From its humble beginnings in 1987, Final Fantasy has since blossomed into a ridiculous multimedia empire. There are, of course, the main numbered entries, but there are spin-offs, sequels, kart racers, energy drinks, even feature-length movies – and it can be tough to keep track of it all. To help make sense of the convoluted mess of games that is the Final Fantasy brand, we’ve made a list of nearly every single Final Fantasy game released in the West, and have explained each entry in 10 seconds or less.
Note: We’ve left off the Japan-only releases, as well as the compilations and remakes, otherwise we’d be here all day rattling off Chocobo’s Dungeon games. And no one wants that.
Final Fantasy – The classic
Final Fantasy 2 – The not-so-classic
Final Fantasy 3 – The first game to introduce ‘job’ classes. It’s fine.
Final Fantasy 4 – Those wizards came from the moon. The whale, too.
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years – An episodic sequel made 18 years later. Sure, why not?
Final Fantasy 5 – Butz and the Bird’s wild ride
Final Fantasy 6 – A lot can happen after the end of the world.
Final Fantasy 7 – Ridiculous sword man wants his mommy
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 – Hot Topic patron slash fiction.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 – Cool as everyone said Zack was in 7.
Final Fantasy 7 Snowboarding – Refreshing mountain air on a flip phone.
Final Fantasy 8 – The best episode of Dawson’s Creek ever.
Final Fantasy 9 – Tail guy fights the somebodies for love and profit.
Final Fantasy 10 – It was all a dream.
Final Fantasy 10-2 – I used to read crazy dress up fighting magazine.
Final Fantasy 11 – Turns out Final Fantasy works pretty well as an MMORPG
Final Fantasy 12 – Medieval Star Wars, but way sexier.
Final Fantasy 12: Revenant Wings – Pirate kids make too many monster friends.
Final Fantasy 13 – Gorgeously stupid.
Final Fantasy 13-2 – Makes even less sense but with pet clothing.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 – Lightning’s on a mission from God, plays dress-up, kills God.
Final Fantasy Type-0 – War and high school are both hell.
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn – First it sucked, now it’s great!
Final Fantasy Tactics – Turn-based Final Fantasy Game of Thrones
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance – Same, but with kids.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift – Same again, but the kid has a ball sword thing
Chocobo’s Dungeon 2 – Bird meets girl in a cave, it’s nice.
Chocobo Racing – Bird on rocket skates versus car-driving NYPD mitochondria powers lady.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales – For kids!
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon – Chocobo roguelike. It’s fine? It’s fine.
Chocobo’s Crystal Tower – Final Fantasy Farmville on Facebook, also it doesn’t exist anymore
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles – I’m not carrying that, you carry that.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates – DS friendcode nightmare edition.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King – Simmy simmy bang bang.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord – EVVVVIL Simmy simmy bang bang.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time – Maybe Wii and DS crossplay workNOPE.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – So broken, so rad.
Crystal Defenders – Mobile Budget Final Fantasy Tactics
Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm – Mobile Budget Final Fantasy Tactics but better
Dissidia Final Fantasy – The gang’s all here and they can fly.
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy – The gang’s back and their campaign is inscrutable.
The Final Fantasy Legend – Not actually Final Fantasy
The Final Fantasy Legend 2 – Not actually Final Fantasy 2: Cthulu Boogaloo
The Final Fantasy Legend 3 – Not actually… you get it
Final Fantasy Adventure – Actually a Secret of Mana prequel
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest – Final Fantasy for babies
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light – Final Fantasy for nostalgic masochists.
Final Fantasy Dimensions – Final Fantasy for people who have exhausted all other options.
Theatrythm Final Fantasy – A neat little rhythm game with great Final Fantasy tunes.
Theatrythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call – Same, but, like, all of the songs.
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade – Final Fantasy dungeons, but bad, and no longer exists.
Final Fantasy All The Bravest – Absolute garbage. Simply the worst.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper – Free-to-play NES battles with Cloud, Gau, and Fran. Actually good.
Final Fantasy Explorers – Combine Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy, but make it boring.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius – Literally came out while we were making this video.