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The critical hit bug is present in every version of the original Final Fantasy (though its status as a bug in more recent versions is debatable since it seems to have been intentionally retained). Instead of loading a weapon's critical hit rate, the game loads the weapon's index number. The practical effect of this bug is that critical hits are slightly less common than they were intended to be at the beginning of the game, and substantially more common than they were meant to be at the end of the game.

Along with the Intelligence bug, the Critical Hit bug is the most game-changing bug in the original Final Fantasy.

Explanation of critical rates[]

A critical rate represents the chance out of 201 that any given hit will be a critical hit. The original Final Fantasy determines critical hits by generating a random number from 0 to 200. If that number is equal to or less than the critical rate of the weapon equipped, the hit is a critical hit.

List of weapons with actual and intended critical rates[]

Index Number represents actual, bugged Critical Rate.

Critical Rate represents intended Critical Rate.

Weapon Index Number Critical Rate
Nunchaku 1 10
Knife 2 5
Staff 3 1
Rapier 4 10
Hammer 5 1
Broadsword 6 5
Battle Axe 7 3
Scimitar 8 5
Iron Nunchaku 9 10
Dagger 10 5
Crosier 11 1
Saber 12 10
Longsword 13 5
Great Axe 14 3
Falchion 15 5
Mythril Knife 16 5
Mythril Sword 17 5
Mythril Hammer 18 1
Mythril Axe 19 4
Flame Sword 20 5
Ice Brand 21 5
Wyrmkiller 22 10
Great Sword 23 5
Sun Blade 24 5
Coral Sword 25 10
Werebuster 26 5
Rune Blade 27 5
Power Staff 28 1
Light Axe 29 3
Healing Staff 30 1
Mage's Staff 31 1
Defender 32 5
Wizard's Staff 33 1
Vorpal Sword 34 30
Cat Claws 35 5
Thor's Hammer 36 1
Razer 37 10
Sasuke's Blade 38 30
Excalibur 39 5
Masamune 40 10

Weapon type correlations[]

An examination of the list reveals a general trend where critical rate was meant to be correlated with weapon type.

Weapon Type Critical Rate
Staves 1
Hammers 1
Most Axes 3
Mythril Axe 4
Daggers 5
Most Swords 5
Rapiers 10
Nunchaku 10
Masamune 10
Vorpal Sword 30
Sasuke's Blade 30

Analysis[]

Comparing the intended critical rates with the bugged critical rates reveals that, while critical rates were intended to be reasonably consistent across the course of the game and based on weapon type, they end up increasing linearly over the course of the game, with later-occurring (and generally more powerful) weapons having higher critical rates. Some weapons have critical rates that are up to eight times higher than they were meant to be. As a result, physical attacks are substantially more powerful on average than they would have been had the correct critical rates been used.

Some weapons that were meant to have special advantages have lost their significance because of this bug—most notably the Vorpal Sword and Sasuke's Blade. These weapons were meant to have a high critical rate, six times higher than most swords and daggers. Even though both weapons have higher critical rates in practice, they suffer in terms of relative critical rates, since other weapons get substantially bigger boosts than they do.

With the Vorpal Sword, its uniquely high critical rate would have compensated for its lower Attack Power and Accuracy. Sasuke's Blade would have given the Ninja the advantage of a weapon that generated as many critical hits as the Vorpal Sword, but with much better Attack Power and Accuracy. With the bug in place however, the Vorpal Sword is rendered mediocre and Sasuke's Blade has a much smaller advantage over other high-end weapons.

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