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Final Fantasy III
Developer	Square
Publisher	Square
Designer	Hironobu Sakaguchi (game director) Masafumi Miyamoto (game producer) Kenji Terada (scenario writer) Hiromichi Tanaka (game designer) Kazuhiko Aoki (game designer) Yoshitaka Amano (character designer) Nobuo Uematsu (composer)
Series	Final Fantasy series
Released	April 27, 1990
Genre	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Platform(s)	Nintendo Family Computer, Nintendo DS
Media	4 megabit cartridge
Input methods	Game controller

Final Fantasy III (ファイナルファンタジーIII, Fainaru Fantajī Surī^?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1990 for the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom, known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System) as a part of the Final Fantasy video game series. It is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature the job-change system, and was one of the largest role-playing games created for Nintendo's console.

The plot of the game involves four orphaned youths who come across a crystal, which grants them a portion of its power, then instructs them to go forth and restore balance to the world. Shocked but heartened, the four inform their adoptive family of their mission and set out to explore and bring back balance to the world.

An enhanced remake of the game, updated with 3D visuals designed to stay true to the original, was released for the Nintendo DS portable game system on August 24, 2006 in Japan and on November 14, 2006 in North America and in PAL regions on May 4, 2007. This remake is the only iteration of the game to be released internationally.^[1] There had been earlier plans to remake the game for Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld (as had been done with the first two installments and the fourth game), but the game faced several delays and was eventually cancelled after the premature death of the platform.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 2.1 Setting 2.2 Characters 2.3 Story 3 Musical score 4 Development 4.1 Cancelled WonderSwan Color version 4.2 Nintendo DS version 5 References 6 External links

The gameplay of Final Fantasy III combines elements of the first two Final Fantasy games with new features. The turn-based combat system remains in place from the first two games, but hit points are now shown on top of the target when attacked or healed, rather than captioned as in the original versions of the previous two games. Auto-targeting for physical attacks after a friendly or enemy unit is killed is also featured for the first time.

The experience point system featured in Final Fantasy makes a return following its absence from Final Fantasy II. A class system is also featured; however, unlike in Final Fantasy I, where the player chooses each character's class alignment at the start of the game, and Final Fantasy II, where there are no specific classes, Final Fantasy III introduces the "job system" for which the series would become famous. Jobs themselves are basically interchangeable classes: In the original version of the game, all four characters start out as "Onion Knights," but before long the player is given the option to have them switch to a variety of other classes. Final Fantasy III is the first game in the series to feature special battle commands such as "Steal" or "Jump," each of which is associated with a particular job ("Steal" being the Thief's speciality, while "Jump" is the Dragoon's forte). It is also the first game in the series to feature summoned creatures and their "Summon" skill.

Several classes were altered (such as additional abilities) in the Nintendo DS version to improve balance.

One thousand years before the game, on a floating continent hovering high above the surface of an unnamed planet, a technologically advanced civilization sought to harness the power of the four elemental crystals of light. They did not realize that they could not control such fundamental forces of nature. This power of light would have consumed the world itself had the light crystals not had their natural counterparts: the four dark elemental crystals. Disturbed by the sudden interruption of the careful balance of the light and the dark, four warriors were granted the power of the dark crystals to recontain the power of the light crystals. These so-called Dark Warriors succeeded in their quest, and restored harmony to the world. But their victory came too late to save the doomed civilization. Their culture was reduced to ruin, though their floating continent remained. On that continent, the circle of Gulgans, a race of blind soothsayers and fortune-tellers, predicts that events will ultimately repeat. The power of darkness can be just as abused as the power of light; when it occurs, then the crystals of the light will need to call forth their own warriors to restore balance.

Main article: Characters of Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III features four orphans who are raised at the remote village of Ur by the priest, Topapa. When the Wind Crystal sinks to the earth due to an earthquake one day, the four characters go to investigate. They manage to get lost, but eventually stumble upon the Crystal. The Crystal tells them of Xande's plans to conquer the world using Darkness, which could upset the balance of Light and Dark and lead to detrimental effects. It then proceeds to bestow the first Legendary Job Classes upon the four. From there on, the four become Warriors of the Light, and leave Ur in their quest. Granted the power of the Light, the Warriors begin to combat the darkness that increasingly consumes the world. As the other Crystals they encounter provide them more Jobs, the four Warriors become a formidable party strong enough to save the world from the darkness.

