Final Fantasy III

aka: FF6, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VI Advance, Zui Zhong Huanxiang 6
Moby ID: 5202
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 8:21 PM )
Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

A thousand years ago, the War of the Magi occurred. People remember it as one of the most horrible tragedies in history. Since the War of the Magi, magic has been all but forgotten, technology began to grow, and people returned to seemingly normal lives. The only true worry people have is the Empire, whose leaders are looking to revive the great force once known as "magic".

The Empire had heard word of the remains of a mystical being, known as "Esper", being found in the mining town of Narshe. Quickly, three soldiers were dispatched to find this Esper and bring it to the Emperor. One of the soldiers, a young girl, triggers a power in the Esper that initiates a dangerous series of events. The only ones who can help her are a rag-tag band of rebels and heroes, who offer their very hearts and souls to save the world from the mad plans of the Empire.

The sixth entry in the Final Fantasy series was dubbed Final Fantasy III in the West because three out of the five previous installments of the series had not been released there at the time. Similar to its predecessors, this is a role-playing game where the player controls a party of characters, traveling between various locales in the world, fighting randomly appearing regular enemies and bosses, and making the characters stronger by improving their skills and getting better equipment for them. The game maintains the ATB (active time battle) system of the two previous installments in the series, spicing traditional turn-based combat engine with a real-time element.

In battle, every character can fight using weaponry and items, and each has a special combat skill as well. It is also possible for nearly every character to learn magic spells. By finding various Espers and equipping them on characters, the player can improve their parameters in different ways and choose the magic spells the characters should learn.

Unlike most other Japanese RPGs, the game does not have a single main character. Rather, the player-controlled party can be considered the game's collective protagonist. The first part of the game develops linearly, with one of the characters playing a central role; however, during the second part, the player is associated with a different character initially, exploring the game world, recruiting characters, and completing sub-quests in a non-linear fashion.

PlayStation re-release of the game includes new FMV cutscenes, bestiary, and artwork galleries. Game Boy Advance version and later Android, iOS, and PC releases remove FMVs but instead include two new bonus dungeons (the Dragons' Den and the Soul Shrine), new bosses, espers, weapons, and gear, as well as many other minor additions and changes.

Spellings

  • ファイナルファンタジーVI - Japanese spelling
  • 最终幻想6 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (SNES version)

64 People (48 developers, 16 thanks) · View all

Producer
Director
Main Programmer
Graphic Director
Music
Image Designer
Battle Planner
Field Planner
Event Planner
Effect Programmer
Battle Programmer
Sound Programmer
Effect Graphic Designer
Field Graphic Designer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 70 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 413 ratings with 8 reviews)

An ever-so-slightly flawed update

The Good
Continuing their trend of remaking past hits for the current generations of handheld consoles, Square Enix have now moved onto the sixth of the increasingly inaccurately named Final Fantasy series, seeing fit to release it on the Game Boy Advance. Indeed, this is one of the last big releases for Nintendo's somewhat neglected handheld.

Final Fantasy VI - But On The Game Boy Advance (or as Square Enix have dubbed it, Final Fantasy VI Advance) is a significant rerelease of the classic Super Nintendo RPG, originally released in 1994, but how significant this is depends on whereabouts in the world you buy your videogames from. Yes, it's the old chestnut of regions, one which Nintendo themselves pioneered back in the murky world of the mid-80's.

Let's take a tangent from reviewing the game itself to explore quite why, as a PAL gamer, this version of the game has me writhing about on the floor in giddy joy.

While North American gamers were somewhat neglected by SquareSoft until the mid-90's, here in Europe we didn't see so much as a whiff of a Final Fantasy game until Square and Sony decided it would be a good idea to have a crack at the PAL market, releasing Final Fantasy VII to acclaim and large sacks of money in 1997. This meant that while North American gamers at least saw three games in the series, here in the UK we didn't so much see even one of the spin-offs, such as Mystic Quest.

To make matters worse, one couldn't simply buy a cartridge from an NTSC region and expect the game to work. Thanks to Nintendo's ingenious combination of hardware region detections and physically different cartridges, getting an import copy to work became an interesting process of either modifying a PAL console or buying an NTSC one and convincing it to work with our power supply and televisions. (While most TVs these days understand PAL, SECAM, and NTSC, these were rarer beasts as little as 10 years ago.)

Final Fantasy VI finally saw a release in Europe on the PlayStation in 2002, and sold like reasonably warm cakes - not at all hindered by the fact that Square bundled a PS2 demo of Final Fantasy X with it. This was a frankly ghastly port - a few additional FMVs, a bestiary, and slightly prettier menus were grossly offset by load times long enough to make you slip gradually into a coma, where at least you wouldn't care that your save games hadn't been mysteriously corrupted.

