How to play Final Fantasy IV on Mac

PlatformsComputer

Game summary

FINAL FANTASY IV is a 3D remake of the classic Japanese RPG that was first released for SNES as FINAL FANTASY II in the North America. Unlike the many subsequent ports (to Playstation, GameBoy Advance, etc.), this release is a full remake, programmed from scratch with real-time 3D graphics. The characters have a "super-deformed" touch. There is also voice acting during cut-scenes. A new option has been added to the menu, which allows the player to read a conversation between party members and receive advice from them. It also features many gameplay additions. The difficulty level has been increased, not only beyond the difficulty of the Western SNES release (which was reduced compared to Japanese original and subsequent ports), but even beyond the original difficulty. The party members are still bound by class, but they can now hunt for so-called "augments", which can be found or stolen from enemies and which grant the characters additional bonus abilities, resistances, spells that their class would normally not allow, etc. Beside those major changes, there are also plenty of minor additions. It is possible to obtain bonus items after exploring every corner and filling 100% of an area map; Rydia, the summoner girl, has a new monster summon who can be customized in various ways; there is a new quest involving the "naming" moogle of the original game, etc.
First released: Dec 2007

Play Final Fantasy IV on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Final Fantasy IV on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Final Fantasy IV installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Final Fantasy IV like you would on any PC.
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