Square Enix has released a batch of sharp screenshots from the upcoming Wii and DS RPG Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

The two versions will feature cross-platform multiplayer when they are simultaneously released in spring 2009.

Square Enix today announced that it will bring its latest RPG, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, to North America on the Wii and Nintendo DS.

The title is set for a Japanese release on January 29, but will make it to North America sometime in the vague area of "spring," according to Square. The game will be simultaneously launched on both platforms.

Echoes of Time will continue the cooperative action-based gameplay of the series' previous DS entry, Ring of Fates. Most notably, Echoes of Time will allow for cross-platform play between Wii and DS players, either online or locally. Players will be able to switch between single and multiplayer modes in-game.

Echoes of Time, the newest Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles title, is a bit complicated. Like the original, which used a Game Boy Advance to connect to a Gamecube, this one will be played on the Wii and the Nintendo DS.

But this time around, only one copy of game will be required. Instead, the two versions will be completely identical--so much so that they're compatible with one another for multiplayer.

Square Enix is using a new technology called the "Pollux Engine," which it bills as a "cross-platform system." Essentially, the exact same game has been produced for the Wii and the DS, right down to the graphics. Players use the stylus to control the game on the DS while the Wii Remote performs the same functions on the Wii. The DS's touch-screen controls are also replicated on screen in the Wii version.

Whichever version players choose, they can play with up to three of their friends online over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game supports custom character creation and Miis, the Wii's cartoonish avatars, meaning that Mii characters can appear on DS players' screens.

According to Japanese gaming mag Famitsu, the new Crystal Chronicles will release for both systems in January in Japan. An American release was unspecified but is possible given the series' continuing presence in the U.S.