But I'm going off-message here. This is not a rant about the PlayStation port, but a celebration of the GBA version. Pleasantly, I can do just that and only be slightly bitter.

The entire SNES original is here, presented with the original graphics and a reasonable approximation of the sound. Due to the nature of the GBA sound hardware, the music sounds different; but that's a necessary trade-off, and the music still sounds remarkably close to the original. I could sing the praises of the game's soundtrack for the rest of this review, but I'll leave it with the simple statement that it's still one of the best of any game, ever. Other sounds are fine, and Kefka's trademark laugh is reproduced exactly. Once the game has been completed once, a music player becomes available should you wish to replay any of the game tracks. Well, it's cheaper than hunting down the OST.

The design is preserved from the original, an epic tale of swords and sorcery mixed with steampunk technology and Victorian aesthetics. Remarkably, it all works. The mix of fantasy and near-present day themes has been repeated elsewhere, but FF6 sticks out as one of the pioneers and it's impressive to see how well it appears even today. The graphics are beautiful and still look good compared to other GBA titles.

The story is essentially unchanged, save for the translation - more on that later. Again, it feels remarkably mature, and the sheer wealth of characters available makes the game seem so much deeper than later titles in the series. There's arguably no one central character, and in addition, the game should be praised for its strong female characters and refusal to pander to simple stereotypes. The sheer number of characters to choose from, including those optional two, should ensure you can replay the game with significantly different parties, especially in the latter half of the game.

To bring this into enhanced remake territory, Square Enix have added the ability to explore the world after you've beaten the final boss, including a brand new dungeon in the form of the Dragon's Den. Harder than the original, this includes some treasures which didn't exist in the original and so are must-haves for the completists. In addition, new Espers (Summon monsters, with extras) have been implemented.

I could stop here. A portable port of my favourite Final Fantasy game. What's not to love?

The Bad
Sadly, there are a few flaws in the plan. This is not a perfect port, if it could even be called a port at all. Most glaring is the slowdown evident during the more intensive magic attacks; this wasn't present on the SNES version, and despite the arguably limited hardware of the GBA, there must be ways of making simple sprite manipulation smoother than this. While it doesn't affect the gameplay, it's simply jarring.

Secondly, the game remains entirely too easy compared to other RPGs. While perhaps challenging for a newcomer to the genre, to anyone well-versed in Japanese RPGs, the game won't pose any particular challenges. Even the removal of some of the more exploitable bugs (the infamous Vanish trick, for instance) does little to increase the difficulty. But then, it does remove some of the pressing need to power-level your way through the game.

The music, while excellent, isn't the original, and some tracks just feel (hnng...) wrong in subtle ways. This is getting into nit-picking territory, and really shouldn't bother me. It never prevents the game from being anything other than enjoyable.

The cardinal sin, however, will only really touch upon those who hold the original so close to their heart. The original English translation was by none other than the legendary Ted Woolsey himself - a man responsible for Final Fantasy IV's "spoony bard" quip, among others. While he has been much maligned for some of his translations, I always found the SNES English translation to be charming in its way, not least because of the characterisation of everybody's favourite insane clown Kefka. Many lines have been re-written, and some of Kefka's best comments have vanished. Alas.

The Bottom Line
Despite those points I simply can't bring it upon myself to feel bad about Final Fantasy VI - But On The Game Boy Advance (That's Final Fantasy VI Advance - Ed). It's still an exceptionally good game, now portable. It's the same FF6 I fell in love with when I played a ROM through a SNES emulator during my GCSEs - well, sort of - and for that I can't be harsh upon it. A worthy update to the classic, and well worth hunting down while you still can.

Game Boy Advance · by Vulpine (247) · 2009

Defines everything there is to love about the Final Fantasy games

The Good
A definitive classic of console rpgs, FF6 is the last Final Fantasy to be developed for the SNES, and the last 2D game in the series making it not just a classic but also a nostalgic phenomenon when looked at through the polygonal eyes of today's gaming audience. And as with most classic games of any genre it's too difficult to find anything new to say to add to the praises and awards that have piled upon it as the years went by, but well...that doesn't mean I can't try :)

FF6 is basically the most obvious example of the different approach Japanese game designers do when crafting their "roleplaying" games. Basically speaking, here you have an rpg where the roleplaying aspect is limited to tuning up some individual stats and add some additional skills to each character (usually magic-related) and the story develops with the same interactivity as when you sit your fat ass in your sofa and watch ESPN. So what's the big deal behind FF6 you say? It's story, it's characters, it's attention to detail, it's careful scripting and plot development.

