The Final Fantasy Legend, originally released in Japan as is a 1989 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. It was originally released in Japan in December 1989 and North America in September 1990. It is the first game in the SaGa series and the first role-playing game for the system. Square translated the game into English for worldwide release and renamed it, linking it with the Final Fantasy series to improve marketing. Sunsoft re-released it in North America during 1998; Square followed with a Japan-exclusive remake released for the WonderSwan Color and mobile phones in 2002 and 2007 respectively, it was also ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2020 and later ported to Android, iOS and Microsoft Windows in 2021.
The Final Fantasy Legend operates on a turn-based system similar to that of Final Fantasy II. The game's characters battle monsters and fiends using a variety of weapons, armor, and skills that develop through the player's actions. The game follows the story of four heroes who attempt to scale a tower at the center of the world that supposedly leads to paradise. The four heroes may belong to one of three character classes, each housing a unique customization path.
The Final Fantasy Legend was conceived by Nobuyuki Hoshino and developed under director Akitoshi Kawazu; renowned composer Nobuo Uematsu wrote its score. The game is Square's first million seller with 1.37 million units shipped. Though released to mixed reception, it has since been described as one of the Game Boy's greatest games and cited as an influence for series such as the Pokémon franchise.
Gameplay
In The Final Fantasy Legend, the player navigates a character throughout the game world with a party of up to four characters, exploring areas and interacting with non-player characters. Most of the game occurs in towns, castles, caves, and similar areas.Square Co. pp. 24-25. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. To aid exploration on the field screen, the game makes use of various signs within towns.Square Co. pp. 22-23. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. The player is initially limited to the World of Continent to explore,Square Co. p. 12. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. and given access to later worlds as his or her party climbs the Tower. Players can save their game anytime and anywhere when not in combat to a save slot for later play.Square Co. p. 32. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
Players can journey between field screen locations via the world map, a downsized representation of Final Fantasy Legends various worlds. Players can freely navigate around the world map screen unless restricted by terrain, such as water or mountains.Square Co. p. 25. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. The goal in each world is to find the entrance to the next level of the Tower.Square Co. p. 24. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Random enemy encounters occasionally interrupt travel across the world map screen and hostile areas, as in other Final Fantasy related games.
Classes At the beginning of the game, the player must choose a character class, gender, and name for the group's "party leader".Square Co. p. 7. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. There are three available classes: humans, mutants (espers in the Japanese version), and monsters, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Character classes cannot be changed once the game has begun. The player may recruit up to three additional party members through a similar process via "Member Guilds" in various towns.Square Co. p. 13. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Characters may also be recruited to replace fallen party members, though the party leader is irreplaceable. Higher-level party members may be recruited at later towns in the game.Square Co. p. 14. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
A character's performance in battle is determined by numerical values ("statistics") for four categories. Each statistic has a range of 1 to 99. The categories are strength, the effectiveness of physical attacks; defense, the ability to reduce damage received; agility, the effectiveness of ranged weapons or skills and at avoiding attacks; and mana, the effectiveness of magical attacks. A character's health is measured in hit points (HP), consisting of a current HP statistic and a maximum HP statistic, ranging from 0 to 999. Character statistics are relative to their class—humans have higher HP levels, strength, and defense,Square Co. p. 8. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. and mutants are physically weaker but enjoy a higher mana statistic.Square Co. p. 9. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Human and mutant statistics can be amplified by worn equipment of different types. Monster-class characters are dependent on their sub-class, and their statistics vary greatly.Square Co. p. 10. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
Humans raise their statistics through items that grant permanent bonuses, such as "STRENGTH" or "HP200". Mutant attributes simply increase by random increments after battles, and new abilities may be gained (or lost) in the process. Monsters change in power by consuming "meat" dropped in battles; depending on the monster's current sub-class and the meat's origin, the monster may transform into a stronger or weaker sub-class or fully recover health.Square Co. p. 54. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Later versions of the game released upon the WonderSwan and mobile phones removed the latter effect entirely.
Equipment and abilities The basic function of equipment in SaGa games is to increase character attributes. Arming a character with a gold helmet increases his or her base defense statistic, for example. The amount of equipment that can be placed on any one character at any time depends on the character's class. Humans can hold eight, mutants four, and monsters none. There are five types of armor: shields, helmets, breastplates, gauntlets, and shoes. Only one of each at a time may be added to one character and cannot be added to monsters.Square Co. p. 31. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Weapons, consisting of swords, hammers, whips, spell books, and guns, utilize either the strength, agility or mana attribute of a character, and can be used only a certain number of times before breaking and being removed from the player's inventory. Shields can be used as items in combat, most with a limited number of uses, and allow the user to evade enemy attacks.Square Co. p. 38. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
Mutants and monsters have different spells and abilities depending on their battle experience and sub-class. These come in one of four categories: attack, non-combative, healing, and resistances/weaknesses. When used in combat, attack spells and abilities will damage a target by an elemental type, while non-combative spells and abilities inflict various status ailments (such as "blindness") or grant benefits upon a target. Healing spells and abilities restore a target's HP and can be used outside of combat. Certain spells and abilities have added traits, like affecting a group of enemies or draining HP from a target.Square Co. pp. 43-45. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Each spell and ability has a finite number of uses, and once depleted the party must visit an inn to recharge them.Square Co. p. 39. Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Resistances and weaknesses are abilities that are active throughout combat. Represented by an "O" or "X" next to the related element or status ailment, they respectively give the user either resistance or weakness to one or more types of attack; status ailments grant immunity against a particular ailment.Square Co. p. 42. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
Curative items can be found or purchased in the game through various means, each with a limited number of uses and able to be activated from a character's inventory or the items sub-menu to restore HP or remove a status ailment in or out of combat from a single target. Like other inventory items, in order to be used during combat these must be placed in a party member's equipment slot prior to battle.Square Co. pp. 40-41. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
Combat Combat is initiated when the player encounters an enemy, which changes the map to the "battle screen". The enemy appears at the top, above the current party characters; each battle uses a menu-driven turn-based system. At the beginning of each turn, the player selects whether to fight or attempt to run.Square Co. p. 18. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. If the fight option is selected, the player selects an action for each party member from his or her equipment or skills to attack, defend, use magic, or use equipped items. Once the player has chosen actions for each player character, the player characters and enemy begin battle.Square Co. pp. 19-20. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Participants move one at a time determined by their agility statistic.Square Co. p. 28. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. If the player tries the "attempt to run" option and it fails, the party skip their turn and the enemy attacks. Combat ends if the party successfully flees, all enemies are defeated, or all player characters are defeated; in the last case, the game ends and must be reloaded from the last save.
Winning battles may award the player money (GP) and items. Enemy monsters occasionally drop meat, which can be consumed by monster-class characters.Square Co. p. 20. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. Mutant classes may "evolve" at this point, randomly gaining either increased statistics or a new random magic spell or ability, possibly overwriting an existing one. Party members that lose HP during combat can have them restored via curative items,Square Co. p. 40. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. spells,Square Co. p. 46. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. inns,Square Co. p. 21. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. or elements of the world such as healing fountains.Square Co. p. 76. The Final Fantasy Legend, instruction manual, Retrieved on 2009-06-04. If a party member other than the starting character is defeated in battle, he or she loses a "heart" and must be resurrected in a town via the building with a large heart-shaped symbol on it. Defeated characters with no remaining hearts cannot be revived. An item can be bought at significant expense to restore a heart to a character. Alternatively, a fallen party member can also be replaced completely with a new character recruited from a town guild, regardless of the number of hearts they have remaining.
Story Setting