Final Fantasy IV,[a] titled Final Fantasy II in its initial North American release, is a 1991 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The fourth main installment of the Final Fantasy series, the game’s story follows Cecil, a dark knight, as he tries to prevent the sorcerer Golbez from seizing powerful crystals and destroying the world. He is joined on this quest by a frequently changing group of allies. Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its ”Active Time Battle” system was used in five subsequent Final Fantasy games, and unlike prior games in the series, IV gave each character their own unchangeable character class — although at a few points in the story, a dark knight will choose the path of a paladin, or a summoner will evolve to a new tier of spellcasting.
Final Fantasy IV has been ported to several other platforms with varying differences. A remake, also called Final Fantasy IV, with 3D graphics was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007 and 2008. The game was re-titled Final Fantasy II during its initial release outside Japan as the original II and III had not been released outside Japan at the time. All later localizations of Final Fantasy IV, which began to appear after Final Fantasy VII (released worldwide under that title), used the original title.
