Platform guide
All Final Fantasy DS games
Eight Final Fantasy games came out for the Nintendo DS in Europe — two 3D remakes of the games that started the series, two Crystal Chronicles, a tactics game, a strategy spin-off, a children’s adventure and one late oddity that became Bravely Default. Two more were made and stayed in Japan. Here they are in release order, with the European dates and what each one actually is.
The short answer
Start with Final Fantasy IV (2008) — the best of the eight. Then Final Fantasy III (2007) if you want it harder, or Tactics A2 (2008) if you want a hundred hours. Revenant Wings is a strategy game and not an RPG, whatever the XII on the box suggests. All eight play on any DS, DS Lite, DSi, 2DS or 3DS.
Tested Final Fantasy DS games in stock
Opened, checked against the label and started on a real DS before they are listed.
Every Final Fantasy DS card, in release order
| Game | Released (EU) | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Final Fantasy III | 4 May 2007 | Main series — 3D remake |
| Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales | 25 May 2007 | Spin-off — children’s adventure |
| Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings | 15 February 2008 | Sequel to FFXII — real-time strategy |
| Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates | 21 March 2008 | Action RPG — Crystal Chronicles |
| Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift | 27 June 2008 | Tactical RPG |
| Final Fantasy IV | 5 September 2008 | Main series — 3D remake |
| Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time | 27 March 2009 | Action RPG — Crystal Chronicles |
| Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light | 8 October 2010 | Main-style RPG — deliberately old-fashioned |
Game by game — the buying notes
Final Fantasy III (2007)
The first time Final Fantasy III left Japan at all: the 1990 Famicom game rebuilt in 3D by Matrix Software, with redesigned characters and jobs by Akihiko Yoshida and a CGI opening. It is a hard game by modern standards — the job system punishes a bad party and there is no hand-holding — and it is the one that set the visual template every later DS Final Fantasy followed. Japan had it in August 2006; Europe waited until May 2007.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (2007)
A pop-up storybook you play: a Chocobo walks into picture books to break a curse, and the fights are card duels with minigames between them. Aimed squarely at younger players and rated accordingly, which is why it is the DS Final Fantasy people forget exists. It got a sequel that never left Japan.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (2008)
Not an RPG: a real-time strategy game where you command squads of summoned Espers with the stylus, set a year after Final Fantasy XII with the same cast. Whether that is a disappointment or a discovery depends entirely on what you expected from the number twelve on the box. It is short, it looks lovely, and it is the cheapest DS Final Fantasy to buy.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (2008)
A prequel to the GameCube Crystal Chronicles, and the first in that line you can play alone without a Game Boy Advance plugged into a console. Four races, real-time combat, voice acting, and a co-op mode for four players over local wireless. The single-player campaign is the reason to buy it now; the online half went with the Wi-Fi Connection in 2014.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (2008)
The sequel to Tactics Advance on the GBA — grid-based tactical battles, more than fifty jobs, and the Law system that forbids something different in every fight. It is enormous: hundreds of quests, and a difficulty curve gentler than the original Tactics on PlayStation. If you want the deepest game on this list and you have a hundred hours, this is it.
Final Fantasy IV (2008)
The 1991 SNES game rebuilt in 3D on the same engine as the DS Final Fantasy III, with restored script as flashbacks, a New Game Plus, and the Augment system that lets you hand one character’s abilities to another. It is noticeably harder than the SNES original, which surprises people who remember it as the gentle one. The best-regarded Final Fantasy on the console.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (2009)
Released on the same day for DS and Wii, and the two versions could play together over wireless — genuinely unusual for 2009. On DS it outsold the Wii version several times over. What is left today is the single-player campaign and local co-op; the cross-platform online play needed the Wi-Fi Connection, which closed in 2014.
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (2010)
A late one, and a strange one: Matrix Software built a Final Fantasy that behaves like a 1988 Final Fantasy — no MP, a Boost mechanic instead, a Crown job system, and very little explanation of anything. Divisive at the time and better regarded now, mostly because the team took what they learned here and made Bravely Default with it.
The two Europe never got
Japan kept two. Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon: Majo to Shoujo to Go-nin no Yūsha (December 2008) is the sequel to Chocobo Tales and was never translated, and a DS version of Chocobo’s Dungeon stayed there as well. Both are region-free cartridges, so a Japanese copy will run on a European DS — you will simply be reading Japanese. If a list tells you there are ten Final Fantasy games on the DS, those two are the difference.
Or buy one that has already been checked
An RPG cartridge almost always arrives with somebody’s save on it, and popular DS RPGs are among the more heavily counterfeited cards. Every card we sell is opened, checked against the label and the shell, and started on a real DS before it is listed. We have been doing this since 2019, with 1400+ verified reviews at 5.0★, and we ship tracked to all 27 EU countries.
How to check a used DS cardQuestions we get asked
How many Final Fantasy games are there on the Nintendo DS?
Eight in Europe: Final Fantasy III (2007), Chocobo Tales (2007), Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (2008), Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (2008), Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (2008), Final Fantasy IV (2008), Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (2009) and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (2010). Two more stayed in Japan — the Chocobo Tales sequel from December 2008 and a Chocobo’s Dungeon port — so a Japanese list will give you ten.
Which Final Fantasy DS game should I buy first?
Final Fantasy IV if you want the best of them, Final Fantasy III if you want the harder and more old-fashioned one, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 if you want the biggest. Avoid starting with Revenant Wings unless you know it is a strategy game rather than an RPG — the XII on the box promises something it does not deliver. Chocobo Tales is for children, and is good at that.
Are the DS versions of Final Fantasy III and IV the same as the phone versions?
They share a heritage but not a build. The 3D remakes started here on the DS and were later ported to iOS, Android, PC and — for Final Fantasy IV — the Steam release with reworked visuals. The DS originals have the two screens, the touch controls and the sharper difficulty; the ports smooth several rough edges. If you are buying a cartridge, you are buying the version those ports were made from.
What did the Wi-Fi Connection shutdown take from these games?
Online multiplayer, and only that. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection closed on 20 May 2014, which ended online co-op in Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time, and the cross-platform DS-to-Wii play in Echoes of Time over the internet. Local wireless still works between consoles in the same room, and every single-player campaign on this list is untouched.
Do DS games work on a 3DS?
Yes. Every 3DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, 2DS and New 2DS XL has a DS card slot and plays all eight of these. The reverse does not work, and none of them runs on a Switch. DS cards are also region-free, so a European copy plays on any DS or 3DS from any region — which matters here, because the German and Spanish boxes are the same cartridge as the English one with a different manual.
What should I check on a used Final Fantasy DS card?
The save and the label. A DS card holds the save on the card itself, so a second-hand RPG usually arrives with somebody’s eighty-hour file on it — you can delete it from inside the game, but check that the card writes at all. Then the label print and the shell seam: counterfeit DS cards are common, and the popular RPGs are copied more than most. A fake usually gives itself away with a glossy or slightly wrong-coloured label.
Do you ship Final Fantasy DS games across the EU?
Yes — tracked shipping from the Netherlands to all 27 EU countries, no customs charges inside the EU, and 30 days to return an order. Your country’s exact rate appears at checkout before you pay.
Same card slot, different franchise: all Pokémon DS games, all Professor Layton DS games and all Mario DS games — or the DS library worth buying.
Dutch reader? Nintendo DS-games — het hele aanbod in het Nederlands.