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The Final Fantasy Legend

The Final Fantasy Legend, originally released in Japan as Makai Toushi Sa・Ga (魔界塔士 サガ) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. It was originally released in Japan in December 1989 and North America in September 1990. It is the first game in the SaGa series and the first role-playing video game for the system. Square translated the game into English for worldwide release and renamed it, linking it with the Final Fantasy series to improve marketing. Sunsoft re-released it in North America during 1998; Square followed with a Japan-exclusive remake released for the WonderSwan Color and mobile phones in 2002 and 2007 respectively, it was also ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2020 and later ported to Android, iOS and Microsoft Windows in 2021.

The Final Fantasy Legend operates on a turn-based system similar to that of Final Fantasy II. The game's characters battle monsters and fiends using a variety of weapons, armor, and skills that develop through the player's actions. The game follows the story of four heroes who attempt to scale a tower at the center of the world that supposedly leads to paradise. The four heroes may belong to one of three character classes, each housing a unique customization path.

The Final Fantasy Legend was conceived by Nobuyuki Hoshino and developed under director Akitoshi Kawazu; renowned composer Nobuo Uematsu wrote its score. The game is Square's first million seller with 1.37 million units shipped. Though released to mixed reception, it has since been described as one of the Game Boy's greatest games and cited as an influence for series such as the Pokémon franchise.

Gameplay
In The Final Fantasy Legend, the player navigates a character throughout the game world with a party of up to four characters, exploring areas and interacting with non-player characters. Most of the game occurs in towns, castles, caves, and similar areas. To aid exploration on the field screen, the game makes use of various signs within towns. The player is initially limited to the World of Continent to explore, and given access to later worlds as his or her party climbs the Tower. Players can save their game anytime and anywhere when not in combat to a save slot for later play.

Players can journey between field screen locations via the world map, a downsized representation of Final Fantasy Legend's various worlds. Players can freely navigate around the world map screen unless restricted by terrain, such as water or mountains. The goal in each world is to find the entrance to the next level of the Tower. Random enemy encounters occasionally interrupt travel across the world map screen and hostile areas, as in other Final Fantasy related games.

Classes
At the beginning of the game, the player must choose a character class, gender, and name for the group's "party leader". There are three available classes: humans, mutants (espers in the Japanese version), and monsters, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Character classes cannot be changed once the game has begun. The player may recruit up to three additional party members through a similar process via "Member Guilds" in various towns. Characters may also be recruited to replace fallen party members, though the party leader is irreplaceable. Higher-level party members may be recruited at later towns in the game.

A character's performance in battle is determined by numerical values ("statistics") for four categories. Each statistic has a range of 1 to 99. The categories are strength, the effectiveness of physical attacks; defense, the ability to reduce damage received; agility, the effectiveness of ranged weapons or skills and at avoiding attacks; and mana, the effectiveness of magical attacks. A character's health is measured in hit points (HP), consisting of a current HP statistic and a maximum HP statistic, ranging from 0 to 999. Character statistics are relative to their class—humans have higher HP levels, strength, and defense, and mutants are physically weaker but enjoy a higher mana statistic. Human and mutant statistics can be amplified by worn equipment of different types. Monster-class characters are dependent on their sub-class, and their statistics vary greatly.

Humans raise their statistics through items that grant permanent bonuses, such as "STRENGTH" or "HP200". Mutant attributes simply increase by random increments after battles, and new abilities may be gained (or lost) in the process. Monsters change in power by consuming "meat" dropped in battles; depending the monster's current sub-class and the meat's origin, the monster may transform into a stronger or weaker sub-class or fully recover health. Later versions of the game released upon the WonderSwan and mobile phones removed the latter effect entirely.

Equipment and abilities
The basic function of equipment in SaGa games is to increase character attributes. Arming a character with a gold helmet increases his or her base defense statistic, for example. The amount of equipment that can be placed on any one character at any time depends on the character's class. Humans can hold eight, mutants four, and monsters none. There are five types of armor: shields, helmets, breastplates, gauntlets, and shoes. Only one of each at a time may be added to one character and cannot be added to monsters. Weapons, consisting of swords, hammers, whips, spell books, and guns, utilize either the strength, agility or mana attribute of a character, and can be used only a certain number of times before breaking and being removed from the player's inventory. Shields can be used as items in combat, most with a limited number of uses, and allow the user to evade enemy attacks.

Mutants and monsters have different spells and abilities depending on their battle experience and sub-class. These come in one of four categories: attack, non-combative, healing, and resistances/weaknesses. When used in combat, attack spells and abilities will damage a target by an elemental type, while non-combative spells and abilities inflict various status ailments (such as "blindness") or grant benefits upon a target. Healing spells and abilities restore a target's HP and can be used outside of combat. Certain spells and abilities have added traits, like affecting a group of enemies or draining HP from a target. Each spell and ability has a finite number of uses, and once depleted the party must visit an inn to recharge them. Resistances and weaknesses are abilities that are active throughout combat. Represented by an "O" or "X" next to the related element or status ailment, they respectively give the user either resistance or weakness to one or more types of attack; status ailments grant immunity against a particular ailment.

Curative items can be found or purchased in the game through various means, each with a limited number of uses and able to be activated from a character's inventory or the items sub-menu to restore HP or remove a status ailment in or out of combat from a single target. Like other inventory items, in order to be used during combat these must be placed in a party member's equipment slot prior to battle.

Combat
Combat is initiated when the player encounters an enemy, which changes the map to the "battle screen". The enemy appears at the top, above the current party characters; each battle uses a menu-driven turn-based system. At the beginning of each turn, the player selects whether to fight or attempt to run. If the fight option is selected, the player selects an action for each party member from his or her equipment or skills to attack, defend, use magic, or use equipped items. Once the player has chosen actions for each player character, the player characters and enemy begin battle. Participants move one at a time determined by their agility statistic. If the player tries the "attempt to run" option and it fails, the party skip their turn and the enemy attacks. Combat ends if the party successfully flees, all enemies are defeated, or all player characters are defeated; in the last case, the game ends and must be reloaded from the last save.

Winning battles may award the player money (GP) and items. Enemy monsters occasionally drop meat, which can be consumed by monster-class characters. Mutant classes may "evolve" at this point, randomly gaining either increased statistics or a new random magic spell or ability, possibly overwriting an existing one. Party members that lose HP during combat can have them restored via curative items, spells, inns, or elements of the world such as healing fountains. If a party member other than the starting character is defeated in battle, he or she loses a "heart" and must be resurrected in a town via the building with a large heart-shaped symbol on it. Defeated characters with no remaining hearts cannot be revived. An item can be bought at significant expense to restore a heart to a character. Alternatively, a fallen party member can also be replaced completely with a new character recruited from a town guild, regardless of the number of hearts they have remaining.

Setting
The Final Fantasy Legend takes place on several worlds centered around a large tower, built by the Creator in ancient times (God in the Japanese version) to link worlds. There are four unique major worlds that make up different layers of the tower: the World of Continent at the base, the World of Ocean on the 5th floor, the World of Sky on the 10th, and the World of Ruins on the 16th. Time does not flow at a constant pace between levels of the tower, rendering some worlds more technologically advanced than others. Various monsters come forth from the tower into each world; many are hostile, but some of them are friendly to humans and willing to coexist. An offshoot of the human race (named mutants, espers in the Japanese version) also exists in each world; they are the magic-attuned descendants of a union between humans and the World of Continent's older races.

The World of Continent is a large land mass ruled by three kings in constant war for control of their world. They each carry an object needed to open the tower's entrance. The World of Ocean consists of various small islands surrounded by water, each connected by small caves. Pirates roam the sea of this world, forbidding travel by ship. The World of Sky contains large land masses suspended in clouds, and is ruled by a powerful dictator from his flying castle. The World of Ruins is a technologically advanced cityscape, reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland by constant monster attacks.

Plot
Standing in front of the tower, the hero and party learn that they cannot climb it to paradise without first unsealing its base door. In the base world, three kings named Armor, Sword, and Shield fight for dominance using a piece of legendary equipment corresponding to their names. Visiting King Armor, the party learns that he is in love with a girl who returns his feelings, but cannot marry him, as a bandit holds her village hostage in return for her love. They defeat the bandit, and the king gives them his armor in gratitude. King Sword attacks the heroes, who vanquish him and take the sword. Lastly, King Shield is murdered by his own steward, and after a short fight, the party recovers his shield. Restoring the items to a statue of a great hero, they receive the Black Sphere, but are attacked by Gen-bu, the first of four fiends controlled by Ashura. They defeat him and use the power of the Sphere to enter the tower.

They climb the tower and come to another door; inside lies a second world surrounded by large bodies of water. By navigating caves, they find a floating island which allows them to travel around the world by air. They locate an old man, Ryu-O, and solve his riddle to obtain the Airseed, allowing them to breathe underwater and enter the undersea palace. They encounter the second fiend, Sei-ryu; they defeat him and recover half of the second sphere. Upon returning to Ryu-O, he reveals himself to be the guardian of the other half of the sphere, and the two halves form the Blue Sphere.

Using the Blue Sphere to continue up the tower, the party comes to a world of clouds, dominated by Byak-ko and an army of thugs. They learn that Byak-ko recently wiped out an underground resistance movement, except for Millie and Jeanne, the two daughters of its leader. The party temporarily joins Byak-ko's gang to find the girls, and attempt to defend them until Millie betrays Jeanne and the party is captured. Breaking free, they confront the fiend, who tries to kill Millie; Jeanne takes the blow and the party engages the fiend. They defeat him, recover the White Sphere, and continue their journey.

The fourth world is a post-apocalyptic wasteland; Su-Zaku roams the surface defended by an impenetrable forcefield. The party retreats to an abandoned subway for refuge and meets Sayaka, who directs them to the nearest town. There the party is confronted by the leader of a biker gang, So-Cho, but his sister Sayaka intervenes and the two groups agree to work together to defeat Su-Zaku. As they gather the needed parts for a device to deactivate the forcefield, So-Cho sacrifices his life to guide the party through an atomic power plant. Beasts then ambush the town, and Su-Zaku kidnaps Sayaka. The party defeats Su-Zaku, earns the Red Sphere and travels on.