I think it's only fair to acknowledge that the true revolution started with FF4, but in my mind 6 is the number I think of whenever I think of the prototypical plot-oriented console rpg. The kind that weaves a large, epic plotline whose complexity is only matched by it's gigantic cast of characters that, in classic Squaresoft fashion, get their own sections of the plot devoted entirely to them, and become interesting parts of a huge tapestry of sideplots, stories of friendship and love that connect in different ways to the "Kill Gonzo" plot and give it a more human and touching feeling that make it a much more interesting and mature experience. And which ever since this game (FF4, really) have become Square's formula for success, with every character having adding it's own collection of traumas, fears and vulnerabilities to make up a much deeper tapestry of emotions.

In fact FF6 goes the extra mile and gives such a prominent place in the spotlight to each particular character that the final plot ends up taking a backseat to the personal dramas and problems of each character, and the game makes a move that I absolutely loved and consider one of the highlights of the game: you see, it doesn't focus the entire story around a certain easy-to-market character that appealed to a specific demographic. For what I think is the only time in the series, the game's hero is actually a collective assembly of characters that help each other evenly and drive the plotline on their own through very thick situations changing the focus of the story as different events pass the ball around the different characters not just for said character's development sake but as an important dramatic component that allows the story to flow much more seamlessly and with a much more epic scope. In fact, thanks to Square's refusal to focus on a single character to drive the main game's plot for it's 6th FF, the game is one of the few that actually has that operatic flow the series so often strives to reach but which often fail to get and end up composing what's mostly an adventure serial (and hey, there's a reason this particular Final Fantasy has that particular and much-praised opera scene). Emotions are driven home in a much more convincing manner as there isn't a need for forced exposition thanks to the narrative focus's ability to jump around and always seat you on the right place. Making this FF a much more adult and emotionally touching game than most of it's more advanced sequels, which had to resort to incredibly forced and unconvincing setpieces just to drive home a simple point like a character's love for another and which did nothing but mess things up because the story always had to find a way to connect the events to the same X character in some way.

For instance, the game might start you on the shoulders of a certain character who imposses you her view of things and takes you with her through most of the plot, but after a specific earth-shattering event, most of the characters you grew fond of are lost and facing their own problems outside of the main plot. Only one character seems to still have the drive to pursue the goal that you all started so long ago, and now you get to see the world from a different perspective as you essentially start over from her point of view and see that not all the characters you knew were as they appeared. Obviously, that's the most extreme example, and not every character gets "equal share" when it comes to starring in the game, but it's still enough to make a difference and remains an oddity in the world of console rpgs which favor the established hero with a supporting cast (well developed or not) that hardly ever rises above that role. Heck, this is a game were you even take control of an enemy general at one point just to see the story from his point of view! Every character in FF6 (with the possible exception of the bonus ones that hardly get any lines at all, let alone entire sequences devoted to them) owns a piece of FF6, and there's not a single character you can remove from it and not miss his/her mark on the game, and the emotional hole it leaves.

Things are so similar and yet so different because of this simple narrative technique that you might not even notice it as practically on every FF you have a melodramatic component of corny love stories, coming-of-age issues and stuff like that shoved in the game, but rarely they make it fit so well with what's going on. Another reason I dare point out as to why the formula worked so and hasn't really been tried again in the same way is because of a nice side-effect of the technical limitations of our 16-bit ancestors: It enforced on designers the notion of SUBTLETY.

So Yes, characters are the true stars of FF6, but it also has a very good save-the-world plot, and great gameplay value with lots of optional quests, branching areas, extra dungeons to explore and unlockable bonuses such as hidden characters, more storyline revelations, and end-all-be-all weapons and spells. The combat and magic system takes a step towards a much more free-form customizable model as it would eventually become in FF7, were any character can become a powerhouse in the right field with the right materia/esper combo, but 6 still retains those "class-like" quirks in full form with well defined warriors, monks, thieves, dancers and the usual assortment of good game-balancing stuff games like FF8 sent to the gutter.

