Final Fantasy: as well as providing your dad’s favourite video game joke that he will repeat each and every time, it’s one of the biggest video game IPs of all time, with well over 100 games to its name. Just like you don’t ask a woman her age, or me to shut up about F-Zero, you don’t ask a Final Fantasy fan how many games there are in total. Get the number right and Sakaguchi will teleport to your location with 10,000 unsold VHS copies of The Spirits Within to give to you.
With so many games, though, you can bet some Final Fantasy games have slipped through the cracks over the years. Let’s take a look at just some of them with today’s tale.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
You know you’ve made it when your mascot character is popular enough to earn their own spinoff game — and Final Fantasy’s Chocobos have managed to nab themselves over a dozen dedicated games. Somehow.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales in particular stands out for a few reasons. Released in 2006, this DS spinoff was developed by h.a.n.d., marking the first of many projects they’d work on for Square Enix.
Rather than craft a singular, focused experience, Chocobo Tales winds up being a minigame compilation dressed up as an adventure game. You play as a Chocobo trying to save their friends from an evil book — and in the process, explore a variety of classic fairy tales with a Final Fantasy themed twist.
Chocobo Tales also throws in a whole card-based battle system for good measure; you’ll collect a variety of cards through the minigames during the adventure, and then assemble together a 15 card deck for the game’s boss fights. Both the minigames and these card duels can also be played in multiplayer, which adds some longevity to the game.
It’s all simple stuff, really, but Chocobo Tales is still well-made and fun. It’s a lighthearted affair worth checking out whenever you need a break from the darker mainline Final Fantasy titles.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King/My Life as a Darklord
The mid-2000’s marked the beginning of digital gaming on consoles. Even the Wii, which was much more physical-focused due to a lack of storage space, offered a variety of games on the Wii Shop Channel. Hoping to capitalize on WiiWare to grab players’ attention, Square Enix released a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles spinoff at the service’s launch, entitled My Life as a King.
This digital curio is perhaps one of the stranger entries in the franchise, being a simple city building game where players rebuild a fallen kingdom. The mechanics you’d expect from the genre are here, such as placing buildings, researching items, and keeping citizen morale up.
A few years later, Square would follow up on this game with My Life as a Darklord, a sequel of sorts that once again completely shifts the genre. Gone is the city builder sim in favor of a tower defense game, of all things. Not only that, but the game also features a bit of a different take on the genre, with all stages being set within the towers themselves, meaning that gameplay revolves around placing all manner of traps and obstacles within the towers to stop the enemies.
Neither of these games will be winning any awards for depth, but they’re still prime examples of an era where major game companies still bothered to be experimental and weird. And with the death of the Wii Shop Channel, today’s gamers will grow up without ever knowing that there was a Final Fantasy game that starred a gothic lolita.
Voice Fantasy
Now here’s a really weird one. If you thought Final Fantasy: All the Bravest was shallow, then you haven’t seen Voice Fantasy. Released exclusively for iOS devices in 2010, Voice Fantasy lived — and died — on its sole gimmick. Using a sample recording of your voice, the game would then generate a character with predetermined stats.
From there, the game takes your characters into turn-based battles — emphasis on “the game” and not “the player”. Voice Fantasy’s battles all play out automatically, and the only thing you as a player can do is sit back and watch as your characters throw themselves at the same tiny pool of enemies over and over. Your characters can’t even level up, and there’s no exploration, towns, or even any meaningful gameplay outside of the auto-battles.
And despite the name, virtually nothing in Voice Fantasy evokes the staples associated with the Final Fantasy franchise. At its MSRP of $2.99, we’d tell you to avoid it, because it offers far too little for even that much, but Square Enix has long since delisted this game in 2016. Fortunately, our next entry is thankfully at least a bit more legendary than this one.
The Final Fantasy Legend
Square’s very first million seller was never meant to be a Final Fantasy game in the first place. Similar to how Nintendo dressed up Doki Doki Panic as Super Mario Bros. 2 for western audiences, Square rebranded Makai Toushi Sa・Ga as The Final Fantasy Legend in the west.
