Final Fantasy IV (J) (SNES)

Final Fantasy IV (J)

Guide written by bdjeffyp

Version History

• v1.2.1 (4/2/2024): Minor spelling issues found and fixed after updating my system for making these guides. Also, I updated the header sectioning to be more consistent, using a level two header for the category breakdowns then making the categories themselves a level three header. Moved the box art and spoiler/naming discussion into the About section.
• v1.2.0 (11/24/2023): Added number of achievements contained in the potential order dropdowns so that a user can see at a glance how many achievements they can get between story achievements, if following my guide to the letter. Shoutout to KhobarKast for the brilliant idea!
• v1.1.1 (9/23/2023): Added some date details regarding the current relevance of particular numbers that can potentially change in the future so that people can identify quickly if the guide has fallen out of date, such as the number of achievements in the set and the number of ROMs that can be used with the set. Updated links and made use of links where appropriate, rather than writing out details here that are already on the site.
• v1.1.0 (7/24/2021): Added details on how to get both Cosmic Duel AND Shadow Hands achievements in only one battle with Zeromus. A HUGE thanks to Kencussion for the strategy!
• v1.0.1 (5/28/2021): Link and table formatting fixes (thanks to FluffyEmmy for that!)
• v1.0.0 (3/6/2021): Initial release

About

⛔ ** NOTE: CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SOLVING ACHIEVEMENT PUZZLES ** ⛔

This is not an official manual, walkthrough, or critical review. This document is a simple guide for the current achievement set (130 as of 9/23/2023) available on RetroAchievements. This guide will give the player tips on earning the achievements, hash compatibility, and any other necessary or useful information.

Spoiler solutions for the boss strategies and a potential order to earning the achievements will be hidden in a collapsible entry that you must click to expand so that only the solutions you need assistance with will be viewable. Some of the more minor achievements will have strategies written outright without a collapsible dropdown so use the guide at your own risk.

Names of characters, places, etc. used in this guide are based off of the Namingway Edition romhack, which is an update of the Final Fantasy II (US) ROM to bring it closer to Final Fantasy IV (J). The hack brings the names of people, places, items, etc. are as close as possible to the current naming conventions used by Square Enix in modern re-releases of this game.

The Namingway Edition romhack is THE recommended way to play the game for these achievements as one or two of them seem to be designed with this particular romhack in mind (in particular, the Salve of Salvation achievement).

Introduction

Final Fantasy IV is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. Released in Japan in 1991, it is the fourth installment in the Final Fantasy series. This game features a more story-driven approach (a la Final Fantasy II), centered around the dark knight Cecil. However, many of the mechanics introduced in Final Fantasy III make their return here: character job classes (though they are fixed for the most part), the Fat Chocobo, many vehicle options, graphic designs, and some dungeons that require specific mechanics to traverse. The similarities to Final Fantasy III are probably due to the game being initially designed for the Famicom/NES (source).

With the focus on plot, Final Fantasy IV will push you into situations that can lock you out of areas, characters, and abilities as you progress. As a result, many achievements for this game will become missable if you are not diligent. However, all achievements can be earned in one playthrough. This guide will attempt to help you in identifying the missable achievements if you'd rather not play this fantastic, but lengthy, game multiple times.

Trivia

• This achievement set, created by MrGauss, uses lines from Dante's Divine Comedy for the story achievements. The demons known as "Malebranches" in the Divine Comedy are the inspiration for the Four Arch-Fiends.
• Final Fantasy IV has had numerous ports and remakes. Notoriously, the US version released on the Super NES was censored and made easier for the American market. In Japan, Square re-released Final Fantasy IV on the Super Famicom, called "Final Fantasy IV Easy Type". Many refer to "Easy Type" as the US version, but it is actually another iteration that builds off the US Version. You can read more about the many versions for the SNES/Super Famicom here, as well as all of the numerous other ports and their differences.
• A sequel game was developed for Japanese mobile phones, subtitled "The After Years". This game was eventually ported and released worldwide on the WiiWare service of the Nintendo Wii system and also experienced it's own share of ports and remakes.
• A 3D remake was released on the Nintendo DS, similar in appearance to the Final Fantasy III remake and made by the same studio, Matrix Software.

Save Support

The game uses a battery to save game data across four slots. Players can save the game at any time while on the overworld map or in certain safe spots in dungeons to any one of the slots.

Compatibility

Currently (as of 9/23/2023) this game has 5 unique ROM(s) registered for it. View the linked hashes at the Supported Game Files page.

Please view the Final Fantasy IV Official Thread for more details on setting up the ROM with the latest version of the Namingway Edition patch.

Leaderboards

There are two leaderboards currently associated with the game.

• Game Speed Run - The fastest time needed to finish the game
• Sum of party level - The lowest level of all characters at game's end

Achievement Categories

There are a currently a total of 130 achievements, which can be broken down into the following categories:

• Story: 14 achievements earned naturally through the course of gameplay
• Summons: 4 achievements related to summons for Rydia earned by going to out-of-the-way locations (1 is missable)
• Boss Challenge: 18 achievements (17 are missable) that require special action during boss fights by the player to successfully earn the achievement
• Commands: 24 achievements (15 are missable) that require use of the special commands of characters in certain situations or completion of a specific objective in one gameplay session
• Treasure: 33 achievements (4 are missable) which require finding all treasure, including hidden items, in a specified location
• Dancer: 8 achievements which require talking to specific NPCs
• Chicobo Quest: 15 achievements which require you to find a specific, out-of-the-way, location hinted in the achievement description and pressing the [Y] button.
• Endgame Items: 3 achievements (1 is marked as missable for it's difficulty) for items which are earned by events and grinding
• Miscellaneous: 11 achievements (1 is missable) that don't fit in the above categories, including 2 related to a specific endgame item to help avoid missing it
• Out of all of the achievements, 39 are missable

Potential Order

The following is a breakdown of the order of achievements based on my personal playthrough. Note that your mileage may vary due to the path you may desire to take, such as getting Odin before going to the Moon.

Each section is grouped under story achievements and hidden under a dropdown to avoid spoilers. If you want to see the achievements, click on the arrow next to each section to reveal the table. The dropdown names have the number of achievements in the section so that you can see at a glance about how many achievements you should have by the end of a section, if you were to follow my guide to the letter. I have call outs to sections where a grind may be appropriate for the three grind achievements. If you want to see the entire thing without having to click the arrows, checkout the fully expanded roadmap!

⛔ MINOR SPOILER SECTION ⛔
The tables only reveal when achievements can be earned and possibly missed. No strategies on earning the achievements are provided here, just the order I earned them in.

The Departure ➡ A Heart's Resolve (7/130)

Grind alert! Goblins in the overworld very rarely drop their eponymous summon. The only other Goblin type that drops the summon is in the Lunar Subterrane with the same drop rate.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Story		The Departure	No
Command		Deadly Acrobatics	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest I: Great Baron Falls	No
Dancer		Dancer in Red	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Mist Cave	No
Boss		The Steel and the Mist	Yes
Story		A Heart's Resolve	No

A Heart's Resolve ➡ Scars in the Heart (16/130)

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Boss		No Messengers Left	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Kaipo	No
Dancer		Dazzling Mermaid	No
Command		Not Enough Omega-3	Yes
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest II: Damcyan Waterway	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Underground Waterway	No
Boss		Tako Express	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Damcyan	No
Story		Scars in the Heart	No

Scars in the Heart ➡ Music for a Moonless Sky (23/130)

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Command		Ultimate Darkness	Yes
Command		Siren's Pupil	Yes
Command		Song of the Frogs	Yes
Command		Spoony Bard	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Antlion's Cave	No
Boss		Reactionless Jaws	Yes
Story		Music for a Moonless Night	No

Music for a Moonless Sky ➡ Hatred Crossroads (34/130)

Grind alert! Cockatrices on Mt. Hobs and surrounding overworld areas can very rarely drop their eponymous summon for Rydia.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Mt. Hobs	No
Boss		Explosive Sync	Yes
Command		Salve of Salvation	Yes
Command		Hoping for a Miracle	No
Command		Stance of the Tiger	Yes
Command		Flying Falcon	Yes
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest III: Fabul Peninsula	No
Dancer		Different Dancer	No
Misc		Regal Rest	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Fabul	No
Story		Hatred Crossroads	No

Hatred Crossroads ➡ Embrace the Light (42/130)

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Dancer		Dangerous Enchantress	No
Command		Fake Tears	Yes
Command		Believing in Oneself	Yes
Command		Mega Twins	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Mt. Ordeals	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest IV: Sacred Vista	No
Boss		Malebranche of Earth	Yes
Story		Embrace the Light	No

Embrace the Light ➡ Wings of the Enterprise (48/130)

Grind alert! You can grind Spirits and Souls at the base of Mt. Ordeals for the Cursed Ring. See the Miscellaneous section below for the strategy. I did it here because of the need to level Cecil up after his class change.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Town of Baron	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Ancient Waterway	No
Boss		Minimalist Struggle	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Baron Castle	No
Boss		Malebranche of Water	Yes
Story		Wings of the Enterprise	No

Wings of the Enterprise ➡ Partings and Reunions (71/130)

Things really open up now that an airship is in your possession!

Grind alert! Mindflayers in the Magnetic Cave can very rarely drop their eponymous summon. This is the only location they appear in this game, which is pretty inconvenient. It may be best to grind for the summon AFTER defeating the Dark Elf since the cave's magnetic properties will subside.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Mist Village	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Mythril Village	No
Dancer		Mythril Trio	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest VI: Beak Peninsula	No
Dancer		Unusual Dance	No
Misc		Red Moon	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Agart	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest VII: Empty Throne	No
Command		Bestiary Analytics	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Eblan Castle	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest V: Chocobo Kingdom	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Chocobo Forests	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Troia	No
Dancer		Paladin's Bounty	No
Misc		Prince of the Pond	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Magnetic Cave	No
Boss		Winds of Victory	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Troia Castle	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Tower of Zot	Yes
Boss		Magical Miscalculation	Yes
Command		Caring is Loving	No
Boss		Malebranche of Wind	Yes
Story		Partings and Reunions	No

Partings and Reunions ➡ Savior of Mist (74/130)

A very short section...

