Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game released in 1990 for the Family Computer. It is the third game in the Final Fantasy series and follows four children who lost their parents and live in the village of Ur. These children are chosen by powerful crystals in the world to fight against a great evil and restore balance. The game uses a classic combat system from the first Final Fantasy game and introduces a job system, which lets players switch between different character classes with special abilities.
Many experienced creators from the Final Fantasy series worked on the game, including director Hironobu Sakaguchi, designers Hiromichi Tanaka and Kazuhiko Aoki, writer Kenji Terada, composer Nobuo Uematsu, and programmer Nasir Gebelli, who contributed to the game for the last time. Making the game was difficult because of challenges with managing data, and new features were added to help players try different strategies. The artwork was created by a team of artists: Koichi Ishii designed characters and jobs, Yoshitaka Amano designed monsters, and Kazuko Shibuya created the main character images. When it was finished, it was considered one of the largest games available for the system.
When the game was released in Japan, it sold 1.4 million copies and received mostly good reviews, with many praising its job system. The game was later released on other platforms, but the original version was not available outside Japan until 2021. A remake for the WonderSwan Color was planned but never made, while a 3D version for the Nintendo DS was released internationally in 2006. This game introduced several features that would appear in later Final Fantasy games, such as the job system, summoned monsters, and the Moogle. Kenji Terada also created a manga adaptation of the game, and its characters and settings appeared in other Final Fantasy titles.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game where players control four unnamed warriors on a journey to save their world from darkness. The group travels across the game world by walking, riding a chocobo, using a boat, and later, an airship. Players visit towns to advance the story by talking to characters, resting at inns to restore health, and purchasing weapons, items, and equipment from shops using gil, the game's currency. The large map of the game world becomes accessible as the player completes parts of the story.
While exploring the game world and entering dungeons, players may face sudden battles with enemies. The screen shows the player's characters on one side and enemies on the other. The combat system uses a turn-based format, similar to earlier games. During battles, players can choose to attack, defend, use a special action, or use an item to heal or remove harmful effects. After all actions are chosen, the battle proceeds. If one attack kills an enemy, the next attack automatically targets the next enemy. Players earn gil and experience points, which increase a character's level, health, and strength. If the player's group loses all their health, the game must be restarted from a previous save point.
A key feature of the game is the job system, which allows characters to use different abilities based on their chosen class. The group begins with the Onion Knight job but can switch to other jobs. Available jobs include warriors, monks, black and white mages, ninjas, dragoons, and summoners. Each job has unique abilities: summoners can summon monsters to attack enemies, ninjas can steal items, and dragoons can jump to strike enemies. The job a character uses affects the weapons and equipment they can carry and how they gain experience. Players can change jobs or unlock new abilities using "capacity points," which are earned after battles. These points allow players to switch jobs anytime outside of combat.
Synopsis
Final Fantasy III takes place in a fantasy world guarded by four elemental crystals. A thousand years ago, an ancient civilization lived on floating lands and misused light power, causing a disaster that disrupted the balance between light and darkness. This imbalance brought the Cloud of Darkness, a force that would destroy the world. Two groups, the Warriors of Light and Warriors of Darkness, stopped this threat and restored balance, ending the ancient civilization. Today, darkness is spreading, creating monsters and disturbing the balance again. The story begins on the Floating Continent, a land above the rest of the world.
The main characters are four orphans from the village of Ur, chosen by dying crystals to restore balance as Warriors of Light. They start as "Onion Knights" but can switch roles. During their journey, they meet Sara, a determined princess; Desch, the last survivor of the ancient civilization; Cid, an old engineer; Alus, prince of Saronia; and Doga and Unei, students of Magus Noah. The main enemy is Xande, another student of Noah, who causes darkness to gain immortality. The Cloud of Darkness appears briefly at the game’s end.
An earthquake reveals a hidden cave near Ur. Four orphans explore it, fighting a monster that tests their strength. The Wind Crystal, dying, names them Warriors of Light and gives them its final power, instructing them to restore balance. The Warriors travel across the Floating Continent, now under attack by monsters. They help Sara calm a rogue djinn, aid Desch in destroying a dangerous tower, and get the airship Invincible from Cid. They also gain power from the Fire Crystal, which is attacked by Xande’s servants.
After obtaining the Invincible, the Warriors leave the Floating Continent for the first time, discovering the surface world is mostly flooded. There, they complete trials, receive the Water Crystal’s blessing, and help Alus reclaim his kingdom from his possessed father. Doga and Unei explain that Xande hates the gift of life given by Noah and attacked the Crystals to stop time, causing the Floating Continent to rise. After receiving the Earth Crystal’s blessing and stealing keys from Xande’s servants, the Warriors and allies enter his stronghold, the Crystal Tower.
