I want to play FF4, FF5, and FF6. Which versions do I play?

[Sagacious-T]

Should I play the SNES or GBA Versions? I heard the GBA versions fixed alot of stuff and cleaned up the dialogue, but it also has much worst sound. I could use some advice.

[Eusis]

DEFINITELY the GBA version for FFIV. I don't even have it but all the silliness with the original US release, removing attacks and a bland translation mean the GBA one is definitely the one to play. FFVI is grayer though. I hear that people consider the translations better in some ways, worse in others, and it's probably the one installment with the least significant upgrades, but nevertheless you still get stuff like bonus dungeons, and portability is always a nice advantage. Both versions of VI are probably worth checking out, really.

As for FFV... Is that a trick question? Ignoring roms for now, I'd say being able to play an RPG in a language I can understand outweighs almost any flaws there may be in a port, and only a total fucking (likely elitist) moron would say otherwise. If we do factor in roms though, uhh, what I've heard from others is that V's official GBA translation is way better. And sound won't be quite right through an emulator anyway, so that potential advantage is gone too. If it's not the illegal route you're considering, but rather the PSX game, the lack of the load times and insistent 'arr'ing from Faris make the GBA version far superior. Seriously, I hadn't played FFV in years but when I started the GBA game it was really refreshing to be in battle right away.

Personally, the sound bugs me less in how the music sounds in comparison to the originals (which I haven't heard in a long time anyway for the most part), but rather that there's some audio glitches that make it sound like the speakers/headphones are broken, and that bugs me. Not enough to not play these, though.

[Prime Mover]

I came on the scene late, didn't get into gaming until I was in college, and the SNES was long gone by then. So I started with ROMs, myself, although I'm quite familliar with the original SNES cartridges.

I'll agree with Eusis on these. FFIV is a no brainer, go GBA. The original translation was TERRIBLE, and they unleashed "Easy Type" onto the US, which makes the game painfully easy. For the GBA version they kept in the small bit of fun dialog weirdness from the bad US translation; "Spoony Bard", and such, so you're not missing out on anything there.

For FFV... there's no such thing as a good fansub of this game on ROMs. Every single one I tried had cheesy pop music references throughout, and generally terrible editting. Go GBA here.

FFVI, on the other hand, is a tough call. There is a bit of added dialog, but it's not overwhelmingly one way or the other. Even though the US had a bit less dialog than the original, the translation was a true labor of love, and I feel that came out splendidly, so it was difficult to improve on for the GBA version. The GBA version deffinitely cleans up a lot of the graphics, as the Mode-7 libraries for the GBA are much more advanced than the one for the SNES. On the flipside, though, FFVI has one of the greatest soundtracks in the series, and the GBA has substantially weaker sound than the SNES, so that's a fairly big strike against it. Also, you have to take into consideration the fact that you're looking at a tiny screen instead of a nice TV.

So yeah, FF4 and FF5, go GBA, without question... but for FF6, it's really a tossup, I don't know how to call that.

[Eusis]

The original translation was TERRIBLE, and they unleashed "Easy Type" onto the US, which makes the game painfully easy.

No they didn't.

Also, the graphics weren't chagned like in FFIV and V for VI, so they simply cropped the original battlegrounds and the like - if you're REALLY anal retentive about having every pixel, you'll want to go with the SNES version, but that's kinda silly to do really.

They also fixed bugs, such as making Evasion/Blind work properly.

Edit: I should warn that the URL I link actually spoils the appearance of a secret boss in FFIVA.