PlayStation 1 1995 NTCS Japanese import (Only playable on Japanese systems)
There has been a lot of speculation and misinformation regarding this demo. But the truth is, it was never created to become a full blown playable game; it was merely Square exploring the potential of evolving the Final Fantasy franchise into a 3D environment. They presented this at the Siggraph show which is a convention dedicated to computer graphics and motion techniques. Think E3 but only instead of video games they focus on the latest computer graphics technology. Square basically said, “Hey, were thinking making the next Final Fantasy in 3D, check out this interactive demo.”
That about sums up the initial purpose of this demo. Now, normally, that would’ve been the end of it however, it wasn’t.
The Siggraph demo was released in limited quantities to the press in 1996, about a year prior to the actual release of Final Fantasy VII. Poor journalism (basically no one confirmed much about this demo before writing articles about it) led to inaccurate information being disseminated throughout various gaming publications (e.g. issue 10 of Game Fan) which resulted in a lot of assumptions and speculations that simply weren’t verified nor true. Mainly, that this demo was for Final Fantasy VI on the N64 platform; then referred to as the “Ultra64.”
Square’s announcement that Final Fantasy would be released on PlayStation immediately shattered all of the rumors that the Siggraph demo was for a Nintendo 64 game. Still, rumors lingered that this demo was for a game that never saw the light of day even though Hironubu Sakaguchi, the creator of the series, said that’s not what this demo was for. (Interview: PlayStation underground #2 Demo)
While developing the Final Fantasy siggraph demo, Hironubu Sakaguchi realized that the use of computer graphics and motion data required an incredible amount of processing power. Something that Nintendo’s cartridge based format couldn’t offer but that Sony’s CD Rom disc based system could. This is what ultimately led to Square severing ties with Nintendo and developing what would later become Final Fantasy VII with Sony. Essentially, Hironubu took the Final Fantasy franchise in a new direction by embracing Sony’s disc format and the siggraph demo is what pointed him in that new direction.
Interestingly enough, on the cover of the demo it reads Final Fantasy VII however, when the demo is loaded into a system the title screen reads, “Final Fantasy VI the Interactive CG Game.” Which may have contributed to the journalistic confusion surrounding this demo.
Because the Siggraph demo contains elements that were never seen in the Final Fantasy VII game, it is highly sought after among the Final Fantasy collector circles.
The disc also contains a sample of the 1995 August siggraph show held at the LA convention center.
Regardless of what this demo was initially created for, the reality is that it is part of the Final Fantasy universe and a wonderful piece of gaming history to own.