Active Time Battle

Active Time Battle (ATB) is a role-playing video game mechanic invented by Hiroyuki Ito. It was first used in Final Fantasy IV (1991), and patented in 1995 by Ito and Hironobu Sakaguchi, though the patent expired in 2010, allowing it to be used in any game. It replaced turn-based gameplay with a system of timers, allowing both protagonists and enemies to attack at their own pace, even while navigating menus. Different types of techniques caused the timer to move at different rates until the character could move again. The system's success led to it being used in most subsequent mainline menu-based Final Fantasy games, up until the series eventually abandoned menu-based gameplay in favor of action role-playing gameplay for mainline titles. Active Time Battle has been noted by critics as a revolutionary step in the genre as well as a defining aspect of the series' Super Nintendo and PlayStation era games and of Final Fantasy as a whole.

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