Upon release, "Famicom Tsūshin" (now "Famitsu") gave the original Famicom version a score of 35 out of 40, based on a panel of four reviewers giving it ratings of 9, 9, 9 and 8 out of 10. This made it one of their three highest-rated games of 1988, along with "Dragon Quest III" (which scored 38/40) and "Super Mario Bros. 3" (which scored 35/40). It was also one of the magazine's five highest-rated games up until 1988, along with "Dragon Quest II" (which scored 38/40) and "" (which scored 36/40). The 1989 "All Soft Catalog" issue of "Famicom Tsūshin" included "Final Fantasy II" in its list of the best games of all time, giving it the Best Scenario award. Retrospectively, G4 described the stat-building system as an "Innovation", noting that "Computer RPGs took the “level” system wholesale from tabletop role-playing games and made it a genre staple, but FF2 eliminated levels altogether," but that what "sounds novel at first wound up being a huge mess".