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Command		Supreme Aim	No
Boss		Danse Macabre	Yes
Story		Savior of Mist	No

Savior of Mist ➡ Pride of Fabul (84/130)

Grind alert! Balloons in the Tower of Babil can very rarely drop their eponymous summon. You can also get it from them and the Grenades on the Moon later, if you'd rather wait, since the drop rate is low.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Dancer		Underworld Frolic	No
Misc		The Dreamer	No
Misc		It's a Secret to Everybody	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest VIII: Visiting the Creator	No
Misc		Monolithic Fight	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Dwarven Castle	No
Command		Fist of the Dragon	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Tower of Babil I	Yes
Boss		Clockwork Destruction	Yes
Story		Pride of Fabul	No

Pride of Fabul ➡ Forever Loved (88/130)

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Cave Eblan	No
Boss		Malebranche of Fire	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Tower of Babil II	Yes
Story		Forever Loved	No

Forever Loved ➡ Mysidian Legend (104/130)

NOTE: Elemental Cure is broken. It triggers when a FellKnight uses Absorb in the Defender Sword Monster-in-a-Box fight. It should be available to earn when a character has a Cursed Ring with an elemental reducing armor equipped. It isn't too big of a deal that this one achievement out of 130 pops early, given that you still need to grind for a Cursed Ring anyway... 😉

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest IX: Underworld Crater	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest X: Underworld Corner	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Kokkol's Forge	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Tomra Village	No
Misc		Elemental Cure	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest XI: Ancient Library	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Eidolon's Cave	No
Summons		King of Eidolons	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest XII: Green Maze	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Sylph Cave	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Sealed Cave	No
Boss		Under Pressure	Yes
Command		Ninjutsu Master	No
Summons		Loyal Friend	Yes
Command		Bull's Eye	Yes
Story		Mysidian Legend	No

Mysidian Legend ➡ To the Dark Depths (118/130)

Grind alert! If you didn't get the Bomb summon earlier, grinding Balloons and Grenades in the Lunar Path caverns or the Moon overworld may be the next best opportunity.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Item		Kokkol's Finest	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest XIII: Extraterrestrial	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest XV: Humming Heaven	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Lunar Path	No
Command		Blessings of the Moon	Yes
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Cave of Bahamut	No
Chicobo		Chicobo Quest XIV: Wrong Cave	No
Summons		Trial of Omega	No
Misc		Alert!	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Giant of Babil	Yes
Misc		Maximum Damage!	No
Boss		Fiendish Rematch	Yes
Boss		Fatal Error	Yes
Story		To the Dark Depths	No

To the Dark Depths ➡ Life's Triumph (127/130)

Grind alert! If you don't have the remaining summon items, now is the time to get them. You will also be grinding for Pink Tail(s) in the Lunar Subterrane, and the Cursed Ring from the Souls and Spirits at Mt. Ordeals if you didn't get that earlier.

The final boss must be fought more than once to complete the set. I would think it may be best to beat the game with the full party first, reload the save, then grind to get Cecil ready for the final fight...

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Summons		Sword of Justice	No
Command		White Mastery	No
Command		Black Mastery	No
Misc		Avatar of Patience	No
Item		Sealed Legends	No
Treasure		Treasure Hunter: Lunar Subterrane	No
Command		Shadow Hands	No
Story		Life's Triumph	No
Boss		Cosmic Duel	No

Special call out: The incredibly grind heavy Evil Jewelry, Summoning Mastery, and One of a Kind. They are not included in the order list above because of the rare drops involved in their achievements: 1/64 chance for the applicable item IF an item drops from the monster. See the Grind section below for strategies on how to complete the grind.

Category	Badge	Title	Missable?
Item		Evil Jewelry	No
Command		Summoning Mastery	No
Item		One of a Kind	Yes-ish

Category Breakdowns

Story

No discussion on the story achievements here as you simply need to play through the game to earn them. You can't miss them!

Summons

The three non-missable summons achievements are standard boss fights with no special requirements for boss challenge achievements. Therefore, have fun with these fights and experiment on your own or refer to your favorite strategy guide/GameFAQ for details.

The only missable achievement in this section is Loyal Friend. It is only available between when Kain leaves the group before going to the Moon! When the opportunity presents itself to go to the Moon, it would be wise to fully explore the world to wrap up any loose ends before departing.

Expand for spoiler

• Find Yang in the Sylphs' Cave
• Go to Fabul to see Sheila and get the Frying Pan
• Go back to Sylphs' Cave and use the Frying Pan on Yang.

This series of steps is also closely related to the Bull's Eye achievement and why that is also marked as missable.

Boss Challenge

⛔ HERE, THERE BE SPOILERS! ⛔

This is where the meat of the achievement set is at! If you wish to challenge yourself, I recommend not expanding the strategies I used to complete these fun and puzzling achievements. Make use of nearby save spots where possible and experiment with the skills and items you have to complete these very awesome challenges!

