There are some franchises out there that become a standard by which all others in that genre are held to. Final Fantasy has certainly become that for roleplaying games, particularly those out of Japan. The series has since expanded beyond the mainline games to include a number of spinoffs – many of which have dabbled in different types of gameplay – plus has entered a variety of different media, such as films, television, and comics.

The first Final Fantasy arrived on December 18, 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, it was titled as a “final” game for him and potentially for Square as a company. As the story goes, Square was in dire straits financially after several unsuccessful game releases. Had Final Fantasy not done well, it may have led to Square going bankrupt as well as Sakaguchi leaving the industry and returning to school. Fortunately for everyone, it was a success.

Though by today’s standards the original Final Fantasy may seem very clichéd, it set a number of standards that the series has followed in the years since, such as the different party classes and many of the story elements. Musical motifs, particularly the “Victory Fanfare” and the title screen’s “Prelude,” have also continued to be used.

Final Fantasy’s success set in motion development for a sequel, Final Fantasy II, which arrived almost a year to the day later, on December 17, 1988. Similarly to the first game, the story focused on four kids who must save the world; II also introduced the chocobo creature to the franchise, as well as a character named Cid. It’s now seen as a series tradition to have a “Cid” of some sort appear. It received positive reviews, but still doesn’t have much of a fanbase outside of Japan – largely due to how it wasn’t released in other regions until a PlayStation port of the game was made in the early 2000s.

For the full version of this article, be sure to pick up the upcoming Overstreet Guide to Collecting Video Games, available this fall.