Dissidia Final Fantasy is a fighting game made in 2008 by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was first sold in Japan on December 18, 2008, in North America on August 25, 2009, and in Australia and Europe in September, as part of the celebration for the Final Fantasy series's 20th anniversary. A new version called Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning was later released in Japan on November 1, 2009, based on the North American version.
The game includes characters from many Final Fantasy games. It tells the story of a big fight between Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord. They each call on warriors to fight for them in their thirteenth war. Players control ten warriors chosen by Cosmos, who are the main characters from the first ten Final Fantasy games, as they go on their journey. The English and international versions of the game also include an arcade mode.
Dissidia was created by Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Kingdom Hearts, who wanted to make a game based on the Final Fantasy series. He worked with Square Enix staff to make the game appealing to players in Western countries. The game was successful, with many positive reviews and sales of more than 1.8 million copies. A later version called Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy was released in March 2011, with new characters and gameplay features.
Gameplay
Dissidia Final Fantasy is a game with a genre described as "dramatic progressive action." It uses 3D graphics and includes wireless one-on-one multiplayer battles. Players fight by using special skills unique to each character to damage opponents. Characters can be customized with different equipment.
Characters can move freely in a 3D environment and use the surroundings to perform special moves. Traps that cause various negative effects are placed throughout the arena. Equipment can be customized, and characters earn experience points (EXP) and money (gil) by fighting.
The goal is to reduce an opponent’s health (HP) to zero. A character’s offensive and defensive strength is shown as a number called BRV, or "Bravery Points." Both players start with a set amount of BRV. To win, a player must attack the opponent with an HP attack to lower their health to zero. Players can steal BRV from opponents by using a basic attack, adding it to their own total. Once an HP attack is used, the attacker’s BRV drops to zero and slowly returns to its starting amount. If a character’s BRV drops below zero, they enter "Break mode," where they cannot deal HP or BRV damage but can still gain BRV. Attacks against them in Break mode cause critical damage, and the opponent gains all the BRV from the "Bravery Pool," a visible number at the bottom of the screen.
A key feature is the "EX Gauge," which fills by damaging opponents, taking damage, or collecting EX cores scattered in the arena. When the EX Gauge is full, a character enters "EX Mode," greatly increasing their power and unlocking new attacks, including the "EX Burst," a powerful, unavoidable attack similar to the Limit Break mechanic in other games. The attacking player charges the EX Burst by following on-screen instructions, while the defending player can reduce damage by pressing a button repeatedly. After the EX Burst is used, EX Mode ends.
In a mode exclusive to Western releases, "Arcade mode" changes the game into a traditional fighting game by removing role-playing elements and simplifying character abilities to balance gameplay. Arcade mode has three difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, and Time Attack. Completing any level rewards players with PP (player points) and special items usable in story mode. All characters, including villains, are playable in Arcade mode. For example, Golbez, Sephiroth, Kuja, and Jecht are available from the start but must be purchased with PP in the PP Catalog to use in other game modes.
Plot
The story is about two gods: Cosmos, who represents harmony, and Chaos, who represents discord. The game brings together both good and bad characters from the main Final Fantasy series. Their stories are told by Cid of the Lufaine, a character from the first Final Fantasy game. In addition to the gods and their champions, players face crystal-like copies called Manikins. The game has one main story that requires playing through all characters to complete. There are 22 playable characters in total: 10 heroes and 10 villains, each representing a game from Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy X. Two secret characters are also included: a heroine from Final Fantasy XI and a villain from Final Fantasy XII. At first, only the 10 main heroes can be played in all game modes. The 10 main villains can be played in Arcade mode but must be unlocked to be used in other modes.
Cosmos and Chaos have been fighting endlessly against "World B," a mirror version of "World A," where the first Final Fantasy game takes place. They bring warriors from other worlds to battle in a cycle of death and rebirth until Chaos gains the advantage. As the battle nears its end, the 10 warriors of Cosmos unite to fight Chaos's forces and restore balance. Because Cosmos has lost much of her power, she sends her 10 warriors—Warrior of Light, Firion, Onion Knight, Cecil, Bartz, Terra, Cloud, Squall, Zidane, and Tidus—to find 10 crystals that will help defeat Chaos. Each warrior begins a journey called a "Destiny Odyssey," where their individual stories are told and connect to one another. During their travels, the heroes face their villains and defeat them through self-discovery that helps them obtain the crystals.
