FINAL FANTASY IV

Final Fantasy IV was the first entry on the Super Nintendo, and also the second entry to be released in the west, renamed to Final Fantasy II in hopes that western fans wouldn’t notice that they missed out on the actual Final Fantasy II as well as Final Fantasy III. FFIV took full advantage of the generation leap from the NES to the SNES and iterated upon FFII’s storytelling by focusing on a small cast of characters and their journey fighting against a corrupted empire. While FFII was the first attempt at a traditional story in the series, FFIV is most commonly recognized as the first real success in that regard. There are three main versions of the game that I can recommend: The PSP version, the 3D remake, and the Pixel Remaster. Note that, due to how close the Pixel Remaster is to the original version, I will not be recommending them separately, however if what I describe in the Pixel Remaster strikes a chord with you and you are very interested in playing the original version, it is well worth a shot!

The PSP version

The PSP version of Final Fantasy IV is filled to the brim with content, both new and old. Firstly, the PSP version includes bonus dungeons not found in the original, some of which exist to aid players in picking up certain missable items from the first half of the game should they go into the second half without them. In addition, the script has been revised while still keeping the general style and pacing of the original game. It’s also worth noting that the PSP version includes two completely new scenarios separate from the main game: FFIV -Interlude- and FFIV -The After Years-. While the quality of these two scenarios are greatly debated among the community, the option to be able to play them as well as them being built right into the game is always nice to have

The 3D Remake

Much like the 3D remake of FFIII, FFIV’s remake focuses heavily on the story, including a completely redone script, including cutscenes and voiced dialogue, and notably one of the most faithful official translations to the original Japanese version. That isn’t to say that other translations are bad or inaccurate, but it does go to show how laser focused the 3D Remake was on the characters and story. This version is also widely accessible, available on PC, smartphones, and the Nintendo DS.

The Pixel Remaster

The Pixel Remaster of FFIV is close to the original in its storytelling while doing away with the bonus content from the PSP and 3D versions, meaning that some content is now missable. Despite this, the script used is a revised version of the PSP script, resulting in a game that is structurally similar to the original while having many of the translation improvements seen in the PSP iteration.