Final Fantasy II
Following the successful North American release of the original "Final Fantasy" by Nintendo in 1990, Square Soft, Square's North American subsidiary, began work on an English language localization of "Final Fantasy II", to be called "Final Fantasy II: Dark Shadow Over Palakia". Assigned to the project was Kaoru Moriyama, whose later work included script translations for "Final Fantasy IV" and "Secret of Mana" (known as "Seiken Densetsu 2" in Japan). Although a beta version was produced, and the game was advertised in several Square Soft trade publications, the long development time, the age of the original Japanese game and the arrival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES's successor console, led Square Soft to cancel work on the "Final Fantasy II" localization in favor of the recently released "Final Fantasy IV" (which, to avoid confusing North American players, was retitled "Final Fantasy II").