After the "Destiny Odysseys," the story moves to "Shade Impulse," where all 10 warriors have the crystals but arrive too late to save Cosmos, who is killed by Chaos. The heroes begin to disappear but are saved by the crystals' power, giving them time to fight the villains and defeat Chaos. At the end, the other warriors return to their worlds, the Warrior of Light starts a new adventure, and Cosmos is revived to rule World B.
The game includes two additional storylines. In "Distant Glory," players meet Shanttoto and Gabranth in separate areas where they must find a way to escape. The other story mode, "Inward Chaos," presents a different scenario where Chaos has never been defeated. In this mode, players are guided by a character named Shinryu to defeat Chaos.
Development
Dissidia Final Fantasy was first imagined by creative producer Tetsuya Nomura as a game connected to Kingdom Hearts, featuring Disney characters while Square Enix developed Kingdom Hearts II. Later, Nomura felt uneasy about Disney characters fighting each other and instead used Final Fantasy characters. This idea eventually inspired the creation of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, with Dissidia’s multiplayer gameplay influencing its design. The game was created to celebrate the Final Fantasy franchise’s 20th anniversary. Despite being made by younger employees, Nomura noted there was no pressure, as he helped guide them in designing parts of the game. Takeshi Arakawa directed the game, and Nomura praised his experience from a previous Square Enix game, The World Ends With You, which helped improve Dissidia. The team chose the PlayStation Portable console to allow players to fight in the desired way. Although plans for online play existed, the console’s limited capabilities made it impossible to add this feature. Development took three years, with two years focused on the battle system and one year on the RPG mode.
Choosing Final Fantasy heroes was simple for the team, except for Terra Branford. While her game, Final Fantasy VI, includes many characters who could be the main hero, Terra was selected to ensure a female fighter on Cosmos’ side. For villains, the team chose characters with strong rivalries to the heroes, not automatically selecting the final bosses from their games. This led to the inclusion of characters like Golbez from Final Fantasy IV, Kuja from Final Fantasy IX, and Jecht from Final Fantasy X, who were connected to their games’ main characters. Shantotto from Final Fantasy XI was included due to her popularity, and Gabranth represented Final Fantasy XII instead of Balthier, who had already appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. Other characters planned for the game included Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII.
Tetsuya Nomura designed the characters, changing the style of Yoshitaka Amano’s original illustrations. Designing characters from Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IX was easier for Nomura, as he based his work on Amano’s art and had previously worked with him on Final Fantasy IX. However, designing Onion Knight was difficult, as it became too cartoonish, and Nomura sought advice from Amano. Nomura also redesigned his own original characters for Dissidia. He told the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu that Tidus was made to look younger than in Final Fantasy X to match the style of the rest of the Dissidia cast.
Square Enix applied for a U.S. trademark for “Dissidia” in April 2007, without mentioning its connection to Final Fantasy. The link to Final Fantasy was later established when Square Enix officially released Dissidia Final Fantasy on May 8, 2007, with a Japanese website.
The Dissidia Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack, composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, was released on December 24, 2008. It is available in regular and special editions, similar to the game itself. Most tracks are remixes of music originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu for previous Final Fantasy games.
The main theme of the game is “The Messenger” by Your Favorite Enemies. The songs “Cosmos” and “Chaos – Last Battle 1” are also performed by the group. “The Messenger” serves as the game’s main theme, with lyrics inspired by both “Cosmos” and “Chaos – Last Battle 1.” “Cosmos” includes female vocals, while “Chaos” features male vocals. In a documentary, Alex Foster, a lyricist and vocalist from Your Favorite Enemies, explained that the lyrics do not directly relate to the game’s themes and instead encourage listeners to interpret them based on their own ideas.
