Not so Final: Ranking the 10 best Final Fantasy spin-offs

Over the years—and especially in its early going—the “Final Fantasy” branding has sometimes been used as a way to launder games that the creators thought might struggle in the States without that little extra bit of “Hey, I recognize that!” oomph. Hence the inclusion here of the first game in what would eventually become Square’s Mana games (as in, Secret Of Mana), a relatively simplistic action-adventure that ditches menu-based battling for the thrill of swinging a tiny sword on the Game Boy screen. FFA isn’t a bad game, by any means, but for audiences who’d already learned to associate the Final Fantasy brand with complex storytelling and dramatic RPG battles, it didn’t quite scratch the itch.

Speaking of slightly stumble-y efforts by the franchise’s Japanese developers to understand their slowly growing American market, take 1992's Mystic Quest, designed first-and-foremost for Western audiences. That meant somewhat easier combat, a way more simplified story, and a focus on more running and jumping action for hero Benjamin as he makes his way across a world beset by elemental disasters. Mystic Quest’s biggest flaw, really, is one of timing: It came out after American audiences had already been exposed to the far more complex and sweeping Final Fantasy IV (released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy II the previous year), and so this olive branch felt like a decided step back. Kickass soundtrack, though.

The most recent entry on this list partially violates our “no direct connection to numbered Final Fantasys” rule, serving as a prequel of sorts to the franchise’s very first game. But Stranger Of Paradise is so weird, and so its own thing, that it transcends restriction. Case in point: asking players to accept that the first game’s starter villain, Garland, was secretly a Frank Sinatra-loving anti-hero who constantly grunt-screams about how much he hates “Chaos.” With a combat system developed in partnership with Nioh’s Team Ninja, Stranger Of Paradise is undeniably enjoyable as an action-RPG—even if you’re in danger of eye-strain from how often you’ll be rolling them as it spins out its over-the-top, weirdly fatalistic story.

Another instance of Final Fantasy-based games laundering, the three games that arrived on the Game Boy as Final Fantasy Legend and its sequels did so only in the States; in Japan, they were the opening salvos in Square-Enix’s most dedicatedly weird franchise, the unkillable SaGa games. Of the three titles released under the Legend moniker, 1991's Final Fantasy Legend II is pretty undeniably the best: A multiverse-spanning adventure with shockingly complex character build options and unsparing, hard-hitting combat. (Even if you couldn’t kill God with a chainsaw in that one, as you could in Final Fantasy Legend I.) Depending on your Sword Of Hope feelings, these are probably the three best RPGs on the Game Boy; II holds up to this day as a fun, if somewhat frustrating, time for fans of the form.

Credit where it’s due: When Square-Enix gave in and created an all-star Final Fantasy fighting game, they didn’t just go the easy route and turn it into a straight brawler. (Perhaps their experience with 1999 fighting game Ergheiz, which included multiple characters from Final Fantasy VII in its roster as its major selling point, had soured that impulse—as it had for anyone who’d actually played Ergheiz.) Dissidia, released on the PlayStation Portable, was a much odder duck, incorporating a complicated fighting system in which players first had to weaken each other’s “bravery” before inflicting actual damage. The big appeal, though, was in seeing the heroes and villains of all the preceding Final Fantasy games square off against each other, at a time when the company was a lot more reticent about these sorts of big crossovers. A sequel—titled, obviously, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy—followed in 2011, and a less-well regarded continuation, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, several years later.

Perhaps the greatest game ever made about carrying a bucket in a dungeon while your friends battle monsters all around you, the Nintendo GameCube’s Crystal Chronicles was a super-ambitious effort to reinvent co-op gaming for the Final Fantasy set. Especially ambitious: Asking players to each bring their own Game Boy Advance and link cable along to play it, allowing them to manage their character on individual screens without pausing or disrupting the hack-and-slash action on the TV. Crystal Chronicles has continued on as a Final Fantasy sub-series (with slightly less esoteric barriers to play, and a recent remaster, to boot) but the original game was fast-paced breath of fresh air back in the day—at least, for those who could actually manage to get a game together and play it.

The FF series’ big bird mascots finally got their chance to shine in this sub-series, which mostly channel the “mystery dungeon” genre of games. (Basically, forerunners of the type of games that typically get called “roguelikes” these days: Dungeon crawlers with a focus on restarting from scratch every time you enter a dungeon, and a heavy penalty for death.) Although the Chocobo’s series has arrived on American shores only sporadically over the years—most recently with 2019's very cute Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!—it’s typically welcome when it does, blending as it does kid-friendly aesthetics with a pleasantly beefy dungeon exploration experience.

The second-best entry on this list to include the words Final Fantasy Tactics in its name, 2003's FFTA brought grid-based Final Fantasy combat to the Game Boy Advance, largely intact. Although some of the game’s systems rankle from time to time—most notably the “Judge” system that absurdly introduced soccer-style yellow and red cards to combat for violating arbitrary rules like “healing your dudes”—the core gameplay of navigating a grid strategically and trying to out-maneuver enemies is still solid. And the kid-focused story, about a group of school friends who find themselves sucked into a fantasy world, takes its attendant issues far more seriously than it has to, creating something emotionally affecting out of the pastel-colored silliness. (The 2008 sequel, not so much.)

It’s not new to note that the Final Fantasy series is blessed with a track record for music that veers far above average. Anchored by the genius work of Nobuo Uematsu in the Super Nintendo and PlayStation eras, and expanded on by a huge roster of other contributors over the decades, the Final Fantasy series might be the only brand in gaming with a discography good enough to merit an entire rhythm game devoted solely to it. (Or, y’know, four of them, as Square-Enix continues to refine the Theatrhythm franchise—and milk it for cash.) But the Theatrhythm games aren’t just great soundtracks attached to one of the most irritating names in all of gaming: They’re also genuinely great rhythm games in their own right, incorporating very light RPG mechanics and extremely solid poke, drag, and flick control mechanics to make you feel like you’re “playing” classic hits like “Battle At The Big Bridge” or FF8's “Don’t Be Afraid.”

Not just the best un-numbered Final Fantasy, but possibly still just the best Final Fantasy game, period, the first entry in the franchise’s Ivalice Alliance sub-set of games remains a masterpiece even 16 years, and at least one notable re-translation, later. FFT’s emotionally complicated tale of political intrigue is backed up by a thoughtful, punishing turn-based combat system that runs players through their paces just as hard as the game’s plot treats its underdog heroes. The true star, though, is the best-ever implementation of Final Fantasy’s famed Job system, a robust approach to character customization that allowed PlayStation strategists to construct brutal killing machines to order. Mature, rigorous, and beautiful, Final Fantasy Tactics remains a high water mark for the series—number in the title, or no.