Climbing the tower, the party discovers the remains of a family that attempted to reach Paradise but failed, and a library suggesting Ashura is controlled by someone else. They encounter him at the top, guarding the final door; he offers each of them control of one of the worlds, but they refuse and defeat him. Before they can pass through the door, a trap drops them to the bottom floor. Encountering the allies they made along their journey, they decide to rescale the tower. As they climb stairs that wrap outside of the tower, they engage each of the fiends revived and defeat them. They find the Creator at the summit, and learn that the fiends and the tower itself are actually part of a game created by him to see heroes defeat evil; for succeeding they would be granted a wish as a reward. Angry at his manipulation, they reject the reward and challenge the Creator, who insists that because he created everything he was allowed to use them as he saw fit. They then attack and defeat the Creator in a fierce battle. The heroes then discover a door leading to an unknown location; they consider entering, but decide to return to their own world.

Development
The Final Fantasy Legend was the first installment of the SaGa series in Japan and the first Game Boy game produced by Square. Square president Masafumi Miyamoto requested developers create a Game Boy game after he noticed the success of Tetris and the popularity of the handheld system. Akitoshi Kawazu and partner Koichi Ishii decided that instead of creating a game similar to Tetris, they would produce what they felt customers desired most: a role-playing game.

Square's concept for the game was a title that could be completed in six to eight hours, based on the duration of an airplane flight between Narita, Japan and Honolulu, Hawaii. Developers sought to optimize the game for short bursts of gameplay, as if played by a train passenger between stations. Square raised random battle encounter rate relative to its other role playing games, ensuring players would have at least one enemy encounter during short playtime to maintain an interesting experience. The Final Fantasy Legend was designed to be difficult and feature advanced gameplay, described by Kawazu as the main difference between SaGa and Final Fantasy. Square implemented several other ideas to distance the games, notably the "meat" system to allow players to collect enemy abilities, though these proved difficult to portray at first.

Kawazu took a direct hand in shaping the game's scenario development, working alongside Ishii, Takashi Tokita, and Hiroyuki Ito, who were involved in other Square projects at the time. Ishii and Ito developed the game's world layout and geography as well; Ryōko Tanaka designed the background graphics. Tokita developed character concept art and handled the in-game sprites. The Japanese cover artwork was designed by Katsutoshi Fujioka. The monochrome screen of the Game Boy proved an obstacle, as some graphics such as fire were more difficult to portray without color. As a result, they had to develop a world that "works in black and white". Tanaka later revealed that the 2-megabit capacity of contemporary Game Boy cartridges severely limited their designs; the team removed some elements from the finished game to ensure peak performance.

Audio
The Final Fantasy Legend's soundtrack was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and consists of sixteen tracks. Uematsu struggled with composition at first, as the Game Boy's sound hardware was different from the Famicom's, featuring a new stereo option, unique waveforms, and only three musical notes. Kawazu wanted the game's music to resemble that of Square's two preceding Final Fantasy titles, but Uematsu chose to develop new waveforms. The music was severely limited by the Game Boy's technical specifications, having only three note types available.

Square has reused several songs from the game (notably the "Battle" theme) in later titles and released them on compilation soundtracks. The introductory music, titled "Prologue", appeared remixed as the opening for the next two SaGa games. "Heartful Tears" (also known as "Wipe Your Tears Away") became a staple for later SaGa titles, used in five of the games and arranged differently each time. Fifteen tracks were later included in the 1991 two-disc All Sounds of SaGa soundtrack, encompassing the Game Boy SaGa series and re-released by Square Enix in December 2004 as SaGa Zenkyoku Shu. The final track of the set, "Journey's End", is a synthesizer-arranged version of six of the game's tracks combined into one by Uematsu. In the liner notes for All Sounds of SaGa, Uematsu states he enjoys listening to the track while remembering scenes from the game. The Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra played the song in the Press Start 2008 -Symphony of Games- concert as part of the "When Nobuo Uematsu Was Young" medley, while the "Main Theme" was played alongside "Save the World" from Final Fantasy Legend II on July 9, 2011, at the Symphonic Odysseys concert.

Merchandise
Several items of merchandise have been released for the game, including books and telephone cards. Futabasha Publishers Ltd. released a book in February 1990 titled Makai Toushi Sa·Ga—Boukenshatachi no Rekuiemu (冒険者たちのレクイエム?, Requiem of the Adventurers). Written by Misa Ikeda, the 287-page book was part of Futabasha's Game Boy Adventure series for children, and detailed a hero's trek to the top of the tower to reach Paradise. In August, Square featured the game in Final Fantasy Ryūkishi Dan - Knights (=ファイナルファンタジー竜騎士団?, Final Fantasy Dragon Knights), a fan book which consisting of reactions and artworks to the series. The game was one of four titles featured in October 1992 by Game Player's magazine on a video tape named Game Player's Gametape for Game Boy Games, which demonstrated the game and offered a gameplay tutorial.

Versions and re-releases
Square released the game December 1989 in Japan as Makai Toushi Sa·Ga and included a map for the four major worlds in the game; a revised version followed shortly after. Square translated it to English in March 1990, and planned to release it in North America with new artwork as The Great Warrior Saga. Square retitled it The Final Fantasy Legend before releasing it on September 30, 1990, to tie into the popularity of the Final Fantasy video game. Developers made slight modifications for this version, such as removing the game's credits and adjusting the longevity of certain weapons. Changes to the text were also made, including the omission of some of Ryu-O's riddles, removal of mention about self-sacrifice and a hint of the Tower's true purpose. Notably, the exchange between the player's party and the Creator, where the latter reveals that he created Asura simply out of boredom, is altered. In 1998, Sunsoft acquired the license to the Game Boy "Final Fantasy" games, re-releasing them in North America the same year. Despite advertising compatibility with Nintendo's Game Boy Color handheld, the re-released version featured no enhancements.

Square re-released of The Final Fantasy Legend for Bandai's WonderSwan Color unit; the Japan-exclusive port debuted in March 2002 under the Japanese title. Toshiyuki Itahana redrew the concept art and graphics, and Square added animated cutscenes. Developers also enabled players to see in advance what a monster would transform into before eating meat left behind after battle. The port allowed playthrough of the intact original Game Boy version. Among other changes and additions were gameplay tweaks, a bestiary, and an added feature that allowed players to automatically target an enemy for attack in combat.

As of January 2007, Square Enix had renewed their trademark on the Japanese name for the game, and at Square Enix's 2007 Tokyo Game Show in September made a mobile phone port of the WonderSwan version available for play. Square released the game for download in late 2008 for Japanese i-mode, EZweb compatible phones, and Yahoo! Mobile compatible phones. The port removed the bestiary mode and original Game Boy version of the game, and condensed some of the in-game cutscenes. It added Japanese kanji support and extra shops with new equipment throughout the quest.

In 2020, the original version was re-released alongside the other two Game Boy SaGa titles for the Nintendo Switch. The collection was published worldwide by Square Enix on December 19 under the title Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend. It was a digital exclusive release, and included English and Japanese text options worldwide. Production began at Square Enix so players could enjoy the original SaGa trilogy on modern hardware. While Kawazu had earlier plans to bring the originals onto newer hardware, the series' 30th anniversary provided a good opportunity to fulfil his wish.

The port included color and resolution options, higher speed options during gameplay, control options that emulated the Game Boy console, a commemorative track created by later composer Kenji Ito, and new artwork by Fujioka. The minor adjustments were done to reflect modern gaming tastes, but otherwise the games were unaltered. The WonderSwan port of the first SaGa was considered for release, but it was decided to leave it out to focus on the originals. While the titles were rebranded as part of the SaGa series, their original Final Fantasy branding was retained as a subtitle to avoid undue confusion for original players. This edition was the first time the Game Boy titles officially released in Europe.

Reception and legacy
The Final Fantasy Legend is Square's first game to sell over a million copies; the Game Boy version alone shipped 1.37 million copies worldwide (1.15 million in Japan) as of March 2003. Square quickly released two sequels for the Game Boy, and marketed subsequent SaGa games on other video game consoles. The one-eyed monster featured on the Japanese box art later became the series' mascot, appearing in the sequel as a character named "Mr. S". Game Freak founder Satoshi Tajiri cited the game's influence behind the Game Boy Pokémon series, stating it gave him the idea that the system could handle more than action games.

Upon release, Makai Toushi Sa·Ga was acclaimed by Japanese critics. Famitsu awarded the game an overall score of 35 out of 40. Among its panel of four reviewers, three gave it 9 out of 10, while one gave it 8 out of 10. This made it one of their two highest-rated games of 1989, along with Ys I & II. It entered the Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame, being one only seven games up until 1989 to have received a score of at least 35 or above from Famitsu.

Western critics gave mostly positive reviews upon its initial release. Author Jeff Rovin heavily praised the title in the book How to Win at Game Boy Games, citing the thorough manual and considering the game a "masterful achievement for the Game Boy unit, and a superlative game of [its] kind", though not as complex as The Legend of Zelda. In May 1991, Nintendo Power named the game the third all-around best Game Boy game of the previous year, and in September 1997 they ranked it 70th on their list of the "Top 100" games to appear on a Nintendo system, stating that it had "stayed true to the Square Soft tradition". The Chicago Tribune in 1991 called the game "a little slow in spots, but, like Final Fantasy, worth your patience", and a "good quest". The newspaper gave the game ratings of 8 out of 10 and 7 out of 10. German gaming magazine Power Play gave the game a score of 78%, and praised it for showing potential for the Game Boy as the first role-playing game on the platform.

The Game Boy version of the game received mixed reviews in retrospective. IGN called The Final Fantasy Legend a "compelling RPG with a complex gameplay system and a solid soundtrack", but complained about the game's difficulty and "dated" graphics. Allgame praised the title on its merits as a role-playing game, but criticized its high difficulty and lack of a sense of direction. 1UP's Retronauts described its gameplay as a successor to Final Fantasy II's, though added that the systems involved were not properly refined until its sequel; they further stated that the randomness of the mutant and monster character classes made the game very difficult. Spencer Yip of Siliconera named it as a game he was thankful for playing, citing it as opening his mind to story-based games more so than titles like Dragon Quest, and in part led to the creation of the website.

