Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI really needs no introduction. It's one of the finest RPGs ever released for the SNES. It later saw a PlayStation port, and also a Game Boy Advance port with extra content. It was originally released in North America under the title Final Fantasy III, but few people call it that anymore.

Unused Enemies
There are three enemies in the game that are not used anywhere, and are in various stages of completeness:

CzarDragon


The most well-known of FF6's dummied monsters, there isn't much to the CzarDragon; it has no battle script, so all it does is attack repeatedly. As it stands, the only noteworthy thing about it is that it uses a different palette from the similar-looking Blue Dragon and Doom Dragon.

There also exists a line of in-battle dialogue related to this enemy, so it was definitely intended to be fought somewhere:

Mwa, ha ha... Humans and their desires! I'm free at last! I bring you destruction... I bring you terror... I am Czar... Prepare yourselves!

Given its incredible likeness to Shinryu from Final Fantasy 5, as well as its pre-battle dialogue, it's almost certain that the Czar Dragon was intended to be a similar optional endgame mega-boss. And indeed, that idea was revisited in the Game Boy Advance port, where it was called by its original Japanese name of "Kaiser Dragon", given a unique sprite (similar to the original design, but much more elaborate), a full battle script, and made into the ultimate boss of the new bonus dungeon.

Colossus


This is the closest of the three unused enemies to being complete, but it still has a few signs of being unfinished. Namely, it uses the same palette as the Hades Gigas, and has the default "Special" attack, "Hit", which would not be unusual, except it actually uses the attack, unlike all other enemies left with said default command. Yes, the Colossus has a full attack script! It uses Fire Wall, Lode Stone, or the aforementioned "Hit", and when defeated, it uses the boss death animation.

The Colossus is programmed to counter Blitz and SwdTech attacks, and also targets Gau if he's in the party. This combination of triggers suggests that it was probably originally planned to be fought at some point during Sabin's portion of the "Return to Narshe" sequence early on, but its abnormally high HP (18,000, which is ridiculous for that point) doesn't seem to fit with that.

This enemy is present in Final Fantasy 6 Advance, where it was called by its original Japanese name of "Giant", but is still unused, and does not have a bestiary entry.

Alternate Umaro


Yes, Umaro can be fought normally late in the game, but there also exists an alternate, much weaker version of him in the database. It has only 1,000 HP, and a much simpler script (just attacks, uses its special, "Tackle", or casts Blizzard), which hints at a possibility that he was intended, at one point, to be fought in the World of Balance, possibly as early as the first time in which you can freely explore Narshe.

Unused Command
In addition to the plethora of commands at your disposal, one of them, "Summon", appears on the surface to have gone unused. When used from the command menu, it can summon the currently equipped Esper as many times as you want, MP permitting, but due to a glitch in the code, can only target the caster. However, Summon is actually the command the game switches to from Magic when the order is given to cast an equipped Esper's spell. This is done in order to show the spell's name instead of the Esper's, for example, "Bolt Fist" instead of "Ramuh". Everything else is found to be identical under either command.

It was likely always meant to simply be part of this background process and nothing more, but the fact that Summon has a name, along with the series' history, creates some doubt as to whether that's true. Final Fantasy 3-5 had Summon magic as its own command set, and it could be that the same was planned for this game sometime during development. It could also be true that one of the characters would have endless summoning capability of their Esper as their special command, given the state Summon was left in menu-wise.

Unused Enemy Attacks
There are three enemy attacks that are not used in any way, shape, or form: These skills are not found in any enemy AI scripts, they are not used by any Rages, and Relm cannot produce them with either Sketch or Control. None of these skills made any appearances in Final Fantasy 6 Advance, either.

Confusion
As its name suggests, this spell causes Confuse status on all enemies. This is one attack that it's for the best never appeared in-game, given that the Confuse status is incredibly dangerous in FF6, and this would be the only mass confusion spell in the game (barring a very unlucky hit by L.3 Muddle) that could be used against you. It uses the same "swirling birds" animation as other confusion spells.

Heart Burn
This is an alternate "spell" version of a similar attack used by Crawlies. This particular variant has the same animation, but can target all enemies, and does non-elemental damage rather than causing Seizure status.

