Final Fantasy VI: A 30th Anniversary Retrospective Gaming Documentary

On April 2nd, 1994, Square Soft concluded its masterpiece 16-Bit Role Playing Game Trilogy! (Chapter Markers and more below…)

Episode information
GTV 167 “Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary" Season 9 Episode 7
Original Airdate: March 31, 2024
Produced March 19-29, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, all paid for with Gainful Employment™ while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day, and lunch breaks too!

0:00 GTV ID: A Chip in Your Pile Where Available
0:33 Act 1: Troops March On
7:51 CM 1: Final Fantasy VI is Coming! (Super Famicom, Japan, 1994)
8:08 Act 2: The Decisive Battle
14:54 CM 2: Final Fantasy III Auditions (Super NES, U.S., 1994)
15:26 Act 3: Kids Run Through the City
21:49 CM 3: The Finest Fantasy VI (GameBoy Advance, Japan, 2006)
22:06 Act 4: From That Day On
27:49 CM 4: Final Fantasy VI Now on Sale (Super Famicom, Japan, 1994)
28:06 Act 5: Coin of Fate

This video is a follow up to the episodes about Final Fantasy IV and V. If you missed those, why not watch them now?
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Partial transcript

Long ago, the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, and magic simply ceased to exist.1000 years have passed... Iron, gunpowder, and steam engines have been rediscovered, and high technology reigns...But there are some who would enslave the world by reviving the dread destructive force known as “magic.” Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?

When Final Fantasy VI first went on sale in Japan on that second day of April in 1994, publisher SquareSoft, the development team behind the game, and the fans at home had already been on a amazing ride. Following the successes of the first three Final Fantasy games, the series moved to the Super Famicom, where 16-Bits meant more colors, better sounds and larger memory. All of which delivered more realistic worlds and a richer experience, compared to earlier installments. While Final Fantasy IV, released in 1991 and V, in 1992 lead the way, the early years of the 16-Bit Era also saw entries from other Square Soft series: SaGa, Mana and Hanjuku Hero, while the spin off Mystic Quest, known as Final Fantasy USA provided a large stable of games for everyone to enjoy.
Drawing from three years of experience, and seven releases overall, SquareSoft learned the ins and outs of the Super Famicom hardware, and in Final Fantasy VI, it shows. Character Sprites are now bigger and more proportionate than past games. Larger bodies lead to smaller heads, looking more realistic, and less cartoonish than before. Each character sprite has more color, adding more detail.

The backgrounds feature more animation. Things are always in motion, layers of fog, smoke, clouds, water and light add more atmosphere. Some areas are almost photorealistic, all which makes the world of Final Fantasy VI lifelike. Mode 7 effects were used throughout, most notably when flying the airship, which is now in 3D for the first time.

Other minor graphical touches, such as the gradients in text boxes make everything in Final Fantasy VI standout against IV and V, showing how much improvement can be made in such little time.

When the Super Famicom debuted in 1990, one touted feature was the ability to display 256 colors on screen at once. Despite the high number at the time, not one single game ever reached that full amount until Final Fantasy VI, the first game to reach the 256 color limit.

All artwork done by the great Yoshitaka Amano!

Gameplay footage provided by The FF TV Channel.