As far as technical development goes, FF6 refines every aspect of the SNES-era FF engine and showcases everything Square and Nintendo had learned from each other, sporting loads of scripted sequences, pseudo-polygonal map exploration, assorted graphic effects and a refined interface as well as extra advances in the sound department that help it showcase the always impressive FF music. Now speaking about the music, I'm not one of the rabid fans that always have nothing but praises towards Nobuo-whatshisname and his compositions, yes they are effective, but quite frankly I've seen more impressive work and could never really find a FF soundtrack that stuck with me or even moved me (specially nowadays, when the series seems to favor shitty pop songs that not even Christina Aguilera would sing)... That is, EXCEPT for the main map theme as played in FF6. Which I found to be a beautiful melancholic melody that often made me stop playing for a while just to listen to it. It is the sole melody I remember from all the FF games (though I often wake up screaming whenever Eyes on Me [or whatever it was called]is sung on my nightmares).

The Bad
Nothing I can think of. Seriously speaking FF6 represents the most evolved state of console rpgs from the 16-bit era and is still a fully playable game to this date.

Tough to be fair I should mention that in order to fully enjoy this one you have to always remember to switch yourself into "Japanese RPG" mode and be able to ignore those naive quirks and "kawaii" moments our friends of the east can't seem to forget to include every now and then. Or their predilection for stupid, needless mini-games (hey boys 'n girls! Let's play catch the fast fish and save Cid!! YaaaaY!!!)...

The Bottom Line
Look at it this way: Square grabbed this game, slapped some fancy cgi cutscenes, character art and extra stuff to it and re-released it verbatim for the PSX years later. Believe me, there's was a reason for doing that besides slick marketing, and it's because FF6 is a monumental achievement in the history of console rpgs. No self respecting gamer can pass it up, be it on it's original form or on it's souped-up, mucho-macho PSX edition. Get it, live it, love it.

SNES · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

Possibly the best RPG ever made

The Good
Where to start? The graphics were simply incredible - some of the best ever seen on the SNES. Ditto for the music - Uematsu-san actually composed half an hour of an Opera for the game at one point. But primarily, the draw for this is in its excellent storyline and impressively complex characterizations. I wouldn't dream of spoiling it, but halfway through the game the plot takes a massive left turn which still leaves gamers gaping (in a good way) to this day. The sequence that follows is one of the most sombre and emotional I've seen in any video game ever - and they drug this level of involvement out of little 32x32 anime sprites! The plot is also non-linear compared to most Final Fantasies, with a number of quests that can be taken in any order you like before the game ends. And the subquests are far better than in most of the FFs - instead of silly diversions like breeding chocobos, most of the subplots are character-centric as well. By the end of the game, you are forced to be fond of your entire party. Everything about this is excellent.

The Bad
One tiny little irritation in the game design - call this a warning. You must level up all your characters or you won't make it through the endgame. If you, like me, are the sort of gamer who prefers to focus on one single "supergroup" and ignore the rest, this could result in greatly extended play times right when you're wanting to reach the end.

The Bottom Line
A utter classic which must be played by anyone with the slightest interest in Japanese-style RPGs.

SNES · by WizardX (116) · 2003

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Named wrong? te_lanus (523) Oct 7, 2018
M A G I C Simoneer (29) Oct 1, 2010
Holy crap. (another game music post) J. P. Gray (115) Jun 22, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Final Fantasy VI appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Characters

The names of some of the player-controlled characters were changed from their original Japanese counterparts: * Tina (ティナ) Branford became Terra Mash (マッシュ) Rene Figaro became Sabin Cayenne (カイエン) Garamonde became Cyan**

Development

Development of the game was rushed and several superbosses are included in the game's code but were not actually used. There are also several glitches in the game, possibly a result of the rushed development.

Extras

The European PlayStation release also contains the Final Fantasy X demo disc.

Manual

The game manual in the PlayStation version contains a major spoiler, by casually mentioning a major plot twist while listing the bonus content available after completion of the game.

Multiplayer

In the configuration menu of the original SNES release, characters can be set to either Controller 1 or Controller 2, making this in effect a two-player game. However, this control to the second player only works in battle and not on the overhead view maps or levels.

References

  • In the SNES version (it is unknown if this applies to the PSX remake), the two soldiers that escort Terra at the beginning of the game are named Vicks and Wedge. This is a mistranslation, and a reference to Star Wars, where there are two pilots named Biggs and Wedge.
  • Larry, Curly, and Moe are named after the slapstick comedy threesome The Three Stooges.

Sequel

Sometime in the mid-1990s, Square released several models showing off their new 3-D system. Much of what they used were characters and images from Final Fantasy VI, modeled into new 3-D. For this reason many people were expecting a sequel using these same characters or some kind of spin-off game. Much speculation was around Project Reality (the Nintendo 64) which promised to be a console system built around rendering 3-D graphics. In the end, nothing developed from these rumors about Final Fantasy VI and Square's following game in the series, Final Fantasy VII became the first to use 3-D modeling techniques.

