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As some others have said before me, the hissing is very much noticeable in a lot of the tracks, and can be very distracting if you're a sucker for FFVI's music. However, the vanilla GBA soundtrack also suffer this symptom too - it's just that the samples that were used to replicate the SNES version for this hack makes it more noticeable due to the GBA's flawed sound, and this is coming from testing and listening to it on original hardware (I used an Everdrive GBA Mini on a GBA and Nintendo DS to hear the comparison). Honestly, this is something that can't be avoided - however, I wish that wouldn't be the case. If there's an option to greatly reduce the hissing in exchange for performance while still making the game plentifully playable, then I would say it would be more worthy.

If you want to experience the SNES-like soundtrack but your only access to the game is the GBA version and/or if you really want to experience the version-exclusive extra content, then by all means go for it - but if you want my overall opinion, just stick to playing the SNES version (and maybe use the Ted Woolsey Uncensored hack on top of it). You're not missing out on the extra content and I find it to be unnecessary to experience (though I find it odd that even the pixel remastered versions exclude the extra content, in which I completely understand if one would rather play the GBA version solely to have a complete FFVI experience). And besides, the GBA version handling Dancing Mad isn't 1:1 compared to how it plays on SNES - when you defeat one of the final boss' phases, it immediately plays the next phase instead of playing out the rest of the phase before moving on to the next smoothly (this is not at the fault of the hack, this happens on vanilla). That to me is a great turnoff. I'm only putting the recommendation to a borderline "Yes" because it achieves what it does for an overall complete FFVI experience - but don't get too picky with the hissing, because otherwise you won't enjoy it. If you didn't enjoy it, just play the SNES version, as I mentioned before.

Really appreciate the work and care that went into this. But as others have said, the hissing is too much.

If the purpose is to be able to enjoy this game on GBA but with "better" sound, you will have to mentally tune out the hissing, otherwise you may be disappointed.

I understand and really appreciate the hard work that went into making this, but it simply isn't enough thanks to how GBAs are built, a system that never had a dedicated sound chip, and it had to compete with the CPU itself to produce the sound, hence why you see frame-drop in the GBA port.

The vanilla game already has a lot of hissing sound, so it's nothing new for the game. But sadly, this patch not just replaces the music with the SNES version but also amplifies the hissing sound to some obnoxious level. I don't even use expensive headphones, and I still notice the hissing sound throughout the game. Eventually, I got so annoyed that I left the game in the middle and went back to the SNES port. Probably the worst offender is how even a silent moment has a hissing effect, something not even the vanilla game had.

I'm probably stretching it, and maybe I sound like someone who played FF6 many times before, but this was my first time playing this game, and I still had a lot to complain about. I'm being too harsh here because you have to understand FFVI's main hook comes from its music, and without it, it simply loses that magic.

The current state of FF6 ports is pretty bad overall without mods, but if I have to recommend a definitive way to experience this game, then the SNES port with ROSE patch is the way to go for new comers.

I can't believe how much praise this hack gets considering it introduces a horrible hissing static whenever it plays music in every version, even the most updated.

Playing with the vanilla sound is much preferred if you're not deaf.

As a whole - this is a great hack, as the lowered music quality was one of the biggest shortcomings of the GBA version of Final Fantasy VI. (The changes to the Tower of Fanatics were particularly noticeable to me, and I hated the GBA version of that track.) The latest version of this hack fixes a lot of the issues - particularly with quality and consistency in comparison to SNES version - the the patch had, and is no longer restricted to the European version.

There is one thing I definitely don't like about it, however, that I think users should be aware of, even if it ultimately doesn't bother them: the opera section. While the newer version now gives the option of not using the live singers for the European version, and doesn't use the fully voiced opera at all for the other two, it still is NOT the same as the SNES opera section - rather than sounding like the vaguely voice-like sounds, it instead sounds rather definitively like actual people going 'na na nananaaaa' instead. It doesn't sound quite like it should going by the SNES version; it's also a little quiet and fuzzy, and it definitely doesn't fit with the rest of the music.