Clear
This is a particularly strange, unfinished spell. When used, it puts a load of status ailments on the caster. It uses a strange wavy animation not seen anywhere else in the game.

Key Items
There are seven unused key items lurking in the game. None of them have any effect, but are an interesting curiosity.


 * Autograph - "An opera singer's autograph"
 * Manicure - "Pretty, red manicure"
 * Opera Record - "Has a small scratch"
 * Magn.Glass - "A convex lens"
 * Eerie Stone - "A stone never seen"
 * Odd Picture - "A very curious picture"
 * Dull Picture - "Quite a common picture"

The first three seem to relate to the Opera House sequence, while the "Eerie Stone" may have been a Magicite; it's possible you were intended to obtain one as a key item before you knew what they were. The possible usage of the rest is completely unknown; they're probably just leftovers from scrapped quests.

Inaccessible Fairy Ring


A very little-known fact about Final Fantasy 6 is that a Tent can be found by examining a completely inconspicuous spot on the floor in one of the small rooms aboard the Phantom Train. Even less known, however, is that a Fairy Ring is in this same room... and is completely unobtainable. In order to pick up the items on the floor in this room, you have to be facing, but not standing on the tiles they're hidden on. This can be done for the Tent in the upper left corner of the room, but not for the Fairy Ring on the floor right next to it, as the positioning of the sofa and table make actually facing this square impossible. Only via walk-through-walls codes (or modifying the room via an editor) can this item be obtained.

Unobtainable BehemothSuit


The two different versions of SrBehemoth (living and undead) are both supposed to drop a BehemothSuit 100% of the time, but due to a glitch in how the game switches from the formation with the living SrBehemoth and the formation with the undead version, this never actually happens, and you receive either a ThunderBlade or a Jewel Ring (in the original US release, at least; the latter items vary by release, but the point is that you don't get the other BehemothSuit). This is fixed in the Game Boy Advance release.

Unused Metamorph Sets
Ragnarok's "Metamorph" skill is one of Final Fantasy 6's oddest curiosities; it has a formula all its own, it behaves unlike any other skill in the game, and each enemy has a few bytes in its data relating to this one skill's effect. If successful, it kills an enemy instantly, and transforms them into one of four items in a preset package, which you then obtain. Each enemy is assigned one of these "packages", but despite the sheer number of enemies in the game, as well as the relatively small number of Metamorph packages, three of them went unused.

Of these, the only thing of any real note is that Metamorph Set 13 includes an X-Ether, of which there are otherwise only a few of in the game. It's not known why these Metamorph sets were left out.

Inaccessible Stolen Items


The Dullahan boss, fought early in the World of Ruin, has two items available to steal (common X-Potion, rare Genji Glove). However, it is absolutely impossible to steal from this particular boss, rendering these items inaccessible. You don't/can't have Locke or Gogo in the team, nobody in the current team can equip the Thief Knife, and there's simply no way to obtain a Merit Award at this point, due to the simple reason that none of the items that lead to it at the Coliseum can be obtained yet. The Dullahan appear in the Soul Shrine in the GBA port, however, and can be stolen from normally, but in the SNES and PSX versions, it's completely impossible.

Unused Rages
It's a rather well-known fact, but there are four slots in Gau's massive Rage command that can't be filled:


 * Siegfried - The mysterious swordsman who appears occasionally throughout the game, doing nothing important. This Rage is supposed to be for the stronger version that can be fought in the coliseum, not that silly weakling fought on the Phantom Train, but as the coliseum enemies are not programmed to appear on the Veldt, it's not possible to get it. Its special move is Flare, which while somewhat nice, is offset by the fact that this Rage makes Gau weak to all eight elements.


 * Chupon - Ultros' friend with the serious allergy problems. This is basically the same deal as Siegfried: The Rage is of the stronger version in the coliseum, but again, coliseum enemies don't appear on the Veldt. Those who were hoping this Rage would use Sneeze are going to be extremely disappointed: The special skill here is W Wind, which is handily one of the most useless spells in the game. You're not missing out on anything by not being able to use this Rage, in other words.


