Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV is the fourth game in the Final Fantasy series. Originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the game has been subsequently re-released for the PlayStation, the WonderSwan Color, the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, the PlayStation Portable, iOS and Android.

It was originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II. This altered numbering system caused the game Final Fantasy VI to be numbered Final Fantasy III, leading to quite a bit of confusion when the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII (which retained the number VII outside Japan) came out. A sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, was released for Japanese mobile phones in February 2008. The sequel was released via WiiWare in the US on June 1, 2009, and is included in Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection for the PlayStation Portable.

The 3D remake was released for Steam on September 17, 2014.

Gameplay
Characters traverse an overworld to fulfill requirements of various quests, using towns to replenish strength, buy new equipment, and discover clues, all the while fighting monsters at random intervals. The game introduces the Active Time Battle (ATB) system to the series, which differs from previous Final Fantasy games in that players must give orders to their characters in real-time. The ATB system would reappear in the next five games in the series, as well as making appearances in other games produced by Square Co., Ltd., including Chrono Trigger.

In battle, the player controls a party with up to five characters, making Final Fantasy IV the first and the only Final Fantasy in the main series where four party members is not the maximum capacity. Each character has certain strengths and weaknesses, including either spellcasting powers or other special abilities, based on their job. Like other Final Fantasy games, characters gain in abilities as they gain experience from battles. Magic is divided into four categories, which include White Magic, Black Magic, Rydia's Summon Magic ("Call" in the SNES version), and a special type of offensive and support magic used exclusively by Edge known as Ninjutsu.

Of note is the extensive use of "retort" attacks the enemies use; many enemies will immediately counterattack when attacked under certain conditions. Examples include the Behemoth, the Antlion, and the final boss. Dealing with these enemies requires a variety of strategies, including avoiding using attacks that trigger a counter, using disabling status effects to prevent counters, or using attacks that can kill the enemy in a single hit. This feature was not used as extensively in later Final Fantasy games.

Character shuffling was a major problem in Final Fantasy IV; the player could cycle through the entire party twice before having the ability to select the specific character one wanted to use. This shuffling was not necessarily caused by the ATB gauge; even with the character's gauge full, one might still need to cycle through the party twice before being able to use the character.

Spell casters, which account for eight of the twelve playable characters (Kain, Edward, Yang and Cid cannot use magic), gain magic spells at preprogrammed experience levels or fixed events in the story; for this reason Final Fantasy IV's ability development system is considered the simplest in the series. This makes it similar to the way spell casters gain spells in Dungeons &amp; Dragons, as opposed to the purchasing of spells in the original Final Fantasy.

Unlike the original Final Fantasy, almost no time is needed to gain enough levels or experience to advance to the game's next area; the game is more evenly paced out so that the player can simply go to the next area as long as the party does not escape from the majority of random encounters. Another new addition to the series is save points, which have become a staple feature since.

Characters
Final Fantasy IV features twelve playable characters, with Cecil as the main protagonist and the only permanent party member. The characters join and leave the party as dictated by the story.
 * Cecil Harvey - The story's main protagonist. Initially a Dark Knight and captain of the Red Wings of Baron, Cecil begins to question his King's motives, which gradually sets off a chain of events that leads him on the path to righteousness.
 * Kain Highwind - The commander of the Baron Dragoons, and Cecil and Rosa's childhood friend. With a rivalry with Cecil and unrequited feelings for Rosa, Kain succumbs to the forces of Golbez's side, making his comrades' trust in him waver.
 * Rydia - A young Summoner whose village, Mist, is unintentionally destroyed by Cecil and Kain under their King's orders. Cecil's need to protect her and gain her forgiveness earns him a formidable ally on his quest.
 * Tellah - An elderly Sage driven to exact revenge against Golbez following the death of his daughter, Anna.
 * Edward Chris von Muir - The Prince of Damcyan, who lost his family and his beloved Anna to Golbez's attack on his kingdom. A cowardly Bard, he wants to help Cecil in whatever ways he can and is gradually inspired to become more courageous.
 * Rosa Joanna Farrell - A White Mage and Archer from Baron, her feelings towards Cecil have grown beyond friendship.
 * Yang Fang Leiden - The Grandmaster of the Monks of Fabul. He aids Cecil on behalf of his kingdom.
 * Palom - A young Black Mage in training from Mysidia. He and his twin sister Porom join Cecil on his journey after being sent to accompany him up Mount Ordeals.
 * Porom - A young White Mage in training from Mysidia. She and her twin brother Palom join Cecil on his journey after being sent to accompany him up Mount Ordeals.
 * Cid Pollendina - A master engineer who designed various airships for the Red Wings, and is a father figure to Cecil, Kain and Rosa. His airship, the Enterprise, is one airship used by the party to travel around the world.
 * Edge Geraldine - The Prince of Eblan and a skilled Ninja. He is quick to act on his emotions, but his strong sense of justice still prevails.
 * Fusoya - A Lunarian from the Red Moon, he sheds some light on Cecil and Golbez's true origins and the conflict that has threatened the Blue Planet's peace.