The Warriors defeat Xande but cannot stop the imbalance he caused, which summons the Cloud of Darkness. The Cloud absorbs Xande and plans to destroy existence. It kills the Warriors, but Doga and Unei sacrifice themselves to revive them. The Warriors enter the world of darkness, joining the original Warriors of Darkness. These warriors sacrifice themselves to weaken the Cloud, allowing the Warriors of Light to defeat it. The crystals are revived, balance is restored, and the Warriors return to their lives.
Development
Final Fantasy III was made and released by Square, the company that started the Final Fantasy series. Key members of the team included Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the series, who directed the game. Designers Hiromichi Tanaka and Kazuhiko Aoki also worked on the project. Masafumi Miyamoto, who founded and once led Square, was the game’s producer. This was the last Final Fantasy game created for Nintendo’s Family Computer (Famicom) console. It was one of the largest games for the platform, requiring a 512 KB cartridge, the second-largest size available for the console. Tanaka said making the game was difficult because of the limited space for data. The game was also the final original Final Fantasy title developed by Nasir Gebelli, an Iranian-American programmer who had worked on the series since the first game. Midway through development, Gebelli had to return to Sacramento, California, from Japan because his work visa expired. The rest of the team followed him to Sacramento with equipment and completed the game there.
The battle system returned to the traditional turn-based style used in the first game after players found the system in Final Fantasy II too hard to understand. Sakaguchi, the director, suggested the character class-based job system to let players customize their party. This system was first called the "Crystal" system. To make each job unique within the limited combat options, each job had a special action, like the Dragoon’s Jump ability. For Final Fantasy III, the team created a dedicated script engine to manage character movements in environments, later named "Ether," which was used in later games. The final dungeon was especially hard because there were no save points. Sakaguchi removed the save points after a playtester said the final area was too easy. Some ideas from Final Fantasy II, such as summoned monsters and Moogle creatures, were included in the game. The team used experience from creating scrolling environments in Rad Racer (1987) to design battle animations, like the summon Odin’s signature attack.
Tanaka said the story received less attention because Akitoshi Kawazu, who usually helped with storytelling, was not involved. The scenario was written by Kenji Terada, who had worked on the previous two Final Fantasy games. This was his last contribution to the series, and he later felt the story affected his public image. Due to hardware limits, Sakaguchi described the story as a series of connected events without strong characters. Sakaguchi had not focused much on storytelling before, but after his mother, Aki, died in an accident during the game’s development, he began to value stories more in future titles. He included several character death scenes in Final Fantasy III as part of his emotions at the time.
Yoshitaka Amano designed the monsters and summons, while Koichi Ishii designed the characters. Amano said the work schedule was very tight. Earlier games used black-and-white line art, but for Final Fantasy III, Amano drew in color first. Ishii, who joined the team after finishing Makai Toushi SaGa (1989), designed the jobs. He was unhappy with the in-game character sprites because of the Famicom’s limited color options but noted that some of these designs were later used in games like the White Mage’s robe. Kazuko Shibuya handled the in-game sprite art. She said the design team expanded for the first time for Final Fantasy III. She had difficulty adapting Amano’s monster designs to the game, such as changing the Cloud of Darkness’s pose to fit the battle arena. The in-game airship Invincible was the largest asset in the game, using sixteen blocks of sprite art.
Nobuo Uematsu, the regular series composer, created the music for Final Fantasy III. In a 2025 interview, he said the music for this game was different from the previous two titles because of input from Hiroshi Nakamura, a new sound programmer. During this game, Uematsu decided to make the "Prelude" and "Main Theme" recurring musical elements in the series and began creating music for comedic moments. Dungeon themes used minor chords to create a "sense of eeriness." One of the most notable themes, "Eternal Wind," was hard for Uematsu to create because he wanted an echo effect that was difficult to achieve with the hardware. Nakamura found a rarely used fifth sound track on the Famicom that triggered during bugs and used its sound to create a rolling drum beat for the battle theme’s opening. Final Fantasy III was the last game Uematsu worked on using the PSG sound chip, which he described as "inconvenient, but strangely charming."
The album Final Fantasy III Original Sound Version, which includes almost all the music from the game, was released by Square/NTT Publishing in 1991 and re-released in 1994 and 2004. A vocal arrangement album titled Final Fantasy III Yūkyū no Kaze Densetsu (or Final Fantasy III Legend of the Eternal Wind) features musical tracks from the game performed by Nobuo Uematsu and Dido, a duo made up of Michiaki Kato and Sizzle Ohtaka. This album was released by Data M in 1990 and by Polystar in 1994.
