 I've been working on this channel a while now, and I've done videos on just about all of the major Super Nintendo role-playing games, like Lufia 1 and 2, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Mario RPG, Earthbound, I've even tackled a ton of Japan only Super Famicom role-playing games, but hell, I'm not even sure I've even mentioned Final Fantasy 4 on this channel before, outside of a couple music compilations. Why is that? It's very simple, the original US localization of Final Fantasy 4, known as Final Fantasy 2 at the time, has a lot of problems. Certain events are censored, there's missing spells, they made the game 100 times easier, the translation is absolutely terrible, really it's to the point that I hardly even see Final Fantasy 4 as a Super Nintendo game, since you're way, way better off playing one of the later releases for Game Boy Advance, PS1 or PSP. I'll give you some examples of what I'm talking about, your main character Cecil has a command called Dark that was removed entirely, I mean if Dark was considered to risk A for Nintendo of America's censorship policies at the time, then you can imagine the amount of other stuff removed, pretty much all references to death are taken out to the point that even a sword hanging over a character held captive is removed, and a spell called Holy was renamed White, you get the idea, it's pretty ridiculous by today's standards. Another problem is that they dumbed down the difficulty here big time, I know role-playing games are usually pretty easy, since all you really have to do is grind and level up your party, well unless you're playing 7th Saga, but yeah, you could cruise through this version in your sleep if you wanted to, that may not be a deal-breaker for some people, but it's just disappointing, I like at least some challenge in a role-playing game. What is a deal-breaker, however, is the translation, which is just laughably bad. First let me give you just to the story, which by the way is very good and very well told in other versions of the game. We start out as Cecil, the noble leader of the Red Wings, no not those Red Wings, creating a village to recover the water crystal, to bring to the king for reasons that have yet to be explained. So Cecil storms into the throne room and wants to know what's going on. Now in one of the many well made fan translations, this being one of the early ones made by J2E, Cecil asks what the hell the kings deal is, and what he wants to do with these crystals. The king responds, so you distrust your own king, Cecil? And Cecil replies, no, I didn't mean that at all. But meanwhile in the original translation that same sequence reads, disobeying me, no I don't. What? Are you serious? Later Cecil is so bothered by this, by burning down villages, not the translation, that he's lying awake in bed lamenting, is it something so necessary that we must take it by force from innocent villagers? Well the original translation has him say, did we really have to snatch it from the peace loving people? I mean this reads like it was written by a fourth grader for God's sake. The newer English patches that have since come may not be perfect, but they are imminently more readable than the original nonsense. Of course I have to mention the most famous line. When you recruit a mage to your party, he's trying to find his daughter who ran off with a bard because, tell her the mage wouldn't consent to their marriage. He eventually finds the guy in a so upset that he fights him, shouting, you Spoonie Bard! This line is so ridiculous and so absurd that even official releases kept the line in as is. I have to admit that's a damn funny line because it's pure nonsense, but my god, that's the kind of crap you have to deal with if you're playing the original game. But yeah, I want to be clear here, these problems are all with the original Super Nintendo US release, because Final Fantasy 4 really is a great freaking game if it's played elsewhere. I want to be clear about that too. With a great story and sound battle mechanics, the kind of stuff you've come to expect from the older Final Fantasy games is just a really well made, fundamentally sound role playing game. Nothing too fancy, just the basic stuff executed really well. Anyway, the story continues with Cecil joining his friend Cain, the captain of the dragoons, who's also wondering what the hell's wrong with the king these days. They're sent to deliver a ring, which of course releases a horde of hideous monsters that destroy the village and allows them to take the next crystal the king needs. In this attack, they find a summoner named Rydia. Cecil and Cain get separated, and Cecil feels compelled to take responsibility for his actions and guard this young woman's life. There's also Cecil's love interest, Rosa, who's very sick and you have to look for a cure for her. And it goes on from there, finding new characters with their own problems that eventually join your party and all that. The red wings get a new leader, who's this ruthless dude named Golbez, and everything is essentially centered around a theme of redemption, as Cecil looks to make up for his previous wrongdoings. What I like is when Cecil shows up in certain towns, the people that actually remember you as this awful village wrecking asshole and treat you as such, so that's a really nice touch. The battle system featured some innovative stuff for the time, like active real-time battles instead of turn-based, but that's kind of old hat now. This is the usual Final Fantasy stuff with summoners, ninjas, and mages that can use black or white magic. There's 12 playable characters with up to five that can be in your party at once, and some have special abilities that might remind you of something out of Final Fantasy VI, like Edge's ability to steal. Two other things about the Super Nintendo version that I have to mention, number one is the visuals. I mean, if the translation wasn't enough evidence for you that this game was rushed out the door as quickly as possible, then the graphics are another hint, because this game essentially looks like a slightly beefed-up NES title. Some enemies and bosses look pretty cool, but overall it's pretty weak. What makes up for it, though, is the music. Final Fantasy IV, along with Actraiser, were the two early SNES games that had that huge orchestral soundtrack that makes the game sound like such a huge deal. It really adds to the experience, especially the opening track when you're flying around as the leader of the Red Wings. So yeah, is Final Fantasy IV worth playing today? For the original US release on Super Nintendo, if you just play that as is, I'd say no way. It's just too flawed. If you're going to play that version, it's gotta be with a fan translation patch through emulation or on a Retron 5 kind of device, and there are tons of patches to choose from. Some increase the difficulty, some add features like a dash button, but really, if you want to experience Final Fantasy IV at its peak, you gotta play the PSP version. Sorry I can't really get any footage of it here, but I can definitely say it's the best realized version of the game. I recommend checking out H.C. Billy's Let's Play on it if you're curious. Anyway, to sum up, skip the original Final Fantasy IV cartridge. If you insist on playing it, play it with a patch. Otherwise just play the PSP version. Or hell, you can't go wrong with the Game Boy Advance or PS1 or the DS versions either. Anyway, you go about it, Final Fantasy IV is a well-told story featuring an incredible soundtrack with the solid traditional Final Fantasy battle mechanics you've come to expect.