Story
The Kingdom of Baron has begun an unprovoked military campaign against other countries. Lord Captain Cecil Harvey and the Red Wings air force attack the wizards' town, Mysidia, and seize the Water Crystal. Deeply disturbed by his actions, Cecil asks the King why he is being given such orders. The king strips Cecil of his rank and when Cecil's friend Kain Highwind speaks up for him, the king orders them both to Mist to kill its Eidolon and deliver a Carnelian Signet. Cecil's love Rosa Joanna Farrell and old friend Cid Pollendina try to assuage his self-loathing before he departs, although they too are disturbed by Baron's actions.

Cecil and Kain fight their way through the Mist Cave and defeat the dragon eidolon that guards the exit. When they arrive in the village, the Carnelian Signet releases Bombs which raze the buildings and kill most of the inhabitants. They find a young girl named Rydia mourning her mother, the dragon's summoner, who was killed by the death of the Eidolon. The two men are horrified that they were sent to slaughter a town and resolve to oppose Baron. When Cecil apologizes to the girl and tries to take her to safety, Rydia is enraged and summons Titan. When the earthquake stops, Kain is gone and Rydia is unconscious.

Cecil brings Rydia to Kaipo, the nearest town. Baronian soldiers arrive during the night to kill Rydia, but Cecil fights them off and earns her trust. The next day they find that Rosa followed Cecil to the town and came down with Desert Fever. As the only cure is a Sand Pearl from Damcyan, Cecil and Rydia set off in that direction. They team up with the sage Tellah in the Underground Waterway, as he is also going to Damcyan in pursuit of his daughter Anna and the bard she eloped with. The three of them witness the Red Wings bomb the castle and seize the Fire Crystal.

Inside, they meet the bard, actually Prince Edward Chris von Muir, and Anna, who is mortally wounded. Anna stops her father from attacking Edward and dies in his arms. Edward explains that she shielded him from the attack, which also killed his parents and most of the castle, and that the Red Wings are now led by a man named Golbez. Enraged, Tellah leaves to seek revenge. Although Edward is paralyzed by grief, Rydia and Cecil berate him and Edward agrees to help them find the Sand Pearl. They go to the Antlion's Den and defeat the owner, obtaining the needed item.

The pearl cures Rosa and she informs them that Baron is planning to attack Fabul for the Crystal of Wind. She joins the party despite Cecil's protests and they set off. When they cross Mount Hobs, they meet a Fabul monk named Yang Fang Leiden. Together, they warn the King of Fabul of the impending attack and prepare a defense. However, the Red Wings' assault is too strong and they are driven back to the crystal room, where Kain appears and attacks Cecil. When Rosa makes him hesitate, Golbez arrives and incapacitates all of the defenders. Seeing Cecil's concern for Rosa, Golbez abducts her and departs with his forces.

Cecil, Rydia, Edward, and Yang immediately go after them. Their ship is attacked by the sea monster Leviathan, which swallows Rydia and shipwrecks Cecil alone on the shores of Mysidia. The townspeople are hostile and inflict various status effects on him in revenge for the Red Wings' attack. Cecil meets with the Elder, who tells him to go to Mount Ordeals and become a Paladin to atone for his crimes. He assigns twin mages Palom and Porom to accompany him.

The party reunites with Tellah on the mountain, as he is there seeking the power of Meteor. Golbez sends the Archfiend of Earth, Scarmiglione, to stop Cecil, but the party defeats him. A mysterious voice at the summit calls Cecil his son and tells him to vanquish the dark knight. Cecil transforms into a Paladin and is attacked by a doppelganger of his dark knight self, but he correctly defends rather than attacking and it disappears. The voice of his father grants Cecil his light. The encounter also restores Tellah's memory and he learns Meteor. The Elder gives Cecil the Mythgraven Blade and tells him the Mysidian Legend, believing it speaks of Cecil.

