Ok, so hear me out. If you've been anywhere near a final fantasy discussion, you will often hear ff7 (PS1) touted as the best final fantasy, perhaps even best RPG or even best game ever made.

But then you have those other people, like me, who say nay to these mouth breathers! FF6 has always been the best mainline game in the franchise. And sometimes, the numbers don't lie.

While it is true that ff7 OVERALL has many many more copies sold, there's a reason.

First, note, ff6 was only the third released in the US. That means USA only experienced ff1 and ff4. Decent games for their times, but not groundbreaking. Japan, however, was able to experience 5 previous final fantasies, and more importantly, they experienced 2 final fantasies on the super Famicom - their version of SNES.

here's a fun fact: SNES was released in 1990. The numbers seem a bit foggy here, as it's reported that FF6 sold 2.55 million units in 1995 in Japan alone, and total units 3.48 million by 2003. I couldn't find a global total for 1994 alone. Of note, the only port I know of at the time would have been the PS1, which came alongside ff5. So, for sake of argument, I will say ff6 sold 3.48 million copies. By comparison, notice that Nintendo's 2nd most popular franchise, zelda, released link to the past in 1991, which totaled 4.65 million units sold.

FF6 achieved this with barely any advertising, at least in the US. I believe there was 1 commercial for ff6, which I don't recall ever seeing as a child.

Interestingly, ff6 achieved these numbers in the dying years of SNES, while PS1 was being released, and with barely and marketing outside of dedicated video game media.

While ff7 now has 14.3 million copies sold, let me point out, it's first year sold 2.65 million copies, with 1.95 of those copies being sold through DigiCube. DigiCube was basically a business partner of Square that would help market the game. LET ME REPEAT THAT: DIGICUBE HELPED MARKET THE GAME. And market they did. Since ps1 was in its 3rd year by ff7's release, USA would bundle ps1 with FF7. Well, what else was going on in the late 90's? Oh, that's right, the internet! An advertisers dream. Besides that point, Japan also had access to more advanced technology, particularly in the mobile phone technology, and as such, ff7 mobile mini games basically saturated the Japanese market.

Tack on advertisements up the wazoo, and bam, you have a recipe for sales. Though it came much later, ff7 would also get small boosted sales from advent children, crisis core, and ff7 remake.

But, it begs the question, how come ff7, with bundle deals in USA and mass advertising, still only outperform ff6 by .10 million units in the first year? Well, in my estimation, it's because ff6 is a far better game.

Ff6 has never had a movie, never had a remake, never had the advertising that ff7 has had. And yet, if continues to to be renowned as one of the best stories, and some of the most memorable characters in the franchise.

See, here's the thing, ff7 has better graphics, revolutionary for its time. But that to me suggests it didn't need a remake, as it doesn't enhance ff7 in a way that revolutionizes ff7.

But... ff6 remake with ps5 level graphics? Voice actors? Now THAT revolutionizes this game into greatest game of all time category, if it wasn't already.

Let me be clear... ff7 is a fantastic game in its own right. But it had a driving force behind it that ff6 never had. Ff6 challenged freaking ZELDA on gameplay ALONE! While ff7 also had gameplay as one factor for its success, it also had a marketing team and so many more resources available to them, most notably the mass distribution of the internet.

ff6remake