Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV is Square's 1991 Super Nintendo role-playing game, originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II. It follows Cecil Harvey, captain of Baron's Red Wings, after he questions the king's violent pursuit of elemental crystals. Stripped of his command and sent on a fateful mission, Cecil begins a journey to stop Golbez from gathering the crystals and bringing catastrophe to the Blue Planet.

Cecil's struggle with the consequences of his service gives the adventure its central arc of guilt, responsibility, and redemption. The quest travels between the world's surface and its underground realm, then reaches the Land of Summons and the moon as the truth behind the conflict comes into view. Political betrayal, lost family, sacrifice, and changing loyalties repeatedly reshape the party's purpose.

The cast changes frequently as companions enter and leave the story. Cecil is joined at different points by figures including the dragoon Kain, white mage and archer Rosa, young summoner Rydia, sage Tellah, engineer Cid, bard Edward, monk Yang, and the twin mages Palom and Porom. Their fixed combat roles make their narrative arrivals and departures matter mechanically as well as dramatically.

Battles use the Active Time Battle system, introduced here for the series. Instead of waiting for every combatant to choose an action in a strictly turn-based sequence, characters act when their gauges fill while the battle remains in motion. Players choose attacks, items, magic, defensive actions, and party positions, balancing speed and timing against enemy behavior.

Each playable character has an assigned class rather than a freely customized job. Cecil begins as a dark knight and later changes in a story-driven transformation, while allies contribute specialties such as white and black magic, summoning, jumping, bardic support, or engineering. Experience unlocks abilities and spells at set levels or story moments, and equipment, elemental magic, and front- or back-row placement encourage preparation for particular encounters.

The Super Nintendo hardware let Square present larger environments, animated battle effects, and Mode 7 scenes used for spell effects and airship travel. Its more character-focused narrative and five-member party distinguished it from the earlier Final Fantasy games on Nintendo hardware, while its Active Time Battle system became a defining feature of later entries in the series.

The North American SNES edition's Final Fantasy II title reflected that the Japanese Final Fantasy II and III had not yet been released there. Its English localization retained the main story but reduced difficulty for newcomers and altered some content, so it is not identical to the original Japanese Super Famicom release. Later releases restored the Final Fantasy IV name, and several ports and remakes introduced their own changes beyond the SNES version.