Final Fantasy IV (Nintendo DS)

The DS remake of Final Fantasy IV runs on an improved version of the 3D engine used for Final Fantasy III. It features fully animated cutscenes with voice acting, a new augment system which allows for character customization, and some... questionable game balance changes.

Golbez
It's doubtful Golbez was ever intended to be any more playable in this version of the game than he was in the original, but there are some interesting things about his character:


 * He has a menu portrait, but since he only appears in the two story battles with Fusoya, it can never be seen.
 * His class shown in the equipment menu is Lunarian, and this is a separate string from the one Fusoya uses.
 * He's assigned a full list of black magic.
 * He appears as Theodor in the field, but with incorrect scale, making him as large as the adult characters.



babil_abilities.msd
Gil Toss

Attack by tossing gil. Seems the Gil Toss command from other Final Fantasy games was slated for this remake at some point.

MP Efficiency

Cut MP cost of spells in half. The MP Efficiency ability also has strings for an augment item, described below.

DoesNotExist As does DoesNotExist.

babil_common.msd
Unused The first string in the table is marked as unused.

Dummy A dummy string found among those used for inns.

babil_items.msd
Dummy 1 ... Dummy 40 Dummy 1 ... Dummy 40 Forty numbered Dummy items can be found between the key items.

Takkei Tail

Looks as though it could be traded for something. The first of three unused tails, this one comes earlier in the string table than the others.

Dummy There are five Dummy weapons: one can be found at the end of the spears, staves, and whips, while two can be found at the end of the katanas. Logically, these would have been new weapons for the final party, similar to Cecil's Onion Sword. There are no description strings for them.

Augment Test

An augment. Found before Rydia's bonus summons. Its description doesn't follow the same format as the other unused augment items.

MP Efficiency

Imparts the MP Efficiency ability.

DoesNotExist

Imparts the ThisDoesNotExist ability. Two unused augment items. DoesNotExist is obviously a placeholder, whereas MP Efficiency seems complete but has no corresponding item.

Omega Tail

The tail of Omega.

Zemus Tail

The tail of Zemus. The Omega and Zemus tails can be found just before the colored tails new to this version. Who knew Zemus had a tail?

babil_menu.msd
Debugger

How...how did you get here? Strings for a debugger shop's title and shopkeeper dialogue.

Title Sequence
The Japanese version displays the Final Fantasy 20th-Anniversary logo on the third pair of splash screens. Other regions have a "Licensed by Nintendo" screen instead, likely because the anniversary was already over by the time the game was localized.

Settings Menu
The Japanese settings menu has two options which were removed from other regions' releases. The text strings for these are still present in the other versions.

First up is message speed, which has three settings: Non-Japanese versions always draw the entire message instantly, as if the option were set to 1.
 * 1 draws the entire message in a text box instantly.
 * 2 is default and draws text character-by-character at a normal rate.
 * 3 draws character-by-character at a slower rate.

The second option is window design, which allows the color of windows and the menu background graphic to be changed between six presets. Very strangely, this option was removed from all other versions, forcing players to use the default blue design.