Games in The Final Fantasy Series
Earlier today we learned that Square Enix will release a Final Fantasy-branded mobile typing game. Square has released a lot of these kinds of spin-offs over the years and they include everything from action RPGs like Crystal Chronicles to the more strategic Final Fantasy Tactics… but how many Final Fantasy games have ever been made?
The main sequence has 14 entries so far, from the first NES game all the way to Final Fantasy XIV: Online. Add to that final fantasy X-2, XII: Revenant Wings and the re-release of XIV, A Realm Reborn, and we're at 17. For a series that's been running for 27 years, that's pretty reasonable. But then we start hitting the spin-offs.
The Tactics line has four releases. There's also a special group just for games based in the Final Fantasy VII universe that includes Before Crisis, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. Adding in the Fabula Nova Crystallis compilation, which includes Type-0, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, and Agito, brings the running total to 28 games.
Next, we have the Crystal Chronicles line with seven different games, the Crystal Defenders series with another three, and the massive set of Chocobo-based spin-offs with 19 different games – more than the entire main series plus sequels. That puts us at 57 different games carrying the Final Fantasy moniker. To get the last few we have to include the Dissidia, Artniks, Theatrhythm, All the Bravest, etc. releases – a good chunk of which are mobile releases only ever released in Japan. In fact, out of 79 games, 22 of them were published in Japan only.
I dunno about you, but 79 games in 27 years seems like far, far too many. Then again, Mario's got almost 200… so there's that.
You're reading Numbers, a blog on Kotaku that examines games and culture through the lens of math and statistics. To contact the author of this post, write todancstarkey@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @dcstarkey.