The Final Fantasy Legend stars a group of characters created by the player, as they scale a mystical tower in hopes of reaching paradise. As the first game in the SaGa series, The Final Fantasy Legend features a variety of mechanics and quirks that would distinguish it from Final Fantasy, and would later define the general “style” of the SaGa franchise.
For starters, there are three playable races: humans, mutants, and monsters, each with big differences in how they progress. Humans’ stats improve by consuming stat-boosting items, mutants’ stats randomly increase after fights, and monsters change sub-classes by eating meat dropped by enemies.
While The Final Fantasy Legend would spawn two more successors with that name, the SaGa franchise would stand on its own after that point, with the PS1’s SaGa Frontier being the first to retain its original title in the west.
Though not many will feel the need to revisit the archaic Final Fantasy Legend games, the SaGa series as a whole has garnered a dedicated cult following of fans who appreciate how wildly different the series is from your average JRPG.
Final Fantasy Explorers
Sometimes, the success of a game leads to the creation of a whole new subgenre — which is exactly what happened with the Monster Hunter franchise — and in due time, others begin to follow in their footsteps. In Square Enix’s case, Final Fantasy Explorers was their take on the Monster Hunter concept.
This 2016 3DS spinoff features the mission based structure and multiplayer support that’s become a standard of the hunting genre. And, of course, there’s tons of gear to get your hands on, with the game’s core loop being based around getting stronger and stronger through this gear.
This being a Final Fantasy game, though, there’s of course going to be some twists that incorporate the series staples. While the story’s more of an excuse to go around bashing monsters instead of a grand epic, Explorers still features classic Final Fantasy jobs, and to ratchet up the customization even further, abilities can be mixed and matched between different classes. To top it all off, the Trance mechanic can let players temporarily transform into classic Final Fantasy heroes, lending the game some star power.
As promising as all this might seem, Final Fantasy Explorers unfortunately failed to leave a lasting mark on the series history, with critics feeling that the game’s repetitive nature and tedious quests hold back the otherwise solid combat.
Perhaps a Switch or Switch 2 remaster with some quality of life additions might shine a light on this game, especially seeing as the subgenre is more popular than ever.
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
We almost could’ve seen a 3D Final Fantasy V remake in the vein of the DS remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV. Instead, producer Tomoya Asano decided that developer Matrix Software was far too talented to simply put out another remake, and set about creating a new, original game instead.
Released in October 2009 in Japan, and October 2010 for the west, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is a classic-styled turn-based RPG that draws from Final Fantasy III and V for its job system, and Final Fantasy IV for its storytelling.
The plot treads on well-worn ground, and you can guess what it involves since it’s right there in the title: four heroes have to join together and save the world from darkness. These heroes are a bit more of a dysfunctional group of teenagers who spend a good chunk of the game separated, but the story overall is a simple one.
The job system, meanwhile, is rechristened the Crown system, as your characters’ classes are all determined by what headgear they’re wearing. Crowns come with a set of skills and stats, though magic can be used by any job.
Where The 4 Heroes of Light gets a little weird is in its other gameplay mechanics. Unlike most other turn-based RPGs on the planet, your characters can’t pick their targets in battle. Physical attacks always aim for the enemy furthest to the left and front, while magic always aims for enemies furthest to the right and back.
Thanks to this and other design choices — such as a very small inventory per character — The 4 Heroes of Light’s reception ended up being far more mixed. It’s quite telling that the game’s spiritual successor, the Bravely Default series, would discard many of these idiosyncrasies for something more sensible.
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
After the massive success of Final Fantasy X-2, Square became far more receptive to the idea of expanding on existing entries — and what better way to start doing that than with the iconic Final Fantasy VII? The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII has become a massive multimedia franchise that’s still going strong to this day, and you could probably do a video just on that.
These spin-offs have all collectively expanded upon the world and characters of Final Fantasy VII in a variety of ways, but one particular entry stands out for being rather unusual. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, in contrast to the rest of the franchise, is a third person shooter with some RPG elements sprinkled in. Set three years after Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus shifts the focus to Vincent Valentine and an organization known as Deepground.
The shift towards gunplay also means that Dirge of Cerberus streamlines key mechanics. For starters, Vincent’s gear consists solely of his gun, which can be customized as you progress throughout the game. The overall structure is also as linear as you’d expect from a shooter, without much room for exploration.