TechnoBuffalo's Ron Duwell said that, while it was regarded less favorably than its sequels, its flaws could be worked around and added that there was no such other title to compete like The Final Fantasy Legend. 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish called it one of the "essential" games for the Game Boy as well as one of the best of 1989, noting its introduction of new ideas that contrasted the Final Fantasy series and calling it "a pretty decent portable RPG in its own right". GameDaily named it a definite game for Game Boy alongside the related Final Fantasy titles, describing it as providing "hours of role-playing excitement". Andrew Vanden Bossche described the game as "unusual" amongst Japanese roleplaying games, describing its narrative as "loosely connected experiences rather than the sort of epic narrative the RPG genre is commonly thought of". As a result, the off-screen deaths of non-player characters felt more "poignant" and an example of memento mori. However, he also felt the monster class system as counter-intuitive, as frequently said classes emphasized the point of enemies as "designed to pose challenges, not overcome them". Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Informer, Pocket Games, and GameSpot shared this sentiment; the latter three named it one of the top fifty games for the Game Boy.

The difficulty and significance of the game's final boss, the Creator, has elicited several mentions. GamePro named him one of the "47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time", placing him 37th on the list and adding "You gotta wonder... how many hit points did the developers give God?" 1UP.com described the battle as "epic", considering it part of a recurring theme of Japanese role-playing games in which characters band together to kill God. Comedian Jackie Kashian referenced the Creator on Comedy Central Presents, describing the game's final battle as "the worst premise ever of any video game", and recalling how she still tried for eight months to defeat the boss. Despite the final boss' difficulty, it can be killed easily by the instant-death "chainsaw" weapon. In 2009, Square Enix battle planner Nobuyuki Matsuoka paid homage to the fact in the game Final Fantasy XIII, by deliberately giving the title's final boss a similar vulnerability. Square brought back the character as a boss in later SaGa games Imperial SaGa Eclipse and Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe, the former of which included a line referencing his weakness to the chainsaw.

title: The Final Fantasy Legend


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Final Fantasy Adventure

Final Fantasy Adventure, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (聖剣伝説 〜ファイナルファンタジー外伝〜) or simply Seiken Densetsu, (聖剣伝説) and later released in Europe as Mystic Quest, is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. It is a spin-off of the Final Fantasy series and the first game in the Mana series.

Originally developed under the name Gemma Knights, it features gameplay roughly similar to that of the original The Legend of Zelda, but with the addition of role-playing statistical elements. A remake, Sword of Mana, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, changing the plot and many gameplay aspects. A second remake was released on mobile phones in Japan which improved the graphics and music of the original version. A third remake, Adventures of Mana, was released for iOS, Android, and PlayStation Vita on February 4, 2016.

The story follows the hero and the heroine as they attempt to thwart the Dark Lord of Glaive and his sorcerer assistant, Julius, from destroying the Tree of Mana and dooming their world. The game was released with many familiar elements of the Final Fantasy series, such as Chocobos, but these were later changed to feature common enemies and the gameplay style of the Mana series.

Final Fantasy Adventure was met with generally positive reviews at the time of its release. Over the course of time, reviewers have considered it one of the best action adventure games on the Game Boy. The game also spawned an entirely new game series, called the Mana series, which became a successful video game role-playing franchise. Its sequel, Secret of Mana, was released in 1993.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the original The Legend of Zelda for the NES: the world is viewed from a top-down camera angle, it is divided up into many different squares that can fit on the screen, and the main character can move up, down, left, and right across the screen. The player can interact with individuals within towns by gathering information and buying or selling items and equipment. A variety of enemies can be battled on a field screen to gain experience, GP, and items. Within dungeon areas, a number of puzzles may be present and required to be solved in order for the player to advance. The player can also save at any point. A number of weapons can be found throughout the game to maneuver through obstacles such as cutting through trees and thorns.

The main character possesses several statistics, including hit points, power, and stamina, which can all increase upon gaining an experience level. Magic spells, which expend the character's MP, can be used to heal oneself or damage enemies. These spells can only be found in certain locations or obtained from other characters at specific plot intervals. In addition, the protagonist has a power gauge that affects his attack strength—the higher the gauge, the stronger his attack will be. The speed at which it fills is directly affected by the character's will level. The gauge will slowly fill up over time, but once the main character attacks, the gauge is emptied. When the gauge is completely filled up and the main character attacks with a weapon, he will perform a special attack.

One additional non-player character may occasionally accompany the main character in the story and can perform different activities to aid the main character in his quest. The game introduced the ability to kill townspeople, something that many Japanese role-playing video games of the time lacked.

Plot
The Hero (named by the player, officially called Sumo) is a prisoner of the Dark Lord. One day, the Hero's friend informs him of the Dark Lord's goals, and he urges him to seek a Knight named Bogard. As the Hero escapes imprisonment, he learns that the Dark Lord is seeking a key to the Mana Sanctuary in order to control the Mana Tree, an energy source that sustains life. The Hero is befriended by the Heroine (named by the player, officially called Fuji) who is also seeking Bogard. The two find Bogard, who recommends they seek out a man named Cibba. During their journey to meet him, the Heroine is kidnapped. With the aid of a mysterious man, she is later rescued by the Hero. When they meet Cibba, he plays a message left by the Heroine's mother, who reveals she is a descendant of the guardians of the Mana Tree and her pendant is the key to it. The mysterious man, upon discovering that the heroine holds the pendant, reveals himself to be Julius, the Dark Lord's advisor and kidnaps her. The Hero then attempts to rescue the Heroine, but he fails and is knocked off of Julius's airship. However, the Heroine gives the Hero the pendant just before he falls.

The Hero is then reunited with Amanda, an escapee from his prison, who steals the pendant in order to win her brother Lester's freedom. The mayor of Jadd, Davias, takes the pendant, but he transforms Lester into a parrot. The Hero and Amanda confront a Medusa for its tear, which will break the spell. They kill it, but Amanda is infected by the Medusa's attack, causing her to transform into one herself. The Hero reluctantly kills her, and uses her tears to break Lester's spell. Lester avenges Amanda's death by killing Davias, who reveals that he gave the pendant to the Dark Lord. The Hero confronts and defeats the Dark Lord; however, Hero discovers that the Heroine is under Julius' mind control and has opened the entrance to the Mana Tree. Julius reveals he is the last survivor of the Vandole Empire, the empire who attempted to control the Mana Tree years ago, and handily defeats the Hero.

Realizing he is powerless to defeat Julius, the Hero learns from Cibba about a powerful sword called Excalibur. Cibba helps him find the Excalibur only to find a rusty sword instead. He explains that the rusty sword is the Excalibur and would reveal its true strength to whoever it finds worthy. The Hero then raises Dime Tower to reach the Mana Sanctuary and meets a robot known as Marcie. After reaching the top, the tower begins to collapse and Marcie sacrifices himself by throwing the Hero across. After obtaining and passing the sword's trials, the Hero confronts and defeats Julius at the cost of the Mana Tree's life. The Mana Tree reveals that she is the Heroine's mother and before dying, asks the Heroine to succeed her current position. The Heroine agrees and bids farewell to the Hero as she becomes the next Mana Tree, and the Hero her guardian.

Development
Square trademarked Seiken Densetsu in 1987 intending to use it for a game project subtitled The Emergence of Excalibur, and led by Kazuhiko Aoki for the Famicom Disk System. According to early advertisements, the game would consist of an unprecedented five floppy disks, making it one of the largest titles developed for the Famicom up until that point. Although Square solicited pre-orders for the game, Kaoru Moriyama, a former Square employee, affirms that management canceled the ambitious project before it advanced beyond the early planning stages. In October 1987, customers who had placed orders were sent a letter informing them of the cancellation and had their purchases refunded. The letter also suggested to consider placing an order on another upcoming Square role-playing game in a similar vein: Final Fantasy.

After the release of the third Final Fantasy title in 1990, Square offered designer Koichi Ishii to direct a spin-off series game. It began development for the Game Boy under the working title Gemma Knights; eventually, Square revived the trademarked name and released the game as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden. It was later released in Europe as Mystic Quest. Ishii suggested the basis of the game's story, while scenario writer Yoshinori Kitase helped write the game's script. Ishii designed all of the characters himself, while Goro Ohashi was responsible for the development of the game system.

The Mana series, of which Final Fantasy Adventure was the first game, was the result of Koichi Ishii's desire to create a fictional world. In Ishii's opinion, Mana is not a series of video games, but rather a world which is illustrated by and can be explored through video games. When working on the series, Koichi Ishii drew inspiration from abstract images from his memories of childhood, as well as films and fantasy books that captivated him as a child. Ishii took care to avoid set conventions, and his influences are correspondingly very wide and non-specific. Nonetheless, among his literary influences, he acknowledges Tove Jansson's Moomin, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Music
The Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden Original Soundtrack (聖剣伝説 ファイナルファンタジー外伝 Original Soundtrack) was released in Japan on July 15, 1991. Most of the tracks were composed by Kenji Ito, while track 16, "Chocobo Tanjou (Chocobo's Birth)", is credited to Square composer Nobuo Uematsu. Seiken Densetsu/Arranged Version Omoi wa Shirabe ni Nosete (聖剣伝説/アレンジ・ヴァージョン・想いは調べにのせて), a set of arranged tracks was also released on September 30 the same year. Both albums were compiled into Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden Sound Collections, originally released on August 18, 1995. The game's music was included in a 20th anniversary CD compilation of all of the Mana series games' soundtracks. A second arranged album titled Tanoshī Baieru Heiyō Seiken Densetsu (楽しいバイエル併用 聖剣伝説) was released on December 10, 1998. The album was compiled by Yu Hong Ishikawa and Kushiro Negishi.

Versions and merchandise
In 1998, Sunsoft obtained the license for it and re-released it along with the Final Fantasy Legend games. This version was advertised as having Game Boy Color support, although the release was not enhanced in any way. RPGamer reported in July 2004 that Square Enix was polling die-hard customers, testing the feasibility of porting Final Fantasy Adventure to the Nintendo DS. GamesRadar listed Final Fantasy Adventure as one of the titles they wanted in the 3DS Virtual Console.

