The original Final Fantasy has seen a number of ports and revisions. The earliest was on the Japanese MSX 2 computer system, and it's nearly identical to the Famicom version. The most striking difference is the game's colors. The MSX 2 has a better capacity for color than the Famicom, and the port takes full advantage of this (and looks somewhat gaudy by comparison). According to Wikipedia, there were also a few minor alterations such as switched dungeon themes, changed item prices, and a reworking of how the Black Belt's barehanded attack damage is calculated.

In 2000, Final Fantasy received a makeover and was ported to the handheld 16-bit Wonderswan Color. The WSC version is essentially a carbon copy of the Famicom/NES version with a major aesthetic upgrade. There are a few somewhat minor gameplay changes, and most are actually for the better. An autotargetting option can be toggled, making your characters attack a different enemy if the one they were aiming at has already been terminated instead of just taking swings at empty air. There is unlimited equipment space, enabling your party to carry more than only sixteen weapons and sixteen pieces of armor at once. Special weapons and spells that didn't work properly in the NES version have been fixed. Soft potions and revivification spells can be used in battle. Many enemies, including most bosses, have received significant HP boosts. There are also a few new tunes, notably a new boss theme.

This version was ported to the PSOne a few years later as a standalone release (Japan only), which then appeared in Final Fantasy Origins (with the similarly upgraded Final Fantasy II) in NA and PAL territories. The PSOne ports are almost exactly the same as the WSC version, but with some slightly polished graphics, a brand new arranged soundtrack, an opening FMV, and omake stuff like a bestiary and a concept art gallery. You can play with the original NES ruleset, or an Easy mode, which changes the magic system and upgrades the strength of your characters. All things considered, the PSOne ports probably do the most justice to the NES Final Fantasy.

In 2004, a modified Final Fantasy Origins was released on the Gameboy Advance as Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. Its Final Fantasy I is a mess. The graphics are roughly the same, but the music is terribly downgraded and the CG cutscenes are gone. More importantly, however, the challenge is totally absent. The optional Easy mode introduced in the PSOne version is now the standard difficulty level, and it cannot be altered. The MP charges have been replaced with the now-standard MP gauge, causing the magic system to lose any semblance of balance. Game data can be saved in dungeons, which is convenient, but does little to make such a blitheringly simple game any less so. The GBA port's biggest selling point is the Soul of Chaos bonus dungeons, which contain troves of new items and equipment, as well as four sets of boss fights with memorable villains from Final Fantasy III through VI. Fighting FF1-style battles against Enchidna, Rubicante, and Doom Gaze is pretty cool, but traversing the dungeons themselves is so grinding and monotonous that it's barely worth the effort.

Finally, there is Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition, which was recently released for the PSP. FFAE is really just Final Fantasy I, based on the GBA version, with another coat of paint, restored omake and arranged music from the PSOne game, and yet another bonus dungeon. Even though its Labyrinth of Time seems a lot more interesting than the Soul of Chaos dunegons, Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition is still a revamp of a revamp of a port of a revamp of a twenty year old NES game and probably not worth rushing out and buying a PSP for.

MP3s Download here (Includes NES, WS, GBA, and PSOne)

Main Theme
Battle

VERDICT

Rudimentary as it may seem by today's standards, this is where Final Fantasy began. No matter how much better you think Final Fantasy VII or X is, the fact remains that they wouldn't exist without this game. For that matter, neither would Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Mario RPG, Parasite Eve, and all those other Square games that have enhanced your sentient existence over the years. And given how influential Final Fantasy was on the genre as a whole, it's also a safe bet that without this game there wouldn't be any Xenosaga, Shadow Hearts, Breath of Fire, Lufia, Suikoden, the Tales series, Grandia, Phantasy Star, etc. -- or at least not as we know them now, anyway. I imagine if Final Fantasy had never emerged to counter the influence of the massively successful Dragon Quest, most developing JRPG series would have turned out much more similar to DQ. And that would have been a shame, because Dragon Quest is lousy and overrated.

Final Fantasy was -- and in many ways still is -- a remarkable game. Every JRPG fan owes themselves to play through it at least once, if for no other reason than to see the humble origins of the least humble video game franchise in existence. And seriously, stop moaning about it being too difficult. I beat it when I was in the second grade.