Originally released in North America as a beginner-friendly introduction to the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest would eventually become one of the more polarizing spin-offs in the series. Thanks to the difficulty of both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV (releasing in the West as Final Fantasy II) and the relative niche quality of JRPGs at the time in North America, Square would envision an introductory title meant to ease American players into the mechanics and elements of the Final Fantasy series while also significantly streamlining those aspects and lowering the overall challenge. After its launch in October 1992, Mystic Quest would later be released in both Europe and Japan, where it would go by the name Final Fantasy USA.
Coincidentally, Mystic Quest would end up being the first game in the Final Fantasy series to be released in Europe, and it would perform fairly well in North America despite middling reviews. Ultimately, though, Mystic Quest would fail to help bring Final Fantasy into the mainstream, which would occur years later courtesy of Final Fantasy VII and its massive breakthrough success. Though the title shares much in common with the mainline Final Fantasy games, it also incorporates several of the action RPG mechanics of Square’s Mana series.
Despite the game’s design keeping an American audience in mind, Japanese players would contribute largely to Mystic Quest‘s success. Out of the roughly 800,000 units the game sold worldwide, roughly half can be attributed to Japan. While many fans who grew up with the Final Fantasy series’ origins in the West look back fondly on Mystic Quest, the title remains one of the worst-selling Final Fantasy spin-offs and sold fewer copies than the mainline games on the SNES.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Premise
Mystic Quest puts players into the role of Benjamin, a young hero who finds himself thrust into an inescapable destiny to save the world. After climbing the Hill of Destiny, Benjamin meets an Old Man who informs him that his hometown lies in ruins and that he needs to head to the nearby Focus Tower as part of a prophecy foretold. From here, Benjamin meets a rotating cast of allies, each with their own weapons and abilities, that help him restore power to the crystals residing in the world’s four main regions — Foresta, Aquaria, Fireburg, and Windia.
Though gameplay in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest takes place from a similar visual perspective as the mainline Final Fantasy games, battles are more similar to that of Dragon Quest. Entering encounters (which are not random but instead trigger when the player runs into visible enemy sprites in dungeons) utilizes a third-person perspective but players face the enemy head-on rather than from the side like in the mainline Final Fantasy games on NES and SNES. Actions in battles still take place in a series of turns, though the ATB system from Final Fantasy IV is not present and both player and enemy actions play out in a pre-set order.
Traversing dungeons and the overworld shares some qualities with both Square’s own Mana series and The Legend of Zelda, with players needing to climb ladders, cross gaps, blow up rocks and cracked walls with bombs, and perform other real-time actions within dungeons. Additionally, rather than utilize numerical values for health and magic, characters have visible bars showing how much HP and MP are left. And, for the first time in the series, enemy sprites change their appearance and show visible damage the closer they get to defeat.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Main Characters
In addition to the main character, Benjamin, Mystic Quest features a rotating cast of companions as well as a mysterious villain at the center of the cryptic prophecy driving its plot. Though these characters never get much development on par with the mainline Final Fantasy games, players do at least learn a little bit about their personalities and motivations from in-game dialogue. Main characters in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest include:
- Benjamin: The main protagonist of Mystic Quest, Benjamin is an adventurous free-spirit whose travels lead to him falling face-first into his heroic destiny. He heads off from his hometown in hopes of defeating the Dark King and restoring the four Crystals.
- Kaeli: Kaeli is the first companion players meet and a resident of Foresta. She is an expert on caring for the trees near her hometown and is a capable combatant when wielding an axe.
- Phoebe: Phoebe is Benjamin’s second companion and the granddaughter of Aquaria’s elder, Spencer. As both an expert with a bow and arrow and an adept healer, she is invaluable to the party.
- Rueben: After saving Aquaria and heading to Fireburg, Rueben will take Phoebe’s place as Benjamin’s next companion. He fights using a Morning Star and plays a crucial role in getting the party access to Doom Castle.
- Tristam: Tristam is a mercenary that Benjamin will occasionally partner up with throughout Mystic Quest, agreeing to partner up with the hero in exchange for any treasure they find along the way.
- Dark King: The Dark King is the primary antagonist of Mystic Quest, hoping to drain the Crystals of their power and become invincible before the Knight of Prophecy can slay him and his Vile Four.
Games in the Final Fantasy Series
The Final Fantasy series is host to 16 mainline entries, several remakes, and a plethora of spin-offs. With more than 35 years of history spanning multiple console generations, the Final Fantasy name continues to be synonymous with the JRPG genre as a whole after helping to define it back in 1987. Though the spin-off titles tend to venture into other genre territory, they mostly remain faithful to the elements of the series that the original helped to establish. Mainline games and noteworthy spin-offs in the Final Fantasy series include:
- Final Fantasy (1987)
- Final Fantasy II (1988)
- Final Fantasy III (1990)
- Final Fantasy IV (1991)
- Final Fantasy V (1992)
- Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992)
- Final Fantasy VI (1994)
- Final Fantasy VII (1997)
- Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)
- Final Fantasy VIII (1999)
- Final Fantasy IX (2000)
- Final Fantasy X (2001)
- Final Fantasy XI (2002)
- Final Fantasy XII (2006)
- Final Fantasy III (DS) (2006)
- Final Fantasy IV (DS) (2007)
- Final Fantasy XIII (2009)
- Final Fantasy XIV (2013)
- Final Fantasy XV (2016)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020)
- Final Fantasy XVI (2023)
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024)
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Cheats and Secrets
Though Mystic Quest doesn’t have any official cheats players can enter in-game, it does have a plethora of secrets, as well as some Game Genie and Pro Action Replay codes players, can utilize as long as they have those third-party devices (or the option to input their codes in an emulator).
