Final Fantasy IV allusions

The following is list of allusions in Final Fantasy IV.

Final Fantasy series

 * Final Fantasy IV uses the mythology of the four elemental crystals just its predecessors.

Final Fantasy

 * The Rat Tail alludes to the Rat Tail sub-quest from the original Final Fantasy.
 * Cecil's transformation may be a subtle allusion to the class upgrade from Final Fantasy.
 * Golbez's Four Elemental Archfiends allude to Chaos's Four Fiends.
 * The game's title screen only after the players have completed a short prologue and cross a bridge to begin their journey. This also happens in the original Final Fantasy.
 * Excalibur being obtained by handing Adamantite over to a famous blacksmith alludes to the same scenario from Final Fantasy.
 * Edge having the Steal command is an allusion of the Thief class upgrading to the Ninja class in Final Fantasy.
 * The Dark Elf's battle sprite resembles Astos's design from Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy II

 * Kain Highwind shares the same job role and last name as Ricard Highwind. In the GBA and later ports, Kain's father's name was retroactively named Ricard as a shout out to the character.
 * Mysidia alludes to the town of the same name from Final Fantasy II.
 * The party being attacked by Leviathan on their way to Baron alludes to Leviathan attacking Firion and his party on their way to the Mysidian Tower.
 * Tellah's search for the forbidden black magic Meteor alludes to Minwu's search for the forbidden white magic Ultima. Both spells are located in a sacred place near the town of Mysidia, and both characters are ultimately killed by association with the magic.
 * Though no longer considered canon, the Settei Shiryuu Hen guide book gives background details about Final Fantasy IVs world that feature several allusions to Final Fantasy II, including the founder of Mysidia being named Sage Minwu, and the name of the Dark Knight who left the Deathbringer in Fabul being named Leonhart.
 * Cid's new state-of-the-art airship Enterprise has the same name as the airship used by the original Cid from Final Fantasy II.
 * In the 3D remake, Cecil and Rosa's Twin Cast is Ultima. This is a shout out to Final Fantasy II where Ultima was a white magic spell.

Final Fantasy III

 * Cecil's Dark Knight sprite alludes to the Magic Knight Job class.
 * Cecil's Paladin class is based on the Knight class from Final Fantasy III as both have similar though different color sprites, both use low level white magic and both can protect weakened party members from incoming attacks.
 * The party being defeated by the final boss and then revived by their allies is taken from a similar scene in Final Fantasy III.

Religion and Mythology

 * The Tower of Babil alludes to the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis.
 * Kain's name and his story hold several parallels to the Biblical Cain from Genesis. Both are figures who seek to murder their "brother" due to jealousy.

Folktales

 * The Hummingways may allude to the popular children's story in Asia about Rabbits living on the moon.
 * Golbez's name refers to Golubac Flies from Serbian folklore. This is confirmed in the expanded scenes from the 3D remake where Zemus references the Serbian legend of the flies being born from the decomposing body to weaken Golbez's mind and take over.

Literature

 * The names of Golbez and his four Archfiends hail from the book Devils by J. Charles Wall.
 * Corio's observation about the second moon having life on it, may be a subtle allusion to H.G. Wells War of the Worlds where the narrator opens the story with his observations of activity of life on the planet Mars. Similarly, Zemus's plan to use the Giant of Babil to wipe out all life on the Blue Planet also alludes to the giant attack robots the martians use in the same novel.
 * The Giant of Babil could also be an allusion to the robot Gort from the film The Day the Earth Stood Still.