Final Fantasy VI / GAME HISTORY
Why Does Psycho Cyan Keep Counterattacking in SNES Final Fantasy VI?
Retort, revival and Imp can turn one counter into a repeating attack loop.
Short answer
RPG Legion’s patch author describes Psycho Cyan as two Retort bugs combined. Reviving Cyan after Retort makes him counter attacks that did not hit him; Imp makes him counter with a normal attack without clearing Retort. Together, he can counter his own attacks repeatedly.
Scope: Original SNES Final Fantasy VI behavior examined by the named community patch author.
The actions have to combine
The author gives the following sequence. Imp can also be applied before Cyan is knocked out; the listed order is not the only documented setup.
- Have Cyan use Retort.
- Knock Cyan out and revive him.
- Turn Cyan into an Imp.
- An attack, including Cyan’s own, triggers the repeated counters.
Why a normal attack matters
With Imp active, Cyan uses a standard attack rather than Retort. According to the author, that leaves the Retort state active. The revival error lets attacks other than those hitting Cyan trigger it, including his own. The next attack therefore supplies another counter trigger.
What the community patch fixes
The Psycho Cyan patch fixes the first bug, not both bugs. The author says that is enough to stop the loop. Version 1.1 also corrects an X-Zone problem introduced by version 1.0 of that community patch. These version numbers name the fan patch, not official SNES updates. Patchlo has not tested it on hardware.
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