I'd say this is worth using overall for most people, but if like me you actually prefer the opera to stay as it originally was (in terms of sound, I mean) then this might be a big enough issue for you to pass this one up entirely. Now, if the opera section were properly restored, or if I could restore everything else and leave the opera alone, this would be a much more definite 'Use it!' than it is now from a personal standpoint. Sure, the original opera was kinda weird, but I really liked it...

I understand that most people aren't going to be as bothered by this as I am, but nonetheless I think it's best to be informed.

I've tried your patches for Final Fantasy V and VI. Your work is nothing short of incredible. The hours and work you have poured into these projects is astounding, and the results are completely worth it.

The orchestral music alone makes these versions of the games the only way to play the games, but the SNES music is such a big improvement as well.

Thank you for this labor of love!

I still experience hissing and background noise after the latest version.

Using high quality earphones makes both of these issues very noticeable.

If you haven't updated to 2.0 yet, do it now. Suddenly FFVI's sound restoration turned from the one that wasn't as good as the others, to the best one of the Advance sound hacks. The sound and music quality is on par if not better than the V Advance patch's quality, and stereo sound seems to even be retained this time around. There are minor differences (swords and knives use the punch sound effect for example), but as stated in the readme the fault lies with how things work in the GBA version. I wonder if this is why the mobile release uses GBA sounds? But I digress, the point is outside of things the GBA version does specifically I can't tell the difference between this hack and the original SNES.

Somehow all the previous emulator-only bugs seem to be fixed as well, but this is on my end and I can't speak for everyone.

2.01 adds in even less slowdown, I'm pretty sure this is as good as it gets. The airship may still have lag, but even it's way better than the original.

You've done an awesome bugfixing the music patch, Mr. Bregalad.

For that, I applaud you and your effort on making and maintaining this patch.

For anyone who plays Final Fantasy VI Advance, this patch is a must-have. This patch fixes ALMOST all of what was broken in the port. Well done!

The only thing that still is an issue is the sound effects. Since you restored the sound effects in your Final Fantasy IV Advance Sound Restoration, I don't see why you couldn't in this one. I know the IV Sound Restoration was made after this one and restoring the sound effects might take a while, but doing that would make the patch 100% perfect.

Thank you for making this patch. Without it, the game would be completely unplayable.

I honestly tried the original gba version, when I heard the sound and music, I simply couldn't bring myself to play it. Genuinely sounds bad, and almost painful.

Thank you for making this game playable, and in some ways surpassing the original snes release:

I greatly enjoyed the opera scene!

For those wanting a great experience, I also recommend the font enhancement and palette hack (respectively) here at RHDN to make FF6 feel genuinely like FF6.

As someone who's been studying music nearly all his life, I have a special place in the pit of my tattered soul for Uematsu's masterful work on Final Fantasy VI. This is music that has comforted me when I was feeling lonely, depressed or otherwise let down by the crapsack world we live in. I find myself humming it from time to time, even to this day.

That said, I do have to give this hack a solid recommendation. Excellent, excellent all the way around. Not perfect, of course, but music is an art, not a science. This gets extremely close to the sound of the SNES originals; timbre, pitch, tempo, it's all there. I wish there had been a way to fix the GBA version's annoying habit of not fading music down at the proper times, but like the saying goes, you can't have it all, and this is a welcome change to the awful, awful porting job that SE did.

Most excellent and triumphant of all is the actual, REAL (sung in Italiano, no less) Dream Oath Opera. This is a mind-bending experience unlike any other I've had in all my years of playing modified games. To hear singing in a SNES-era game was a novelty; this is a crowning moment of awesome. I remember playing the SNES version, and when the first singer in the opera opens his mouth to sing "Oh Maria," for one second, I thought they had managed to fit voice clips into the SNES cart. This hack delivers on that unfulfilled promise of so many years ago.

An excellent, truly magnificent job.

Stunning work, and very good choice of track for the Opera House scenes.

I have always preferred the GBA version of FFVI since its release, but the background music was a huge letdown, so thank you for that.

Playing the Snes version of FF6 is one of the best experiences I have. However the GBA port was a great addition for gamers who like FF6, not to mention that it also includes a bunch of new features. However, the GBA port also came with a few conversion problems, especially regarding BGM aspects. This hack is excellent for purist and non purist fans who'd like to play the game with all its sound features not butchered by lazy programming.