Trivia
It was named #29 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time" by EGM Issue #200 (Feb. 2006).
The English translation of the SNES version had one of the most famous video game phrases ever. At a certain point, the old mage Tellah gets angry at the bard Edward and tells him: "You spoony bard!". The awkward phrase became a cult favorite among fans. When a new English translation was made for the Playstation version, "you spoony bard" was kept intact, for the old time's sake.
But what does Tellah really call Edward (or Gilbert, in Japanese version)? Well, in fact the only word he says is 貴様 (kisama), literally "precious image", one of the many Japanese words for the pronoun "you". Despite the noble etymology, "kisama" is a very rough, insulting kind of "you"; using it is an equivalent to calling a person "bastard" or "son of a bitch" in English. We can only guess how this insulting "you" ended up translated as "spoony bard"...
Final Fantasy II (AKA Final Fantasy IV) ) was voted #40 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll published by Game Informer Magazine (Issue 100, August 2001).
Contributed by
PCGamer77 
(3025) on Jun 29, 2004.
The U.S. SNES version of FF4 (Final Fantasy II), besides being easier than the original Japanese Super Famicom version, was also censored big time. Some of the changes (Warning: There ARE SPOILERS!!) include:
* Dancers now wear their dresses all the time as opposed to the bikinis they wore in the Japanese version
* Changing the blade that was dangling over Rosa's head in the Tower of Zott into a big iron ball (this one is a really STUPID change...chopping her in two is bad, but crushing her is just fine??)
* Covering up a LOT of the relationship between Cecil and Rosa, and Cain's jealousy towards Cecil
* Removing Fuu-Suu-Ya's speech about Cecil's origins
* Certain swear words removed (even if they WERE in Japanese)
* Changing the raid at the beginning of the game somewhat (the original Japanese version never had dialogue in this scene; Cecil simply took the crystal after his men killed several wizards and left)
* Taking out a LOT of dialogue about how Cain wishes to be like his father, and how King Baron had adopted the orphaned Cecil and Cain and raised them like his own sons
* Palom's mouth was washed out with soap (he swore a LOT for a 5-year old in the Japanese version)
* Stupid change: Cecil and Rosa shared a passionate kiss after he rescues her in the Tower of Zott. The animation of them kissing was taken out of the U.S. version.
* In Castle Jiott, there was an entire room removed: the Programmers's Room. Down there, you could talk to various members of Squaresoft's FF4 development team, and even fight some of them! Why was it removed? There was an item down there called "Ero no Hon" (Porno Book). Nintendo must've freaked when they heard that. And all the item did was make the screen go a shade of pink while goofy music played and Cecil had dirty thoughts. ^_^
If you're curious, the U.S. PS1 version of Final Fantasy IV is completely uncensored, and has everything the Japanese version had, except one name change: Gilbert, the Prince of Damcyan, is still Edward in the U.S. PS1 version (I think for old time's sake).
"Final Fantasy IV" introduces many features which later became typical for all Final Fantasy games. Such are:
1) ATB battle system (instead of simple turn-based)
2) Typical magical spells (three kinds of ice, fire, thunder and heal; haste, slow, reflect; even meteor and holy)
3) Monster summon ( including Shiva with her ice attack, Leviathan, Bahamut with Mega Flare)
4) The usage of chocobos.
Beside the differences in gameplay and difficulty level (which are very slight) between the original Japanese "Final Fantasy IV" and "Final Fantasy II" (the US port), the names of some of the game's characters were also changed. The biggest change concerns Gilbert the Bard, who was called Edward in the US version. Also, the summon monster Ramuh was renamed to Indra.
Final Fantasy 4 was a tremendous success on Japan, it became so popular in fact, that a simplified and easier version of it was released for younger players and RPG novices. Guess which version of FF4 was ported to the US as Final Fantasy 2...yup, the "light" one. The Playstation re-release however, ports the original game as it was released on Japan.
Contributed by
Zovni (9138) on Jun 08, 2002.
In the U.S. Final Fantasy IV for the Snes was released as Final Fantasy II. Final Fantasy II & III for the NES (the first 3 games in the series were released for the NES) were only released in Japan, hence the fourth game in the series was just the second game to hit the U.S. market.
Contributed by
Roedie (5139) on Jun 07, 2002.
