Unfortunately (for you) I can't talk about FF6 without talking about FF7. The neurosis is deep and complex and boils down to this: FF6 lived up to the hype. FF7 did not. FF7 : Advent Children did and was AWESUM!* but that's neither here nor there.

To this day, I still stifle the urge to punch the shit out of all the assholes who claim FF7 is THE BEST!. It usually turns out that it's the first Final Fantasy they played - more often than not, it's the first one they'd ever even heard of. My hate-turned-to-grudging-acceptance relationship with FF7 is borne out of the hype surrounding that game - the promise that it would be bigger, badder, prettier, and awesomer than FF6. Which, in many ways, it isn't. Ultimately, it's apples and oranges - FF6 is a Role Playing Game, whereas FF7 is much more of an Interactive Story. While 7 is a decent experience, it isn't the same kind of game as 6. It isn't even close to 6: it's the first of the Interactive Novels - a "game" where you're expected to be sucked into the story and ride out the levelgrinding while gunning for the next cut scene and grimacing through "..." after "...". Which kind of blows if you're the kind of person who'd like to punch Cloud in the face with a shovel. Gameplay isn't one of 7's Great Achievements, in my opinion - and gameplay is one of the reasons why I continue to consider 6 to be the superior title.

Much like the Iowa class battleships, Final Fantasy 6 is the culmination of years of evolution. There's little to no "..." in FF6. There is, instead, dialogue. The plot spins around a broad cast of characters - you can, within reason, pick your favorites and root for them instead of being stuck in the orbit of a single unlikeable (Cloud or Squall, take your pick) protagonist. The bad guy is a fucking lunatic, and is far more crazed and vicious than any FF villian before or since.** The Espers (which would be "summons" in any other FF) do their thing and get out of your way - you're not stuck watching a thirty second to five minute in-battle cut-scene for 500 damage. It's dark. It's depressing. It's the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Elements of it inspired the early formation of ATC. It's got ninjas, moogles, power tools and mecha. It's one of my favorite games ever. Even if you're one of those new-school cut scene kiddies who cried when Aeris died or Rinoa went comatose (I didn't), FF6 is still worth your time. It's an important piece of RPG history, man.

The only downside is that Cid looks like a banana.

See?

That said.

I could go into great detail about all of the differences, but I'll spare you.

The biggest issue in the GBA version is slowdown - there's a lot of it in sprite-heavy combat. Cure3 and Meteor are the most noticeable, as is The Esper Formerly Known As Pallidor- bring a sammich when you cast him, as he takes longer than some of the FF7 summons. The starting floor of Kefka's tower is another slug spot. Other than that, the only issue is that the encounter rate seems to be a hell of a lot higher than it was for the US SNES version- a fact that is sure to get under your skin if you've played the game before and still remember where everything is, as you'll now be running into monsters every five steps instead of every eight. The new translation is generally superior to the old one, though the "new" (read: Japanese) names for the monsters and espers ranges from humorous to confusing to unpronounceable. The new espers and spells integrate seamlessly, as do the bonus dungeons (unlike GBA Final Fantasies 1, 4, and 5) - though you'll probably need to consult a FAQ to actually find them. The Vanish|{Doom|X-Zone} trick has been sorta "fixed" in that X-Zone never seems to work on anything you'd really want it to - much like the Odin and Raiden espers, or Cyan's final Bushido attack.

Of all the GBAed Final Fantasies I've played, FF6 ranks Best Overall. It's the most seamlessly tuned of the lot - there's quite a bit of new stuff, but in many ways it's the least altered, the least "improved, and - as it was ten years ago - the most enjoyable.

Oh, and Kefka's theme still rocks.

* How can I like Advent Children but not FF7? Easy. AC is everything I love about FF7 with none of the stuff I didn't like.

** While you could make a case for Sephiroth, Kefka wins on the grounds that he's 100% pure undiluted-by-backstory psychotic. No Freudian fixations going on here, no sir.