As with other RPGs, Final Fantasy Legend also has an RNG. It is difficult to manipulate, as it will only increment through actions, or get shuffled by a soft reset. The soft reset RNG manipulation is mostly frame-based, but something like entering a menu can slightly affect it.

Unfortunately, soft resets seem to revert to a default for the battle RNG, meaning if it's impossible to win after a reset, there's no way to manipulate that short of getting into another battle before the impossible one, and don't reset along the way.

Final Fantasy Legend uses a different address for almost every different effect possible. There are 128 such addresses, stored in the RAM from C300 through C37F. Manipulating one will not affect whether a different action is successful, as almost every action that needs an RNG has its own address it can use. With no known exception, each RNG address rolls once per use, incrementing by one after each use. For example, the Mutant growth RNG address, C30B is rolled once per mutant at the end of every battle; if it is 123 in a party of three mutants, it will increase to 126 after the next battle.

After resetting, each RNG reverts to a value offset from C300's by some amount that varies slightly. The formula for the offset of each value is believed to be
y=floor(9/64*x+b)
where
y is the offset amount
x is the difference between the RAM address in question and C300 (e.g., for RAM address C30B, x is 11)
b is the value of C300 plus some unknown fractional amount

The "unknown fractional amount" in b makes many of the RAM addresses inconsistent, but it also frees up an additional degree of freedom to manipulate luck. For example, C358's offset is +12 3/8. Roughly speaking, this means that when the game is (soft) reset, three out of eight times C358's value will be 13 higher than C300's; the five other times, it will be 12 higher. To check the feasibility of manipulating two addresses simultaneously, simply subtract their offsets. In the case of C30B and C34B, the net offset is +9, meaning C34B's value will always be 9 greater than C30B's value and those two addresses are "locked" to each other. It is therefore impossible to manipulate mutant bonus type and mutant abilities independently.

The following is an incomplete list of RNG addresses used by the game.

All random numbers with the exception of those used in battles (which are poorly understood) are pulled from the same RNG table. This table has a period of 256 and runs through all values from 0 to 255.

In the following table, the row indicates the first byte while the column indicates the second byte. For example, if RAM address C30B is 162 (A2 in hex), the RNG will roll a (decimal) value of 88.

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Here is the same table in hex format:

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Some tricks and quirks that would be good to keep in mind.

If you hold down a button for a single frame, the game won't even process it. You must hold each button you want to press for two frames rather than one.

The game uses AND logic, so releasing a button for a single frame gets a reaction.

In effect, turbo button pressing would be AA.AA.AA.AA. and so on.

An optimal run away takes around 20 frames longer than an optimal reset. In addition, it is possible to manipulate C33B into giving you a high step count before another battle using a reset.

Have a Mutant learn TELEPOR before you fight GEN-BU. After you put the three KING items on the statue, use TELEPOR to get to the tower. Because you didn't walk on a certain trigger tile, poor GEN-BU never gets a chance to fight you.

Bosses are immune to the PARA element, which includes many status effects and instant death. However, most have no immunity to the STONE element, in which petrification acts like instant death anyway.

The earliest you can get a STONE Book is in World 3, in a shop in the hidden town.

The SAW is an instant death item and a monster ability. Both the ability on a BEETLE or WARRIOR and the actual item has a chance to hit based on strength. It also has an additional requirement, in that your strength must be less than the enemy's defense for it to even work.

There are four battles where you can't STONE the boss, but have access to the SAW item. It's these battles where the SAW can prove useful.

The battle RNG insists on resetting back to a default state after a reset. As such, the first action will always hit or miss depending on how accurate it is.

For status spells, your Mana needs to be at least Enemy Mana-4 to guarantee a hit from the first shot. Most endgame bosses have a Mana of 100, so in order to petrify them in the first action, you need 96 Mana by the endgame.

For the SAW item, you need Str. of 75 or higher to hit first thing. Keep in mind that if your Str. is above the enemy's Def., it will never hit!