Is Final Fantasy V the best of the series? Whether you agree or disagree, if you love old-school Final Fantasy games you might want to read my new book Final Fantasy V, which is available now from Boss Fight Books.
Each book in the Boss Fight series examines a single game that’s particularly important in the life of the writer. In my case, Final Fantasy V was the first game I ever imported, back in the days before SNES emulators, when the only way to play it was to buy a Japanese cartridge and physically modify your hardware. As a huge fan of Final Fantasy IV and VI, I had to see this “lost game” in the series for myself.
Final Fantasy V, the book, is about that journey, but also all about the development history of Final Fantasy V the game. I spoke at length with director Hironobu Sakaguchi all about how it was made, finding out all kinds of fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. Here’s an excerpt from the book that details one of those:
The book looks at the whole lifecycle of Final Fantasy V, from its Japanese origins to the groundbreaking fan translation project to its eventual “official” release on American soil to the Four Job Fiesta of today.
Through the lens of 16-bit Final Fantasy, I also look at the gaming culture of the 1990s, the early days of American otaku, and the ever-evolving process of game development and localization.
While you may stumble upon Final Fantasy V at your local bookstore soon enough, you can definitely buy it right now (in ebook and paperback) from the publisher or Amazon.