The game received a remake for the Game Boy Advance called Sword of Mana in 2003. The original version was remade again to mobile phones and released on August 16, 2006 for SoftBank's 3G network. It was later ported onto i-Mode distribution service on November 6 and EZweb distribution service on February 5, 2007. The gameplay of the mobile phone version is closer to the original game's design, but featuring updated graphics and sound, an improved world map, and other minor changes. The characters have been redesigned several times between each remake. A 3D remake, Adventures of Mana, was released in 2016 for PlayStation Vita, Android and iOS. A port of the original game for the Nintendo Switch was released with ports of Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana as part of the Seiken Densetsu Collection on June 1, 2017 in Japan and on June 11, 2019 in North America and Europe as Collection of Mana.

Two guidebooks have been released in Japan: Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden kiso chishiki-hen (聖剣伝説 ファイナルファンタジー外伝: 基礎知識編) and Seiken Densetsu Final Fantasy Gaiden kanzen kōryaku-hen (聖剣伝説 ファイナルファンタジー外伝 完全攻略編), each of which contains character illustrations and manga. The guidebooks were released in May and August 1991 respectively.

Other manga
Final Fantasy Adventure is one of the video games featured in the manga titled Rock'n Game Boy, by Shigeto Ikehara and published by Comic BomBom from October 1989 to December 1991.

Reception
According to Square's publicity department, the game sold 700,000 units worldwide, with 500,000 of these sold in Japan.

Final Fantasy Adventure was featured in Nintendo Power when it was re-released in the United States. IGN praised the Game Boy re-release version noting its strong story, graphics, and music. They additionally praised the game's puzzle elements as innovative and drew comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, though noted that its role-playing gameplay did not blend well with its action-oriented nature. RPGFan also praised the game and called it one of the best RPG titles for Game Boy. RPGamer praised the game's plot and the characters. Nintendojo also gave similar praise to the game but noting it being vastly different from other Final Fantasy titles.

The game has been perceived very positively in the years following its initial release. GameDaily named it alongside the other Game Boy Final Fantasy titles as definitive games for the system, describing it as providing "hours of role-playing" to play. The sentiment was shared by gaming magazine Pocket Games, which ranked the titles together 8th out of the Top 50 games for the Game Boy, stating that every game in the series is a classic with well-written scripts and solid characters. Kotaku praised the original release of the game as a "really great action-RPG". 1UP.com called the game ambitious for its time, writing that it represented an evolution of the overhead perspective action adventure genre. They also rated the game as "Worth It!" in terms of buying and enjoying the original game in 2007, and noted it as the origins of the Mana series' many unique gameplay features. GamesRadar named it the 13th best Game Boy game ever made, noting that its interesting leveling system and a large number of collectible items made up for a poor English translation. Game Informer also praised the game's leveling system, though it did call it a "simplistic" title in comparison to its sequels.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Final Fantasy Adventure


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Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (チョコボの不思議なダンジョン) is a roguelike dungeon crawler video game developed and published by Square. A spin-off of the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games, it was also the first entry in what would become the Chocobo series. It saw a Japan-only release on December 23, 1997, for PlayStation, and a version was released on March 4, 1999, for WonderSwan. The game was re-released in 2010 on PlayStation Network in Japan as a PSOne Classic.

The game's protagonist is a yellow chocobo, a fictional species of bird in the Final Fantasy universe, named Poulet (プーレ). The player must fight through procedurally generated dungeons, picking up items and battling enemies.

Gameplay
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon combines real-time combat with an Active-Time Battle (ATB) system reminiscent of a Final Fantasy game. Attacks have reduced power and accuracy if made before the ATB gauge fills up. The game consists of three dungeons: a 10-level dungeon, a 30-level dungeon, and an infinite dungeon which recycles enemy types every 100 levels.

Development
The game was produced by Koichi Nakamura, the founder of Chunsoft. It also marks the solo composing debut of Masashi Hamauzu, who prepared both the soundtrack and an arrangement album named Coi Vanni Gialli.

The game appeared in a booth at Tokyo Game Show 1997, but did not appear in playable form, only having a complete video presentation of the game on the company's video wall along with Front Mission 2 and Front Mission Alternative. Upon its release, it was bundled with the "Mysterious Data Disc", a bonus containing a number of movies from unreleased games and a playable demo of Xenogears. In early 1998, it was still the 10th best-selling game in Japan according to Famitsu.

Reception
In pre-release coverage of the game, IGN stated that the decision to not show a playable version of the game was "somewhat bizarre", but that the title was "shaping up quite nicely", saying that while the game was not as flashy as Final Fantasy VII, and lacked any polygonal graphics, it was "obvious" that much effort went into designing the game's artwork. They also said that, while there was no word of a US release, they hoped the game would receive one due to the success of Final Fantasy VII.

In a post-release review, "The Elf" of Superjuegos magazine stated that, while the game's setting was "not very attractive", the gameplay was highly addictive and engaging, with "beautiful" magic, funny characters, and attractive cutscenes. He also called the game's music memorable, citing its remixes of classic themes from Final Fantasy. However, ECM of GameFan had a more negative take, characterizing Xenogears as "infinitely better", while Stephen Frost of PSM also stated that the game felt "rushed and [not] very fun", appending an image of a dead chocobo with the caption "Ugh. What was Square thinking?"

Legacy
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon was the first in the Mystery Dungeon series to surpass one million units sold due to its connection to Final Fantasy and chocobo protagonist. It was followed by a 1998 sequel, Chocobo's Dungeon 2. The characters of the game went on to star in the Chocobo series, containing numerous different genres.

title: Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon


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Ethiopian (disambiguation)

Ethiopian (from Greek Αἰθίοπας "having a burnt face", also Latinized Ethiopia in historical contexts) may also refer to:

 * pertaining to the state of Ethiopia
 * Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline of Ethiopia
 * a person from Ethiopia, or of Ethiopian descent
 * see people of Ethiopia
 * the demographics of Ethiopia
 * for individuals, see List of Ethiopians
 * also Ethiopic, the Ethiopian Semitic languages
 * more specifically, the Ge'ez language

Obsolete usage
Historically, Aethiopian was also:
 * a term referring to Sub-Saharan Africa, e.g:
 * the Ethiopian Ocean, an obsolete name for the South Atlantic
 * the Ethiopian movement
 * a historical term for black African, especially in North America, e.g.:
 * the Ethiopian Serenaders
 * Ethiopian Regiment, a regiment of Black Loyalists during the American Revolution
 * Peace Movement of Ethiopia
 * Washing the Ethiopian White, a fable
 * Dysaesthesia aethiopica, a pseudoscientific diagnosis purported to afflict black slaves in the US

title: Ethiopian (disambiguation)


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Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy V (ファイナルファンタジーV) is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1992. It is the fifth main installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Famicom (known internationally as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). It has been ported with minor differences to Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. An original video animation produced in 1994 called Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals serves as a sequel to the events depicted in the game. It was released for the PlayStation Network on April 6, 2011, in Japan. An enhanced port of the game, with new high-resolution graphics and a touch-based interface, was released for iPhone and iPad on March 28, 2013, for Android on September 25 the same year and for Windows on September 24, 2015. A more enhanced re-release of the game as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, was released on November 10, 2021 for Android, iOS, and Windows, and for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on April 19, 2023.

The game begins as a wanderer named Bartz investigates a fallen meteor. There, he encounters several characters, one of whom reveals the danger facing the four Crystals that control the world's elements. These Crystals act as a seal on Exdeath, an evil sorcerer. Bartz and his party must keep the Crystals from being exploited by Exdeath's influence and prevent his resurgence.

Final Fantasy V has been praised for the freedom of customization that the player has over the characters, achieved through the greatly expanded Job System. Despite being released only in Japan, the Super Famicom version sold more than two million copies. The PlayStation version has earned "Greatest Hits" status, selling more than 350,000 copies.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy V includes many standard role-playing elements as well as renovated features introduced in earlier Final Fantasy games. Players navigate from a top-down perspective; a traversable overworld connects the various towns, dungeons, and other points of interest. The player can traverse the overworld by foot, Chocobo, hydra-guided ship, wind drake, or airship, depending on the situation. Most towns contain scattered inns for resting, shops for purchasing equipment, and people from whom the player can gain information. The player may also embark on several side quests that become available as the story progresses. Characters grow in strength by gaining experience points from random encounters with monsters on the overworld or in a dungeon. Experience culminates in a "level up", in which character attributes such as hit points and magic power increase. A menu-based management system allows the player to equip, heal, and change each character's selected job outside of battle as well as to save the game's progress.

Final Fantasy V is the second Final Fantasy game to use the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, in which time flows continuously for both the player and enemies during combat. This system was first established in Final Fantasy IV, but in that game, there was no way to visibly anticipate which character's turn would come up next. In Final Fantasy V, the player can see which playable character's turn is next in battle, in the form of a time gauge—or "ATB Bar"—which fills according to a character's speed. When the selected character's turn arrives, the player can execute one of several commands, such as attacking the enemy with an equipped weapon, using a special ability or item, or changing the character's row position. The ATB mechanic with a gauge, as seen in V, would be used in the four following main titles in the series and remains a staple mechanic of the franchise.

Job System
The main feature of the gameplay of Final Fantasy V is the Job System. Players can freely select jobs (also called "classes") for their characters to master, allowing each character to gain special abilities and potentially master all 22 jobs (26 in the Game Boy Advance version). Each character begins with only the "Freelancer" class; to gain access to new jobs, players must acquire crystal shards. This system is an improved version of the one in Final Fantasy III; several older jobs were either reused or revamped for V, such as the Black Mage and Thief. The game also introduces several classes to the series, including the Blue Mage, Time Mage, and Mime. Each of these classes has been featured in numerous Final Fantasy installments since.

