Its hard to believe that its been 35 years since Final Fantasy III came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Final Fantasy III was the first main entry within its own series that came out during the 90’s. Final Fantasy III was probably the last installment within the series that appeared on the NES console. It would have made more sense if Square Enix saved Final Fantasy III for the SNES since the console came out in 1990. The original version of Final Fantasy III for the NES did not have a central main character but rather a group of unnamed protagonists known as the Onion Knights. The story for Final Fantasy was pretty basic and focused on the Onion Knights being chosen by the Wind Crystal to save the world from the main villains Xande and the Cloud of Darkness a demonic entity that seeks to plunge the world into a deep state of chaos. While the main protagonists did not have any names in the original version of FF3 the 3D Remake from 2006 gave them the names of Arc, Refia, Ingus and Luneth.

The customization features in Final Fantasy III was the feature that stood out the most along with the introduction of the job system. The job system introduced in Final Fantasy III was revolutionary mainly because it ended up being a staple feature in future Final Fantasy games. It should be noted that the job system introduced in Final Fantasy III is something many other popular RPG franchises like Octopath Traveler, Dragon Quest VI, Bravely Default and others. The original Final Fantasy III was a turn-based RPG that had 8-bit gameplay and graphics that would be considered horrible by today’s standards. However, the soundtrack in Final Fantasy III was something many people were fond of especially “Eternal Wind”. After its release Final Fantasy III had sold around 1.4 million copies worldwide and was initially seen as a commercial success. However, Final Fantasy III is an installment from the 90’s that often overlooked to due to how successful other entries from that decade were.

Square Enix did not reach its peak in popularity until the mid 90’s following the release of Final Fantasy VII for the PS1 back in 1997. As legendary as Final Fantasy III is the game really did not standout for its story or its characters. Square Enix did not start place emphasis on creating memorable characters until mid 90’s onwards. The Onion Knights in Final Fantasy III are not nearly as iconic as other characters like Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, The Gullwings or even Lightning from FFXIII. Final Fantasy III is one of those games that was rough around the edges but remakes made the gameplay experience more satisfying.