Final Fantasy VII on the AppleTV (kinda)

With the recent increase in the maximum size for tvOS apps, I have new hope that Square Enix will bring their iOS port of Final Fantasy VII to tvOS. While I wait for it, there is a not so horrible way to play the greatest video game of all time on your AppleTV right now.

The iOS app supports MFi game controllers, so if you connect a good wireless controller1 and hide the on-screen controls2 you end up with a setup that is pretty similar to the original PlayStation version of the game running on your iPad. From there, simply mirror your iPad’s3 screen to the AppleTV and you are back in 1997, albeit with a much larger TV.

While this method ends up working pretty good, it is still fiddly enough to make me want a native version on the AppleTV. In the meantime, I can just play the re-release4 on the PlayStation 4.

  1. I use and recommend the SteelSeries Nimbus. ↩
  2. Unfortunately there are some new system controls in the iOS version of the game that enable cheat modes that you can’t get rid of. ↩
  3. This method works with an iPhone too, but it is much better on an iPad. The iPad has the same aspect ratio as the original game, so when you mirror it to a widescreen TV, there are just black bars on the side.

    An iPhone has a wider screen than the iPad, so the game fills in some ugly banners on the sides of the game content that get mirrored to the TV. Yuck. ↩

  4. Not to be confused with the remake. ↩

→ January 15, 2017 at 4:04 am