Once the player gains access to the job system, characters begin to earn a separate form of experience—Ability Points—in conjunction with regular experience points. Characters gain job levels after accumulating AP; as with regular levels, the required amount of experience increases after each job level. AP and job levels do not transfer from class to class. As job levels increase, new skills become available for the character to use in a new form of customization; characters learn job-specific abilities that may be transferred to a new job. For example, a character with the Knight job who has also earned job levels as a Black Mage may set Black Magic as a secondary command, enabling both Black Mage and Knight abilities in battle. The nature of these abilities varies; while some serve as special commands in battle, others may be innate to the class or activated automatically when conditions are met, such as the Thief's "Caution" skill, which prevents rear attacks from enemies. This system allows for deeper customization of characters.

Setting
The backstory of Final Fantasy V is revealed in phases through cutscenes and interactions with non-playable characters. One millennium before the events of the main story, a powerful mage named Enuo imperiled the world using the power of an evil entity called the "Void". The people retaliated by using twelve legendary weapons to vanquish Enuo, but the Void itself could not be destroyed. Consequently, the people split the world's four elemental Crystals into two sets, effectively creating two worlds. The Void then became sealed in a dimensional cleft between the two worlds.

Nearly a thousand years passed without incident, and both worlds prospered due to the powers of their Crystals of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth. New kingdoms and towns flourished, and travel by ship acted as a critical means of commerce and communication. However, a sinister force was stirring in the second world—ever since the Void incident, malicious demons had been sealed inside a tree in the Great Forest of Moore. The corrupted amalgamation of spirits emerged as Exdeath, the game's primary antagonist. When Exdeath attempted to claim the world for himself, a group of heroes called the "Four Warriors of Dawn" (Galuf, Xezat, Dorgann, and Kelger) sealed him within the first world using its Crystals, and peace returned for another thirty years.

Characters

Final Fantasy V features five player characters, though only up to four are playable at any given time:
 * Bartz Klauser is a traveling adventurer who becomes involved in the story when he investigates the site of a meteorite. During the story, he learns that his father Dorgann was a Warrior of Dawn.
 * Lenna Charlotte Tycoon is a princess of Tycoon who follows her father to investigate the Wind Shrine's Crystal.
 * Galuf Doe is a mysterious old man whom Bartz and Lenna discover unconscious near the meteorite. He later remembers his history as a Warrior of Dawn and King of Bal. He dies fighting Exdeath.
 * Faris Scherwiz is a pirate captain who captures Bartz, Lenna, and Galuf when they try to steal her ship. Later she is revealed to be Lenna's sister, Sarisa Scherwill Tycoon, in disguise.
 * Krile Mayer Baldesion is Galuf's granddaughter who follows him to Bartz's world. She received Galuf's abilities when he dies.

During the story, the player characters encounter many non-player characters. The other Warriors of Dawn, Dorgann Klauser (Bartz's father), Kelger Vlondett, and Xezat Matias Surgate, play important roles. Supporting characters also include engineer Cid Previa, his grandson Mid Previa, and turtle sage Ghido. One of Exdeath's henchmen, Gilgamesh, is a recurring mini-boss in the second half of the game. Gilgamesh has appeared in several Final Fantasy titles since.

Yoshitaka Amano designed concept art for the player characters. He has offered such artwork for every main Final Fantasy installment since the original.

Story
King Tycoon departs to investigate the weakening of the Wind Crystal at the Wind Shrine. Bartz witnesses a meteor plunge to the planet's surface. He encounters Lenna, King Tycoon's daughter; Galuf, an amnesiac old man; and Faris, a pirate captain. They make their way to the Wind Shrine pursuing Lenna's father. There the shards of the shattered crystal grant them new powers. An image of King Tycoon appears, saying the crystals have chosen the four adventurers as their protectors.

The party discovers the crystals make their planet habitable and also seal away Exdeath, an evil sorcerer. The party attempts to save the crystals of Water, Fire, and Earth. Each time, they fail but gain new powers from the crystals' shards. Having been freed, Exdeath defeats the party and returns to his homeworld. King Tycoon, who was controlled by Exdeath to destroy the last crystal, sacrifices himself to save the others.

Galuf's granddaughter Krile arrives by a meteorite, restoring Galuf's memory completely. He recalls he originated from the same world as Exdeath, and resolves to pursue him back home with Krile. Bartz, Lenna and Faris travel with them.

On Galuf's world, Exdeath is already wreaking havoc in pursuit of that world's crystals. The party wins a victory against Exdeath's lieutenant Gilgamesh, but are blown to a distant continent when a magical barrier is activated during their escape. They deactivate the barrier with help from Galuf's allies. The party then travels to Moore Forest in an attempt to protect the world's crystals there. Exdeath deceives them into destroying the crystals' guardians and takes the crystals for himself. Krile arrives to help but is herself trapped by the warlock's powers. Galuf saves the others from Exdeath at the cost of his own life. His abilities pass to Krile, who joins the party in his place. The party pursues Exdeath to his castle, where they defeat Gilgamesh again and then Exdeath himself. The crystals shatter, reuniting the split worlds.

For a time, it seems Exdeath has been truly destroyed, and the party celebrates in Tycoon. However, a thorn leaps from Krile's palm, manifesting as Exdeath, now resurrected and fully in command of the Void. With it, he removes entire towns and kingdoms from existence, tossing them into an interdimensional rift.

The reunification of worlds has opened the pathways to ancient sites where powerful artifacts are hidden. So armed, the party enters the rift. With help from a reformed Gilgamesh, they find Exdeath at the center of the rift seeking the power of the Void. They fight Exdeath, first in his demonic tree form, and then after he transforms into Neo Exdeath, intent on destroying all reality, including himself. The heroes defeat Exdeath and use the crystal shards' power to seal the Void once more and restore the reunified world and its crystals.

The game's ending varies based on how many party members are still alive at Neo Exdeath's defeat, detailing the events after the world's resurrection. In the end, the remaining group visits Moore Forest and find that the fallen party members have returned to life.

Development
Final Fantasy V was directed by Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi who, prior to the release of Final Fantasy IX, called it his favorite Final Fantasy game. The character, image, and title logo designs were created by series illustrator and image designer Yoshitaka Amano, while the actual character sprites were designed by Kazuko Shibuya. The monsters were designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Amano has stated that he counts his depictions of both Faris from Final Fantasy V and Terra from VI among his favorite Final Fantasy designs. The writing of the scenario text was a collaborative effort between Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase. Sakaguchi conceived the plot and was in charge of it, while Kitase tried to include more humor to lighten up the relatively serious story. The Job System was designed by Hiroyuki Ito, who worked on the game as a battle planner alongside Akihiko Matsui. Mode 7 effects were used in the airship sequences, which moving in the airship would cause the planet to rotate on its axis. In total, Square employed a team of 45 people to create the game, and 16 Mbits of space were used to accommodate the sprites, animations, and detailed background. According to GamePro in a May 1993 issue, the Japanese authorities had asked Square not to release the game during a school day because schoolchildren would skip class to wait in line for the game.

The official English translation of Final Fantasy V began shortly after the release of the Japanese version. The game was to be titled "Final Fantasy III" in North America, but the project fell through. Square then announced that due to its differing tone and much higher difficulty from the rest of the series, they would be releasing it in North America as a standalone game with a yet-to-be-determined title, rather than part of the Final Fantasy series. This plan was quickly aborted. Translator Ted Woolsey explained in a 1994 interview, "[Final Fantasy V is] just not accessible enough to the average gamer". Rumors circulated that a second attempt at localization would be made and that the game would be titled Final Fantasy Extreme, but this attempt was also canceled. A third attempt was made to port the game to Windows-based personal computers for North American release by developer Top Dog Software, but this was canceled. Another attempt to port the game to Windows for North America was "handled by Eidos Interactive" circa 1998, but it is unclear whether this is the same version Top Dog Software was working on or an actual fourth attempt. The continual canceling of the localization angered fans and led to Final Fantasy V becoming one of the first games to receive a complete fan translation.

Music
The game's soundtrack was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and consists of 56 tracks. A two-disc album was released alongside the game totaling 67 tracks. Uematsu had originally calculated that the game would require more than 100 pieces of music, but he managed to reduce the number to 56. The song "Dear Friends" would become the title piece in the 2004 concert tour Dear Friends -Music from Final Fantasy-, chosen to reflect Uematsu's appreciation for his music's worldwide fan support. The song "Clash on the Big Bridge" would later be arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto for the Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack in 2006.

The album Final Fantasy V: 5+1 was released in 1992 and contained five songs from the original score as well as a previously unreleased Super Famicom version of "Matoya's Cave" from the original 1987 Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A collection of arranged tracks, Final Fantasy V Dear Friends; a 13-track disc, Piano Collections Final Fantasy V; and a short series of remixes, Final Fantasy V: Mambo de Chocobo, were all released in 1993. Finally, many of the original songs were included on the North American Final Fantasy Anthology Soundtrack, together with the two-game compilation.

Ports and remakes
Final Fantasy V was ported by Tose to the Sony PlayStation and re-released in Japan on March 19, 1998; it was included in the 1999 release of Final Fantasy Collection, alongside IV and VI. The PlayStation version boasted two new full motion video opening and ending sequences and a "memo-save" feature, but the game otherwise remained unchanged. Square released 50,000 limited edition copies of the collection which included a Final Fantasy-themed alarm clock. In the same year, Square released the PlayStation compilation Final Fantasy Anthology in North America, which included Final Fantasy V, as well as the PlayStation version of VI. This would mark the first time the game was published outside Japan, nearly seven years after its initial release. As early as July 1998 there was media coverage of a port to the PC by Square Enix Europe (then Eidos Interactive) that was never officially released. Screenshots of the cancelled Eidos version include English dialogue that appears to be based on the North American localization that would not be released until September 1999. In 2002, Square released this version of the game in Europe and Australia, this time alongside Final Fantasy IV. The English version of the game received changes from its original format — most notably, Faris was given a Cornish "pirate" accent and there was a different interpretation of character names, such as the names "Bartz" as opposed to "Butz" and "Gill" as opposed to "Guido", the official romanizations in Japan. The port was re-released as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box Japanese package in December 2012.