Cecil and the others now infiltrate Baron via the Devil's Road. Golbez has manipulated the soldiers of Baron and the "king" is revealed to be Cagnazzo, the Elemental Archfiend of Water. Yang has also been brainwashed, but a fight brings him back to his senses and he rejoins the party. They destroy the traitorous Baigan and the false king, but Cagnazzo locks them in a deathtrap. Palom and Porom petrify themselves to stop the walls from crushing the others and cannot be restored. Cid, who escaped imprisonment and joined the party in battle, gives them his newest airship: the Enterprise.

They encounter the brainwashed Kain in the Red Wing fleet, who forces Cecil to retrieve the Crystal of Earth in exchange for Rosa's life. The party goes to Troia, but find that the crystal was stolen by the Dark Elf. They also find Edward in the Troians' care, having been severely injured in the shipwreck. He gives them a Whisperweed and uses it to help them defeat the Dark Elf from the hospital, despite his condition. In gratitude, the Epopts allow Cecil to borrow the crystal.

Cecil immediately takes it to the Tower of Zot and they fight their way past the Magus Sisters to the top. Cecil gives Golbez the Crystal unquestioningly, but Golbez refuses to return Rosa. Tellah steps forward and casts the Meteor spell to avenge Anna, and while it does not kill Golbez, it does break his hold on Kain. Golbez cannot bring himself to kill Cecil and retreats. Tellah dies from the power of the spell, lamenting that he died for revenge before asking Cecil to avenge his death. They free Rosa, and she and Cecil share a kiss before welcoming the remorseful Kain back into the party. They defeat Barbariccia, Archfiend of Wind, and Rosa teleports them back to Baron as the tower collapses.

Kain tells them that Golbez is seeking the four Dark Crystals to open the "way to the moon". Using the Magma Stone that Golbez gave Kain, the party opens the way underground in Agart. The Enterprise ends up in the middle of a battle between the dwarves and the Red Wings and crash near the Dwarven Castle. Although King Giott says his crystal is safe, the party finds the Calcabrina dolls belonging to Princess Luca are possessed. After they defeat the dolls, Golbez arrives and incapacitates them. Before he can finish them off, Rydia returns and saves them, having aged to adulthood and gained new summons in the Feymarch. Golbez uses the last of his strength to steal the crystal and escape.

King Giott tells the party to go to the Tower of Babil and recover the seven stolen crystals with the help of the dwarven tanks. Cecil and company best the evil Dr. Lugae but are unable to stop the Tower's cannons from shelling the dwarves. Yang forces them all out of the control room and sacrifices himself to destroy the artillery. Golbez attempts to kill the rest of them on the way out of the tower by removing a bridge, but Cid saves them with the Enterprise. They come under attack by the Red Wings, so Cid flies back to the Agart entrance and jumps off to collapse it by hand-detonating a bomb.

A short stop in Baron has Cid's engineers upgrade the airship so it can carry the hovercraft. The party uses this to reach the Eblan Cave after finding Eblan itself deserted. There, they meet Prince Edge Geraldine as he fails to defeat Rubicante, the Archfiend of Fire. Although he is testy at first, he joins them. They enter Babil via its cave entrance and find Edge's parents, the King and Queen, but Lugae has turned them into monsters. They regain their senses halfway through the fight and kill themselves, to Edge's sorrow. Although Rubicante claims to have no hand in it, Edge swears revenge and the party attacks. Rubicante retreats and the party finds the Crystals in another room, but a trapdoor opens and they fall into another airship. They immediately seize it and name it the Falcon. Cid, who was rescued by the dwarves, adds mythril plating so it can fly over lava. King Giott gives them the key to the Sealed Cave so they can save the last crystal.

As soon as the party takes the Crystal, Golbez reasserts control over Kain and forces him to steal it. Giott says that the only way to stop Golbez now would be with the legendary Lunar Whale. Cid attaches a drill to the Falcon so the party can return to the surface. Along the way they visit the Feymarch, land of Eidolons, and gain the powers of Leviathan and Asura. They also find Yang recovering in the Sylph Cave and revive him with a frying pan given to them by his wife Sheila. On the surfaces, they find King Baron's spirit as the eidolon Odin in Baron Castle.