Badge	Title	Strategy
	The Steel and the Mist	Strategy Don't attack while she is in Mist form, only while in Dragon form. Take a couple of rounds of attacks for both Kain and Cecil and then wait for it to change forms. Repeat until dead. Use mist form rounds for healing if necessary.
	No Messengers Left	Strategy Take out two guards, then concentrate on the General. Killing all three guards first will result in the General fleeing the battle.
	Tako Express	Strategy This is your first test of speed and strength. I recommend lowering the battle speed to 6 in order to give your characters more chances to attack. If you are still having trouble defeating Octomamm with a large enough hit to kill him before he goes to one leg remaining, you may need to grind a bit for levels to raise your base strength.
	Reactionless Jaws	Strategy Unfortunately, I didn't keep notes on this fight and don't have a save nearby to verify my memory here... Don't physically attack! Using Cecil's Dark is key, since that is not a physical attack and doesn't consume MP. Keep Cecil's health up with potions from Edward and Rydia. Another possibility is to have Edward Sing and hope that it causes the Charm status effect so that the Antlion attacks itself.
	Explosive Sync	Strategy When Mom Bomb grows full size, cease attacks. A party member will say, "It's gonna blow!". As it explodes and begins to split into the six bombs, use a Silk Web item to slow the bombs immediately. Have Yang use Kick to knock down the health of all the bombs slightly. Now cycle to Edward and have him attack each blue bomb individually to get their health in range, hopefully without critical hits. Once all three blue bombs were attacked without dying, a single Dark command from Cecil should take them all out in one shot and the achievement will be awarded.
	Malebranche of Earth	Strategy Use Palom's Boost command until maxed out (6 times?). Then have Palom cast Fira on Scarmiglione. This will meet the requirement of taking out the boss with only one action on him! My Palom was Level 19 when I got this achievement.
	Minimalist Struggle	Strategy Note that party members can die but must be alive before the battle ends! Make sure to save in the Ancient Waterway. Have Tellah cast Mini on your party prior to entering the central hall of Baron Castle. Since you are Mini, Palom cannot use his Boast command to strengthen his spells. Palom should use his strongest spells: Quake, or Bio if Quake isn't available yet. I recommend getting Quake unlocked in the Ancient Waterway if you don't have it though. Buff your party with Tellah and Porom casting Blink to avoid taking too much damage. Since Baigan's body counters spells with Reflect, use low level spells on his body to wear off the effect. I used Cure twice on him to bounce a healing spell back at my party while wearing off his Reflect. It can take two hits before the Reflect wears off. Once it does, use Quake again to win.
	Malebranche of Water	Strategy No one can die this time around. Since you just fought Baigan, it would be wise to return to the Ancient Waterway to save your game again. You can use a Tent here or use Cecil's bed to heal up as well. If you have your battle speed at or near "1", you may want to lower it. I found that Cagnazzo is too quick and fires off Haste before Tellah is even able to cast a spell when the battle speed was at "1". Once I lowered the speed down to "6", this challenge was in the bag. Have Palom cast Bio and Tellah cast Thundaga, skipping everyone else. Those two spells should put Cagnazzo inside his shell before he casts Haste if it doesn't kill him outright. Cast one more Bio or Thundara/Thundaga to finish up the fight.
	Winds of Victory	Strategy Only the Dark Dragon phase of this fight matters for the achievement. Dark Dragon is susceptible to Tornado (hence the name of the achievement). Care must be taken to not have actions queued when the Dark Elf changes into the Dark Dragon as any extra actions taken will invalidate the achievement. In my many attempts, I found that my party took 10 attack actions on the Dark Elf before it changed. Your party levels may be different though so use caution around 7-8 attacks on the Elf. Once it does change, use Tornado and then follow with an attack from any other character. Do note though that Tornado still has a chance to fail. If it does fail, it still counts as an action on the boss and thus a reset is required. It can be annoying to reset and then deal with the story stuff and equipment changes but fast-forward is your friend...
	Magical Miscalculation	Strategy Some have talked about Tellah having Dispel and using that to cancel out the Reflect status on Cindy; however, my Tellah did not have Dispel. I also saw people talk about casting Silence on Sandy so that she can't cast Reflect. I was never able to get Silence to stick though. So, I attacked Cindy until her health was low, doing approximately 4000 HP of damage. Note that Cid's Study and Libra spells don't work, so you'll have to keep track of the damage dealt in your head. When you think you are close, kill Sandy. While Cid, Yang, and Cecil attack Sandy, have Tellah cast Cura on Cindy to try to wear down her Reflect status. I found that when Sandy puts Reflect on Cindy, the status will stay on just until I have killed Sandy, which will then expose Cindy to Mindy's spells. If you time it right and have Cindy's health low enough, Mindy will end up killing Cindy and the achievement will pop. There may be better ways to do this, but this is the process that worked for me. Make sure you save right after this fight since another boss challenge follows shortly after this!
	Malebranche of Wind	Strategy Yang's Focus will be the primary damage dealer since you can't use Kain's Jump to break up Barbariccia's whirlwind form. Focus will ignore the defense of the whirlwind. So, focus your efforts on keeping everyone alive and not fully petrifying. Cecil and Rosa can provide healing and Esuna. Cid and Kain can use Gold Needles and healing potions. There is some luck involved in this with Barbariccia's Tornados landing their hit or not. If the Tornado does connect, heal that character immediately (Yang should still Focus though). If Barbariccia does her follow up physical attack on the tornado'd character, they'll die. You may benefit from lowering your battle speed on this fight. Barbariccia's Ray does gradual petrification. So you have a few rounds before you need to cure the effect. You'll know it is close when the character looks like they are fully stone but still standing and able to act. If Gold Needles are running low, take a chance and only recover the debuff when they look like they are fully grey. Do note that Ray cast on the same character multiple times speeds this up. If a character gets hit by Ray twice in a row, focus on curing the affected person.
	Danse Macabre	Strategy For every Calca doll taken down, a Brina doll must also fall. Attack on Brina doll, then kill one Calca. Continue attacking the dolls in pairs like that. When there is only one pair remaining, the Brina doll is weaker so that should be the last doll standing. Concentrate attacks on the last Calca doll and all attacks will then shift to the final Brina, which should fall quickly before it can change to Calcabrina.
