| Final Fantasy IV came out for the Super Famicom in Japan on 19 July 1991. | first paragraph | Publisher |
| Square Enix calls Final Fantasy IV the fourth game of the Final Fantasy series. Famitsu notes that it moved the series from the Famicom to the Super Famicom and calls it the first game Square released for the Super Famicom; Square's Yusuke Hirata called it "our first Super Famicom RPG" in 1994. | second paragraphsecond paragraph | Publisher |
| Cecil commands Baron's airship fleet, the Red Wings, and has come to doubt the king's unreasonable orders to harm innocent people. The opening shows him taking a crystal from the town of Mysidia on the king's order, without he or his crew knowing why. The king then sends him with his friend Kain, a dragoon, to deliver a Bomb Ring to the summoner of Mist. Later in the game Cecil becomes a Paladin. | story paragraph | Web |
| Famitsu contrasts the story with Final Fantasy III's call to adventure: Final Fantasy IV features complex human relationships, love and hatred among them, alongside the Four Fiends and allies who sacrifice themselves for the others. The party's members change one after another, and range from children to the elderly. | story paragraphparagraph after the storyparty paragraph | Web |
| Famitsu called Active Time Battle the game's distinctive feature: RPG battles had generally been turn-based, and with time passing in real time here, battles stayed tense. It recalls bosses such as the Demon Wall, which closes in on the player and at last uses the instant-death Crush Down. | ATB paragraphATB paragraph | Web |
| Famitsu recalls the game as simple in system but hard, so much so that Final Fantasy IV Easy Type, a minor revision with the difficulty lowered, came out a few months later, on 29 October. Famitsu gives no year, but the date falls a few months after the July 1991 release, and Famicom Tsushin's issue of 8 November 1991 reviewed Easy Type. | difficulty paragraph | Web |
| Square Enix's Japanese site lists the game's later versions, among them a PlayStation port on 21 March 1997, which added CG movies to the opening and ending; a WonderSwan Color version on 28 March 2002, with all the graphics redrawn; a full remake for the Nintendo DS on 20 December 2007, by the staff of the DS Final Fantasy III and the original staff; and the Pixel Remaster for Windows and smartphones on 9 September 2021. | footnote to the Pixel Remaster paragraph | Publisher |
| Famitsu calls the 2007 Nintendo DS remake harder than the original. | difficulty paragraph | Web |
| A sequel for mobile phones, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, came out in 2009, following Theodor, the son of Cecil and Rosa. | sequel paragraphsequel paragraph | Web |