When starting up the game you can choose between Final Fantasy I, II or Bestiary. Since this game is split up like this I'll do the same with the review.
Bestiary is a book with all the enemies you'll encounter in your voyage through both games and there will be more than originally as some from the later games have been added to this portable version as a small addition to these for the rest direct ports.

Final Fantasy I:
At the start of a new file in this game you need to pick a team of four, chosen from the following classes: Warrior, Thief, Monk, Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage.
Once you've done this you get to see an intro movie that shows the world is pretty rough. Earthquakes, wild seas, lightning, ... However, the inhabitants remain positive and believe in the legend that when the evil starts to rule, four brave warriors, The Warriors of Light, will come to save them. Finally these four arrive, each with in his hand a crystal. The adventure can begin.

You start the game near a certain city so it's quite obvious that's where you need to go. For the rest it can be quite hard to find your way in this big world, partially because your mission isn't always too clear. This is instantly the biggest downpoint I can find for FF1. You'll often walk around tremendously long in search for your destination and soon you'll get bored of this.

The fights are turn-based. Each turn a man can attack, either from your team or from the opponents. There are regular attacks and those with magic, all which need to be bought in stores. Overall the fights aren't too difficult althugh from time to time some brute may appear and slaughter one of your crew. This is pretty bad as a Phoenix Down, the only way to resurrect a killed character, is pretty expensive.

Don't expect much from the graphics, as in many RPG's this game uses a world-map over which you travel to the different villages. this map is completely empty except for a couple of rocks and forests. A village is shown by a bunch of houses and when you walk over it, you'll logically enter. Although these towns are a bit more beautiful with nice houses, rivers and people that all look alike, they're still not great which is normal as the GBA is more powerful than the NES it was originally created for. Also the fights aren't worth much with boring background and identical twins as enemies.

When it comes to sound, this is probably one of the best games on the GBA. The typical, magical melodies that the Final Fantasy series is rich with are also present here. No annoying bleeps, just hook up the stereo headphone and enjoy!

Final Fantasy II:
When it comes to idea, this game is equal to the first part. Next to that, the graphics and sound are also the same so I'll only elaborate on the storyline.

In contrary to part 1 you can't choose your characters, you can only give them a different name. A long peace gets broken by the Emperor of Palamecia who wants to rule the world.
A rebel army wants to stop this vicious man but gets beaten and needs to flee. Four warriors whose parents have been killed by the emperor remain...