	Clockwork Destruction	Strategy The first phase of the fight, when Dr. Lugae and Barnab are separate, use Haste spells and Hermes items to speed up the entire party. Attack Barnab until it falls. Bring up Yang's menu. As soon as Dr. Lugae talks about taking manual control, select the Focus command. Have the next character use a Silk Web item or cast Slow on Barnab-Z. Now have everyone attack. I managed to get lucky on my attempt and Rosa did a critical hit with Aim, followed by Yang's standard attack killing Barnab-Z. I think even without the crit, I was on track to beating out Barnab-Z's explosion with everyone attacking, Rosa Aiming, and Rydia casting Thundara.
	Malebranche of Fire	Strategy Perhaps the toughest challenge?? Rosa needs to know Reflect, which she learns at level 36. This fight is a matter of timing. Since you cannot target Rubicante directly, you will need to set Reflect on a party member and then have Rydia bounce Blizzara off that character. This will take about 11 hits to accomplish (my Rydia at level 36 required that many hits). Rubicante's pattern: opens his cloak and uses his Scorch technique, closes his cloak, physically attacks one or two characters, and repeats. Rosa should cast Reflect on a surviving party member after Rubicante's physical attacks, which should be cast before he opens his cloak. Ensure Rydia is ready to cast as soon as Rubicante opens his cloak, then select the Blizzara spell and target your party member that has the Reflect status. This should hit Rubicante before he uses Scorch. If Rubicante Scorches, he will close his cloak immediately after, so it is very important to cast Blizzara as he opens his cloak or you will miss. Contingencies will be needed as party members are attacked and die. Edge, Cecil, and Kain should be using Phoenix Downs to revive characters. If Rosa or Rydia are taken out, you may miss a cycle. Take time to breathe and think through every action. I found this challenge to be very intense because of the concentration needed and finding the rhythm. It was very satisfying to accomplish! In my first attempt at this, I didn't have nearly enough Phoenix Downs and needed to leave the Tower of Babil to stock back up. In my second attempt, I was trying to keep people healed with Cecil's Cura or Hi-Potions, but found that would cause problems with the cycle so I only focused on raising dead party members. Keeping people alive increases targets for Rubicante's attacks and thus less chance of targeting Rydia or Rosa. Of course, balance is key. If you can't get back into a cycle because he keeps taking out your party, take some rounds to restore with stronger spells or items and then get back into the rhythm again. Good luck!!
	Under Pressure	Strategy After the final save point in the Sealed Cave, there is one more TrapDoor to face before entering the Crystal Chamber. You may want to defeat the door before setting yourself up for this fight and possibly go back up to the save point, just in case. Set battle mode to Active and lower battle speed AND battle message to 6. Active is required for the achievement and a speed of 6 will give you more time to react. If you cleared out the Sylph Cave prior to going to the Sealed Cave, the Avenger Sword can be beneficial. Use a Silk Web or cast Slow to slow down the Demon Wall, use Bacchus Wines or cast Berserk on your front line, and have Rydia summon Leviathan. The Silk Web will cause Demon Wall to retaliate with a gradual petrification spell, but you can ignore it since you will beat the boss before that takes full effect. Characters won't be able to do anything until the wall has already moved two times and probably won't make their first actions after the third movement. I tried this a few times, changing the battle speed to see when I can get my party to act sooner, but a speed of 6 for both battle speed and message was key. Additionally, I got good damage rolls from Rydia's Leviathan and a crit from Edge, so luck may play a part in this. I also moved items and spells around in order to put them where the cursor appears in the menu to speed up my actions. Another possibility could be to Haste party members, especially the one with the Avenger Sword or Rydia (but I haven't tried this...).
	Fiendish Rematch	Strategy If you did some grinding for Alerts/Sirens and repeatedly fought monsters summoned by the Searchers, you will have no issues with the Arch Fiends this time around. Fusoya's Bless keeps health bumped up with Rosa supplementing healing. Rosa should focus on anyone who get's dangerously close to low health (especially Edge). Use Rydia's opposing third level elemental spell or Bahamut if you have him at this point, Haste Cecil and have him attack, use Edge's opposing elemental Ninjutsu as appropriate also.
	Fatal Error	Strategy The order to take down the nodes is Defense, CPU, Attack. If the Defense and Attack nodes are killed before the CPU, you will lose this challenge. So, the biggest concern is accidentally killing the Attack node before the CPU is defeated. Since the CPU casts Reflect on itself, you have no choice but to physically attack it. Have Fusoya keep your health up with Bless to negate the Attack node's paltry attack beams and keep on attacking the CPU. Once that is down, kill the Attack node and the achievement will pop!
	Cosmic Duel	Strategy This should be easy enough if you have been grinding for the Adamant Armor. Have a healthy stack of Elixirs available as well, which you should have enough money to buy a bunch from the Flan Princess fights. When the battle with Zeromus begins and everyone is revived by your friends, kill them off again before using the Crystal. With the final battle now beginning, switch between attacks and using Elixirs. You may have some opportunities to get two attacks in, depending on if Zeromus used Flare, Meteor, or Holy on you successfully. You should have too much difficulty with this at this point though, if you have been working on getting everything you need for all of the achievements in one playthrough. Do note though that you will have to fight Zeromus twice in order to get this achievement as well as Shadow Hands. I opted for Shadow Hands first and then followed up with Cosmic Duel. A brilliant suggestion by Kencussion regarding getting both Shadow Hands AND Cosmic Duel in one battle: "Keep your whole party alive when you start battle with Zeromus, but do NOT use the Crystal right away. The achievement for beating Zeromus with only Cecil begins once the Crystal is used... so before you use the Crystal, have Edge steal the Dark Matter from Zeromus' first form to get the 'Shadow Hands' achievement. Then kill off everyone in your party except Cecil (you may want Rosa to buff Cecil first), and then have him use the Crystal on Zeromus. When Zeromus reveals his second form, only Cecil will be alive and you can get the 'Cosmic Duel' achievement!"

