Square has been responsible for some of the most beloved and memorable series in all of gaming, but it’s always going to be hard to top the heights that the Final Fantasy series has reached. The games have hit newfound levels of success and it’s for that reason that Final Fantasy has been able to split off into various spin-offs or other franchises that make use of the series’ name and lore.
Final Fantasy Legend remains an odd anomaly that was restricted to Game Boy users, but there’s a lot more to the franchise that showcases how these games go far beyond some Game Boy titles.
10 It’s Actually A Series Called SaGa
America has a history of rebranding video games under different names for their releases or in some cases just putting an entirely new name on a game in order to cash in on the popularity of another franchise. This is exactly what happened with Final Fantasy Legend, which was released as the SaGa series in Japan. Nintendo wanted to capitalize on Final Fantasy's success and instead released the games under the Final Fantasy Legend banner. Despite this hurdle, the Final Fantasy Legend franchise has been able to gradually find success in America under the SaGa title.
9 It Introduced The Built-In Battery Save Feature to Handheld Games
The advent of the Game Boy and handheld gaming opened up all sorts of opportunities, but many of the earlier titles offered no form of permanent save system. The majority of games would utilize the password method, if anything at all. This could often be very frustrating and limited the types of games that could be provided. Final Fantasy Legend sought out to change that and it incorporated a built-in save feature that allowed the player to pause their progress whenever they wanted, fully taking advantage of the handheld and portable nature of the game.
8 It’s Designed To Be Intentionally Difficult
The Final Fantasy games aren’t exactly easy, but they’re not that steep of a challenge with the proper amount of grinding and experience. Final Fantasy Legend, on the other hand, was purposefully designed to be a more difficult and advance experience, with it being one of the main differences between the main Final Fantasy series.
A lot of this has to do with the games’ high encounter rates, but the final boss from the first game, Creator, is still viewed as one of the hardest boss battles of all time.
7 It’s The First Square Game To Sell Over One Million Copies
Square Enix, formerly Squaresoft, is now one of the biggest developers in the video game industry and now most of their titles become the best-selling games of the year. The genesis of Final Fantasy Legend is during a much more humble time in Square’s career. Final Fantasy Legend was such a success that it sold 1.37 million copies, making it the first of Square's releases to cross one million. This naturally made it one of the best sellers on the Game Boy as well, plus a major influence on other titles on the handheld like Pokémon.
6 The Series' Recurring Theme Is Composed By Final Fantasy's Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu has become one of the most prolific composers in the video game industry, largely because of his compositions for the Final Fantasy series. Uematsu’s work is largely limited to the first Final Fantasy Legend title, but he makes sure that he makes his mark here. Uematsu came up with 16 tracks for the game, including "Heartful Tears," which is frequently featured throughout the series. Uematsu struggled to work with the Game Boy's limited hardware, but his work on the game is still impressive and it’s fascinating to see what he does with the handheld.
5 It Technically Has Many Sequels Beyond Final Fantasy Legend III
Since the Final Fantasy Legend games are technically the first three titles in the SaGa series, there are actually near ten more games in the larger franchise, just under the title of SaGa instead of Final Fantasy Legend. There are three titles in the Romancing SaGa series for the SNES and then the franchise largely moves over to PlayStation consoles.
The SaGa series has continued to turn out games as recently as 2016, which includes remakes of Final Fantasy Legend II and III for the Nintendo DS.
4 It Contains Certain Ties To The Final Fantasy Series
Square Enix has a history for paying reference to their many games in various titles and it leads to some fun Easter eggs for the hardcore fans. So Final Fantasy Legend may not only be the only Square franchise to make allusions to Final Fantasy proper, but it’s still very satisfying. The biggest connection here is that in the original version the spell and weapon names are the same to famous ones from Final Fantasy. Certain enemies from the series also appear re-appropriated as bosses, like the original Final Fantasy's Death Machine.
3 It’s Designed To Take Advantage Of The Game Boy’s Handheld Nature
Final Fantasy Legend went into development once Nintendo realized that the Game Boy was actually going to be a success. The game's development team initially created a title with a high encounter rate and tough difficulty, but something that could still be finished in under ten hours. Final Fantasy Legend also allows the player to save their game at any point outside of battle. All of this caters to how the title could easily be played during a commute and still feel a sense of progress.
2 There’s An Ultra Easy Way To Defeat The Creator
The Final Fantasy Legend games are already known for being highly difficult RPGs, but one of the most frustrating challenges from these games is the final boss of the first game, the Creator. This boss is basically an evil version of God and it feels like it requires an infinite number of hits to defeat. It’s considered to be one of the hardest bosses of its era. However, there’s a strange trick that allows Creator to be defeated instantly through the use of the Chainsaw item. It’s a tactic that’s even incorporated into Final Fantasy XIII.
1 The Original Game Has A Remake On The WonderSwan Color
There are a number of creative and interesting video game consoles that never were given the opportunity to make a big splash outside of Japan. Nintendo and Sega were allowed to dominate in America, but there are all sorts of alternatives that some gamers are unaware of, like Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld. The WonderSwan Color actually has a remake of Final Fantasy Legend that's in full color and updates the game in many other important ways. Unfortunately, this updated version of the game hasn't been made available elsewhere outside of Japan, which makes this WonderSwan Color relic even more unusual.