A couple of days ago, it came to our attention that Square Enix, custodian of the Final Fantasy series and purveyor of expensive iOS remakes, was planning to bring the Dragon Quest franchise to the App Store.

It seems the task of converting the PlayStation 2-era RPG into a touchscreen-friendly format is already well underway. In fact, the folks over at Siliconera have managed to rustle up some screenshots of the iPhone version of Dragon Quest VIII.

As you can see, the biggest difference between the iPhone version and the PS2 original is the orientation of the screen, with Square Enix choosing to pair down the previously TV-optimised visuals into a portrait format. 

While Dragon Quest diehards might find the vertically realigned layout a little weird, it looks like the coders know what they're doing.

As demonstrated in the video below, putting the battle menus at the bottom of the screen makes it easy to thumb your way through the commands, while simultaneously leaving the top of the screen clear to display the battles themselves.

Square Enix has yet to deliver a release date for the iOS port of Dragon Quest VIII, but we'll be sure to keep you up to speed with any developments.