Final Fantasy VI version differences

The following is a list of version differences between the various ports of Final Fantasy VI.

Super Nintendo

 * The Japanese game was translated into English by Ted Woolsey. The translation featured some changes, such as Tina to Terra (as Terra sounds more exotic to the English audience) and Holy to Pearl (for censorship).
 * Many sprites were censored. Overly revealing sprites, such as Siren, Lakshmi (Starlet), Alluring Rider, Chadarnook (woman), Goddess, Power (Hit), Magic, Lady (Girl), and another untargettable part on the final boss, were censored. The smoke for Misty and her palette-swaps were removed.
 * The party members had titles similar to jobs shown next to their names in the main menu, but this was removed.
 * The ability to rename Cyan's Bushido techniques was removed.
 * When equipping weapons, armor or relics in the Japanese version, it showed the quantity left. This was removed due to the space limitation for equipment names.
 * Gil was called GP.
 * The original title screen was changed to simply say Final Fantasy III with no image of Terra on Magitek armor between "Final" and "Fantasy." The logo also had its font changed.
 * There was also a simple black and white Final Fantasy III logo added at start up.
 * All pub signs were censored to cafe signs.
 * The Silence spell's graphic was changed from kanji to large English text (MUTE).

North America

 * Uses all uncensored sprites from the original Japanese release.
 * Contains over eight minutes of newly created FMV sequences.
 * Some changes to the SNES translation: Vicks is renamed "Biggs", and various other minor changes, such as enemies and enemy abilities having slightly different names. Translation is also slightly altered, one example being when Shadow is found in the Cave on the Veldt, the party leader will say "him" instead of "her" like it did in the SNES release.
 * Some bugs and glitches are fixed.
 * A bestiary and artwork gallery are added.
 * The game suffers from some slowdown.
 * The original Final Fantasy VI logo restored on the title screen.
 * Features a dash by holding down a button as if the player had Sprint Shoes equipped. The effect of combining the Sprint Shoes and dash grants very fast movement.
 * The battle transitions for the world map and dungeons are replaced with a single transition in which the screen blurs and pulls apart.

Europe

 * All changes found in North American release.
 * Slowdown fixed.

North America

 * This version has an entirely new translation more faithful to the original Japanese script, but retains several lines from Ted Woolsey's English translation that were popular among fans.
 * Two new dungeons are added: the Dragons' Den and the Soul Shrine. The former contains stronger versions of the eight legendary dragons, among other bosses, and a new ultimate weapon for all party members who equip weapons, while Gau gets a new helmet and Umaro gets a new relic. Two superbosses were added: Kaiser Dragon and Omega Weapon.
 * Four new espers were added: Leviathan, Gilgamesh, Cactuar and Diabolos.
 * The game has a lighter color palette. As a result some enemies appear to be entirely different colors.
 * Siren sprite was re-censored, but not as much as in the SNES release.
 * Chadarnook Goddess sprite was re-censored, censoring the same areas but not the same as the SNES sprite.
 * All playable characters, including temporary ones, have their menu portraits displayed in the text box when they speak. Emperor Gestahl, Kefka and Cid also have portraits. Terra has a portrait for her esper form that was left out of the game's PlayStation release, but is now shown when she speaks in esper form.
 * Party members have titles similar to jobs shown next to their names in the menu.
 * Some lag during battle when larger attack effects occur, causing desynchronization between the sound and graphics for the attack duration. There is also some lag when flying the airship.
 * Party sprites on the overworld map are askew to the left, but this is only a graphical error.
 * The screen position, and in some cases, the animation of sprites, is different during some cutscenes to accommodate the Game Boy Advance's smaller screen. In some enemy formations the enemy sprites are positioned differently for the same reason.
 * Largely because of the small size of the screen, some characters during cutscenes are shown to actually move when the scene transitions when they originally had either limited movement or otherwise didn't move at all. A notable example of this is during Terra's flashback to Emperor Gestahl's war speech: Originally, Terra had been motionless and stayed near the Magitek Armor due to not being motioned to join in salute to Emperor Gestahl, but in the GBA version she moves in close to the top generals, although still doesn't join them in saluting.
 * During the scene where Locke sees Celes imprisoned in South Figaro, she is no longer being beaten by the guards and they merely taunt her. The censoring of Celes's beating isn't from the localization; this censored scene was also present in the Japanese Advance version. The scene where Celes is being tortured by the Empire was removed because the original Final Fantasy VI was created before the Japanese ratings board, CERO, existed. Violence is rated strictly in Japan, and Square wanted a CERO A rating for the Game Boy Advance version, which would have been impossible if a game depicts violence against a restrained human.
 * Several glitches and bugs are fixed, but not all. New bugs specifically for this version appear.
 * A bestiary that can be access through the config option in the main menu.
 * The Missile Bay was recolored dark red.
 * A new font was used for the text.
 * Quick's spell effect could be used indefinitely as long as the character had enough MP to cast the spell before their turn ran out, but this was changed for the GBA version: if the player attempts to recast Quick during one of their two extra turns, it will automatically miss to prevent continuing one's turn indefinitely.
 * Both Behemoth Kings (Alive and Undead) are encountered on the Veldt; originally, only the undead version appeared.
 * Some of the English translation changes made by Tom Slattery in the game script include, Locke saying "Dammit" instead of "Nuts", the "Epee" sword being changed to "Bastard Sword", Kefka calling Edgar "son of a sandworm" instead of "son of a submariner", the "Doom" spell being changed to "Death", "Doom Gaze" to "Deathgaze" and "Pearl" spell to "Holy", are examples of English translation changes made.

