1UP, Sakaguchi on FFI

Cite as: 1UP, Sakaguchi on FFI
Original: http://www.1up.com/news/hironobu-sakaguchi-final-fantasy-roller-coaster
sha256: c24c7cb4ff0ddc7e7b6740a4a5d9358c9f8e5db0448ca6b06ad679cd9f461050
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021100id_/http://www.1up.com/news/hironobu-sakaguchi-final-fantasy-roller-coaster
Accessed: 2026-10-22
Licence: © Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.
Credit: Article by Kevin Gifford, 1UP.com, 21 December 2011, reporting and translating Sakaguchi's interview in Famitsu that week.
Notes: Gifford's English report/translation of a Famitsu interview with Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi describes the four-person start, the hiring of Nasir Gebelli, the addition of Yoshitaka Amano through Koichi Ishii, and Ishii's role in the crystals. The article's sales figures are Gifford's summary of Sakaguchi, not a period sales statement.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi presented the concept at Square, where only three people volunteered for the project, and he then recruited Koichi Ishii and Akitoshi Kawazu.	`Sakaguchi on Square's team systemSakaguchi on Square's team systemSakaguchi on Square's team system`	Interview
Square's president hired the Apple II programmer Nasir Gebelli, who programmed the game; Sakaguchi said it was the first time Gebelli had programmed anything like an RPG.	`paragraph beginning "The core FF project team"Sakaguchi on GebelliSakaguchi on Gebelli`	Interview
Yoshitaka Amano designed the characters, at Ishii's suggestion.	`paragraph beginning "The addition of Yoshitaka Amano"Sakaguchi on Amano`	Interview
Sakaguchi said the team made a deliberate effort to be different from Dragon Quest, and that the graphics and the setting with the crystals were Ishii's work.	`paragraph beginning "What was Sakaguchi aiming for"paragraph beginning "What was Sakaguchi aiming for"`	Interview
In a 2015 talk reported by Famitsu, Sakaguchi said the title was chosen to abbreviate as "FF", that Fighting Fantasy was dropped because a board game had the name, and that any word starting with F would have done; he denied the story that it was named Final because the team meant it as their last project, while granting that they had their backs to the wall.	`Sakaguchi on Square's team system`	Web