Selected tracks from the game were included in various Final Fantasy arranged music albums, such as Final Fantasy: Pray and Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow (with lyrical versions performed by singer Risa Ohki). The tracks also appeared in albums by Uematsu’s progressive metal group, The Black Mages. Some music from the game was later remixed and used in later Square or Square Enix titles, including Chocobo Racing and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon. Many pieces from the soundtrack remain popular today and have been performed in Final Fantasy orchestral concerts, such as the Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy series and the Distant Worlds – Music from Final Fantasy series.
Release
Final Fantasy III was published by Square for the Famicom on April 27, 1990. Many staff members, including Ishii, made promotional art for magazines during production. Amano created the cover art, following design instructions that included a picture of two swords. Although there were plans to release the game outside Japan, Tanaka said the plan was scrapped so the team could focus on development for the upcoming Super Famicom. Ports of the game were released through Nintendo's Virtual Console service in 2011 (Wii) and 2014 (Wii U and Nintendo 3DS). These versions became unavailable when the service shut down in 2019. The game was also released on iOS in 2011, Android in 2012, and Windows Phone in 2013. The first international release of the original version came as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, initially released on Windows and mobile platforms on July 28, 2021.
Bandai introduced their WonderSwan Color handheld system in 2000 and quickly made a deal with Square to release improved remakes of their first three Final Fantasy games on the new console. Although Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were released within a year of the announcement, Final Fantasy III was delayed from its planned late 2001 release date, even after Bandai took over the game's publishing rights. While a port of Final Fantasy IV was eventually released for the WonderSwan Color, Square did not release Final Fantasy III for the console. The game was never officially cancelled, but its website was taken offline after production of the WonderSwan Color stopped in 2002. In 2007, Hiromichi Tanaka explained in an interview that the WonderSwan Color remake was abandoned because the original Famicom game's code was too complex to adapt to the WonderSwan Color.
After the WonderSwan's failure and the 2003 merger of Square and Enix, the newly formed Square Enix aimed to expand its games to more platforms and promised a remake of Final Fantasy III. Square Enix and Matrix Software remade the game for the Nintendo DS, which had global success. Tanaka returned as director and executive producer. The remake was a complete 3D version with an expanded story and a CGI opening, while keeping some gameplay elements. Akihiko Yoshida redesigned the characters and jobs. The remake was released in 2006 and later released on other platforms.
Reception
According to reports, Final Fantasy III sold 500,000 copies during its first week of release. By March 2003, the original Famicom version had sold 1.4 million copies in Japan, selling more copies than the previous two Final Fantasy games released in the country.
Reviewers from Famicom Tsūshin (now Famitsu) generally praised the game’s job system and combat design. One reviewer said the game’s design was better than Dragon Quest IV (1990) in some areas. Another reviewer said the story moved too quickly, making it hard to follow, and two others criticized the lack of save points in dungeons. Family Computer Magazine liked the return to the original game’s traditional combat style and enjoyed experimenting with the job system. In 2006, readers of Famitsu voted the original Final Fantasy III the eighth best video game of all time, placing it above Dragon Quest IV.
The Windows version of the Pixel Remaster received a score of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic. Scott White of RPG Site said Final Fantasy III was the easiest of the first three Pixel Remaster games to recommend to longtime fans because of its replayability and differences from its later 3D remake. Shaun Musgrave of Touch Arcade said the Pixel Remaster version was better than the 3D remake, enjoying its scale and how the job system was implemented, but noted it might be challenging for new players.
Zach Wilkerson of RPGFan said the game had experimental design for its time and liked the simple story, but noted the game lacked depth in its mechanics and required grinding for progress. Chris Shive of Hardcore Gamer said the game improved mechanics from the first two Final Fantasy games but admitted some elements might feel old-fashioned to modern players. Jordan Rudek of Nintendo World Report said the story followed typical series conventions and praised the job system, though he felt it lacked depth compared to later versions. He also praised the Pixel Remaster’s updated visuals and helpful changes for players. The remastered version’s music was generally well-received.
Legacy
A manga version of the game Legend of the Eternal Wind, based on Final Fantasy III, was written by Terada and illustrated by Yu Kinutani. This manga was first published in Maru Katsu Famicom magazine by Kadokawa Shoten from 1990 to 1992. It was later compiled into three book versions under Kadokawa Shoten's Dragon Comics series. A novel version of the first three Final Fantasy games, written by Takashi Umemura, was released in Japan by Square Enix in 2019 and by Yen Press globally in 2020.
In the fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy (2009) and its later games, The Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness represented Final Fantasy III as the hero and villain, respectively. Elements from Final Fantasy III, such as Cloud of Darkness and the Crystal Tower, were included in the world and stories of Final Fantasy XIV (2013).