Play Final Fantasy II (Proto) Online

Your party grows stronger by doing stuff—swing swords to boost attack, take hits to raise HP. The rebellion story’s got more bite than most NES RPGs, even if the magic system feels janky at first.

File size: 256 bytes

Game Overview

Final Fantasy II (Proto) on NES is the black sheep of the early series—in a good way. Instead of grinding levels, your characters grow stronger by actually using skills. Swing swords a lot? Your attack goes up. Get hit constantly? Congrats, your HP improves (though maybe work on dodging).

You start with four orphans—standard FF stuff—but quickly get pulled into a rebellion against an evil empire. The story’s surprisingly political for an 8-bit game, with betrayals and temporary party members who actually have personalities. The magic system’s a mess at first (why does Fire level up separately from Blizzard?), but once it clicks, there’s something satisfying about tailoring your party’s growth through sheer stubborn repetition.

Just don’t expect it to play like modern RPGs—this is the prototype for every janky, ambitious sequel that tried something weird.