Commands

The intent of these achievements is to showcase the utility of the character's various special abilities, as they were not present in the original US release. They provide a great preview of how they work and their necessity in completing some of the boss challenge achievements. It is recommended trying to get these achievements as soon as the necessary character joins your party, because a lot of them are missable.

Badge	Title	Tips
	Ultimate Darkness	The best place for this is in the area around the Antlion's Den and Mt. Hobs. There is an encounter with eight Goblins, which is perfect fodder for taking down with one Dark command.
	Deadly Acrobatics	You will find flying enemies right out the gate in the fields surrounding Baron. A perfect time to get this when also doing an early attempt at getting the Goblin summon.
	Not Enough Omega-3	Just start using the Recall command as much as you can when you first get Tellah. Watch your MP though and rest to recover it as needed.
	Siren's Pupil	Simply use Edward's Sing command as much as you can as soon as he joins and you'll unlock this in no time.
	Song of the Frogs	Once Rydia learns Toad, cast the spell on Edward and Sing to attempt to turn a monster into a Toad. Note that the song must successfully transform the monster. I found it best to attempt this on Goblins around Mt. Hobs/Antlion's Den.
	Salve of Salvation	There is some controversy surrounding this achievement. It seems to require the Namingway Edition patch of the game to work properly, despite the set being linked to a base FF4(J) ROM. This is because the intent of the achievement is to use Salve when you have a party of five to heal for a total of 375 HP or greater. Since the Namingway Edition patch buffs the Salve command, it seems to only be possible with that patch to unlock this achievement. That is why the patch is the only recommended way to play through this achievement set.
	Spoony Bard	Just manually hide Edward with the Hide command and then win a battle. I'm not sure if it pops the achievement with Edward hiding automatically when his health is low though. I didn't wait to see if that was the case...
	Supreme Aim	Rosa doesn't have the Mini spell right away. I tried to get this achievement with the Tiny Mages but they are not in Mini status so they don't count. You will need to first use Mini on monsters successfully, then use Aim to kill them. Again, Goblins are a perfect candidate for this. There is no pressure for this achievement because it is not missable.
	Hoping for a Miracle	Another command achievement that is not missable, but it is best to try to get this in a controlled situation. Since Pray is not 100% successful, it could be better to wait to get this when party members enter critical state with a lot of HP left over. You could also just try to Pray often as soon as you get Rosa when two characters are near death. It's up to you.
	Fist of the Dragon	I wasn't able to get this until I got the Cat Claw in the Tower of Babil and Focused on an enemy weak to Ice with Yang equipped with the Ice and Cat Claws. It was pretty much the final floor before losing Yang for the rest of the game.
	Stance of the Tiger	Note that the achievement description mentions "magical effect". Brace has a chance of casting Protect on Yang on top of his defensive stance. Simply use Brace a lot while everyone else parries until you Yang Braces with Protect four times in one battle.
	Flying Falcon	You beat Mom Bomb and have Yang in your party! Now go Kick everything until the achievement pops. Another great candidate for the group of 8 Goblins, especially when trying to get the Goblin summon. I actually got the Cockatrice summon while working on this achievement.
	Fake Tears	Use the Cry command twice in one battle. That's it.
	Believing in Oneself	Use the Boast command until the achievement pops. I believe it is 5 or 6 times?
	Mega Twins	Twincast has a random chance of casting Comet instead of Pyro. Just use the Twin command a lot. It's an awesome move anyway.
	Caring is Loving	There is only one person that is Cecil's "loved one". Select Rosa with the Cover command and you will get this achievement. I earned it during the Barbariccia fight which is the soonest you can get it.
	Bestiary Analytics	The perfect target for this achievement is the Mad Ogres found in one of the basement treasure chests in Eblan Castle.
	Bull's Eye	The most powerful object in the world is obviously the Kitchen Knife. Once you have it after getting the Sylph summon and returning the Frying Pan to Sheila, feel free to save the game, throw it in battle, get the achievement, and restore the save to keep the Knife for when you really need it. Or wait. It's up to you! Just don't miss getting the Knife in the first place!
	Shadow Hands	Zeromus has the Dark Matter. You must have Edge alive and stealing to get the item and this achievement. That locks you out of the Cosmic Duel achievement so you have to do the final fight twice. It took me three steal attempts to get the Dark Matter. I have heard that it can take many more... Thanks to Kencussion's strategy, it is possible to get both Shadow Hands AND Cosmic Duel in one battle. Check out the strategy spoiler under the Cosmic Duel achievement to see how it is done.
	Ninjutsu Master	Edge learns his last Ninjutsu at level 38. Once you have the spell, cast all of them at least once in your current play session.
	Blessings of the Moon	Simply use Fusoya's Bless command.
	White Mastery	Rosa learns her last white magic spell, Holy, at level 55.
	Black Mastery	Rydia learns her last black magic spell, Meteor, at level 60.
	Summoning Mastery	This requires grinding for four very rarely dropped items: Goblin, Cockatrice, Bomb, and Mindflayer. Most are earned from their eponymous monster or related types, with the exception of Bomb. See The Grind section for more details.