Following the release of the PlayStation 2, Sony reported that the new system had compatibility issues with the Final Fantasy V half of Final Fantasy Anthology. The game experienced a bug where if players attempted to save their games, a graphical error would occur. Square then released a statement that only the look of the save screen was corrupted, and saving was still possible, and if players wished, repeatedly going into and out of the save screen would make a normal screen eventually appear. This incompatibility was fixed for the PAL and Greatest Hits releases of Final Fantasy Anthology.

Final Fantasy V was ported a second time by Tose to the Nintendo Game Boy Advance as Final Fantasy V Advance, which was released on October 12, 2006, in Japan, November 6 in North America, and April 20, 2007, in Europe. Similar to the Game Boy Advance re-releases of its predecessors, this version features updated graphics, though the changes are very subtle. Additional features include four new jobs (Gladiator, Cannoneer, Necromancer, and Oracle), a new dungeon called "The Sealed Temple", and a new optional boss from the backstory of Final Fantasy V, Enuo, which was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, the monster designer of the original game. In addition, the game included a bestiary, a quick save function, music player, and additional equipment in the style of previous Game Boy Advance re-releases. Like the remakes of its predecessors, Final Fantasy V Advance featured a new English translation.

The original version of the game was released on the Virtual Console in Japan in January 2011 for the Wii, in March 2014 for the Wii U and August 2017 for the New 3DS, and the PlayStation version of the game was re-released on the PlayStation Store as a PSOne Classic in Japan and Europe in April 2011 and in North America on November 22.

In early 2010s, Square Enix considered developing a remake of Final Fantasy V for Nintendo DS, but was concerned that the technical issues would prevent it from happening. The Nintendo 3DS was also considered for the remake. An iOS port, which was developed by Matrix Software, was released on March 28, 2013 on the Apple App Store for iOS devices, with an Android release via the Google Play Store on September 26. The game features new high-resolution graphics with sprites designed by Kazuko Shibuya, who did the original game's artwork, new gameplay features such as movement in eight directions and auto-battle, and contains the Sealed Temple and super-boss Enuo from the Game Boy Advance release. In September 2015 the remaster was released on PC via Steam.

Tetsuya Nomura, director of Final Fantasy VII Remake, expressed interest in remaking Final Fantasy V and VI. Kitase, who produced Final Fantasy VII Remake, also expressed a desire to remake Final Fantasy V.

A 2D pixel remaster was released in North America for Steam, iOS, and Android on November 10, 2021. Unlike the previous remake, many of the features added in the Gameboy Advance remake are absent from this version.

Sequel
In 1994, Square released an original video animation sequel to Final Fantasy V, simply titled Final Fantasy. Produced by animation studio Madhouse, the anime was released in four 30-minute VHS tapes in Japan and was set two hundred years after the game. The story focuses on four warriors, one of them the descendant of Bartz, protecting the Wind Crystal from the villain Deathgyunos, who pursues it to achieve godhood. It was localized by Urban Vision in 1998 and released in two VHS volumes for North America under the title Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals.

Sales
Within a day of its release in Japan, Final Fantasy V sold about 900,000 cartridges for ¥billion (US$million at the time, or US$million adjusted for inflation), selling about 4.5 times as many copies as what Final Fantasy IV (1991) sold on its first day and close to the 1.3 million sold by Dragon Quest V (1992) on its first day. Final Fantasy V topped the Japanese sales charts in December 1992 and January 1993, selling 2 million copies during its first two months of release. It was Japan's fourth multi-million seller released in 1992 (following Street Fighter II, Super Mario Kart, and Dragon Quest V), and ended the year as the second best-selling game of 1992 in Japan (below Dragon Quest V). Final Fantasy V went on to sell a total of 2.45 million units for the Super Famicom in Japan. It was also a commercial success overseas in South Korea, where it was the second best-selling game of 1992 (below Street Fighter II). The Japanese Game Boy Advance version has also sold nearly 260,000 copies as of December 2007. Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st best selling release of that year in Japan. The North American release of Final Fantasy Anthology sold 364,000 copies as of 2004.

Critical response
The original Super Famicom version received a positive critical reception upon release, with Famitsu's four reviewers scoring it 34 out of 40, and the first GameFan Golden Megawards awarding it for Best Import Game and Best Music (Import Game) of 1992. Retrospectively, 1UP's staff wrote that, while the game's story was very weak, the gameplay was "another story", heavily praising the job system and the feature to combine abilities from different job classes, and gave it a score of B−. Allgame's retrospective review shared similar sentiments regarding the storyline and job system, adding praise for the addition of hidden events and items for players to search for, giving the game a score of 3.5 out of 5. RPGamer gave it a mixed retrospective review, stating that the game improved on the visual presentation, menu system, and overall field navigation of Final Fantasy IV, but the "maddeningly high encounter rate", "average sound selection", and "washed out" color palette hurt the game's presentation, giving it a score of 5/10.

Critics gave generally positive to mixed reviews for the Anthology version of the game. GameSpot praised the job system for being "one of the series' most in-depth and detailed game systems", but criticized the game for having "paper-thin characters" and a clichéd plot, augmented by a lack of character development during the game's fetch quests. They went further to say that the translation was poor and overshadowed by the two previous fan efforts. IGN called Final Fantasy V ' s graphics "dated" but cited "incredibly engrossing" job system as the game's highlight and praised its music. Electronic Gaming Monthly repeated the sentiments towards the job system, adding that while the game suffered from long load times periodically, Final Fantasy V was the main reason to buy the collection.

In comparison, reviews of the Game Boy Advance re-release of the game were mostly positive. GameSpot's review regarded the game more favorably than its PlayStation counterpart, calling it "better than ever" and citing the strong localization of the script and extensive special features. They further stated that while the game's characters seemed unlikable and that the plot felt "predictable or trite", they felt the game was still more sophisticated than most games at the time, giving the game a score of 8.5. Nintendo Power wrote that "while playing Final Fantasy V is a chore on the PlayStation, it's good fun on the GBA because of the vastly improved translation and new features", further calling it the "definitive" version of one of the series' best titles. IGN gave the game a score of 8.5, calling it a "must-own" for the portable system and describing it further as always an "entertaining and surprisingly deep role-playing game". 1UP.com said the port of the game from the Super Famicom to the Game Boy Advance was "rock solid", and added that while the game's story started off at a slow pace, it gradually improved. The review further praised the addition of features and removal of questionable ones that had been added to the Anthology version of the game. GameDaily gave the game a score of 7/10, noting that while enjoyable, the high encounter rate, the necessity to constantly engage in battle to gain abilities through the job system, and other aspects made the game feel repetitive at times.

title: Final Fantasy V


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Les Claypool

Leslie Edward Claypool (born September 29, 1963) is an American rock musician, best known as the founder, lead singer, bassist, and primary songwriter of the band Primus since its formation in 1984. Frequently considered to be one of the greatest bassists of all time, his playing style mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends, and slapping.

Outside of Primus, Claypool has also been involved in a number of side projects, including supergroups such as Oysterhead (with Trey Anastasio and Stewart Copeland) and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (with Buckethead, Bryan Mantia, and Bernie Worrell). He also fronts the experimental rock projects Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and Les Claypool's Fancy Band. He has self-produced and engineered several solo releases from his own studio, Rancho Relaxo, in California. In 2006, he wrote and directed the mockumentary Electric Apricot and released his debut novel South of the Pumphouse. More recently, he has formed musical duos like Duo de Twang (with Bryan Kehoe) and The Claypool Lennon Delirium (with Sean Lennon).

Early life
Claypool was born into a working-class family of car mechanics in Richmond, California in 1963. He was raised in El Sobrante, California. He learned to play the bass guitar at age 14, but didn't begin a career in music until much later. He attended De Anza High School in Richmond, where he was friends with Kirk Hammett. Claypool worked as a carpenter for several years after graduating from high school.

Early career
After the death of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton in 1986, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett reconnected with Claypool and asked him to audition as Burton's replacement. In the Metallica episode of the documentary series Behind the Music, Claypool said that he jokingly asked the members of Metallica if they wanted to "jam on some Isley Brothers tunes" during the audition, a reference to his lack of experience with Metallica's thrash metal style. He later recalled Hammett had given him a copy of Metallica's 1984 album Ride the Lightning, which he enjoyed, but Claypool also stressed he "wasn't a big metal guy" and did not realize how popular Metallica had become until he arrived at the audition; according to Claypool, he also didn't realize at the time that the intro riff of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was a bass, and thus didn't play it during the audition. Metallica frontman James Hetfield said that Claypool was not offered the job because "he was too good" and "should do his own thing". Claypool responded by admitting that he "wasn't the right guy" for the band due to being a self-proclaimed "weirdo"; he said that Hetfield was just "being nice" with his comments.

Primus
Primus began as "Primate" in the mid-1980s, with Claypool on bass, Todd Huth on guitar, and various drummers most notably Jay Lane, although Huth and Lane left shortly thereafter to pursue other projects. Claypool replaced them with guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander.

Claypool is considered to be the leader of the band, as well as the driving force behind its blending of funk with other genres. He frequently utilizes the slap-bass technique, prominent in funk music, and is the only member of Primus who comes from a funk background. Because of Claypool's strong funk influence, Primus is often described as "thrash-funk" or funk metal, although Claypool dislikes the labels. He said, "We've been lumped in with the funk metal thing just about everywhere. I guess people just have to categorize you.

From 1989 to 2000, Primus was one of the most unusual bands to gain significant mainstream airplay, headlining Lollapalooza in 1993, appearing on Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1995. They even appeared at Woodstock '94, where they performed their Pork Soda hit "My Name Is Mud" and were pelted with mud by the audience, much to the band's displeasure. It drove Claypool to stop playing telling the audience "the song's called My Name is Mud, but keep the mud to yourself you son of a bitch". In 1991, the band was featured in the movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, performing "Tommy the Cat" live. Claypool and Tom Waits first recorded on each other's records in 1991 and have continued to do so since then. In 1997, Primus was asked to play and record the theme song for the animated television show South Park. In 1999, he allowed Activision's use of the song "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" in the popular video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Primus went on hiatus in 2000.

