Phantom Train (Final Fantasy VI)

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Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Phantom-Train-FFVI-iOS — Ghosts surround the party aboard the Phantom Train.

Sabin, Cyan and Shadow accidentally board the train at the Phantom Forest and work their way to the front to stop it so they can get off. After battling through the train cars, they attempt to stop the engine, only to discover it is sentient. The engine attacks them, but is defeated and so allows them to get off at the next stop. When they disembark, Cyan is anguished as he witnesses his deceased wife and son board the train along with the other victims of the destruction of Doma Castle.

The Phantom Train, along with the Phantom Forest, does not appear in the World of Ruin, but part of Cyan's Dreamscape is based on the Phantom Train.

Spoilers end here.

Layout

The Phantom Train tows several train cars behind it full of ghosts. Some of the ghosts are friendly and will join the party temporarily or sell the party items, but most are hostile and attack when approached. The rear cars are for lower class seating, while the cars near the front of the engine are seemingly upper class, as they have private seating compartments and treasure chests with valuables. A dining car separates the two sections near the middle of the train.

Outside the train has walkways running on the outside of the cars and ladders leading the roofs, though with one exception the ladders are unusable by the party. Many of the roofs are collapsed in places. Due to a sequence where Sabin leaps across two train cars, the train car he bypasses is the only one the party cannot explore. Curiously, this car has a unique feature on it, a double-wide doorway leading out onto the walkways.

Gameplay

Encounters

FFVI PC Phantom Train Inside — A carriage inside the Phantom Train containing several Ghost passengers.

In addition to random encounters, speaking to one of the ghosts in the train initiates a battle against either one Ghost or three Ghosts.

Outside

Bomb
Bomb x3
Bomb x2, Cloud x2
Angel Whisper x2, Cloud
Angel Whisper x4
Phantom Train (Boss)

Inside

Ghost
Angel Whisper
Angel Whisper, Cloud x3
Angel Whisper, Living Dead, Cloud x2
Living Dead x3
Living Dead x2, Oversoul
Oversoul x2
Apparition (Monster-in-a-box)
Siegfried (Boss)

Shops

Item	Price
Potion	50 gil
Hi-Potion	300 gil
Phoenix Down	500 gil
Antidote	50 gil
Green Cherry	150 gil
Sleeping Bag	500 gil
Shuriken	30 gil

Treasures

FFVI Unobtainable Fairy Ring — Unobtainable Fairy Ring.

The caboose has a Tent on the floor in the upper-left corner. The dining car has a set of Earrings.

In a room near the front of the train, four chests contain a Sniper Eye, two Phoenix Down, and a monster-in-a-box, an Apparition that drops a Hyper Wrist.

Another room at the front of the train has two items hidden in the upper-left corner of the room, a Tent and a Fairy Ring. However, the Fairy Ring is unobtainable, as its position makes it impossible to face the tile it is hidden on without walking onto that tile. In the Mobile and Steam releases, where it is possible to face this tile without entering it, the item can be obtained, but it is changed to a Potion.

Quests

Escape the Phantom Train

Upon entering the Phantom Train, the party is trapped on it and must make for the engine to escape. In the caboose one car to the right of the entrance, a friendly Ghost will join the party. It cannot be healed in battle and has no equipment, but is useful to keep alive to defeat a powerful miniboss near the front of the train. If the player is without Shadow, a second Ghost will appear once the area is left and re-entered and can be recruited again.

The path to the front of the train is linear through the cars up until a particular car that can only be entered from a walkway on the side of the car, and once the party is inside a ghost blocks the door. Speaking to this ghost initiates a battle and then a scene where Sabin leaps several cars ahead. When control returns, enter the car and pull the switch to detach the rear cars, then pull the switch again to open the path forward and continue on to the upper class cars. One of the cartments contains a lone treasure chest that triggers a fight with Siegfried, but he is very weak and the battle is easy to win. A more dangerous foe is the Apparition, a monster-in-a-box that is quite powerful. As any Ghosts in the party will leave shortly, this is the time to use their Possess ability to kill the Apparition instantly.

At the tender, any Ghosts in the party leave. Enter the engine cab and pull the first and third switches, then go outside and left to climb onto the locomotive. Inspect the switch by the smokestack to initiate a battle with the Phantom Train itself. When it is defeated, a series of cutscenes will play and eventually the party will disembark the Phantom Train and leave the Phantom Forest.