Many Uses of the Life Spell
The Life spell is a common staple in Final Fantasy games, but it actually has some additional uses in Mystic Quest. Aside from being useful for reviving fallen heroes, most enemies in the game will actually suffer damage from casting the Life spell on them. This goes especially for any undead foes, who the spell will almost instantly kill. The first boss players encounter, Minotaur, can suffer an instant defeat if players have Kaeli cast Life on her first turn. Further, players can cast Life on an ally with low health to bring them back to full HP.
“Infinite” Items
Players can only stack up to 99 of most items in the game, but any item in a treasure chest in a town will respawn when you leave. This means that you can simply enter a town, claim all the treasure, exit, and then repeat the process to easily stack 99 of whatever items reside there.
Secret Boss Strategies
In addition to the trick players can use to easily defeat the Minotaur, there are two late-game boss fights that players can quickly win by using unconventional strategies:
- Skullrus Rex: The instinct in this fight will be to use powerful magic against this mini-boss of Doom Castle, but equipping the Dragon Claw beforehand is actually the best bet. After one attack from the Dragon Claw, Skullrus Rex will die.
- Dark King: The battle against the final boss can take a long time if players go about it using conventional strategies. Instead, cast Cure spells on the Dark King to see its HP quickly dissolve, resulting in fast victory.
Game Genie Codes
| Code | Effect |
|---|---|
| 03AF-D40D | Use One Cure Potion to Gain 198 |
| C1B9-D7A6 | Bombs Deal More Damage |
| DDA4-D40D | Cure Potions Restore Characters to Full Life |
| 6D2A-DD8D | Fast Level-Up |
| EE23-D464 | All Attacks Multi-Target |
| 45B2-003F | Boost Attack & Defense Stats for All Characters |
| ED2A-DFED | Begin Game with 61,000 HP |
| FD2A-DDED | Gain a Level After Every Battle |
| 172A-D75D | Begin Game with all Wizard Spells at 99 *Must first use a Seed to unlock* |
| C9B8-D4A6 | Infinite Ninja Stars |
| 7A6C-04AB | Infinite Magic During Battle |
| C9B0-D7A6 | Infinite Bombs During Battle |
| 83AF-D40D | Infinite Cure Potions |
Pro Action Replay Codes
| Code | Effect |
|---|---|
| 7E04A0FF 7E04A1FF | Max EXP After Battle |
| 7E04A2FF 7E04A3FF | Max Gold After Battle |
| 7E0EAE0F | All Doors Open in Focus Tower |
| 7E0E84FF 7E0E85FF 7E0E86FF | Infinite Gold |
| 7E1032FF 7E1033F0 | All Weapons in Inventory |
| 7E0EA6FF 7E0EA7FF | All Items in Inventory |
| 7E101063 | Max Level (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E109063 | Max Level (Partner Character) |
| 7E1014FF 7E1015FF | Infinite Health (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E1094FF 7E1095FF | Infinite Health (Partner Character) |
| 7E102100 | Immune to Status Ailments (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10A100 | Immune to Status Ailments (Partner Character) |
| 7E1030FF | Infinite Weapon Uses (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10B063 | Infinite Weapon Uses (Partner Character) |
| 7E1018FF | Infinite White Magic (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E1098FF | Infinite White Magic (Partner Character) |
| 7E1019FF | Infinite Black Magic (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E1099FF | Infinite Black Magic (Partner Character) |
| 7E101AFF | Infinite Wizard Magic (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E109AFF | Infinite Wizard Magic (Partner Character) |
| 7E1038FF 7E1039F0 | Have All Spells (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10B8FF 7E10B9F0 | Have All Spells (Partner Character) |
| 7E1022FF | Max Attack (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10A2FF | Max Attack (Partner Character) |
| 7E1023FF | Max Defense (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10A3FF | Max Defense (Partner Character) |
| 7E1024FF | Max Speed (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10A4FF | Max Speed (Partner Character) |
| 7E1040FF | Max Accuracy (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10C0FF | Max Accuracy (Partner Character) |
| 7E1025FF | Max Magic (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10A5FF | Max Magic (Partner Character) |
| 7E1041FF | Max Evade (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10C1FF | Max Evade (Partner Character) |
| 7E1035FC 7E10363B 7E103780 | Have All Armor (Benjamin/Hero) |
| 7E10B5FC 7E10B63B 7E10B780 | Have All Armor (Partner Character) |
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Cheat FAQ
What is the max level in Mystic Quest?
Unlike other Final Fantasy games, which typically set the level cap at 99, the maximum level characters can reach in Mystic Quest is 41.
How long does it take to beat Final Fantasy Mystic Quest?
Though most players will probably finish the game in around 40 hours, a completionist playthrough can take up to about 65 hours.
Is Mystic Quest the same as Final Fantasy Adventure?
No — Mystic Quest is its own standalone series spin off separate from Final Fantasy Adventure. That said, the titles do share some aspects in common, though Final Fantasy Adventure is actually the first game in the Mana series.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©SNES game key art.