Final Fantasy Adventure allusions

This is a list of allusions from Final Fantasy Adventure.

Seiken Densetsu: the Emergence of Excalibur

Final Fantasy Adventure was built on the cancelled 1987 game and therefore recycles multiple concepts from it.

• The plot of the cancelled game and Final Fantasy Adventure are relatively similar: both games have a young male protagonist setting out on a journey to find the holy sword Excalibur to defeat an evil overlord.
• The legendary sword Excalibur is reused as an important plot item from both games.
• The use of candies as an item.
• The Hinomaru Man seems somewhat similar to Shadow Zero.
• Sumo’s appearance may have been influenced by the hero from this game.
• Likewise, Fuji’s design greatly resembles Elise’s, from the dress to the hair color.
• Mr. Lee from Kett Manor is an obvious nod to the Vampire from the cancelled game.
• The Hydra boss is also recycled from this game, albeit with a different recolor.
• The Mummy enemy may have been a reused idea from the Mummy Man.

Final Fantasy series

Given that Final Fantasy Adventure was originally thought as a spinoff of the Final Fantasy series, a plethora of references and ideas from the first three Final Fantasy games made at the time are present.

Final Fantasy I

• Sumo’s overall design resembles the warrior class from the first Final Fantasy.
• The Mysterious Man’s appearance has been confirmed to be inspired by the red mage class from Final Fantasy I.
• Watts appears a cave-dwelling dwarf in both “Final Fantasy I” and “Final Fantasy Adventure”.
• Three of the Four Fiends of Chaos (Lich, Marilith, & Kraken) from the first installment appear as bosses in “Final Fantasy Adventure”.
• The Mindflayer enemy appear as Davias’s boss form.
• NPCs bearing a striking resemblance to White Mages appear in Kett Manor and Wendel.
• The Magician enemies are visually identical to the Black Mage class in “Final Fantasy I”.
• The Excalibur sword appearing in both installments are both end-game weapons obtained towards the end of the story.
• Many gears whose name and/or effects are shared in both game, namely the Bronze, Iron, Mythril, Fire, Ice, Diamond, & Dragon equipment, the Werebuster, etc.
• Many magic abilities such as Flare are used in both games.
• Numerous items from Final Fantasy I make an appearance in Final Fantasy Adventure, such as potions (Cure), hi-potions (X-Cure), antidotes, gold needles, eye drops, etc.
• Many enemies are reused from “Final Fantasy”.
• Both Goblins appearing in each games are one of the weakest enemies encountered during the first areas.
• Both installment use gold pieces or GP as currency (the original Japanese script uses Lucre).
• The Training Regimen seen in Adventures of Mana uses icons & names of the Warrior, Monk, & Black Mage.

Final Fantasy II

• Maria’s story bears similar plot elements with Amanda. Both are close friends of the protagonist who wield ranged weapons and are in search of their brother at some point.
• The Dark Lord bears a strong resemblance to Leon as a Dark Knight.
• A Chocobo appears in a forest and can be ridden across the map while avoiding enemies, just like in Final Fantasy II & III. Its signature tune plays while riding.
• The Moogle status transforms the hero into the creature first appearing in Final Fantasy II.
• The Blood Sword appears in both games and functions in a similar fashion.
• The Samurai Helmet and Samurai Armor are the strongest ranked armor in their respected categories, and they are found in the later areas.
• Airships belonging to the evil empire appear as dungeons in both games (Glaive’s Airship in FFA and Dreadnought in FFII).
• Introduced in Final Fantasy II, Bacchus’s Wine, unicorn horns, ethers & elixirs are brought in Final Fantasy Adventure and have roughly the same effects.
• Mythril, localized as Silver in Final Fantasy Adventure, is an elusive ore used to make weapons.
• Magic spells are learned by tomes in both installments.

Final Fantasy III

• Ifrit appears as a boss in “Final Fantasy Adventure”. Just like its Final Fantasy counterpart, both a fire-elemental demons.
• Garuda serves similar roles in both games, as they appear as winged, bird-like servants of a manipulated ruler that are ultimately fought as a boss.
• The Training Regimen seen in Adventures of Mana uses icons & names of the Sage job class.
• Both games have a dungeon named Sealed Cave hosting undead enemies.

Real World

Anime & Manga

• The pillow item, originally named ラムジィ (Lambsy), may be a reference to ラムヂーちゃん (ramujīchan, "Lambsy-chan") a Japanese localized version of Hana Barbera’s It’s the Wolf cartoons.

Film

• Mr. Lee's name may have been taken from real-world actor Christopher Lee who played Dracula in many movies.
• The Japanese name for Kett’s House, Vinquette, may be a mistranslation of the American actor Vincent Price, who played in numerious horror movies.

Literature

• Mythril comes form J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings and was already widely in use in the Final Fantasy series at the time.
• Many monsters appearing in Final Fantasy Adventure taken from the Final Fantasy repertoire originate from the “Dungeons & Dragons” tabletop game series.
• The Adventures of Mana Silence magic spell icon and the japanese name for its corresponding attack item may reference the Monkey who speaks no evil or the Sarubobo.

Other

• The Japanese name of the “Rust-B-Gone” item (サビトレール (sabi torēru)) may have been inspired from various cleaning products name also using the torēru part.

References

• Final Fantasy Wiki
• Legends of Localization