In mid-2003, Claypool reunited with former Primus drummer Tim Alexander and guitarist Larry LaLonde to record a DVD/EP called Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People. In October of the same year, the band embarked on a two-month tour in which two sets were performed per show, the second set consisting of their 1991 release Sailing the Seas of Cheese being performed in its entirety. Primus continued touring into 2004, performing their 1990 release Frizzle Fry as their second set, as documented on the DVD Hallucino-Genetics: Live 2004.

On October 17, 2006, Primus released both their first greatest hits album, They Can't All Be Zingers, and their third DVD, Blame It on the Fish, subtitled An Abstract Look at the 2003 Primus Tour De Fromage. The band toured in 2006 on their Primus: The Beat a Dead Horse Tour 2006, and played at a small number of festivals in 2008. In 2010, Alexander, who had left the band for the second time due to lack of interest, was replaced by Jay Lane, who had not played with the band since 1988. The band resumed touring after the free June 2010 Rehearsal was released later that year, and a studio album, Green Naugahyde, was released in 2011.

In 2013, Lane left Primus for the second time to focus on his other band RatDog, who were coming off hiatus at the time, and was replaced again by Alexander. Primus' eighth studio album, Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble, a re-imagining of the soundtrack from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, was released in October 2014.

In 2017, Primus released The Desaturating Seven, an album that is based on a bedtime story published by Italian author Ul de Rico, which is about a group of rainbow eating goblins. They then started a tour with Mastodon through most of 2018.

Sausage
In 1988 Claypool began a short-lived alternative/funk rock band featuring Todd Huth on guitar and Jay Lane on drums. The group released their first album in April 1994 "Riddles Are Abound Tonight" by Prawn Song Records, and did a few short tours and opened for groups such as Helmet, Rollins Band, and Slayer. The band reunited for a show on December 31, 2019, opening for The Claypool Lennon Delirium and have not returned since.

Holy Mackerel
In 1996, Claypool produced, engineered, and released a solo album, "Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel presents" Highball with the Devil. He is credited with playing bass, and drums as well as vocals on several tracks as well as guitar. Also on the album are Mark "Mirv" Haggard, Adam Gates, Jay Lane, Joe Gore, Charlie Hunter, and Henry Rollins. The accompanying tour included Haggard and Gates on guitars with Bryan Mantia on drums. It was announced during the Holy Mackerel tour that Mantia had been chosen to become the next Primus drummer.

Oysterhead
In April 2000, Claypool collaborated with Trey Anastasio (of Phish) and Stewart Copeland (of the Police) to form a supergroup called Oysterhead. Claypool and Anastasio had been looking for an opportunity to collaborate. Each had a mutual interest in playing with Copeland who had been a rock idol of their teen years. Plus, Claypool and Copeland already had an established friendship. Oysterhead were originally intended as a one time performance during Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Though timid of the band's sudden and surprising popularity they decided to record and tour. They released one studio album, The Grand Pecking Order, and toured before disbanding in 2001. They re-united in 2006, at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. In 2016 Les tried to reunite the group, but ended up releasing an album with The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Fortunately they re-united once again in 2020 for two shows at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, with the rest of their tour cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Frog Brigade
In May 2000, Claypool formed Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, an experimental rock group. He was asked to put together a band for the Mountain Aire Festival in Angels Camp, California. The band "of the most incredible guys (he) could possibly find" debuted that Memorial Day weekend and played a number of other festivals including moe.down. Originally he was going to call the band "Les Claypool's Thunder Brigade". Claypool said:

"I originally was going to do the two drummer thing with Herb and Jack Irons, so I was gonna call it the Les Claypool Thunder Brigade. Michael Bailey from Bill Graham Presents said to me that it may sound a bit too heavy for the Mountain Aire crowd and to perhaps try something a little different that had to do with the event itself. Since it was home of the Calaveras County Frog Jump... hence the Frog Brigade and then it evolved into Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade."

The Primus hiatus allowed him to return to his musical roots, playing songs by bands such as Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and the Beatles. Claypool has called the Frog Brigade his "mid-life crisis band". From a set of October shows recorded at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, Claypool released two Frog Brigade live albums, one being a cover of Pink Floyd's Animals. The line-up included Todd Huth, Eenor, Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane, Skerik and Claypool.

The Frog Brigade is also noted for Claypool's being accepted into the jam band scene. Live Frogs Set 1 won "Best Live Album" at the second annual Jammys. Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti are both members of Bob Weir's bands Ratdog and Wolf Bros. Claypool performed with the Rat Brigade when opening for Ratdog once in 2000 and again in 2007. The Rat Brigade includes Claypool, drummer Lane and keyboardist Chimenti, with guest appearances by saxophonist Kenny Brooks and Bob Weir. Claypool also guested on the Ratdog sets in 2000, 2006 and 2009.

In 2002, Claypool released a studio album of the Frog Brigade, Purple Onion. Musicians on multiple tracks for Purple Onion include Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule) Eenor, Mike Dillon, Skerik, Jay Lane, Ben Barnes, and Sam Bass (Dillon and Skerik were both from Critters Buggin; Barnes and Sam Bass were from Deadweight). The album includes "Whamola" which later appeared as a remix for the theme of South Park Season 10.

C2B3
Also in 2002, Claypool collaborated with guitarist Buckethead, Parliament-Funkadelic/Talking Heads keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and former Primus drummer Bryan Mantia under the name Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (stylized "C2B3," which is pronounced as "C Squared, B Cubed"). Their concerts pushed the improvisational envelope by preparing no material and not rehearsing beforehand. At one of their shows they prepared sandwiches onstage for the audience to eat.

C2B3 re-united in 2004 to record The Big Eyeball in the Sky, an album with equal parts instrumental and vocal songs. The band began an 18-state tour of the US on September 24, 2004. Aux TV was dismissive of Claypool's effort, but when the tour arrived in Northern California where Claypool lives the local press gave a very positive review.

The album features only one guest, the childlike multi-instrumentalist Gabby La La (noted as Gabby Lang on Les Claypool's Frog Brigade's Purple Onion) on vocals and sitar. She also opened on every show (sometimes to scathingly negative reviews) during the 2004 tour as a solo act, and sometimes with members of C2B3. Claypool also produced and performed on Gabby La La's first album, Be Careful What You Wish For.... Gabby La La is the first artist Les has signed to his label since Charlie Hunter in 1993. He has performed select shows with her (including the 2005 Bonnaroo Music Festival) and added her to his then new touring band, Les Claypool & His Fancy Band. The 2005 Fancy Band line-up also included Skerik, Dillon and Lane.

At the end of 2005, Claypool released 5 Gallons of Diesel, a video retrospective of all of his work away from Primus.

Of Whales and Woe and the Fancy Band
On May 30, 2006, Claypool released a solo album, Of Whales and Woe, with guest appearances by Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Gabby La La. The album includes the song "Robot Chicken", which is the theme song of the popular Adult Swim show of the same name. His son Cage and his daughter Lena even make a special appearance on the song "Back Off Turkey". The release was followed by a tour of the U.S. with the following lineup:

 * Les Claypool – Bass Guitar, Upright Bass, Bassjo, vocals
 * Skerik – Tenor Saxophone
 * Mike Dillon – Vibraphone, Percussion
 * Gabby La La – Sitar, Theremin
 * Paulo Baldi – Drums

The lineup is called Les Claypool's Fancy Band and did national tours in both 2006 and 2007. A live DVD, Fancy, recorded from the 2006 tour was released in 2007. The audio track includes a mix of both soundboard and taper recordings. A song from the album, "One Better", was used in National Lampoon's TV: The Movie in a fight scene between Preston Lacy and Lee Majors.

2007–2016
Besides touring in the summer of 2007 nationally with the Fancy Band, Claypool performed that October with a version of the band, dubbed the Fancy Trio. The trio consisted of Claypool, Skerik on saxophone, and Mike Dillon on drums, vibraphone and percussion. They played at The Echo Project, an inaugural ecologically minded 3-day festival in Fairburn, Georgia on the Boukeart family farm. The set was similar to that of the Fancy Band's tours, culling from Claypool' solo and Frog Brigade albums, as well containing a cover of "One Step Beyond" by Prince Buster and teases of other songs, including several Primus tunes, throughout their improvisational jams.

For many years Claypool has done a New Year's Eve show at The Fillmore in San Francisco. More recently the New Year's Eve show has been an annual New Year's Eve Hatter's Ball featuring a hat contest. December 31, 2007 was the 3rd such annual event.

In 2008, a United States tour spanned from February 29 to April 5. It kicked off at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina and ended at The Warfield in San Francisco. The 2008 tour was a quartet featuring Claypool, Dillon, Skerik and Baldi.

During the year Claypool also performed several shows with Primus at festivals across America and Canada.Pig Hunt is a film directed by James Isaac released in 2008. Claypool contributes previously unreleased material and plays the role of "The Preacher". He composed several songs for the Wii game Mushroom Men, released in December 2008.

On December 31, 2008, Claypool rang in the New Year with his annual New Year's Eve show. It was at the San Francisco Opera House with Zappa Plays Zappa sharing the bill and playing first.

Claypool was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist upcoming independent artists' careers. His second solo album, Of Fungi and Foe, was released on March 17, 2009. The album consists of expanded material of the music from the Mushroom Men game, as well as the Pig Hunt motion picture, and features a guest appearance by Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz.

In 2009, Claypool toured with Matisyahu, performing as a 'double-feature' set, as well as appearing together on stage. On March 28, 2010, Claypool performed a rendition of Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" for their induction into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

From May 2010 to July 2013, Claypool toured extensively with Primus, alongside Larry LaLonde, and the return of former Primus drummer, Jay Lane. On September 6, 2012, a new side project was revealed as an acoustic band called Duo de Twang. Featuring Claypool and originally Marc Haggard. After two shows, Haggard was replaced with Bryan Kehoe. Both guitarists play together in the associated band M.I.R.V.

On September 25, 2013, it was announced Lane had left Primus to rejoin the Bob Weir group RatDog. Tim Alexander was named as his replacement. Claypool and Dean Ween worked together for a reality TV show called Musishermen.

On February 4, 2014, Duo de Twang released their debut album Four Foot Shack and began touring in late February. During the last part of the 2014 Spring Tour, Primus's drummer, Tim Alexander, had a small heart attack rendering him unable to play. Luckily instead of canceling the September shows, they were able to use their close friend Danny Carey as a drummer for the late shows.