The party goes to Mysidia, where the Elder gathers everyone at the Tower of Prayers to summon the Lunar Whale, an airship capable of reaching the moon, from the ocean. Cecil and the others take it and leave Earth.

They meet Fusoya in the Crystal Palace; he is a Lunarian charged with watching over the rest of his race as they sleep. He explains that they once tried to colonize the Blue Planet, but decided to live on the moon until they could live in peace with humans. One Lunarian named Zemus disagreed and wanted to take the planet; though he was restrained, he was still able to manipulate people on the Blue Planet such as Golbez. Zemus's goal is to activate the Giant of Babil to wipe out the world's population. Fusoya also reveals that his younger brother, Kluya, went to the Blue Planet to teach the natives and fathered two sons, one of whom is Cecil.

Accompanied by Fusoya, who can neutralize the Giant of Babil's force field, Cecil returns to the Blue Planet to find the giant revived. The entire world—including former party members Edward, Cid, Yang, Palom and Porom—participates in the counterattack. After using Cid's airship to break into the giant, the party defeats the Archfiends one after the other, and destroys the CPU. When the giant stops, Golbez confronts the party intent on destroying them. Fusoya breaks Zemus's mind control, and Golbez remembers that he is Cecil's older brother. After humans killed Kluya and Cecilia died in childbirth, Zemus manipulated the vulnerable child Theodor and turned him into Golbez. He and Fusoya leave the others for the Moon, intending to defeat Zemus themselves.

Kain, now completely freed, returns and helps the others escape from the collapsing Giant. Although he feels unworthy for his part in Zemus's schemes, Cecil and Rosa assure him that he is forgiven. As they prepare to depart for the Moon on the Lunar Whale, Cecil insists that Rosa and Rydia stay behind. Though they apparently leave, they reveal themselves once the ship reaches the Moon and remind Cecil that they have as much a stake in the battle as he does, and that their skills are essential to the party.

The Crystals of the Moon transport the party to the Lunar Subterrane, which they traverse to the Lunar Core. There they find Fusoya and Golbez. Cecil and the others watch Golbez and Fusoya defeat Zemus, but his death unleashes a more powerful being named Zeromus, the embodiment of Zemus's reborn spirit and hatred. Zeromus defeats Golbez and Fusoya, then attacks the rest of Cecil's party. Their former allies gather at the Tower of Prayers to restore them to life, and Cecil uses a Crystal given to him by Golbez to make Zeromus vulnerable.

After Zeromus's defeat, Fusoya returns to sleep with the rest of his people. Golbez, feeling that he cannot return to the Earth after what he has done, and being half Lunarian himself, goes with him. Cecil finally forgives him and calls him brother. Later, the moon heads off into space, and many of the characters return to their homes, several in order to rebuild them. Edward becomes King of Damcyan, Edge becomes King of Eblan, and Yang and Sheila become the new King and Queen of Fabul. Kain goes to Mount Ordeals to train himself, vowing not to return to Baron until he has proven himself worthy. Everyone but Kain attends Cecil and Rosa's wedding and coronation as King and Queen of Baron.

Music
The music for Final Fantasy IV was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Final Fantasy IV was a big development in terms of music because up until then the games had one piece music per map, but for Final Fantasy IV, they focused on how to make the game more emotional and to have the music play at the right timing.

Development
After Final Fantasy III was finished the team started Final Fantasy IV with the idea of a slightly more action-based, dynamic overworld rather than keeping combat as a separate thing, but the project wound up "not being IV anymore" and was eventually released as Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana).

The idea behind creating Final Fantasy IV was to create an "ultimate Final Fantasy game", one that would compile the good aspects of the previous three installments. The story-driven aspect is taken from Final Fantasy II, and the job change elements are taken from the original Final Fantasy and from Final Fantasy III. The team wanted to balance the two aspects, ending up with what became Final Fantasy IV.

Up until then RPGs tended to have a map, a dungeon, a castle, and boss battles, and the player progressed back and forth between gameplay and boss battles. The idea for Final Fantasy IV was to approach it from a movie editing perspective to create a more dramatic, story-driven game. By minimizing player confusion as to where to go next in the game, the developers elevated the story-driven impact.

