Final Fantasy Creator Considers Square Enix and Nintendo His “Homeland”
Hironobu Sakaguchi needs no introduction. He is the father of Final Fantasy franchise, he is the man behind one of the most successful and popular JRPG series of all time. With Neo FANTASIAN Dimension When reuniting Sakaguchi-san with Square Enix, he talked about how returning to his old studio — and Nintendo consoles — felt like coming home.
In an interview with Famitsu Magazine (share via My Nintendo News And Genki), Sakaguchi and Creative Studio III and Final Fantasy XIV And XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida (known as Yoshi-P) sat down to discuss the upcoming expanded re-release of the Apple Arcade title, and during the conversation, Sakaguchi reminisced a bit about his time working at Square and developing games for Nintendo consoles.
Yoshi-P’s Creative Studio III is helping bring the title to consoles, and Sakaguchi is excited to see it appear on other platforms:
“I’m really excited that Fantasian will be available to so many people again. By the way, Square Enix is my hometown, but I also consider Nintendo my hometown… So I’m really excited that it’s coming to Nintendo Switch. Of course, I’m also excited that it’s coming to other hardware.”
Calling both Square Enix and Nintendo his “homeland” is a sweet way to reminisce about past Final Fantasy titles. The first six Final Fantasy games were originally released on Nintendo consoles, but Sakaguchi’s first Nintendo-published game was a side-scrolling shooter. King’s Knightreleased in 1986. From there, he and Square continued to release various games before releasing Final Fantasy in 1987. Of course, the rest is history.
So it makes sense that Sakaguchi would consider Nintendo something of a “home”—it was the console that really launched him and Square into the mainstream. Of course, Square moved on to PlayStation in the late ’90s, but Sakaguchi’s legacy on the NES and SNES remains undiminished.
The Final Fantasy creator also told Famitsu that “…instead of ‘I want it to be a hit’, I’m just happy that [Fantasian Neo Dimension is] released (laughs). I’m really happy to be able to bring my child out into the world again.” This is the first multi-platform release from his studio Mistwalker since its inception.
Sakaguchi founded Mistwalker in 2004 after leaving Square. The developer’s most famous titles are probably Blue Dragon And The Lost Adventuretwo turn-based RPGs exclusive to the Xbox 360 (at least on the Series S | X thanks to backwards compatibility). But the studio has made a number of games for Nintendo consoles over the years: ASH: Ancient Sealed Temperature, Green Dragon Plus, Far: Shuffle DungeonAnd Blue Dragon: Darkness Awakens for DS, and The Last Story for Wii.
Since 2011, however, Mistwalker has focused solely on mobile titles, so releasing Fantasian on multiple platforms is a big deal for Sakaguchi, especially (it seems) because it reunites him with Nintendo, the hardware company that helped him get his start.
Fantasian Neo Dimension is scheduled to launch in winter 2024, so hopefully we’ll get a more concrete release date soon. You’ll also be able to listen to Final Fantasy music in the game, as a small nod to the developer’s history—though it’s mostly modern Final Fantasy music.
Let us know if you’re excited to see Sakaguchi return to Switch in the comments..
