Final Fantasy VI - Reception

Final Fantasy VI received critical acclaim and was commercially successful upon release - it is now considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, and on many major gaming sites such as IGN, the best in the Final Fantasy series. As of March 31, 2003, the game had shipped 3.48 million copies worldwide, with 2.62 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 860,000 abroad. Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st-best-selling release of that year in Japan. It received 54 out of 60 points from Weekly Famitsu, scored by a panel of six reviewers. Final Fantasy Anthology has sold approximately 364,000 copies in North America.

The game garnered rave reviews upon its original release. GamePro rated it as 5 out of 5, stating that "Characters, plotlines, and multiple-choice scenarios all combine to form one fantastic game!" Electronic Gaming Monthly granted a 9 out of 10 and named it game of the month, commenting that "RPGs with this much depth and realism come once in a blue moon". It won several awards from Electronic Gaming Monthly in their 1994 video game awards, including Best Role-Playing Game, Best Japanese Role-Playing Game, and Best Music for a Cartridge-Based Game. Additionally, they later ranked the game ninth in their 1997 list of the 100 greatest console games of all time. For their part, Nintendo Power declared the game "the RPG hit of the decade", noting its improved sound and graphics over its predecessors, and the game's broadened thematic scope. Moreover, they suggested that "with so much story and variation of play ... fans may become lost in the world for months at a time". In 1997, they ranked it as the 8th greatest Nintendo game, saying it "had everything you could want—heroes, world-shattering events, magic, mindless evil—plus Interceptor the wonder dog!" In April 2008, ScrewAttack named Final Fantasy VI the 3rd best SNES game, beaten only by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid. Nintendo Power listed the ending to Final Fantasy VI as one of the best finales, citing the great character moments that cement them as some of the most memorable Final Fantasy protagonists ever. They also listed the opera scene as being a demonstration of how touching and emotional role-playing games can be.

The game was still earning rave reviews after the release of its PlayStation version, with GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly rating it 4 out of 5 and 9.5 out of 10, respectively. Nintendo Power again ranked it as one of the best Nintendo games in 2006, placing it as 13th on their "Top 200 games on a Nintendo Platform", suggesting that it might be the "best" Final Fantasy ever. In 2005, multimedia news website IGN ranked Final Fantasy VI 56th on their list of the 100 greatest games, as the second highest ranked Final Fantasy title on the list after Final Fantasy IV. IGN described the graphics of the PlayStation re-release as "beautiful and stunning", reflecting that, at the time of its release, "Final Fantasy III... represented everything an RPG should be", inspiring statistic growth systems that would later influence titles like Wild Arms and Suikoden. Moreover, they praised its gameplay and storyline, claiming that these aspects took "all ... preceding RPG concepts and either came up with something completely new or refined them enough to make them its own", creating an atmosphere in which " won't find it difficult to get past the simplistic graphics or seemingly out-dated gameplay conventions and become involved ...". In an updated version of the "Top 100" list in 2007, IGN ranked Final Fantasy VI 9th on the list, above all other Final Fantasy games in the series. They continued to cite the game's character development, and especially noted Kefka as "one of the most memorable bad guys in RPG history". In 2009, Game Informer put the SNES version of Final Fantasy III 8th on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it "perfected the 2D role-playing game".

Readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu voted it as the 25th best game of all time in early 2006. RPGamer gave a perfect rating to both the original game and its PlayStation re-release, citing its gameplay as "self-explanatory enough that most any player could pick up the game and customize their characters' equipment", while praising its music as "a 16-bit masterpiece". Alternatively, they describe the game's sound effects as limited and the game itself as lacking in replay value due to having "one ending, one path through the plot, and ... sidequests". Additionally, they regarded the game's English translation as "unremarkable", being "better than some but worse than others", and offered similar comments for its gameplay difficulty. However, they referred to the game's storyline as its "... most unique aspect", citing its large cast of characters, "nearly all of whom receive a great deal of development", and the "surprisingly large number of real world issues, the vast majority of which have not been addressed by any RPG before or since, ranging from teen pregnancy to suicide". Overall, RPGamer regarded the game as an "epic masterpiece" and "truly one of the greatest games ever created".

The game's latest release, for the Game Boy Advance, also garnered praise. In 2007, the Game Boy Advance re-release was named 8th best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan. In 2009, Final Fantasy VI was inducted into the IGN Videogame Hall of Fame, becoming the second Final Fantasy game to do so. The only other Final Fantasy to do so was the original Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy VI took the #1 spot on G4 TV's Top Must Own RPG's list in 2008.

In IGN's ranking of the Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy VI took the #1 spot as the best game in the series. Gamesradar has also ranked Final Fantasy VI #1 in a similar list. In 2012, IGN ranked Final Fantasy VI #1 in their list the "Top 100 RPGs", saying "Final Fantasy VI came to us just before the series, and gaming as a whole, leapt into a new generation of hardware. What a glorious finale to Final Fantasy's 16-bit ways. There are too many moments in Final Fantasy VI worthy of celebration to name them all. Biggs and Wedge leading Terra through the snow. The poisoning of Doma. Sandy boots. The destruction of the world. A tragic opera. Ultros! We hold these close to our hearts, and that's not even including Espers and the most poignant character themes in the series to date. So cheers, Final Fantasy VI. May your name follow us as we all tumble towards the future of art, entertainment, narrative, and everything that keeps us gaming."