The remake was praised by Western reviewers, particularly its overall design and redone graphics and music, though several noted gameplay elements that had aged poorly.

[2] There are also different skill systems in place; there is gaining levels with experience points, which unlocks new abilities, though in others character progression is locked behind story events.

[1] In the final chapter, "Dominion of Hate", Odio draws the seven protagonists—Pogo, the Shifu's student, Oboromaru, the Sundown Kid, Masaru, Akira and Cube—to Lucrece to confront their heroism; the player then chooses who to play as.

Choosing Oersted begins a scenario where he fights each hero using their respective Odio incarnations, either wiping out humanity and living in a world devoid of life, or obliterating the universe in a final devastating attack if he loses.

A repentant and dying Oersted sends each protagonist back to their time periods, warning them that enough hate can create another Lord of Dark.

[11] The game was the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita, who had previously worked in a designer role for Hanjuku Hero and Final Fantasy IV.

[12][13] The production was made possible by the expanding storage capacity of the Super Famicom ROM, with the aim being for players to be able to complete each section within a day.

[14] Several staff members, including designer Nobuyuki Inoue and lead programmer Fumiaki Fukaya, had worked on either Hanjuku Hero or the Final Fantasy series.

[17] Inoue was responsible for the battle system design, wanting to make a strategic experience which Tokita described as "real-time shogi".

[14] One idea of Tokita's that was rejected involved not displaying hit points, but having the character physically act like they had been injured or look weakened as they took damage instead.

For the Imperial China protagonist's female student, Fujiwara deliberately went against stereotypes of martial arts heroines with large breasts, drawing her with a "tighter" figure.

[27] The Prehistory story drew inspiration from the manga series First Human Giatrus, while the Wild West narrative was based on climactic scenes from classic Westerns including Shane.

[25] The Middle Ages story paid homage to Final Fantasy, with the relationship between Orstead and Streibough mirroring that between Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind.

[9] Tokita was concerned about creating the Middle Ages story due to its similarity to the ongoing Final Fantasy, SaGa and Mana series.

[20] After writing music for Capcom on multiple projects including Street Fighter II, Shimomura moved to Square in 1993, fuelled by the wish to compose for RPGs.

[14] The music for the Captain Square minigame in the Distant Future scenario was deliberately written to evoke the chiptune style of NES and early arcade titles.

[34] In 2008, the tracks "Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River" and "Forgotten Wings" were included on Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura, a compilation of the composer's work at Square Enix.

[35] Remixed and karaoke versions of "Kiss of Jealousy" and "Megalomania" were released on the 2014 compilation album Memoria, which also featured tracks from Shimomura's work with Square.

[36] "Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River" and "Megalomania" were later released in 2015 as downloadable content for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.

[41] The release was prompted by fan demand for the title, and then-publisher Square Enix had to get permission from the guest illustrators before the re-release could happen.

[43] In an interview with the magazine Super Play, Square localization staff member Ted Woolsey said that its overseas release was unlikely due to its low graphical quality compared to other popular titles at the time.

[21] Tokita acted as producer, while Shun Sasaki of Historia worked as director, with much of the staff being young and unrelated to the development of the original version.

[6] Known for performing Dragon Ball Z opening theme "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", Kageyama also recorded an English version for the Western release.

The Collector's Edition includes a model of the Buriki Daioh mech designed by Shinamoto, a themed board game, a soundtrack collection with booklet, and a shoulder bag.

[50][6] A demo covering the opening chapters of the Imperial China, Edo and Far Future storylines, with progress being transferrable into the main game, was released in Japan on June 28.

[63] The four Famitsu reviewers enjoyed the game's variety, but found the graphics lacking compared to other Super Famicom titles of the time.

[53] Critics focused praise on the graphics and audio design together with the redone musical score, praising its faithful reproduction for first-time Western players and variety of settings and narratives, with complaints mainly stemming from by-then archaic mechanics carried over from the original and lack of character development in its chapters.

[b] The Famitsu reviewers were again positive, praising the remake's faithfulness to the original alongside the HD-2D conversion, with the main complaints being a lack of noticeable changes or maps for navigating levels.

[61] Paige Chamberlain of RPG Site called the remake the best way to experience the game due to its translation and added features alongside the graphical upgrade, noting that the overall narrative was simple yet engaging and fun.

[8] Nintendo World Report's Jordan Rudek was less positive than many reviewers, lauding its release in the West after so long exclusive to Japan, but finding its design archaic enough to impact his enjoyment.