The remake of the game for the Nintendo DS features a new set of party members, each with new backstories and personalities.

One day, an earthquake opens up a previously hidden cavern in Altar Cave near the village of Ur on the floating continent. Four orphaned youths under the care of Topapa, the village elder, go exploring and come across a crystal of light. The crystal grants them a portion of its power, and instructs them to go forth and restore balance to the world. Not knowing what to make of the crystal's pronouncements, but nonetheless recognizing the importance of its words, the four inform their adoptive family of their mission and set out to explore an overworld outside the area in which they were brought up to bring back balance to the world.

Main article: Music of Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III was scored by Nobuo Uematsu, and it is Uematsu's 21st work of video game music. Several of the game's songs were used in Chocobo Racing, including the opening theme ("Crystal Cave") and the final battle theme. Final Fantasy III: Yūkyū no Kaze Densetsu, an arranged album by Uematsu featuring vocals by Dido, a Japanese vocal duo of Michiaki Kato and Shizuru Ohtaka, was also released. The score was later arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Keiji Kawamori for the Nintendo DS version as the Final Fantasy III: Original Soundtrack.

This was the first appearance of moogles and the Fat Chocobo in the series. The "walk around the world on a chocobo and I'll give you a prize" quest was repeated in Final Fantasy V. The names of Doga and Unei, two key characters in this game, appear in multiple Final Fantasy games including Final Fantasy IX, which contains a sub-quest involving two items named "Doga's Artifact" and "Unei's Mirror". A crab-like monster named Uruk-Hai exists in this game; the name, although not the monster itself, is a reference to Tolkien's Middle-earth from The Lord of the Rings series.^{[citation needed]}

Bandai unveiled their WonderSwan Color handheld system in 2000 and had immediately headed up a deal with Square Co. to release enhanced remakes of their first three Final Fantasy titles on the new console.^[2] Although Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were both released within a year of the announcement, Final Fantasy III was ultimately delayed from its late 2001 release date, even after Bandai picked up the game's publishing rights.^[3] Although no official cancellation was mentioned by Square, the game's official website was taken down after production of the WonderSwan Color consoles ceased. ^[4] Instead, a port of Final Fantasy IV was made for the WonderSwan Color. Shortly after Square joined with Enix to form Square Enix in 2003, the company posted assurance that the game's promised remake would not be completely forgotten, and there was speculation that it might find its way to the Sony PlayStation or Nintendo's Game Boy Advance as its predecessors had.^[5][6] This would finally come in the form of a Nintendo DS release in 2006. In 2007, producer Hiromichi Tanaka explained in an interview that the WonderSwan Color remake had been abandoned because the structure of the coding of the original NES game was too difficult to recreate on WonderSwan Color.^[7]

Main article: Final Fantasy III (Nintendo DS)

The remake of Final Fantasy III was already in development when it was decided, after considering the PlayStation 2 and other consoles, to bring the game to the Nintendo DS, a decision that would later be positively reinforced by the commercial success of the Nintendo DS.^[8] The Final Fantasy III remake was first announced to be in development on October 7, 2004, but detailed information did not emerge until a year later. Hiromichi Tanaka, one of the main designers of the Nintendo Famicom version, headed the project as both the executive producer and director. His guidance and supervision were needed because the remake was not a mere graphical update as Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II's remakes were, but a total overhaul using the Nintendo DS's 3D capabilities, which allowed the game to have more than one viewpoint; however, the layout of the dungeons and towns closely matches the original. Along with 3D graphics, a full motion video opening scene has been made for the game, similar to those found in the ports of the 2D Final Fantasy games for the PlayStation. The game also has a Mognet system where players can register other players' friend codes, online using Wi-Fi or the local area network, and trade mail, which is essential in unlocking a secret job, quest, and area. Developer Matrix Software handled the programming of the game.^[9]

• Final Fantasy Wiki category list for Final Fantasy III

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Characters · Music Final Fantasy III (Nintendo DS)

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