Unfortunately, despite attempts to polish the game for the western release, which included balance changes and the removal of an online multiplayer mode, Dirge of Cerberus largely failed to stick the landing with critics and fans alike, contributing to the public perception that the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII was more of an over-Complication. But for fans of a certain age, Dirge of Cerberus was probably one of the coolest things ever made back in 2006.
Are shooters not your thing, though? Then perhaps this next Type of Final Fantasy might suit you better.
Final Fantasy Type-0
Final Fantasy Type-0, released in 2011 on the PSP, garnered some hype prior to its western release. It received a near-perfect score from Famitsu in Japan, and those who imported it also had incredibly positive things to say. But not many people have much to say about it these days.
Set in the land of Orience, Type-0 is an action RPG and a gritty war story that doesn’t hesitate to show you how gruesome it can get. It’s the first Final Fantasy game to be rated M in the west, and for good reason. Type-0 also features an ensemble cast of protagonists: a group of elite cadets known as Class Zero. Yes, in between being sent out on dangerous missions, these students also have to juggle classes and training at their academy.
The game’s combat is relatively simple — it’s an action RPG with basic attacks, skills, and magic, with three characters taking the field at a time. Type-0’s twist is its Breaksight and Killsight mechanics, which deal massive damage or outright kills enemies when you attack at the right time.
On paper, Final Fantasy Type-0 is a compelling game. What went wrong when it finally came west as Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, then? Well, for starters, the story ultimately bogged itself down with questionable dialogue and an overemphasis on convoluted mythological elements.
On the technical side of things, Type-0 HD is a mixed bag. Not helping matters was the fact that the game launched with some of the most aggressive motion blur you’ll ever see in a video game, necessitating a patch to tone it down.
Despite these shortcomings, Type-0 was a game full of potential, and a sequel could’ve been amazing if given the chance. The HD remaster even had a secret cutscene teasing a new game. Sadly, because director Hajime Tabata departed Square Enix in 2018, the odds of Type-0 seeing a follow-up are close to zero.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
While other direct sequels to existing Final Fantasy games often released on the same platforms as the originals, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings stands out due to being a DS exclusive.
Released in 2007, this direct sequel trades Final Fantasy XII’s more grounded story of political intrigue for something more fantastical — and in the process, makes Vaan the true main protagonist.
Revenant Wings also swaps out XII’s battle system for a touch-screen focused RTS game. Moving and commanding characters is all done with the DS’s stylus, and combat now features a rock-paper-scissors system where melee units beat ranged units, ranged beats flying units, and flying units beat melee units.
More importantly, Final Fantasy’s classic staple of summoned monsters is given far more prominence here, as characters can summon a large amount of Espers to fill out their team. And while mainline Final Fantasy games feature a smaller pool of iconic summons, Revenant Wings instead features dozens of different Espers to call upon, making them a central part of the combat system.
Though fan reception is a touch more lukewarm than critics, Revenant Wings is a solid game overall, one that sadly missed its chance at a revitalization since it wasn’t included with Final Fantasy XII’s Zodiac Age remaster.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Final Fantasy may be one of the role-playing titans today, but back in 1992, JRPGs didn’t have nearly as strong of a foothold. To even get some games and series in the west, developers often made changes to make their games more palatable for the western audiences at the time. Final Fantasy IV, for example, was made easier in its SNES releases.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest took things one step further, being an entire game made specifically for western audiences. Released in 1992, Mystic Quest was a simple and easy RPG meant to appeal to younger players, and it did so by heavily streamlining virtually everything the genre is known for.
Throughout the entire game, the protagonist — the mundanely named Benjamin — is accompanied by one of four allies. Random encounters are also completely eliminated, as is the world map, which is reduced to linear paths between major areas. And if the player falls in the game’s (rather easy) turn based battles, they can simply retry on the spot, rather than being kicked back to the title screen.
In the end, Square’s efforts with Mystic Quest backfired, as the game failed to leave a lasting mark on Final Fantasy history. Those who played it all agreed that the game went too far in oversimplifying its mechanics and story — though the music was still good. To further the irony, Final Fantasy VI made its debut only two years later, and given its enduring legacy as one of the greatest games of all time, did a much better job at pulling in newcomers to the role-playing genre.
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