Release and merchandise
For the Western version of Dissidia Final Fantasy, Square Enix used help from their other companies in London and Los Angeles to change the game so it would work better for players in the West. The game was released in the Western world on August 25, 2009, starting in North America. This version had several small changes, such as adjustments to how the game is played, new events, an arcade-style gameplay mode, a shorter tutorial, new moves for characters, and extra scenes with appearances from characters from the original games who are not in the Japanese version. The game’s director, Takeshi Arakawa, said the Western version focused more on action than the original Japanese version, which had more role-playing elements.
In the United States, GameStop gave players who pre-ordered the game two extra covers as a bonus. An international version of the game, called Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning, was released in Japan on November 1, 2009. This version was the same as the North American version, including all the added features. Players could choose to hear either English or Japanese voices during battles.
A special PSP bundle with a "Mystic Silver" PSP system, a copy of Dissidia Final Fantasy, a 2GB memory stick, and a copy of the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released on August 25, 2009.
Studio BentStuff created the Dissidia Final Fantasy Ultimania α, which was the first guidebook for the game. Published on December 4, 2008, this book became part of the Ultimania series, which also includes the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania α. Suntory Ltd. worked with Square Enix to make "Dissidia Final Fantasy Potion" drinks, which were sold in Japan on December 9, 2008, to help promote the game.
Square Enix released a set of Trading Arts figures in early 2009. Series 1 included Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Zidane Tribal, Tidus, and the Warrior of Light. A second series later included Sephiroth, Terra, Bartz, Firion, and Cecil.
Reception
Dissidia sold well, according to Takeshi Arakawa, even though some people worried about piracy. By August 2009, Dissidia Final Fantasy had sold 910,000 copies in Japan, making it the fourth best-selling game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Japan. In 2008, it was the 12th best-selling game in Japan, with sales of 660,262 copies. In the United States, Dissidia debuted as the 7th top-selling software on the August 2009 charts, selling 130,000 copies in just four days. According to the NPD Group, Dissidia Final Fantasy was the best-selling PSP game of 2009.
Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave Dissidia high scores of 9/9/10/8, which earned it a place in its "Best Picks of This Week" feature and its "Platinum Hall of Fame." The game’s battle system was described as fast and exciting, with simple controls that allowed players to fight in a way similar to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. However, some reviewers said the action could become hard to follow during intense battles, and some parts of the game were difficult to understand. The story and cutscenes were praised, with one reviewer calling the history "exacting."
American critics also gave positive reviews. 1UP.com and GameSpot praised the fighting system and visuals, with GameSpot noting the mix of role-playing game (RPG) and action gameplay. The story received mixed reactions: GameSpot said it would mainly interest fans of the Final Fantasy series, while 1UP.com appreciated its references to previous games. RandomNPC called the game "one of the few must-have games for the PSP." Game Informer criticized the story and gameplay, saying they were too similar to past Final Fantasy titles and might not appeal to new players.
At the Best of E3 2009 event, Dissidia was named "Best Fighting Game" by IGN. It also won awards from Famitsu and the Japan Game Awards 2008. In 2010, the game was included in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.
After the game’s success in Japan, which surprised its creator, Tetsuya Nomura, he had plans for a sequel and wanted to include the character Kain. Yoshinori Kitase noted that the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth from the movie Advent Children was so popular that Japanese fans recreated it in Dissidia, and he expected Western fans to do the same.
A follow-up game, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, was released in March 2011 for the PSP. Since Dissidia had a clear ending, the team made the story of Dissidia 012 a prequel. Nomura said there would be no more Dissidia games after Dissidia 012, though the series might continue in a different form. The story of Dissidia also inspired the 2012 rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the Nintendo 3DS, which features characters from the Final Fantasy series. In 2013, Ichiro Hazama mentioned plans for a third Dissidia game but did not specify platforms. In 2015, a new title, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, was released for arcades in Japan and later for PlayStation 4 and Windows. This game introduced 3v3 combat and new characters like Y’shtola and Ramza Beoulve. A mobile version, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, was released in 2017 for Japan and 2018 internationally. Another mobile game, Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy, is scheduled for release in 2026.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, an alternate universe prequel to the first Final Fantasy game, includes references to the Dissidia franchise, especially in its final DLC episode, Different Future. For example, manikins—common enemies in Dissidia’s story mode—are featured as a game and plot element in the DLC.