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Japanese
Release - 1991
USA Release - November 1991 as "Final Fantasy 2"
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
8 MB Cartridge
Japanese re-release - 1998
Sony Playstation
1 CD-ROM
Square's
SNES debut: The first RPG for the SNES!
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A beautiful
cave, with streams running underneath |
The party
battles the Fiend of Water! |
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Golbeze shows
his appreciation for the party |
The menu,
complete with good looking portraits! |
Wonderful!
Definitely one of Square's better projects was Final Fantasy IV.
This game cranked what it could out of the SNES, bringing better,
more detailed sprites, more realistic battlefields, and the core
of Final Fantasy type music. This is the first game to introduce a
little bit of EVERY element that is now seen in the Final Fantasy
series. It also was the first to introduce the Active Battle
System, which made the game more 'real time strategy', so
attributes such as speed, and the player's natural speed were of
high importance. With a mix of good, easy to understand gameplay,
an enthralling story, and a great cast of characters, Final
Fantasy IV has left its mark as the best early RPG, which is
almost 10 years old.
Final Fantasy
IV was one of two games to suffer the 'naming syndrom', being
released as Final Fantasy II in the states. Square had to make its
mark in the American video game market after a few years, on the
SNES. To do this, lots of work had to be done to suit America's
'younger crowd' of video gamers. In turn, Final Fantasy IV went
through a heavy amount of editing to be released in America.
First, it was toned down to an 'Easy type' making the game a lot
easier, which would appeal to a younger audience. However, many
other things besides difficulty were altered. Many items and
skills were taken out of the game. Also, lots of text and sprites
were edited since they were considered a little too mature for
America's gamers. Click here for a
list of those changes.
If you haven't
played through Final Fantasy IV in either form yet, then I suggest
you skip the easy type and go straight for the real deal. For
those of you that have already played through the American
version, I still suggest you get a translated version of 'Hard
type' and go through it. It's definitely comparable to playing a
whole new game. If you can't obtain this version, then go with
Easy type. It's just as fun either way :)
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