Maps

Outside

Interior

Musical themes

"Mystery Train", Grand Finale version of "Phantom Train"

"Phantom Train" is the theme that plays during Sabin, Cyan and Shadow's travels onboard the train.

"Phantom Train" was included in the compilation albums Final Fantasy VI: Grand Finale, as an orchestrated version (where it was titled "Mystery Train") and the Piano Collections.

Other appearances

Final Fantasy XIV

The Phantom Train is mentioned by Y'shtola during the event where she going to rescue Minfilia from the Garlean Empire. The Phantom Train Station is found in Castrum Meridianum.

Another one appears as a boss created by Omega for the Omega: Sigmascape raid series. This version is a copy Omega created from observing a world from the Interdimensional Rift, which resembled that of Final Fantasy VI.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

File:Dissidia 012 - FFVI Stage - Phantom Train.PNG

The Phantom Train.

The Phantom Train is a battle stage. Vaan and Onion Knight also have a conversation on the train. It is a small and narrow map, but the camera can swing through the walls and ceiling, turning them transparent. The seats are destructible and the Phantom Forest whizzes past the windows. The camera shakes while fighting here as though actually on a moving train.

During the twelfth cycle of war, Vaan tries to cheer the Onion Knight up from his recent loss in a practice match against the Warrior of Light, oblivious to himself being the cause of Onion Knight's distress by the way he treats him. When Vaan walks away to speak with Laguna, the Onion Knight tells Squall he is growing used to Vaan's role as his older brother.

The Phantom Train has no Omega version.

The battlegen item obtained through stage destruction in this area is the Ghost.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

The Phantom Train makes a cameo appearance as part of the background in the Final Fantasy VI Field Music Sequence events, visible inside the Phantom Forest.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade

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Final Fantasy Record Keeper

The Phantom Train is the location for a regular dungeon and is also featured in the Challenge Events A Fateful Coin Toss and Back to the Skies.

Phantom Train

Sabin, Shadow, and Cyan have escaped the Imperial Camp and wandered into a forest, where they discover a mysterious train. No sooner do they board to investigate than the whistle blows and the train lurches into motion!
Description

Phantom Train is unlocked by completing South Figaro Cave in the Final Fantasy VI realm. Completion of this dungeon unlocks Chaos Shrine in the Final Fantasy I realm and Esper Valley in the Final Fantasy VI realm.

Phantom Train

Difficulty

Classic

Elite

16

23

Total stamina

Classic

Elite

22

29

Enemies

Rounds

4

5

1

Classic Rewards

Completion Type	Item	Quantity
Completion Reward	Gil	1,500
Mastery Reward	Lesser Power Orb	5
Mastery Reward	Stamina Shard	2
First Time Completion	Cyan	1
First Time Completion	Mythril	1

Elite Rewards

Completion Type	Item	Quantity
Completion Reward	Gil	10,000
Mastery Reward	Greater White Orb	3
Mastery Reward	Stamina Shard	1
First Time Completion	Mythril	1
First Time Completion	Stamina Shard	1

Behind the scenes

In the dining car in the train after the initial meal which prompts a unique scene, the player can view different scenes depending on which party member is currently in the lead. Sabin will enthusiastically demand food, Cyan expresses skepticism about the meal, Shadow will feed part of his meal to Interceptor, and the Ghost will dance in place for a moment. This has no effect on the meal's healing properties.

Translator Ted Woolsey^[1] and series' father Hironobu Sakaguchi^[2] both cite the Phantom Train scene as one of his favorites from the game.

The Phantom Train and the fight against its locomotive is considered one of the iconic sequences in Final Fantasy VI. In particular, Sabin's ability to use the Meteor Strike Blitz on the Phantom Train is infamous in the fandom and a popular subject for fanart of Sabin. A video of the battle declaring it "The Best Moment of Final Fantasy 6" depicts Sabin using Suplex (as it was called in the Super NES version) to defeat the Phantom Train in one hit; the video has several hundred thousand views as of writing.

A common misconception is that bosses in Final Fantasy VI are typically immune to Meteor Strike and the Phantom Train's vulnerability was a glitch or oversight that was retained through re-releases of the game due to the fame of Sabin's feat. In actuality, many bosses throughout the game are vulnerable to Meteor Strike, including several of the eight legendary dragons. Even so, it is Sabin's ability to use Meteor Strike on the Phantom Train that has stuck in the minds of the fandom above any other enemy.