 * Allo Ver - The odd skeleton monster guarding the Tiger Fangs in the Cave on the Veldt, this one's exclusion was clearly a coding mistake. For some inexplicable reason, there is a duplicate formation containing this thing in the battle formation data, far beyond what's coded to appear on the Veldt, so Allo Ver never makes a repeat appearance. The Rage itself makes Gau undead, weak to fire, and its special move is Quake. Not bad, but not really an important loss, either. However, it's worth noting that you can get this Rage in the Game Boy Advance port. While the formation in the cave is still incorrect, it's possible to encounter this monster in the GBA-exclusive Soul Shrine, where it does use the correct formation, and can as such appear on the Veldt.


 * Pugs - Or, Tonberries, as they're more commonly known. This is the monster-in-a-box variation with a group of three, not the individual random encounter variation. You can technically get these as a Rage, and on the Game Boy Advance port, they can even be viewed on the Rage menu, but they occupy the final slot on the Rage list, which, due to the way the command is set up, can't be selected. And it's a shame, too, as their special is Knife, a physical attack that's even more crazy powerful than Catscratch. Although since that attack usually does 9999 damage, anyhow, this may be a tad redundant.

Unused Shop Price Modifiers


It's common knowledge that the prices of the shops in Figaro Castle are halved if Edgar is in the lead of the party. However, there exist two other bits of code to modify shop prices that weren't used anywhere. One straightforwardly doubles prices, while the other adjusts prices based on the current party leader's gender: females get half prices, and males get a 50% markup (Gogo is treated as a male).

These price modifiers can be hacked into the game via editors, and work perfectly. The one that doubles the prices could have been used in Thamasa before you talked to Strago. It's unknown where the other one could have been used.

Unused Esper Level Up Bonuses


There are four level up bonuses granted by Espers that went unused.


 * Speed +2 - No big mystery as to what this one does. Odin raises your speed by one point at level up, but no Espers boost it by two. This effect was later used in the Game Boy Advance port, as Cactuar's level up bonus.


 * HP +100% - This works the same as the other HP+XX% bonuses, except, well, it's +100% instead of +10/30/50%. Simply put, if your max HP went up by 60 points at level up, this bonus would boost it to 120. This is also used in the Game Boy Advance port, by Diabolos.


 * LV +30% - No clue how this would have worked, as it has no (useful) description and doesn't seem to do anything.


 * LV +50% - A stronger version of the above bonus, presumably, but it still does nothing.

Character Sprites


Normally, when Terra gets KO'ed in Esper form, she immediately reverts to human form, seemingly rendering this sprite unused. However, there is one instance in which it can be seen: during the final Phunbaba fight, when Terra is permanently in Esper form, she does not revert when killed.



This menu portrait for Terra in Esper form can be found alongside the other character portraits in the PlayStation version. It was scaled down to 34&times;34 in the Game Boy Advance version and used for Terra's dialogue when she is an Esper.



Magic chanting animations for Umaro, General Leo, brown and green imperial soldiers, the ghost ally, and a wandering merchant. Umaro is uncontrollable, and as such cannot learn magic; Leo, Vicks/Biggs, the ghosts, and Wedge have no magic (or magic-based commands) during the brief time they're playable; and magic does not come into play until long after the scenario in which Locke can dress as a soldier or merchant.

It's possible, however, to see one of the frames of Umaro's chanting stance normally in at least one place. When collecting the Palidor Magicite, the lead character will stand in his/her chanting pose until the text box disappears, and as a result, if Umaro is in the lead at this time, he, too, will use this otherwise unseen stance.



Not only do Chupon and Hidon have the same sprite (palette differences aside), it's also fully animated! Normally, only a single left-facing frame of Chupon is visible as he approaches the airship during the air attack as you're heading for the Floating Continent, while only the forward-facing sprite of Hidon is seen (and even that is obscured slightly by the darkness). The upward-facing sprite is unused entirely.

Objects


This book graphic is included in the sprite data, but isn't used anywhere in the game. Several palettes look decent with it, but no one palette looks perfect.



