see it again.

Oh man. Nostalgia mode activate!

X :neo:

ForceStealer · Oct 24, 2017

Ha! Oh man I totally remember that Velvet Nightmare trailer!

Shademp · Oct 31, 2017

A little less than nine years ago, user VivaLaValenwind posted here on TLS and claimed she had Lost Episode on her phone. When Makoeyes987 asked for her to verify if the game was still available in online stores, she never replied and never again spoke of having the game.

Though skeptical of the veracity of VivaLaValenwind's claim, I have tried contacting this person to inquire about Lost Episode. However, VLV (aka VictoriaValentine and SirYab) has not been active for years in any of the forums where their user identity is certain. There are a few potential Twitter accounts, but no luck there either.

If anybody can get in contact with this person that would be super awesome. =)

The TLS thread in which VLV posted about Lost Episode is curious in its historical context. It was created in 2008, December 30. Makoeyes987 wrote that Verizon had taken the game down from its online store, saying "it's been gone for a while".

Mako only quotes having searched for "Lost Episode" on the Verizon game store. However, the game title on the store was actually Dirge of Cerberus FFVII. IF the search engine did not take into account a game's description, where the subtitle "Lost Episode" is actually included, then it is possible that Mako did not find the game in the store because they searched for the wrong title.

Speculating further, it is possible that games not listed on the official home page might still have been accessible using a V CAST enabled phone at the time. In conclusion, we can't with certainty pin down when Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode disappeared from the Verizon game store. The same is true for other Square Enix mobile games like FFVII Snowboarding, Kingdom Hearts, MUSASHI: MOBILE SAMURAI and HEXCITE Fusion.
*Edit: Technically this mobile Kingdom Hearts is a Disney title since Square Enix had nothing to do with it.*

Even the exact month when Dirge of Cerberus first appeared on Verizon is uncertain. Amp'd Mobile had a three-month exclusivity deal, so with the game having been released over there in 2006, August 18 (or August 22) then Verizon would AT THE EARLIEST have begun selling the game in the third quarter of November.

However, the earliest references we have date to the last third of January, 2007. This Gamespot thread was created on January 29, 2007. The earliest archived Verizon reference is from January 23, 2007. I am therefore leaning towards Lost Episode having been released on the Verizon store in January 2007.

I'll get the embarrassment out of the way before anyone else points it out. In the old TLS thread about Lost Episode, I wrote this immature comment. My priorities and my sense of drama were..."different" back then. :monster:

It is in the same vein as what I once said about Dirge of Cerberus as a whole. I apologize for the silliness of my past self. :wacky:

Channy · Nov 3, 2017

Okay, we'll let you off on a pass, just this once :monster:

Shademp · Nov 8, 2017

I may not have written about it here, but I ordered a P903i cell phone. It arrived today. I powered up the phone and navigated to the i-αppli menu...

I press the OK button expecting to get an ERROR message of some type, but to my surprise the Java logo loads...then the Square Enix logo...then the Ideaworks3D logo. The Dirge of Cerberus start menu music starts playing and I am greeted to this screen.

- Download link to my recording of this menu (79.3MB)

I start the recording shortly before the menu music ends. You may have to raise the volume a bit to hear the music.

Definitely looking like the Lost Episode demo, which contains 5 of the game's 19 stages (and fewer voice clips than the complete version), is still on this phone. I will not click on any of the options until I have had the menu text transcribed and translated though. :monster:

Up-close photo of menu text for easy transcription

Radigar · Nov 8, 2017

Shademp said:
I may not have written about it here, but I ordered a P903i cell phone. It arrived today. I powered up the phone and navigated to the i-αppli menu...

I press the OK button expecting to get an ERROR message of some type, but to my surprise the Java logo loads...then the Square Enix logo...then the Ideaworks3D logo. The Dirge of Cerberus start menu music starts playing and I am greeted to this screen.

- Download link to my recording of this menu (79.3MB)

I start the recording shortly before the menu music ends. You may have to raise the volume a bit to hear the music.

Definitely looking like the Lost Episode demo, which contains five of the seven chapters of the game (and fewer voice clips than the complete version), is still on this phone. I will not click on any of the options until I have had the menu text transcribed and translated though.

Up-close photo of menu text for easy transcription

Today is a important day to us, thank you so much Shademp for this. We are closer.

Here my little contribution, the menu text:

Japanese

本iアプリはステジ5までお楽しみいただけます。本iアプリは完全版へアッブグレードができます。サイトで完全版の椴要を確認しますか？

Yes
No

※ サイトヘの接続およびアッブグレードには別途パケット料が発生します。

※ 完全版をブレイするには大容量ータをダウン口ードするたあ、microSDメモリカード (別&#22770カ泌要です。

※ 本iアプリから完全版ヘのゲームテの引継ぎはできません。

■ 次回起動時から表示しなぃ

English

You can enjoy this i-appli up to Stage 5. This i-αppli can upgrade to the full version. Do you want to check the complete version of the site on the site?

Yes
No

※ Packet fee will be charged separately for connection to the site and upgrade.

※ To bury the full version, you need to download the large capacity switch, microSD memory card (sold separately) is required.

※ You can not take over from the i-αppli to the complete version of the game game.

■ Do not display from the next startup

I hope you can obtain something

Strangelove · Nov 8, 2017

a couple of corrections

本iアプリはステージ5までお楽しみいただけます。本iアプリは完全版へアッブグレードができます。サイトで完全版の概要を確認しますか？

※ 完全版をプレイするには大容量データをダウン口ードするたあ、microSDメモリカード (別&#22770が必要です。

※ 本iアプリから完全版へのゲームデータの引継ぎはできません。

■ 次回起動時から表示しない

Do you want to check the complete version of the site on the site?
> Do you want to check the overview of the complete version on the site?

※ To bury the full version, you need to download the large capacity switch, microSD memory card (sold separately) is required.
> To download the large amount of data needed to play the complete version, you will require a microSD memory card (sold separately)

※ You can not take over from the i-αppli to the complete version of the game game.
> You cannot carry over game data from this i-appli to the complete version.

The FFVII Mobile Game Initiative (2004-2008 Era)

420

420

420

420

Ex-SeeD-ingly good

420

420

Pro Adventurer

420

420

Pro Adventurer

420

420

AI Researcher

420

420

Pro Adventurer

420

Harbinger O Great Justice

Double Growth

420

Bad Habit

420

Pro Adventurer

AI Researcher