Final Fantasy IV: Born of a Dragon is a difficulty hack for Final Fantasy IV (Final Fantasy II US).

It was imagined from the beginning to be a difficulty only hack, and a semi-extreme one. The enemies, leveling process, magic, weapons and armor and class dynamics are all altered to provide a more fulfilling, difficult “vanilla-esque” experience.

Though the game maintains a high level of difficulty, it hopefully does not do so in an annoying way. The primary focus was to make the game as difficult as possible while still being enjoyable, by avoiding some of the more typical, “hacky” hack pitfalls. Namely, not overly grindy (boring), it does not assume omniscient knowledge of impossible to find secrets (unfair), and it does not require a large amount of luck (inconsistency). However, please be advised that doing absolutely no grinding will make the game much harder, there are some new secrets and being a little lucky or unlucky is still possible.

Additionally, none of the original plot has been altered, so immersion should not be broken in any serious way. NPCs which had no function in the Vanilla game now offer clues as to new content like treasure locations and strategy, but the original plot is intact with no major alterations.

If you’ve played the original game, consider yourself an expert and want a more challenging version, without disrupting immersion, this is the hack for you.

I hope you enjoy it!

• Database match: Final Fantasy II (USA) (Rev 1)
• Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
• File/ROM SHA-1: 41A74EB369A7A91815529EF99AB1B20E2BDF3E26
• File/ROM CRC32: 23084FCD