The graphic of Locke's bandana, with the correct palette applied to it. Present in the ending normally, but as the entire ending sequence is in greyscale, its actual appearance is never seen.

Tiles


It's... some kind of hole, with what appears to be a rope leading down it. This is present in the "ruined" village tileset (used in Kohlingen and Thamasa), but does not appear to have actually been used anywhere.



Mixed in with the fence tiles in the two village tilesets is this closed gate. It's pretty obvious where it would have been used, but all the gates you'll come across in villages are opened, and stay that way. This graphic is actually two tiles, and only in the "normal" village tileset (Mobliz, among other places) does the whole thing appear; the top part of the gate is missing in the "ruined" village tileset mentioned above.



These chain graphics are located in the "mountain cave" tileset, but are never used. Given there are two frames, and they're located right below the floor switches in the tileset, it's a safe guess these were going to be wall switches, not unlike the ones with the skull motif in the standard caves.



The skull switches themselves also have an unused frame! This graphic should be used when the switches are flipped, but for some reason, this never actually happens.



An item shop sign found in the Zozo tileset. Despite not actually having any shops, signs for weapon, armor, and relic shops, as well as inn and cafe signs, are present around Zozo, but there's no item shop sign to be found. A graphic similar to this one is used in the Zozo battle background, but the tile never appears in the town itself.



Some kind of crude fence found in the desert camp tileset. The Imperial Camp near Doma is the only place in the game that uses this particular tileset, and this particular type of fence is never seen there. If not a fence, it could also be a pike rack.



Also found in the desert camp tileset is this... thing. No idea what it's supposed to be. Probably a decorative placard or sign, or even possibly a radio of some sort.



An incomplete set of off-palette shop signs found in one of the castle tilesets. The only castle that has shops of any kind is Figaro, and no signs are used to mark their presence. Furthermore, these signs only appear in the alternate tileset used for "dungeon" castles (such as the Ancient Castle and Figaro Castle's basement), and not the normal castle tileset, raising further questions about how they may have been intended to be used.



This strange object resembling a broken chimney is something of an enigma. It isn't actually unused, but is so obscure that it may as well be. This object only appears one time in the entire game, in Maranda, and is only visible in full if you stand in one very specific spot. It's just mere background decoration, however, and serves no purpose whatsoever, so why go through all the trouble to hide it?

Unused Fanfare


There exists, mixed in with the game's music, a single unused fanfare. It's a short victorious cue, which is also present in Final Fantasy 1, 3, and 5. Why it was left out of Final Fantasy 6 is unknown.

This song is also present in the Game Boy Advance port. However, while it remains unused in-game, it can be heard on the music test unlocked after the game is beaten once, where it is titled "Fanfare 2".

Kefka
Kefka is something of a curiosity, gameplay-wise. There are a handful of battles in which you fight him in "character sprite" form, rather than using an actual monster graphic. As a result, there exists some data for Kefka as a playable character. At any point where you're able to switch team members freely, input Game Genie code to add Kefka, among other temporary characters such as General Leo and the ghosts/moogles, depending on when it's input, to the character select screen.

If added to the team, and placed in the lead, he'll display all the correct animations for any given situation, but he's not a fully complete character, as he uses Terra's face portrait on the menu, and worse, he has no commands at all, which will cause the game to freeze when his turn comes up in battle. The latter problem can be corrected with some clever hacking, however, and doing so reveals that he also has all the correct battle animations.

Data-wise, there are a surprising seven copies of Kefka mixed in with the rest of the characters. Two of them have no equipment at all, four are equipped with a Morning Star, Mithril Helm, Mithril Vest, and Ribbon, while one has a Morning Star, Paladin Shield, and Ribbon. The latter is clearly the version of Kefka that fights the Ifrit palette swap in Thamasa, while the ones with the weaker equipment are presumably the ones fought at the Imperial Camp and the Sealed Gate. The two with no equipment are likely used in cutscenes.

Maduin
It's also possible to hack Maduin, from Terra's flashback, into the team using the same code right after you get the airship, but unlike Kefka, there's not a whole lot to him. He causes massive graphic glitches on the team member select menu, for starters. If placed in the lead of the team, however, he will appear normally in the field, although he's missing frames for anything other than just walking. Moreover, his name is displayed as "BANON", his face portrait is a massively glitched version of Terra's, and his sprites in battle are random garbage.

