Dissidia Final Fantasy

Dissidia Final Fantasy's genre has been described as "dramatic progressive action" and its graphics are in 3D. It has wireless one-on-one multiplayer and fights revolving around the use of individual special skills of characters to do damage to opponents. Players can customize their characters with equipment.

Character movement is fully functional within the three-dimensional field map. Characters are able to perform special maneuvers using the environment. Traps with a variety of ill effects can be found throughout the arena. Characters' equipment can be customized, and they can gain EXP and gil from battles.

The story revolves around two gods: Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord. The game unites both protagonists and antagonists from installments of the main Final Fantasy series, their stories narrated by the first Final Fantasy game's Cid of the Lufaine. Other than the gods and their champions, the player deals with crystal-like doppelgangers called Manikins. The game has an overarching storyline that requires playing through all of the characters to complete.

The game contains twenty-two total playable characters, with ten pairs of heroes and villains each representing a mainline Final Fantasy title: the Warrior of Light and Garland (Final Fantasy); Firion and the Emperor (Final Fantasy II); the Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness (Final Fantasy III); Cecil Harvey and Golbez (Final Fantasy IV); Bartz Klauser and Exdeath (Final Fantasy V); Terra Branford and Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI); Cloud Strife and Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII); Squall Leonhart and Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII); Zidane Tribal and Kuja (Final Fantasy IX); and Tidus and Jecht (Final Fantasy X). The other two are secret characters: Shantotto, a heroine representing Final Fantasy XI, and Gabranth, a villain representing Final Fantasy XII. Initially, only the main heroes are playable in all gameplay modes; the main villains are playable in Arcade mode, but must still be unlocked for access in all other gameplay modes.

Dissidia Final Fantasy was originally envisioned by creative producer Tetsuya Nomura as a Kingdom Hearts spin-off featuring a cast of Disney characters while the Square Enix staff were developing Kingdom Hearts II. Nomura later felt uncomfortable with the Disney characters fighting each other and instead opted to use Final Fantasy characters, although the original idea eventually gave rise to the development of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, with the game's multiplayer mode inspired by Dissidia's gameplay. The game was made in commemoration of the franchise's 20th anniversary and despite being handled by young employees, Nomura noticed there was no pressure, having assisted them in the designing various areas from the gameplay. The game was directed by Takeshi Arakawa whom Nomura noted that his experience in a previous Square Enix game, The World Ends With You, had a good effect in the game.

To have their desired way of fighting, the team chose the PlayStation Portable console. There were plans for online play but the console's capacities made them unable to add such a feature. Developing the game took three years due with the battle system requiring two years and the RPG mode one.

Dissidia sold well according to Takeshi Arakawa, despite concerns about piracy. As of August 2009, Dissidia Final Fantasy has sold 910,000 copies in Japan, making it the fourth best-selling game for the PSP in Japan. It was the 12th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 660,262 copies. In the United States, Dissidia debuted as the 7th top-selling software of the August 2009 charts with 130,000 copies, despite only four days of availability. Figures from the NPD Group list Dissidia Final Fantasy as the best-selling PSP game of 2009.

Dissidia was well received by the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu with individual scores of 9/9/10/8, earning the game a place in its "Best Picks of This Week" feature as well as its "Platinum Hall of Fame". The game's battle system was described as fast-paced and exhilarating, with simple controls capable of producing battles like those found in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, though it was noted that the action can become difficult to follow when things got hectic and that some of the more technical aspects of the game can be hard to grasp. The game was also praised for its story and cutscenes, with one reviewer noting that the history was "exacting".