Setzer

One of the main characters in this game is an avid gambler named "Setzer" (he even has a casino build on his airship). Supposedly, this was meant to be the German equivalent of "one who places a bet" or "placer". While it technically means this in German, it is never used that way; "Setzer" is rather used for "typesetter" (well, not that typesetters are common nowadays anyway). Yet another example of Japanese usage of German "names".

Soundtrack

The entire 25-minute opera sequence is available on CD as played by a full orchestra with singers. It's on the album Orchestral Game Concert #4, (translated, CD is Japanese) which is, itself, hard to find.

There have been multiple albums released with the game's soundtrack, all of them in 1994: a three-CD set with the original music, two CDs with orchestral and piano arrangements of certain tracks, and a CD with unused or remixed tracks. More details are to be found at Wikipedia.

Translation

It is a popular rumor that the lead translator for the English version, Ted Woolsey, apparently lacked professional translating experience. The discrepancies in translations have been attributed to this fact for several years. As with many translations, name changes and dialogue 'corrections' are left entirely up to the staff, but there are many who believe that these erroneous changes are due entirely to the fact that Ted did not have the knowledge to translate the text fully.

Version differences

There were two SNES releases of Final Fantasy III, the later release contains minor hardware revisions, as well as tweaks to the game itself such as the disappearance and renaming of certain items (Hero Ring, etc).

In the original SNES release of the game, Relm's "Sketch" ability is very buggy. Using it consistently against certain enemies can cause all sorts of interesting problems such as graphical distortions, random status effects and/or inability to use party members, a hacked inventory full of items/spells that are not even possible to get, large amounts of various items/spells and sometimes even a wipe of all the game's saved battery data.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • October 1994 (Issue 63) - Game of the Month
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best RPG
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best Music (Cartridge Format)
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best RPG (Japanese)
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #7 (Readers' Top 10 Games of All Time)
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #9 (Best 100 Games of All Time)
  • FLUX
    • Issue #4 - #28 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • GameFan
    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Overall RPG Game of the Year
    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Best SNES RPG Game of the Year
    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Best SNES Music
  • Game Informer
    • August 2001 (Issue #100) - #7 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
  • Game Players
    • January 1995 - Best SNES RPG Game in 1994
  • GameSpy
    • 2007 – #4 Handheld Game of the Year
    • 2007 – GBA Game of the Year
    • 2007 – GBA RPG of the Year
  • VideoGames
    • March 1995 - Best Role-Playing Game of the Year

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Final Fantasy II
Released 1991 on SNES, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance...
Final Fantasy
Released 1987 on NES, 1989 on MSX, 2010 on BREW...
Final Fantasy VI
Released 2022 on Windows, 2023 on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch...
Final Fantasy II
Released 1988 on NES, 2009 on Wii, 2014 on Nintendo 3DS
Final Fantasy V
Released 1992 on SNES, PlayStation, 2011 on PSP...
Final Fantasy X-2
Released 2003 on PlayStation 2
Final Fantasy XV
Released 2016 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Final Fantasy X
Released 2001 on PlayStation 2
Final Fantasy
Released 2021 on Windows, iPhone, iPad...

Related Sites +

  • FF-Fan
    A fansite that offers all kinds of information on the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including walkthroughs, game media, discussion boards and fan art.
  • Final Fantasy Compendium
    Contains an insane amount of information on every Final Fantasy game and the series in general.
  • Final Fantasy Extreme
    Site that contains movies, wallpaper, codes, guides, walkthroughs, and general information on the Final Fantasy series.
  • Final Fantasy Online Strategy Guides
    Tips, tricks, walkthroughs, and just really useful information for Final Fantasy VI.
  • GameFaqs Files
    FAQs, Walkthroughs, multiples guides...
  • Wikipedia: Final Fantasy VI
    Information about Final Fantasy VI at Wikipedia

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 5202
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.

Android added by Fred VT. Windows, PS Vita added by GTramp. Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. iPad, iPhone added by firefang9212. Fire OS added by Sciere. Wii added by Joshua J. Slone. Game Boy Advance added by Unicorn Lynx. PSP, PlayStation 3 added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Roedie, Unicorn Lynx, SAGA_, Alaka, Mobygamesisreanimated, Bregalad, Havoc Crow, DarkDante, Big John WV, DreinIX, —-, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, 64er.

Game added October 22, 2001. Last modified March 4, 2024.