Best Final Fantasy Games

Update: We've switched out Famicom's Final Fantasy V in the poll below for Final Fantasy V Advance on the GBA, the version available worldwide rather than Japan-only. We've left FF2 for Famicom as that's only available internationally (on Nintendo systems) in the GBA dual pack with FF1.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you previously rated FF5, those ratings won't transfer to the Advance version, so you'll need to rate FF5 again to have it reflected in the results (coming soon). Apologies for the alteration, but we think it makes more sense now. Remember, you can continue to rate the games after the results go live and the list will automatically change to reflect this. Carry on!

The imminent re-release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition has got us looking back over the long-running and celebrated (and confusingly numbered in the West) Final Fantasy series. Although the entire saga began on Nintendo's Famicom, there was a long while from the mid-'90s that the mainline games weren't to be found on Nintendo consoles; remakes on handhelds, yes, but not the new numbered entries.

Thankfully, the situation has been rectified somewhat thanks to numerous re-releases on Switch of games previously only available elsewhere. Although there are a few entries unaccounted for (XIII, MMORPGs XI and XIV, and XV in its full form), Nintendo gamers can now enjoy the majority of the series. With that in mind, we thought a ranking of all the mainline entries was in order, and we'd like your help. Just what are the best Final Fantasy games on Nintendo systems?

Final Fantasy Switch
This little Switch lot helped bolster the FF back catalogue. — Image: Nintendo

Below you'll find the candidates; registered Nintendo Life users can click on the stars and rate any (or all) of the games out of 10. If you've previously rated these games--excellent!--you can just put your feet up. Much like our Top 50 platform polls, the resulting ranking (which we'll publish soon) will be created from the database of NL User Ratings and is therefore fluid and subject to change, even after publication. If you're in the middle of a Final Fantasy game and don't want to rate it yet, no sweat - you can add your score to the game at any time in the future and it will still count and potentially influence the ranking.

We've dispensed with the bewildering host of spin-offs, crossovers, remakes and more that form one of gaming's biggest juggernaut franchises - just the mainline games today, folks. To keep things simpler in voting terms, we've only included one version of the games to pick from below. Final Fantasy II, for example, is the Famicom original rather than the GBA's dual pack of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. While remade versions might have altered the base games--sometimes rather substantially--those differences (and preferences) are ripe material for discussion when the results are in.

We've also included the 'demade' Pocket Edition of Final Fantasy XV; we're under no illusions and don't expect it to rank highly, but it's the only version available on Nintendo platformers. The nature of the 'voting' here makes it easy to discount from the final ranking if it doesn't qualify in your book.

So, big swords at the ready! Let's get rating...

Rate each Final Fantasy game:

Click the stars below to rate out of 10 each Final Fantasy game you've played:

Thanks for rating! We'll be finding out the results in the near future, but remember: much like our platform Top 50s, the list here is fluid, so even if you miss out on voting before the results are revealed, you can still influence the ranking after publication.