Final Fantasy 4 retains the original Active Time Battle System from the initial Super Nintendo release.

Final Fantasy 3 for the Nintendo DS features overhauls to the job system, including the rebalancing of the classes, the addition of new abilities, a new "Freelancer" class that replaces "Onion Knight" as the default job at the beginning of the game (Onion Knight is retained as a secret class), new events, a new crystal and dungeon, and the removal of capacity points

Final Fantasy 2is a second installment of Final Fantasy was not planned in advance, and only materialized after the first game's widespread popularity. The game was released less than a year after the first game came out. The first Final Fantasy game was not plotted to have a sequel, Square took the game in a new direction, and became the first sequel in video games to feature none of the previous games characters or countries. The experience system was designed to be a more realistic advancement system.

Final Fantasy music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu was the critically acclaimed chief music composer of the Final Fantasy series until his resignation from Square Enix in November 2004.