Famitsu, FFIII 30th-anniversary interview

Cite as: Famitsu, FFIII 30th-anniversary interview
Original: https://www.famitsu.com/news/202004/27197480.html
sha256: 65d416586e7c9663cfc22183a5f61131eb62859244744988082d1d8f24501142
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20200503173145id_/https://www.famitsu.com/news/202004/27197480.html
Accessed: 2026-10-23
Licence: © Kadokawa Game Linkage
Credit: Interview by Famitsu.com with Hiromichi Tanaka, who did game design on Final Fantasy III, and Koichi Ishii, who designed the job dot characters, published on the game's 30th anniversary. The article identifies Tanaka by his then post at GungHo Online Entertainment and Ishii as president of Grezzo.
Notes: Tanaka and Ishii recall the Famicom version's development: Nasir Gebelli programmed it, and the team finished it in Sacramento; Tanaka named the Onion Swordsman; Ishii designed the job characters after Sakaguchi asked him three times; a debugger's remark cost the last dungeon its save points. The bracketed notes inside answers (Gebelli and the airship scenes, Sakaguchi as the series' creator, the Super Famicom's release date) are Famitsu's, not the interviewees'.

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Claims (8)

Final Fantasy III came out for the Famicom in Japan on 27 April 1990.	`article introduction`	Publisher
Hiromichi Tanaka said he named the Onion Swordsman because its helmet looked like a sprouting onion. Koichi Ishii said he wanted it to look babyish, like a child in cardboard armor fighting with a wooden sword.	`section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Tanaka's answersection 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Ishii's answer`	Interview
Square Enix's 2006 press release calls Final Fantasy III the title that introduced moogles, summons, and the job system to the series. Famitsu in 2020 called it the last new Final Fantasy for the Famicom and the foundation of the later series, adopting the job-change system and summoned monsters.	`article lead`	Publisher
Famitsu describes Hiromichi Tanaka as the game's designer and Koichi Ishii as the designer of the job characters, and Dengeki Online calls Tanaka the maker of the Famicom version. Hironobu Sakaguchi, in Famitsu's words the creator of the series, asked Ishii to draw the job characters.	`article introductionarticle introductionsection 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Famitsu's bracketed notesection 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Ishii's answer`	Interview
Ishii said he was on the SaGa team while Final Fantasy III was made, and Tanaka that Ishii did only its character work. Ishii said he turned down Sakaguchi's request to draw the job characters twice and took it the third time, on condition that he do all the designs and all the sprite animation.	`section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話`	Interview
Tanaka said Nasir Gebelli programmed the game, and that when Gebelli's visa ran out partway through and he went home to the United States, the team took its equipment there and spent nearly the last two months of development in Sacramento. A Famitsu note credits Gebelli with the airship scenes and other processing unusual for the time.	`section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Tanaka's answersection 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Tanaka's answer`	Interview
Tanaka said development couldn't be delayed because the team knew the Super Famicom was coming.	`section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Tanaka's answer`	Interview
Asked whether the last dungeon took its length because a debugger said it lacked bite, Ishii said it did: Sakaguchi got worked up, said he would change it, and the save points went. Tanaka said the debugger was Toshiaki Suzuki, then a high-school part-timer who had called it too easy.	`section 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Ishii's answersection 改めて聞く『FFIII』開発秘話, Tanaka's answer`	Interview