Final Fantasy

1. Pick your party at the crystal screen. One balanced party is Fighter, Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage: two Fighters up front while the mages heal and cast ^cite. Swap one Fighter for a Black Belt if you want a late-game powerhouse; fighting bare-handed, a Black Belt’s Attack is twice its level.

2. Gear up in Coneria. A Rapier costs 10 gil and Chain armor 80 ^cite; buy them for your Fighters as gil allows. Grab CURE and HARM for the White Mage and FIRE for the Red Mage at 100 gil each ^cite. Spells run on charges, not MP—each level has its own pool, restored at Inns, or by a HOUSE only if you choose to save afterward (TENT and CABIN restore HP only) ^cite.

3. Grind to level 3 in the fields around Coneria before entering the Temple of Fiends. Garland has 106 HP and you need the extra hit points to survive his attacks ^cite. Rescuing Princess Sarah gets the King to build the bridge east, opening the route to Pravoka and the Ship.

4. Head to Pravoka and fight Bikke’s nine Pirates (6 HP each) for the Ship. Once you have it, sail northeast to Matoya’s Cave, then south to Elfland ^cite. Buy the level 3 and 4 spells in Elfland as soon as you can afford them—CUR2, HRM2, FIR2, and LIT2 are the workhorses for the next 15 hours ^cite.

5. Collect the Crown from the Marsh Cave B3 (watch for the Piscodemon guards at 84 HP each), then take it to the Northwest Castle. The “king” is Astos; he drops the CRYSTAL when you kill him ^cite. Trade the CRYSTAL to Matoya for the HERB, wake the Elf Prince in Elfland, and claim the Mystic Key.

6. Use the Mystic Key to unlock the TNT in Coneria Castle, then give it to the dwarf in the Dwarf Cave to blast the canal. This opens the southern continent ^cite. Head to Melmond, buy the level 5 spells (CUR3, LIFE, FIR3), and push into the Earth Cave for the Vampire fight and the RUBY.

7. Save spell charges for bosses. TMPR and SABR do nothing on NES, LOCK always misses, and LOK2 raises enemy evasion instead of lowering it ^cite. Stick to direct damage (FIR2, LIT2, ICE2) and healing (CUR2, CUR3) until you learn the working spells in Crescent Lake and beyond.

• Take the TAIL to Bahamut before the final dungeon. The class upgrade unlocks higher-level spell slots and better gear. A Knight can use Excalibur; a Fighter cannot ^cite.

• Buy LIF2 in Lefein and the ProRing in Gaia. LIF2 (Full-life) is the only level-8 white spell sold outside Gaia, and the ProRing blocks instant death—critical for the Warmech and the Temple of Fiends (past) ^cite.

• Intelligence does nothing on NES; physical damage wins the endgame. Spell damage is fixed, so the Masamune (attack 56, any class) and Excalibur (Knight only, forged from ADAMANT) carry the Chaos fight. Keep your casters on healing duty ^cite.

• TMPR, SABR, LOCK and LOK2 are dead spells. TMPR and SABR have no effect, LOCK always misses, and LOK2 raises enemy evasion instead of lowering it. Save the gil and the charges ^cite.

• HOUSE only restores spell charges if you choose to save. Declining the save prompt leaves your charges spent. Rest at an Inn when you need them back, or accept the save and load it later ^cite.

• Grind on the Peninsula of Power. The overworld is split into encounter zones, and the peninsula’s tip shares Lefein’s zone, so fights there draw on Lefein’s much tougher enemy table ^cite.

• Weapon type bonuses never trigger on NES. The Were Sword, Rune Sword, Dragon Sword and Excalibur’s listed bonuses against creature types or elements are bugged. Trust the base attack stat only ^cite.

• Some enemy status attacks slip past the ProRing and Aegis Shield. The enemy-attack bug lets a Green Slime’s attack bypass the Aegis Shield and a Mindflayer’s (Sorcerer’s) instant death bypass the ProRing. Keep PURE and LIF2 ready ^cite.

Astos and the Crown
The Northwest Castle “king” who asks for the Crown from the Marsh Cave is Astos in disguise. He opens with RUB, a single-target death spell, and also casts SLO2, FAST, FIR2, LIT2, SLOW, DARK and SLEP ^cite. HOLD works on him; land it and kill him before he cycles through the party. Bring PURE to cure poison from the Marsh Cave Piscodemon guards. Astos drops the CRYSTAL for Matoya, which trades for the HERB that wakes the Elf Prince and unlocks the Mystic Key.

The Earth Cave without the ROD
You cannot reach Lich on B5 without the ROD that opens the seal ^cite. The Vampire on B3 drops the RUBY; take it to the Titan in Titan’s Tunnel, who moves aside. Sarda’s Cave on the far side holds the ROD. Return to the Earth Cave, open the seal and fight Lich at level 15 or higher. He casts ICE2, SLP2, FAST, LIT2, HOLD, FIR2, SLOW and SLEP and has 400 HP, weak to fire and HARM ^cite. Use FIR2 and HRM2; keep healing through his ice attacks.

Kraken without the OXYALE
The Sunken Shrine drowns the party without the OXYALE ^cite. Get the BOTTLE from the desert caravan, take it to Gaia for the OXYALE, then head to Onrac and take the submarine. Kraken has 800 HP, hits up to eight times a turn, and is weak to lightning ^cite. Use LIT2 or LIT3, the Thor’s Hammer (casts LIT2) or the Zeus Gauntlets; skip ice and fire, which he resists.

The Temple of Fiends (past) and the CUBE
You need four items to reach the final dungeon. The SLAB (from Kraken) goes to Dr. Unne in Melmond, who teaches Lefeinish. Talk to the Lefein elder to get the CHIME. The Waterfall Cave holds the CUBE ^cite. Place the CUBE in the pedestal at the Mirage Tower to reveal the warp to the Sky Castle, defeat Tiamat for the ADAMANT, and have the Dwarf Cave smith forge Excalibur. The CHIME opens the Temple of Fiends (past). Save spell charges for Chaos—the Fiend refights are tougher than the originals, and Chaos himself is immune to every spell and heals once with CUR4 ^cite.

Running out of spell charges before an Inn
The HOUSE restores HP and every spell charge, but only if you choose to save when prompted. Declining the save restores HP only, and loading that save finds the charges still spent ^cite. Rest at an Inn when you need charges back. TENT and CABIN restore HP only. The bug is NES-specific; later versions fixed it.