The massively popular Final Fantasy Japanese RPG franchise is rapidly approaching its 35th anniversary, and its developer and publisher Square Enix has prepared events and multimedia collaborations to celebrate the series’ Coral Anniversary. Perhaps apocryphal stories state that the first game, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, was originally supposed to be called Fighting Fantasy. That name was already taken by a series of single-player RPG books that launched in 1982. Game director Hironobu Sakaguchi reportedly planned to leave the game industry if the title sold poorly, leading to the Final Fantasy name. The game proved to be anything but final, as the series approaches its sixteenth main numbered entry, and has had dozens of remakes, subseries and spinoffs released over the past three and a half decades.

There are many iconic elements of the series, such as Final Fantasy’s giant, chicken-like Chocobo birds that largely serve the function of horses within its fictional worlds. Crystals are another reoccurring motif that have appeared in most games since the original. Certain character names are reused, such as Cid, Biggs, and Wedge. These all add to the uniquely recognizable tapestry of Final Fantasy, but its 35-year history has been defined by experimentation as much as consistency. Final Fantasy first released shortly after the original Dragon Quest game, which was a major success in Japan. Square produced Final…