Making Final Fantasy IV a story-driven game lead to decreased level of party customization compared to the previous entries to the series. By adding the Active Time Battle system, the goal was to mitigate this. The Active Time Battle system, new for Final Fantasy IV, was created by Hiroyuki Ito who felt that battles in JRPGs would eventually be done in real time. To create a battle system as close to real time as was possible at the time, Active Time Battle system was born. Itō felt that too many action elements would alienate users and the theme he came up with was an action-like game without reflex action elements.

One thing Ito had in mind was automatic transmissions in cars, as opposed to a stick, but even if processes are automatic, the player has to have something to do, lest they get bored. At the time, there was a shift going on in Formula One racing where semi-automatic transmissions were introduced. From this, the concept where character speed would differ depending on the type of character was coined. With this system the team could implement an action game type of gimmick where enemies will change shape, or fight as a wall closing in—this was a new kind of enemy structure that hadn't appeared in a Final Fantasy game before.

Ito felt that by implementing that kind of system would give people the illusion that they're doing more to drive the action than what might actually be happening, because of a lot of the processes are automatic. Since Final Fantasy IV Active Time Battles became the series' staple battle system and evolved to become more complex and player-friendly. Itō felt the system in Final Fantasy IV wasn't yet complete. In Final Fantasy IV the charge time for actions depends on the strength of the spell being cast, but this feature was scrapped for subsequent installments to the Final Fantasy series, because the developers didn't want long waiting times, and so in the future the goal was to create a balance between physical and magical abilities.

Final Fantasy IV has been released in a variety of different versions for a variety of different platforms. All versions tell the same story, and feature the same characters. Most use the same graphics, sound, music and basic game engine (the DS version being a notable exception). Nonetheless, there are certain key distinctions between each version.

J2e
Because of the differences between the North American SNES version and the original Japanese release, in the late 1990s, J2e Translations released an English language fan translation of the original game.

This version is identical to the original in terms of game content and mechanics, however, many bizarre and humorous script changes were made in addition to the translation from Japanese. Being an unofficial fan translation and therefore not subject to copyright and censorship laws, this version includes various references to pop culture, such as William Shatner and Penthouse Magazine, and several off-color lines—most of them uttered by Edge. Many gamers find this translation work to be a strong example of poor fan translation.

Easy Type
The original Final Fantasy IV was altered in several regards to reduce the difficulty level for Final Fantasy IV Easy Type, a version exclusive to Japan. Various spells, abilities and items were removed or altered, shop prices were lowered, and other tweaks to make the game easy were put in place. Many enemies, attacks and items were renamed.

It is often thought the original North American translation was a translation of Easy Type, but the translated version was developed before Easy Type, and the difficulty is reduced further in Easy Type than in the North American version. This leads to speculation that Easy Type was based on the North American Final Fantasy II rather than vice versa.

Another aspect Easy Type changed is some of the text was simplified to make it easier for younger Japanese players to read and to help bring the point of certain comments across more clearly. For example, when Palom clears the fire on Mt. Ordeals with his Blizzard spell and brags about it, Porom reminds him that the Elder of Mysidia taught them they shouldn't be haughty. The word for "haughty" was replaced with the word for "arrogant", as "haughty" is not a common word in an average child's vocabulary.

Final Fantasy II (North America)
Final Fantasy IV Easy Type is roughly similar to the game released in North America, but the game lost some content to censorship and poor translation when localized. References to religious imagery and names were removed, violence and death were toned down or removed entirely, and various names were changed in all aspects of the game.

Square did not have much of a localization team set up for the project, which made the localization a rocky one, such as the team working till late rewriting the text the best they could without ever having played the game. This led to Square wanting to set up a proper localization team to oversee future localization projects, and to translate the game text and manual.

This version was developed in North America and Takashi Tokita has later recalled the troubles they had developing a game overseas during a time with no Internet. The team copied everything onto disc, but when Tokita arrived at the States he had left it behind in Japan and it had to be sent over on a later day. After the work was finished it took around a two or three-month manufacturing process to have all the ROMs created.

The reason for making the U.S. version easier was because Japan already had three Final Fantasy games whereas the first Final Fantasy was the only one released in the States. Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III had experimental elements and so it was thought a challenge for U.S. players to dive straight into Final Fantasy IV. It was decided to balance it out by presenting Final Fantasy IV as a follow-up to the first Final Fantasy, and thus it was simplified and named Final Fantasy II. This change was also made with the younger players in mind.

Ports and remakes
Final Fantasy IV was the third Final Fantasy game to be remade.

PlayStation
The PlayStation re-release, as a collection of games called Final Fantasy Chronicles alongside Chrono Trigger, is very similar to the original version of Final Fantasy IV. Some minor tweaks introduced in Final Fantasy IV Easy Type have been left in, but these are so rare the average gamer could easily play through the entire game and never notice them. The most notable change in the PlayStation release, as it was in the games within Final Fantasy Anthology, is the inclusion of a full motion video opening sequence, the ability to "run" in dungeons and towns by holding the Cancel button, and the ability to perform a "memo" save anywhere on the World Map. This save would remain active in the PlayStation's RAM until it is overwritten by another such save, or the power is turned off or interrupted. Unlike the Anthology remakes, though, the PSOne re-release retains the "zoom in" and "pixel" battle scene transitions when a random encounter triggers.

The North American and European localization of Final Fantasy IV PlayStation features an entirely rewritten translation, which addresses most of the discrepancies between the original game and the SNES Final Fantasy II. However, certain sections, such as the line "You Spoony Bard!", were kept intact, as many of them had achieved cult status.

Currently, this is the only PS1 remake of a console Final Fantasy game that has yet to be released on the U.S. PlayStation 3's PlayStation Store as a PS1 Classic (it is available on the Japanese store).

WonderSwan Color
The WonderSwan Color version of Final Fantasy IV lacks the FMVs of the PlayStation version, has decreased screen resolution, and down-sampled music and sound effects to meet the specifications of the device.

However, a number of graphical enhancements were made to character sprites and backgrounds by providing additional details and color shading. The original character portraits were replaced with new, smaller portraits. Also, certain boss sprites were changed to those featured in the Japanese Easy Type version of the Super Famicom game.

The game featured revamped difficulty different from both the original and the Easy Type versions.

Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance port was released in North America on December 12, 2005, while the Japanese version was released on December 15, 2005. The Japanese version came with a bonus addition of a themed face plate for the Game Boy Micro which features Yoshitaka Amano artwork of Cecil and Kain. The game is largely based on the WonderSwan Color version. Some changes include the addition of character portraits in text boxes, the ability to switch party members, increased difficulty, and new dungeons with new items and weapons along with new bosses. The script received a re-translation more faithful to the original material. The Quicksave, which allows the player to save the current position (regardless of where) in a file that is deleted upon loading, is featured.

Some minor bugs were introduced, notably in the battle system, possibly as a result of merely porting the game from an existing platform instead of fully optimizing the game for the Game Boy Advance hardware. Examples include party members' turns being skipped and randomly being given two (or, less frequently, more) turns in a row for a single character. There is also some jerkiness while flying airships (more so when going left and right than up and down) and during menu navigation (in and out of battle). The latter makes it less effective to select spells or weapons during fast-paced Active Mode battles. Furthermore, some minor "artistic license" was taken with the soundtrack (the Tower of Babil and Sylph Cave/Summoned Monster Cave themes each have one altered note). Minor lag during boss battles is present. The North American and Australian version of the game has a debug room.

In Japan, a second version of the game was released which corrected most, if not all, of the bugs and problems. The European version of the game derives from the second Japanese version, which makes it the only English release of the improved version.

Nintendo DS
Final Fantasy IV was released for the Nintendo DS as part of the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary campaign. The game was developed by Matrix Software, the team responsible for the Final Fantasy III remake, and was supervised by members of the original development team: Takashi Tokita serves as executive producer, Tomoya Asano as producer, Hiroyuki Itō as battle designer. Animator Yoshinori Kanada storyboarded the new cutscenes. The game was released in North America on July 22, 2008.

According to executive producer Takashi Tokita (scenario writer of the original release), 3/4 of the original script had been cut from the Super Famicom release, but some of this lost material was reworked into the remake, while some new events were added. The player has the ability to use the Nintendo DS stylus to move around similarly to the Final Fantasy III remake, while the new minigames require use of the stylus.

The game features an ability system, which adds a degree of replay to the game, as well as a New Game Plus feature and the Quicksave, which allows the player to save the current position (regardless of where) in a file that is deleted upon loading. An "Auto-Battle" system allows the player to leave the parties' battle actions up to commands set in the Abilities menu outside of battle.

In June 2007, Square Enix held a casting for a vocalist to sing a version of Final Fantasy IV's "Theme of Love" rearranged by Nobuo Uematsu. It also used a voice cast for the game's cinematic sequences. Some changes and additions to the Nintendo DS release include the introduction of a new ability system called Augments, increased difficulty level with new enemy attack scripts and increased enemy stats, changes to the equipment system, the summon Whyt, which makes use of the DS touch screen, and the aforementioned New Game Plus. With the DS version the team wanted to appeal to the old users; if the game was too easy there wouldn't be much play value to older fans, so the difficulty level was ramped up to appeal to both new and old players.

Square's original plan for the English version of the DS game was to use the Game Boy Advance version's script, and only touch it up a little. Tom Slattery, the translator, put forward the idea of doing a whole new script from scratch, offering to do it in the span of the original schedule. Square approved and ended up expanding the schedule so Slattery could finish the new script. Slattery was the one who wanted to rename the summons as Eidolons.

The creation of the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV led to the making of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years as a sequel to Final Fantasy IV as a companion piece to the DS remake.

Mobile versions
Final Fantasy IV was ported to Japanese mobile phones on October 5th, 2009. The game uses all-new character graphics during and outside of battle, with some taken from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. This version is based on Final Fantasy IV Advance with many differences. It still incorporates the party-switching feature, and has another post-game bonus "EX Dungeon", which is a remake of the Lunar Ruins.

The DS version was ported for iOS and Android systems with an option to change the game's difficulty level as the DS version is known for being harder than the original. It was released worldwide for many different languages, including Chinese. The graphics were also enhanced. The release was 20th December 2012 for iOS and June 3rd 2013 for Android.

The user interface was redone completely as the original was made with the intention of using a controller pad with directional arrows and various buttons, so a lot of trial and error was put into work to optimize the controls on mobile devices.

In April 2014, the iOS app was updated to support Logitech's PowerShell Controller + Battery, a controller for iPhone and iPod touch devices (for iOS 7 only).

In October 2015, the Amazon Appstore version was updated to support the FireTV, game controller support and also cloud saving.

PlayStation Portable


Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection was released on PlayStation Portable in April 2011, and includes remakes of both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. It also includes a new scenario, Final Fantasy IV Interlude, which connects the original game's story with The After Years.

Microsoft Windows and Steam
The iOS/Android version of Final Fantasy IV was ported and released to Steam on September 17, 2014. It has 58 achievements available. It is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and Vista.

The western release comes with English audio and subtitles in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Steam Trading Cards
The Steam version of Final Fantasy IV comes with 7 Steam trading cards.

Allusions
Final Fantasy IV makes some allusions to the previous installments in the series, as well as allusions to mythology and literature.

Trivia

 * In the DS version, there is a possible glitch involving the event viewer: after viewing a certain movie, the game will sometimes freeze up at the final FMV, and players cannot access New Game Plus.
 * Final Fantasy IV: The After Years references optional sidequests (obtaining Rydia's strongest Eidolons, obtaining the Knife from Sheila, and fighting the Lunar Subterrane bosses), thereby cementing them as canon.
 * Final Fantasy IV is one of the Final Fantasy games that has been novelized in Japan, and it was split into two volumes. It was written by Ichiro Tezuka, who is also known for writing the scenario to . He also wrote the novelization for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
 * The boss theme of Final Fantasy IV was slightly remixed and used as the boss theme for the bonus boss Culex from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a game that Square worked on. In fact, Culex himself was purposely based on a boss that would be typical in the Final Fantasy series.
 * Cecil, the main protagonist in Final Fantasy IV, makes a cameo appearance in Square's Secret of Evermore as a merchant in Ebon Keep.
 * Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series to go into outer space. Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII are the other games that followed.
 * The names of the Four Elemental Archfiends as well as Calcabrina have their origin in Dante's Inferno. Each of the archfiends' names corresponds with one of the Malebranche, demons assigned to guard those condemned to the fifth region (Barratry) of the Eighth Circle of Hell (Fraud).
 * A comic book adaptation of Final Fantasy IV from Kurt Busiek, Del Barras and Mike Mignola was planned for release in late 1992, when Squaresoft offered Busiek the chance to write an original story set in the world of the first Final Fantasy game and, pleased with his initial outline, decided to let him adapt the story of Final Fantasy IV to tie-in with the game's western release. Four issues were planned and Busiek wrote the script for them with art by comics artist Del Barras and covers by Mike Mignola. The series never happened because Disney's Hollywood Comic, who were going to publish the series, went backrupt in 1993.