On January 19, 2016, it was announced that The Claypool Lennon Delirium, a collaboration between Claypool and Sean Lennon, would debut at Bonnaroo 2016. Claypool has spoken fondly of the collaboration, stating, "Sean is a musical mutant after my own heart. He definitely reflects his genetics – not just the sensibilities of his dad, but also the abstract perspective and unique approach of his mother. It makes for a glorious freak stew."

On March 21, 2016, it was announced that the duo would release their debut album, entitled Monolith of Phobos, on June 3, 2016. Their second album, South of Reality, was released February 22, 2019.

On May 31, 2016, he was featured on the Death Grips song "More Than The Fairy".

The Claypool Lennon Delirium
In 2016, Claypool formed a group with Sean Lennon of The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Paulo Baldi of Cake, and João Nogueira of Stone Giant. Claypool met Lennon in 2015 when he was on tour with Primus, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, and Dinosaur Jr. Claypool stayed in touch with Lennon and the group released their first album The Monolith Of Phobos in 2016. On their first tour they switched out their keyboardist Money Mark of Beastie Boys for Pete Drungle. In 2017, The Delirium returned with their EP Lime And Limpid Green and released their second album South Of Reality in 2019, this time with Nogueira on keyboards.

Other work
Claypool was a special guest star in a Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode with the most celebrities on Cartoon Network in 1996.

Claypool's first book, South of the Pumphouse, was released on July 1, 2006, by Akashic Books. Copies of the book were sold during his 2006 tour of the U.S. following the release of Of Whales and Woe. The book is a dark tale of brothers, murder, drugs, and fishing; it has been likened to the work of Hunter S. Thompson. Claypool gave his first interview about the book on May 11, 2006.

Also in 2006, Claypool wrote and directed the mockumentary film Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo. It was shown at various film festivals and is a spoof of the jam band scene centered on the fake band Electric Apricot, with Claypool also playing the band's drummer and backing vocalist. The band performed real shows in the California area (such as High Sierra Music Festival) for the filming of the movie. During a question and answer session at the Tiburon Film Festival, where the film debuted, he said that the DVD would have an accompanying soundtrack CD. The film has won awards including Best Feature (audience choice) at the Malibu Film Festival. Claypool also said that the band would possibly perform a few select shows, but a tour never transpired as the film's star Adam Gates worked for Pixar, which made touring difficult.

In 2007, Claypool created Claypool Cellars, a wine-making project that turned into a boutique business. It makes wine from grapes grown in California's Russian River Valley. The wines are named based on his music, such as "Purple Pachyderm" and "Pink Platypus". "Purple Pachyderm" in particular was co-created alongside Claypool's wife, Chaney.

Artistry
Claypool is well known for his distinctive bass-playing, which aside from being dominant in the majority of his music also includes the use of several unusual techniques, such as flamenco-style strumming, tapping, slapping, and guitar-like chording. He has made prominent use of a Kahler "bass tremolo" vibrato system, as well as effects such as fuzz boxes and envelope filters. For most of his career, Claypool has played four-stringed basses, but has experimented with extended-range basses, most notably six-stringed models, as heard on songs like "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver", which features Claypool tapping the main melody on a fretless six-string bass; Claypool noted he was "getting more into the six-string" during the making of Pork Soda, giving the album a heavier edge.

Claypool has cited Rush, Larry Graham, Chris Squire, Tony Levin, Roger Waters, Geddy Lee, Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler, Bootsy Collins, Stanley Clarke, John Paul Jones, and the Residents as being musical influences.

Equipment
Claypool has, for a long time, endorsed Carl Thompson basses, but also uses a custom "Pachyderm" bass built by luthier Dan Maloney, and an NS Design upright bass. He uses Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, and an extensive set of effect pedals.

Personal life
Claypool is known for his eccentric personality, surreal sense of humor, and cannabis use. Claypool married his girlfriend, Chaney Smith, in December 1995. They have a son, Cage Oliver Claypool (b. 1996) and a daughter; Lena Claypool Cage Claypool is a filmmaker who also directed the music video for "Conspiranoia".

"Les Claypool Day" was declared in Cincinnati by mayor John Cranley on June 12, 2018. The declaration was presented to Claypool during Primus' show that night at the Riverbend Music Center by members of the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation alongside Claypool's friend, influence, and Cincinnati native Bootsy Collins.

Guest appearances
(Claypool on bass unless otherwise noted)
 * 1992 - Green Jellö - Cereal Killer (voice of Three Little Pigs )
 * 1992 – Tom Waits – Bone Machine (on the track "Earth Died Screaming")
 * 1994 – Firehose – Big Bottom Pow Wow (in discussion on the various "spiel" tracks)
 * 1994 – Rob Wasserman – Trios (on the tracks "Home is Where You Get Across" and "3 Guys Named Schmo")
 * 1996 – Alex Lifeson – Victor (on the track "The Big Dance")
 * 1998 – Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot (on the tracks "Between" and "Cold Piece")
 * 1998 – Metallica – Garage Inc. (banjo on the Lynyrd Skynyrd cover "Tuesday's Gone")
 * 1998 – Bloem de Ligny – Zink (vocals on the track "Capsule")
 * 1999 – Tom Waits – Mule Variations (on the track "Big in Japan")
 * 1999 – Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – Live On (on the track "Oh Well")
 * 1999 – Limp Bizkit – Significant Other (vocals on the hidden track "The Mind of Les", bass and vocals on the outtake "Hell of a Band")
 * 1999 – Phonopsycograph Disk – Live @ Slim's / Turbulence Chest (additional bass on 8 of the 12 tracks)
 * 2002 – Fishbone – Fishbone and the Familyhood Nextperience Present: The Friendliest Psychosis of All (bass on track 1)
 * 2002 – Gov't Mule – The Deep End, Volume 2 (bass and vocals on the tracks "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy" and "Drivin' Rain")
 * 2003 – Gov't Mule – The Deepest End, Live In Concert (bass and vocals on the tracks "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy" and "Drivin' Rain")
 * 2004 – Tom Waits – Real Gone (on the tracks "Hoist That Rag", "Shake It" and "Baby Gonna Leave Me")
 * 2004 – Jack Irons – Attention Dimension (on the Pink Floyd cover "Shine On You Crazy Diamond")
 * 2005 – Adrian Belew – Side One (on the tracks "Ampersand", "Writing on the Wall" and "Matchless Man")
 * 2005 – Gabby La La – Be Careful What You Wish For... (bass and percussion throughout)
 * 2005 – Mat Callahan – A Wild Bouquet (on the track "I See the Light")
 * 2005 - Eric McFadden and Wally Ingram - Alektorophobia (on the tracks,"Tick Tock", "I Only Laugh When It Hurts" and "Dancing Song"
 * 2006 – Adrian Belew – Side Three (on the tracks "Whatever" and "Men in Helicopters v4.0")
 * 2006 – Tom Waits – Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards (on the track "On The Road")
 * 2008 – Zach Hill – Astrological Straits (on the track "Astrological Straits")
 * 2009 – Vinyl – Fogshack Music Volume Two (on the tracks "Jelly James Jam", "Le Colonel", "Benthos" and "Le Colonel Part Deux")
 * 2011 – Hank Williams III – Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town (on the tracks "Ghost to a Ghost" and "With the Ship")
 * 2011 – Tom Waits – Bad as Me (on the track "Satisfied")
 * 2013 – Beats Antique – A Thousand Faces: Act 1 (bass and vocals on the track "Beezlebub")
 * 2016 – Death Grips – "More Than The Fairy"
 * 2019 – The Desert Sessions – "Volume 11 – Arrivederci Despair"

Soundtracks and compilations

 * 1991 – Guitars that Rule the World (promo for Guitar World magazine, featuring the original track "Filet of Soul" by Alex Skolnick with Claypool and Bryan Mantia)
 * 1993 – Radio 501 (promo for Levi's jeans, featuring the original track "Can't Live Without" by Claypool, Jay Lane & Rob Wasserman)
 * 2002 – NASCAR: Crank It Up (promo for NASCAR on Fox, featuring a cover of the Commander Cody track "Hot Rod Lincoln" recorded by Claypool)
 * 2002 – Bonnaroo Music Festival 2002 (live album, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "Locomotive Breath")
 * 2002 – Bonnaroo Vol. 2 (live album, featuring the Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains track "Number Two")
 * 2004 – Concrete Corner: October Sampler 2004 (featuring the Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains track "Junior")
 * 2004 – Never Been Done (soundtrack, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "David Makalaster")
 * 2004 – Not In Our Name (benefit compilation album, featuring the Les Claypool's Frog Brigade track "David Makalaster II")
 * 2004 – Under the Influence: Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (compilation album, track "Call Me the Breeze")
 * 2006 – Barnyard (soundtrack, featuring the original track "Hittin' the Hay" by North Mississippi Allstars with Claypool)
 * 2008 – Pig Hunt (soundtrack, featuring the original tracks "Goblins in the Forest", "What You Lookin' At Boy?", "Boonville Stomp" and "Male Organ-Grinder")

 * Television show theme songs

 * 2005–present – Robot Chicken: seasons 1–4 ("Robot Chicken", released on Of Whales and Woe, 2006)
 * 2006–present – South Park: seasons 10–16 (mashup of "Whamola" by Les Claypool's Frog Brigade and "South Park Theme" by Primus)

 * Video game soundtracks
 * 2008 – Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars (original tracks)

Videography

 * 1991 – Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, features Les Claypool performing with Primus.
 * 2002 – Rising Low (Documentary on Allen Woody, directed by Mike Gordon)
 * 2002 – Various Artists – Live from Bonnaroo Music Festival 2002 (featuring Les Claypool's Frog Brigade and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains)
 * 2003 – Gov't Mule – The Deepest End, Live In Concert
 * 2005 – Les Claypool – 5 Gallons of Diesel
 * 2007 – Les Claypool – Fancy
 * 2008 – Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo (Rock- mockumentary feature film)
 * 2011 – A Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story (documentary on Mark Sandman)

title: Les Claypool