Stranger Of Paradise Cut One Of FF1’s Most Important Bosses

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a retelling of the story of the original Final Fantasy, but some things were cut in the development process. One of the most important boss battles in the history of the Final Fantasy series was cut from Stranger of Paradise. However, there’s a chance it could appear later in one of the DLC updates for the game.

Stranger of Paradise is about Jack Garland and his allies, who refer to themselves as the “Warriors of Light” of legend. It’s clear from the outset that there’s something wrong, as there are five members of Jack’s group, and the legends speak of four Warriors of Light. The crystals Jack and his friends carry also don’t match the description of the mythical elemental crystals. The fact that Jack’s surname is the same as the name of the first boss in FF1 means that he has a dark fate ahead of him, but will things play out the same way this time?

The story of Stranger of Paradise includes many elements from FF1, but some stuff was cut in translation. Bahamut was cut from Stranger of Paradise, as were many of the FF1 bosses, like the vampire and the evil eye. There is one boss in the game that many fans expected to see, due to its importance to the Final Fantasy series as a whole, but it’s missing from the final product. The FF1 players had to go searching for this boss and many likely wouldn’t encounter it without consulting a guide first, but those who did fight it were not likely to forget it.

The Final Fantasy Boss That Was Stronger Than Chaos

In FF1, the end boss of the game was Chaos, who resembled one of the pit fiend demons from Dungeons & Dragons. The player had to defeat the Four Fiends a second time before they could face Chaos, giving them lots of experience points in the process, but they still needed to prepare for the challenge ahead. Stranger of Paradise turned Chaos into a meme, but it’s still the first end boss of the Final Fantasy series and would later have a prominent role in the Dissidia crossover series. Chaos was not the strongest foe in FF1, as there was one creature hiding in the game world that could take down even the strongest party that the player could create.

Once the player reaches the Flying Fortress dungeon in FF1, they have a small chance of encountering a secret boss in the area before they are supposed to fight Tiamat. The English name for this boss is Warmech, but it’s referred to as Death Machine in Japan. Warmech is a bipedal robot that stands out among all of the fantasy monsters in the game, even though FF1 does have a few sci-fi elements. This may have been the reasoning behind Warmech being the strongest monster in FF1, including Chaos, as it can unleash futuristic weapons against the party. Even a max-level group will struggle against Warmech, as it has a ridiculously high damage output and a ton of health. The reward for defeating Warmech was 32,000 gil, which is higher than any other monetary reward in the game, but if the party is strong enough to defeat Warmech, then they don’t need money, as there is nothing left to challenge them.

Warmech is also tied to another video game secret. The Chris Houlihan room was one of The Legend of Zelda‘s earliest secrets, as it involved the player racing through the early sections of the game to reach a room full of cash. This room was created as part of a Nintendo Power contest, where players had to send in a photo of Warmech, and the winner was Chris Houlihan.

Warmech Was The Original Final Fantasy Superboss

Warmech is one of the most significant bosses in the history of the Final Fantasy series, as it was the first-ever Superboss in the franchise, and possibly in JRPG history as a whole. A Superboss is a boss that is harder than the actual end boss of the game and players will often need to reach absurdly high levels or use some advanced tactic to defeat it. Like Warmech, the reward for defeating a Superboss is usually junk, but it’s more about the personal satisfaction that the player gets from mastering the mechanics of the game and conquering its hardest foe.

Some of the most famous bosses in the Final Fantasy series are Superbosses. For many fans, Emerald and Ruby Weapon in FF7 were the first Superbosses they ever encountered. Their fame turned out to be their downfall, as fans spent years creating the most optimal tactics for crushing these kaiju-like beasts, so much of the challenge in these battles have been lost. The recurring Omega Superboss in the Final Fantasy series was likely inspired by Warmech, as they are both battle robots that exist in a fantasy setting. The Final Fantasy Superbosses generally don’t have a major role in the story, but their sheer difficulty is what makes them so memorable.

Stranger Of Paradise Cut Warmech (But Could Be Saving It For DLC)

Stranger of Paradise featured a number of classic bosses, with the Four Fiends from FF1 having an important role in the story. Not all of the bosses from FF1 made it into the game, as Warmech is notably missing. It’s possible that it was cut due to it being an optional boss in the original game, making it easy to remove from the story, especially if the developers were pressed for time and wanted to focus on other bosses. The Flying Fortress is part of the game, but it already has the boss fight with Tiamat, which leads into the final party member joining the group, so Warmech’s inclusion may have cluttered the story.

All is not lost for Warmech, as Stranger of Paradise will receive more content in the future. Stranger of Paradise has a Season Pass, which will have three updates – Trials of the Dragon King, Wanderer of the Rift, and Different Future. Wander of the Rift almost certainly involves Gilgamesh from FF5, while Different Future could be a boss fight against the Warrior of Light from FF1/Dissidia. Trials of the Dragon King will likely involve Bahamut giving Jack and his friends a difficult quest, in order to test their worth, and it could culminate in a battle with Warmech. This could be treated as a post-story battle and give Jack the chance to fight a new version of the original FF1 Superboss in Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

About The Author

Scott Baird
(2509 Articles Published)

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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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