Treasure

There are four locations that are missable: Tower of Zot, Tower of Babil first visit, Tower of Babil second visit, and Giant of Babil.

I am not going into details on treasure locations since there are a ton of pre-existing resources out there that map the locations of every treasure and hidden item in the game. I made use of mostly excellent maps at GameFAQs to get all of these achievements.

Some minor notes:
From the beginning of the game, you can start on the Chocobo Forest Treasure Hunter achievement. Don't forget to grab the Gysahl Green in the grass of every Chocobo Forest.
The Chocobo Village has two Gysahl Greens hidden in grass on the far right. There is a path through the trees by the "back of the head" of the Chocobo.
A chest with 1000 gil in Kokkol's Forge is hidden to the right of the stairs going to the second floor.

Dancer

Talk to every NPC in towns to ensure you get these. Since none are missable, I won't go into detail here on where to find them. The dancer in Fabul Castle is VERY close to the King's bedroom though, so that is the perfect opportunity to get the Regal Rest achievement as well!

Chicobo Quest

The achievement set creator, MrGauss, made great descriptions that help to hint at the correct location. However, they also provided close up images of the badges for the Chicobo Quest achievements if the image in the locked achievement is too blurry. These can help in finding the correct location to stand and press the "Y" button on your controller.

Badge	Title	Closeup
	Chicobo Quest I: Great Baron Falls	Spoiler North of Baron Castle
	Chicobo Quest II: Damcyan Waterway	Spoiler Near entrance of fifth area
	Chicobo Quest III: Fabul Peninsula	Spoiler South of Fabul Castle
	Chicobo Quest IV: Sacred Vista	Spoiler Northeast in third area
	Chicobo Quest V: Chocobo Kingdom	Spoiler Grass in shape of eye in Chocobo Village
	Chicobo Quest VI: Beak Peninsula	Spoiler Southeast of Kaipo Desert
	Chicobo Quest VII: Empty Throne	Spoiler Eblan Castle throne room
	Chicobo Quest VIII: Visiting the Creator	Spoiler Dirt spot in art room
	Chicobo Quest IX: Underworld Crater	Spoiler Crater connecting to overworld
	Chicobo Quest X: Underworld Corner	Spoiler West edge of underworld
	Chicobo Quest XI: Ancient Library	Spoiler Feymarch Ancient Library
	Chicobo Quest XII: Green Maze	Spoiler Four chests in Sylphs' Cave
	Chicobo Quest XIII: Extraterrestrial	Spoiler Cliff over Bahamut's Cave
	Chicobo Quest XIV: Wrong Cave	Spoiler West edge of third area before Behemoth path
	Chicobo Quest XV: Humming Heaven	Spoiler Next to purple Hummingway

Endgame Items, a.k.a. The Grind

Setup: When I do grinding for achievements, I make good use of the tools at my disposal to make the grind a bit easier and more comfortable. Since this is a Super NES game, I make use of the triggers (or L2/R2) to do fast-forward toggling. If I want to speed up the action, I hold down the trigger to activate fast-forward. For extended grinding sessions, rather than hold the trigger, I keep fast-forward active (using the '-' key on the keyboard) and then my trigger is used to temporarily turn off fast-forward until I let go.
In the late game, grinds can be done easily by quickly moving left and right (or up and down) in the area where the desired encounters are and hold down the "B" button to run. When the battle starts, I let go of "B" and hold down the "A" button so that everyone attacks. When the battle ends, I make sure to continue to hold down "A" through the item menu if it appears. If you switch back to the "B" button, you could lose the item!
In all item grinds, quantity of the desired enemy matters. Every enemy instance has a chance to drop an item and then if they drop they have a 1/64 chance of dropping the required item for the grind. For example, three Spirits and a Soul in one battle will provide a greater chance at dropping a Cursed Ring rather than one Dinozombie.

