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I initially wanted to write a single blog post for all the Super Famicom era of Final Fantasy games, but I just finished FF V, and not only did I notice that the games are getting longer, but also that I want to reserve extra consideration for the seminal FF VI.

Final Fantasy IV

• Original Release:
  • Super Famicom: 1991 (Japan)
  • Super NES: 1991 (US)
• Version Played: Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
  • Xbox Series X/S: 2024
• Time Played: 25 hours

Released as "Final Fantasy II" in North America by Nintendo, I consider Final Fantasy IV as the "point of reference" for the series. It has all the elements we come to expect from the franchise, has been deliberately made easier (compared to its original Japanese release), and in my opinion is the best first Final Fantasy game to play for newcomers.

The story-driven characters (in the style of FF II on the Famicom) are back in this entry. Each character have their own unique battle actions that, while not equally useful, reinforce their personality. Apart from those, the gameplay has no unique gimmicks, making it substantially easier to learn for newcomers and form the base gameplay mechanics you can expect from RPG games in general. Unlike FF III, save points are plentiful, and items to restore your party's status between battles (at save points or elsewhere) are cheap.

The story feels more like a TV show, where each episode brings new interesting locales and story twists. While the story is somewhat thin, it remains interesting through the strength of its character development.

While the graphics and art of later Final Fantasy entries on the Super Famicom are better and technically more detailed, FF IV has timeless pixel art charm. The music also stands out with incredibly memorable themes.

Overall, if you had to pick your first retro Final Fantasy game to play, it would be this one. Then, if you have to play a second retro entry, play FF VI.

Final Fantasy V

• Original Release:
  • Super Famicom: 1992 (Japan)
• Version Played: Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
  • Xbox Series X/S: 2024
• Time Played: 36 hours

This game has character jobs again, but with a few differences compared to FF III. The characters aren't generic anymore, even though they don't have unique abilities. Job levels are now orthogonal to the characters' own, so the active job when a character levels up has no impact on the character's permanent stat increases. This mechanic of "what is currently equipped impacts permanent stat increase on level up" will somewhat come back in FF VI.

Each job unlocks its own abilities when leveling, either active abilities (they show up as a command during battle) or passive (always active with the job). There are two ability slots that can be changed: The first is limited to the unlocked abilities of the active job, the second can be any unlocked ability of any other job. All the passive abilities of the current job remain in effect. This means that you might want to invest in unlocking abilities of a job so that they become available while another job is active. For example, you would unlock the "White Magic Level 2" active ability, and as the Knight job you could equip it to allow you to use some white magic.

So, as evidenced here, you'll need a guide for this. Even if you fully understand the mechanics, the game doesn't show what abilities will be unlocked when the jobs level up, so you can't easily decide what jobs you should prefer. In addition, the "base" neutral job "Freelancer" is not well explained and has a huge impact near the end of the game: It can equip any ability, and all unlocked passive abilities are automatically active.

The story and main characters aren't too interesting, and, as is often the case with Final Fantasy, the story becomes a total mess near the end of the game. Too many bosses introduce unique puzzle-like mechanics. Those bosses not only catch you off guard, regardless of the job and equipment optimization you prepared for the fight, but are also obtuse without a guide. Blindly experimenting with what could work on those bosses is a huge waste of time.

This game may be worth finishing for the music alone. It has the best music in the series up to this point and greatly elevates an otherwise bland story. The music sequence at the end is among the best in video games. Otherwise, you can skip this game.

Published on August 29, 2026 at 11:00 EDT

Older post: Final Fantasy I, II and III