More than 25 years after its PlayStation debut, Final Fantasy IX remains underrated in 2026. Sandwiched between the pop-culture juggernaut of Final Fantasy VII and the wave of hype around the PlayStation 2, it landed with strong reviews but modest sales—and that underappreciation has endured. Yet a growing chorus of fans and critics now calls it Square’s most underrated masterpiece, and there’s never been a better moment to play it on PC.
Why Final Fantasy IX Remains Underrated in 2026
The game hit stores in 2000, just months before the PS2 arrived. As a Digitec.ch retrospective points out, all eyes were already on Sony’s next-gen hardware; the swan song of the PS1 got unfairly lost in the shuffle. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi later revealed it’s his personal favourite entry in the franchise—a ringing endorsement that highlights just how much of a gem the market missed.
Vivi’s Journey: A Story That Punches Above Its Weight
Ask anyone who’s played FFIX what stuck with them, and they’ll bring up Vivi Orunitia. The little black mage’s quiet confrontation with his own mortality—and his artificially limited lifespan—gives the game an emotional core that rivals anything in modern RPGs. BigNerdGaming, in a 2025 re-review, calls Vivi’s arc ‘one of the greatest individual character stories in the entire Final Fantasy series.’ That’s bold, but thoroughly earned.
“Even though VI is my favorite, IX is probably the best on all fronts as a whole.”
— Clayton, CBR comment section
Beyond Vivi, the game weaves together themes of love, identity, death, and acceptance with a levity that never feels forced. Kuja, often cited as the series’ best villain, delivers nihilism with style, and the ending is widely considered the most powerful in the franchise (CBR). Meanwhile, the optional Active Time Events—short missable vignettes—show how small acts of kindness and defiance ripple through the world, perfectly capturing the theme of individual responsibility against tyranny that Unwinnable’s 2026 retrospective celebrates.
The Elephant in the Room: Combat That Aged Like a Materia-Less Sword
For all its narrative strengths, Final Fantasy IX’s battle system is its Achilles’ heel. The Active Time Battle (ATB) gauges crawl to fill, there’s a frustrating delay between input and action, and attack animations can feel interminable—something BigNerdGaming calls out as feeling ‘behind the times’ even at launch. Add in an ability system that forces you to grind specific gear to learn essential skills, and you’ve got a recipe for late-game frustration if you aren’t careful. A Steam user review sums it up: ‘Plowing through the game will likely result in a party that lacks key abilities.’ And it’s true: without some grinding, the final bosses can blindside you.
The Definitive 2026 PC Experience: Moguri Mod to the Rescue
Square Enix’s 2018 remaster added a speed-up toggle, but it didn’t fix the clutter. Enter the Moguri Mod. This fan-made overhaul, now at version 9.0, is the single best reason to revisit (or discover) FFIX on PC. It redraws every pre-rendered background in high resolution, adds a clean PSX font option, nukes intro screens, and lets you crank up the battle speed with a turbo mode that makes grinding safe and painless. Here’s how to set it up: First, buy Final Fantasy IX on Steam. Then download and run the Moguri Mod installer, which bundles the Memoria launcher. Once in the launcher, head to the Mods section and activate ‘Moguri Mod’ for those luscious redrawn backgrounds. In Settings, pick the PSX font, check ‘Skip intros to main menu’ and ‘Skip battle load times’, and set FPS to Auto. Launch the game through Memoria, and you’re in. The entire process takes minutes, and the result is a version that looks and feels like a true remaster—it’s how I’ll be replaying it this year, as recommended by RPG Site’s definitive comparison.
Better yet, the modded version runs flawlessly on Steam Deck. Docked to a TV with a controller, it’s a genuine console experience—no mouse, no launcher hunting, just pure Gaia.
Why 2026 Is the Year to Dive Into Gaia
More than 25 years on, the game’s portrait of a world threatened by greed and war feels startlingly resonant. The anniversary has brought fresh eyes, and the modding community has polished the experience to its absolute peak. Whether you’re a lapsed fan who hasn’t touched it since the PS1 days or a JRPG newcomer who’s only heard whispers of Vivi, there’s no technical barrier left. The slow combat is a thing of the past; the story has only grown more poignant.
Warm Up Your Couch Setup
Play Your Library from the Sofa
Warmup boots you straight into your games with a controller-first interface—no setup, no hassle. Perfect when you’re diving into FFIX for hours on the big screen.
Final Fantasy IX in 2026: The Bottom Line
- Final Fantasy IX is a storytelling masterpiece whose emotional depth outshines its mechanical clunk.
- Its initial underperformance was bad timing, not bad design—Sakaguchi’s own favorite finally gets its due.
- The slow combat and ability grind are real, but the Moguri Mod’s turbo mode and speed boost erase the tedium.
- With upscaled backgrounds, QoL tweaks, and perfect Steam Deck compatibility, the 2026 PC version is the definitive way to experience the game.
- More than two decades later, FFIX’s themes of mortality, acceptance, and standing up to tyranny feel more vital than ever. Don’t miss it.
Written by
Devon Yates
Launcher & Platforms
Devon follows the platform wars: stores, subscriptions and the battle for your launch screen. He writes the weekly news roundup.
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