This year marks another major milestone for the Final Fantasy franchise. It’s the 25th anniversary of the beloved Final Fantasy 9, and Square Enix is going all out for it. It’s not unusual to see Square celebrate an anniversary, but it is unusual for the company to launch a dedicated website and release a whole product lineup, with plans for more later. Will those plans include a remake? After years of rumors, and with a Nintendo Switch 2 presentation imminent, fans are rabid.
Final Fantasy 9 hit Japanese PlayStations in July 2000, with the North American release following in November. After the sci-fi and cyberpunk-inspired worlds of Final Fantasy 7 and 8, the ninth game was a grand return to form for the franchise, recapturing the high fantasy vibe and classic gameplay stylings. While in some ways a throwback title, Final Fantasy 9 still managed to innovate with brilliant systems and narrative themes, like Active Time Events. Final Fantasy 9 is a love letter to the franchise, and it’s back in a big way.
9 was the last Final Fantasy game on the PS1, and the last without voice acting.
Last year’s Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail, was inspired by FF9, featuring locations like Alexandria and a few familiar songs and characters. Now, for the 25th anniversary, Square Enix is going further. The newly launched anniversary site says, “We are preparing various projects, including mechanics and collaborations to commemorate the 25th anniversary.”
We already know quite a few of those products. The big highlight so far is a prequel picture book, showing Vivi’s life when he lived with his grandpa Quan, which we only saw snippets of in the game. There’s also an adorable line of plushie characters, a replica of Garnet’s pendant, and two new figures of Zidane and Garnet in Square’s FORM-ISM line.
Better make some space on your shelf.
Those figures are particularly interesting, as they sport an updated visual style completely distinct from anything else we’ve seen of the game in 25 years. There are subtle updates to both characters’ costumes, and their faces have a new, more anime-esque art style. It could just be an update to celebrate the anniversary, but that seems like a weird deviation for a game with such an established style.
That, of course, lends credence to the many rumors we’ve seen for years about a Final Fantasy 9 remake. Rumors first emerged in 2021, when Nvidia suffered a massive cybersecurity leak that included the names of unannounced games. Over a dozen games in that leak have since come out or been revealed, including Dragon’s Dogma 2, Tekken 8, Returnal, Helldivers 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Titan Quest 2. Even Square Enix has put out some of the games mentioned, including remasters of Chrono Cross and Tactics Ogre.
The FF9 anniversary logo bears a remarkable similarity to the logo for FF7’s 2th anniversary, which saw the announcement of Rebirth and Crisis Core Reunion.
Square certainly seems invested in bringing back its classic games, and that line of thinking was given further credence when a French animation studio called Cyber Group announced they were working on an animated Final Fantasy 9 series in 2023. Nothing has been heard about it since, though, leaving fans in a strange limbo where they can only hope that the rumored remake eventually arrives.
In addition to all the anniversary celebrations, Square Enix also announced that Final Fantasy 9 has officially sold 8.9 million copies. What’s most notable there is that the number has increased by a whopping 3 million since 2019, which means the ports to modern systems have sold exceptionally well. That’s rare to see, especially considering the game hasn’t had any meaningful marketing push or update until now.
With such a major anniversary at hand, it feels like now or never for a Final Fantasy 9 remake... unless Square Enix is planning to make fans wait until the game’s 30th anniversary.
