Final Fantasy IV - Reception

Reception

In Japan, 1.44 million copies of Final Fantasy IV's Super Famicom version were sold. By March 31, 2003, the game, including the PlayStation and WonderSwan Color remakes, had shipped 2.16 million copies worldwide, with 1.82 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 340,000 abroad. As of 2007 just before the release of the Nintendo DS version, nearly 3 million copies of the game had been sold around the world. By May 2009, the DS version of the game had sold 1.1 million copies worldwide.

Major reviewers have called Final Fantasy IV one of the greatest video games of all time, noting that it pioneered many now common console role-playing game features, including "the whole concept of dramatic storytelling in an RPG." Reviewers have praised the game for its graphics, gameplay and score. Reviewers have noted that Final Fantasy IV was one of the first role-playing games to feature a complex, involving plot. Upon release in 1991, Nintendo Power magazine proclaimed it set a "new standard of excellence" for role-playing games. In addition, the magazine GamePro rated it a perfect 5 out of 5 score in its March 1992 issue. Dragon reviewer Sandy Petersen gave it an Excellent rating, praising the music, difficulty, and story, noting that, in a departure from most RPGs where the party always "sticks together through thick and thin," the characters in this game instead have their own motives and often separate from the group, with one that "even betrays" them. He noted that it is like "following the storyline of a fantasy novel," comparing it to The Lord of the Rings as well as Man in the Iron Mask, and that because "the characters often spoke up for themselves," he "got much more attached" to the party "than in any other computer game."

Nintendo Power would later place it ninth and twenty-eighth in the "100 Greatest Nintendo Games" lists of issues 100 and 200, respectively. In 2005 IGN ranked it as twenty-sixth on its list of greatest games of all time; it is the highest rated Final Fantasy title on the list, but in 2007, the game was ranked #55, behind Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy Tactics. Famitsu released a reader poll in 2006 ranking it as the sixth best game ever made. However, the game's original release was heavily criticized for the poor quality of its English-language translation.

Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st best selling release of that year in Japan. Weekly Famitsu gave it a 54 out of 60 points, scored by a panel of six reviewers. The Game Boy Advance version, Final Fantasy IV Advance, was met with praise from reviewers, although a few noted the game's graphics do not hold up well to current games, especially when compared to Final Fantasy VI. Reviewers noted that some fans may still nitpick certain errors in the new translation. The Nintendo DS version of the game was praised for its visuals as well, along with the gameplay changes and new cutscenes. It was a nominee for Best RPG on the Nintendo DS in IGN's 2008 video game awards.