Series Timeline - Final Fantasy
The Final Fantasy Timeline acts as a historical overview and chronological releases of the Final Fantasy franchise, a Japanese fantasy and science-fiction based video game franchise originally created by Hironobu Sakaguchi. The franchise is owned and developed by Square Enix and is centered on role-playing fantasy video games, but a number of derivative games and other related media have been released as well. The first game for the series, simply titled Final Fantasy was released in Japan on December 17th, 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom in Japan) and has produced fourteen other mainline titles since then. These entries have come out on an array of different platforms, including the PC, PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox 360, PSP, and many others.
The next mainline title, with a planned release date of April 10th, 2020 is the Final Fantasy VII Remake. Although it is technically a remake, Yoshinori Kitase, the producer for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, does not view the game as a simply updated version of the original game. He continues to say that the remake will delve into the game’s world “much deeper than ever before”. As a whole, the Final Fantasy franchise has been widely successful and occupies an important part of video game history while continuing to thrive. The Final Fantasy games are also often cited as some of the best video games ever made. This colossal powerhouse of a video game franchise has recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and is well on its way to reaching its 35th -- Final Fantasy shows no signs of slowing down. Throughout these thirty years of history, Final Fantasy has spawned some of the most iconic characters and creatures that are instantly recognizable even to those who are unfamiliar with Final Fantasy. Some of these creatures include the Moogles and Chocobos, which are often considered as mascots of the franchise. The name “Final Fantasy” was chosen because Hironobu Sakaguchi’s first games released at Square Enix were failures, and he decided that he would make one “final” effort or go back to university. To Sakaguchi and the entire company’s surprise, their supposed final game was a massive success, leading them to create a second Final Fantasy and, eventually, many others. Since the heart of the Final Fantasy franchise is the flagship game series, this timeline will emphasize the release dates of the main titles:
- Square - Formed in 1983
- Final Fantasy 1 - December 17th, 1987
- Final Fantasy 2 - December 17th, 1988
- Final Fantasy 3 - April 27th, 1990
- Final Fantasy 4 - July 19th, 1991
- Final Fantasy 5 - December 6th, 1992
- Final Fantasy 6 - April 2nd, 1994
- Final Fantasy 7 - January 31st, 1997
- Final Fantasy Tactics - June 20th, 1997
- Final Fantasy 8 - February 11th, 1999
- Final Fantasy 9 - July 7th, 2000
- Final Fantasy 10 - July 19th, 2001
- Final Fantasy 11 - May 16th, 2002
- Final Fantasy X-2 - March 13th, 2003
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - February 15th, 2004
- Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII - January 26th, 2006
- Final Fantasy 12 - March 16th, 2006
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - September 13th, 2007
- Dissidia Final Fantasy - December 18th, 2008
- Final Fantasy 13 - December 17th, 2009
- Final Fantasy 14 - September 30th, 2010
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy- March 3rd, 2011
- Final Fantasy Type 0- October 27th, 2011
- World Of Final Fantasy - October 25th, 2016
- Final Fantasy 15 - November 29th, 2016
- Final Fantasy VII Remake - Planned Release Date of April 10th, 2020 (as of February 2020)
Other Important Dates
Here are some other important dates in the Final Fantasy franchise history.
Square and Enix Merger - April 1, 2003
Although the company is commonly known as “Square Enix” today, the current company is actually comprised of two businesses that were merged together: Square and Enix. Both companies were loved by fans for their respective role-playing games (Square had Final Fantasy while Enix had Dragon Quest). Due to their similarities and a mutual desire to reduce development costs, a merger between the two companies was considered for several years before 2003, but it was Square’s success with Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts that lead to the merger being confirmed.
Final Fantasy’s 20th Anniversary - 2007 and 2008
Numerous games were released during this time under the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary project. Examples of these games include an enhanced PlayStation Portable ports of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Dissidia was another game released under this project that brought a number of characters from various Final Fantasy characters together in a single game. A collection of books entitled the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania was also released in 2008. These books collected a variety of information, artwork, and notes about many of the Final Fantasy games released throughout the years. This original release was only made available in Japan, however, for the 25th anniversary five years later, these books were updated to include all major titles up to Final Fantasy XIV and were released internationally. The English release was named the Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive.