Final Fantasy (NES)

Get to Know About Final Fantasy (NES)

I still get a little thrill when I think back to wandering into the first town in that original Final Fantasy. You pick your quartet of adventurers—knight, fighter, mage, thief, whatever sounds fun—and suddenly you’re making your own little dream team. The magic of that opening dungeon, complete with jumpy bats and that first mini-boss, really set the tone. It felt like the world was this big, mysterious place just waiting to be poked at with a plank of wood and some fire spells.

As you chased after those legendary elemental crystals, there was this sweet mix of triumph and dread every time you saw another stretch of empty dungeon corridor. Random battles could be brutal, especially when your party was stretched thin on potions and spells. But landing a well-timed Blizzard on a group of goblins? Priceless. I remember squealing when I finally figured out you could refill your MP in that hidden fountain—absolute game-changer.

And the story, for its time, was deceptively simple yet oddly touching. Four heroes, four crystals, and an ominous bad guy named Garland—nothing Shakespearean, but it got the blood pumping. The soundtrack by a certain composer whose name you might recognize still rings in my head every time I hear those upbeat battle tunes. It was sparse, but whenever that battle theme kicked in, you knew it was do-or-die, and man, did that kick in hard.

Looking back now, the original feels both quaint and timeless. No voice acting, just text boxes and pixels, but it had soul. It’s funny how you forget how much patience it takes until you boot it up again, wandering through dungeons with a lantern and crossing your fingers the next fight isn’t a party wipe. Yet that’s part of the charm—every victory felt earned, and you could tell you were carving a story all your own.