Evil Jewelry: A great time to initially grind for this item would be right after Cecil becomes a paladin. To support this, purchase the armor for a paladin (Light Shield, Light Helm, Knight Armor, and Gauntlet) from Mysidia before going to Mt. Ordeals. Since Cecil is level 1 when he becomes a paladin, you can now grind for levels for him as well as attempting to get the Cursed Ring from the Souls and Spirits on Mt. Ordeals. Once Cecil class changes, go down to the base of the mountain and look for Souls and Spirits to grind on. There is a group of three Spirits and one Soul that is perfect. Make use of Twincast with the Twins to speed up the battles! If you need to heal, you can run out of Mt. Ordeals to the Chocobo Forest to the south and restore your MP at the White Chocobo. If you don't find a Cursed Ring by the time Cecil reaches level 20, then it may be better to wait until later to get it. I personally didn't get the Cursed Ring until the end game, having to grind at Mt. Ordeals while watching Twitch so that I wouldn't get board and leaving the game on fast-forward the entire time. Do note that the achievement pops as soon as you win the battle, since the item drops are determined at that time.

Summoning Mastery: There are four monster summons you can get as very rare item drops: Goblin, Bomb, Mindflayer, and Cockatrice. See the below chart for enemies and locations to grind for the drop:

Spell	Monster	Location
Goblin	Goblin, Li'l Killer/Murderer	Outside Baron, around Mt.Hobs/Antlion Den
Bomb	Grenade, Balloon	Lunar Surface
Mindflayer	Mindflayer	Magnetic Cavern
Cockatrice	Cockatrice	Around and outside of Mt. Hobs

One of a Kind: This is the grind that most people think of when it comes to Final Fantasy IV. Getting the Pink Tail actually isn't as bad as it could be, if you are prepared. This achievement set actually provides a couple of achievements to aid you in this grind: Alert! and Avatar of Patience.
The Alert! achievement is designed to let you know the ideal area to grind for the Siren item: the Giant of Babil's head. While this is a great location to grind for experience, you don't actually need to grind for the Siren items from the Searcher enemy. That's because Sirens are for sale in the Hummingway Haven on the Moon if you are playing the Namingway Edition patch, like you should be. If you do want to get Sirens from the Searchers, kill off your party except for Edge and steal the item from the Searchers over and over again.
The Avatar of Patience achievement tells you the room to use the Sirens in when you explore the Lunar Subterrane. Using a Siren in this room will make a group of five dancing Pink Flans appear. This fight can be difficult if your party is weak and Cecil doesn't have his Crystal gear or the Ribbons for Rydia and Rosa. Pink Flans can be killed easily with a couple Bahamut summons or just attacks if your party is at a high enough level. Just take care to heal. A lot of progress can be lost with a party wipe.
Once you finally have a Pink Tail, return to Earth and give the item to the tail collector in the Adamant Grotto.

Miscellaneous

Badge	Title	Tips
	Regal Rest	This has a VERY narrow window!!! Enter the King of Fabul's bed while exploring the castle for the Treasure Hunter: Fabul achievement. If you talk to the King before hand, you will miss this.
	Red Moon	You can find a telescope in a house in Agart Village. Simply look through it to see the moon.
	Prince of the Pond	The particular toad to speak with is in the western moat of Troia castle. There is a hidden path to the east and west of the castle entrance, behind the walls.
	The Dreamer	Mr. Sakaguchi's avatar is a uniquely colored Chocobo in the Developer's Room. You can find the Developer's Room via a secret passage in the Dwarves' Castle pub.
	It's a Secret to Everybody	The magazine is found in the left side of the bookshelf in the Rest Area of the Developer's Room.
	Monolithic Fight	The fight with Mr. Takahashi is a random encounter in the Developer's Room. Cast Toad on him with Rydia so that physical attacks become more effective. Poison is a very effective debuff and will greatly speed up this fight.
	Elemental Cure	This achievement is currently bugged, popping when the last Fellknight in a Monster-in-a-Box encounter in the Cave to the Feymarch uses an attack that absorbs and heals itself before dying. The intended method of getting this is to wear the Cursed Ring with armor that has elemental resistances, such as the Adamant Armor. This causes the armor to absorb the element rather than reduce the damage.
	Alert!	Announces the ideal place to repeatedly steal the Siren item from Searcher enemies. This location is the head of the Giant of Babil.
	Maximum Damage!	The ideal way to get this early on is to have Rydia use a "-ga" level spell on an enemy that has an elemental weakness. I got this during the Arch Fiend refights in the Giant of Babil.
	Avatar of Patience	Announces the location to use the Sirens farmed in the Giant of Babil or purchased at the Hummingway Haven store to grind for the Pink Tail.