Despite all this, he does actually work in battle, surprisingly, as unlike Kefka, he has a basic command set (Fight/Item). He also has a pair of Sprint Shoes permanently equipped.

Mystery Character
One other odd character exists in the game's data, although it doesn't appear it can be hacked in. The character's name is nothing but a series of question marks, its equipment is a Blossom, Mithril Shield, Mithril Helm, and Ninja Gear, and its command set is simply Fight/Magic/Item. The Blossom and Ninja Gear point to this character being an alternate version of Shadow; perhaps at some point in development, it was possible to get him to join before actually naming him, although this would be odd given the Magic command being present. Alternatively, like Kefka, who has player character data associated with him because you fight him in "character sprite" form, it's possible this mystery character's data is used as the version of Shadow you fight in the Coliseum when you bet the Striker.

Unused Character Names
Listed at the very end of the character data is a set of sixteen unused names. They're probably just placeholders, although it's possible that these were meant for additional characters, or they could have been intended for another large-scale battle, such as the one early on in which the moogles help Locke protect Terra. However, as none of these characters were actually programmed into the game, it's completely unknown exactly what purpose they would have served. All of them have nothing but Dirks (a default value) in every equipment slot.


 * TORK
 * JADE
 * CUSTER
 * FABIAN
 * DRAKE
 * SARA
 * CASE
 * SIELE
 * RAY
 * REIKER
 * LANCE
 * BOB
 * PEPPER
 * TAU
 * VICTOR
 * HO

Unused Menu Class Names
Value 0E, "shinkan"(fusion), seems reserved for Terra, but this is impossible to display because you are never in a state where a morphed Terra can access the menu in any version. Enter the PAR code 7E16000E to see this on Terra in the Japanese version.

Values 22-28 display "heishi"(soldier). The used "teikokuhei"(empire soldier) is applied to Biggs and Wedge, but there are six more of these that don't seem to correspond to any playable character at all.

Regional Differences
Various changes/censors from the Japanese version to the American version.

Graphics
Several graphics were redrawn or modified for the North American release on the SNES, usually due to Nintendo of America's censorship policies at the time. The PlayStation port uses the original Japanese graphics. Oddly, Final Fantasy VI Advance would later mix and match censored and uncensored graphics.

Magic/Summon Animations
The "medal" that appears when the Mute spell is cast was a bit wider and rounder in the Japanese version, and read, appropriately enough, "Silence". Strangely, the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance ports use the Japanese version's graphic even in the English versions.

The Esper Siren was naked from the waist down in the Japanese version. The censors made her put on some shorts in the western release. A similar, but more subtle change was made in the western releases of Final Fantasy VI Advance, which added some additional cloth to cover her butt.

The Esper Starlet/Lakshmi was more revealing in the Japanese version. The censors added some fabric for the SNES release, to make the cloth originally covering her look more like a dress.

Monster Graphics
The enemy Critic/Alluring Rider wears a two piece outfit in the Japanese version, which kind of makes her look naked from the waist down. This was changed into a unitard in the SNES release.

The object held by the "Madam" enemies in Kefka's Tower (along with their palette swaps "Dahling" and "Barb-e") was much more clearly a pipe/long fancy cigarette in the Japanese version. The SNES version removes the plume of smoke.

The Goddess had a bit more skin exposed in the Japanese version, which was covered with additional fabric for North America.

More censorship in action. The "goddess" half of Chadarnook had a bit more skin exposed in the Japanese version, which was covered with additional mist in the SNES version. The GBA version was similarly censored, but does not reuse the sprite from the SNES version.

Other Graphics
In a move that should surprise nobody, given the censorship present in that era, the pubs in the Japanese version were changed into cafes in the SNES version. Oddly enough, the sign inside the pubs/cafes, showing a wine bottle and some shot glasses, was not altered.

As can be seen in the upper left corner, the pub sign was changed to a cafe sign in the Zozo battle background, as well.