Europe

 * Celes Chere's name is written as "Celes Chère" in the credits.
 * Keyboard layout is changed when asked to type in a character's name, with added letters/accents.

iOS/Android

 * Lacks FMV sequences that were added to the PlayStation version.
 * The game's translation is the same as of the GBA's translation.
 * All the censored content were reverted to their original state, except for Siren and Goddess sprites, and the Celes torturing scene.
 * An auto-battle function is added, with the intention of making grinding less of an issue.
 * There's no run button, but the character can move diagonally. In the config menu, one can turn off the 8-way-controls and set it to the traditional 4-way. With the Sprint Shoes relic, one can still tap a button to dash.
 * The menu system in battles has been revamped. The character options slowly rise up as the ATB gauge fills, allowing the player to use the right character at the right time without having to hit a button to rotate through the party. The battle system can be changed back to the traditional style, where the characters have a visual ATB bar and once an ATB bar is filled, that character's commands will be shown in full, and can be rotated by tapping on another character's portrait.
 * The Magic command in battle was also revamped; magic can no longer be rearranged depending on the type of the spells, but instead they were rearranged into tabs, representing healing (a white circle icon), attack (a black circle icon) and effect (a gray circle icon). Each tab only holds spells of the same kind. Among them is a magicite tab that can be used to summon espers.
 * Sabin's Blitz commands and Cyan's Bushido commands are given new unique inputs compared to older versions, based on touch commands as opposed to buttons. Cyan's Bushido commands no longer needs to be charged up manually, as a player may select the Bushido level and wait for Cyan to charge it up while the player gives commands to other party members, while Sabin's Blitz has only the arrow buttons instead of arrow buttons and the shoulder buttons. Blitz can also be cancelled in order to reattempt a Blitz or give another command.
 * Like the other mobile remakes, there is an indicator to signal that a character can interact with objects and people.
 * Relics do not have their own menu, instead they can be equipped and removed from the Equip menu alongside weapons and armor.
 * In the menu, the player can play the entire soundtrack at any time, unlike in the mobile version of Final Fantasy V, in which the soundtrack can only be unlocked after beating the game once.
 * The Album is a new feature accessible for the menu that chronicles the game's moments, allowing the player to catch up on the story.
 * Achievements have been added to non-Amazon Appstore versions.
 * The game quicksaves automatically after battles and each time the player moves to a different area like the other mobile ports do. That also means that if one accidentally levels up with the wrong esper equipped, the player can get a do-over.
 * The music is of the original SNES version quality.
 * The in-game sprites and menu portraits have been remade by Kazuko Shibuya, who also made the original sprites for Final Fantasy VI. The menu portraits are based on the original portraits, which in turn were based on Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations. The in-game sprites appear to be made after the Final Fantasy V iOS/Android sprites and Kazuko Shibuya's character artworks. This leads to some perspective clashes as the original Final Fantasy V battle sprites were meant to be viewed from the side, whereas the original Final Fantasy VI sprites had more of a top-down perspective for a more in-depth look.
 * In the previous versions of Final Fantasy VI, shields did not have a set appearance. The shield's color depended on the palette of the spell being blocked. This no longer occurs since all shields are the same color regardless of what type of attacks are being blocked.
 * In the world map, towns, castles, and towers are 3D objects.
 * The battle backgrounds were re-made, and the sprites of enemies are higher resolution versions of the older sprites.
 * Optional hints are displayed on top of the screen telling the player what to do next. Due to the nonlinear nature of the World of Ruin quests, this feature will suggest either meeting the remaining party members, or going to Kefka's Tower, until there are no more party members to be met, in which case it will only hint about going to Kefka's Tower. Said hints are annotated by a moogle.
 * The world map also marks the next place to go to to advance the story.
 * A help section is added, requiring an internet connection to load unlike the built-in help sections in the Android/iOS ports of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V.
 * Cloud saving.

PC

 * Based on the Android version.
 * Updated controls and active-time battle system are optimized for fluid combat for PC.
 * Steam trading cards and achievements.
 * Customizable keyboard and controller mappings.