Final Fantasy – The 25th Anniversary of a Game that wrote Video Game Culture History
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Not many video game series beside Mario and Zelda were as successful as these role playing games about crystals, job classes, relative linear gameplay and for the most part level grinding and reading through a ton of texts 🙂 Final Fantasy I which was released on the 18th December 1987 on the NES in Japan was a lot different than the Final Fantasy games we know today, there were no big stories and the heroes did not even have their own names.
You pick among the job classes of your four heroes of light and that was it. There were no fancy videoclips or orchestral music, no Chocobos or even a love story between the main protagonists. This is an art tribute for the first game of the very popular Final Fantasy games, and most likely the only one while others might focus on the newer games. There is no Cloud and no Lightning in this gallery, it is all about nearly forgotten video game history here. Welcome to a little journey back to 1987! |
The FF NES Cover remade by DaredesignStudio |
Please click on this artwork to enlarge it and see the many many details Blackorb00 draw for his tribute to Final Fantasy
You see the Warriors of Light and their helpers there as well as Chaos, Garland and the four fiends
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The Black and the White Mages fighting a Chimera, this enemy returned in almost all Final Fantasy games. This artwork was drawn by Fredik Mattsson, please click on it for the fullsized version |
Airships appear in almost all Final Fantasy games since the first part, this is the moment when the FFI quest truly begins after the Airship got lifted out of the desert.
drawn by Bryce Corbett
The Warriors of Light
The 6 Warriors of Light, drawn by Isaiah Amancio
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In Final Fantasy you can choose among 6 character / job classes at the beginning. They are the Warrior, Thief, Monk and the White, Black and Red Mages. The following artworks are all about these possible “Warriors of Light”! |
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The Warrior by PurpleKoga |
The Thief by Gwendybee |
The White Mage by Sikho |
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Coming Soon! The Black Mage
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The Red Mage by Emeraltana |
Coming Soon! The Monk
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At a certain point in the game, the mighty Bahamut appears and “upgrades” the jobclasses of the Light Warriors to Knight Black / White/ Red Wizard Ninja and Master
drawn by OverOneHundred
The Warriors of Light? Nay not really, but Ed Moffatt hat the Idea to let some recurring enemies of the Final Fantasy series dress up as them for a change, time for the Tonberry, the Cactuar, the Pudding, the Bomber and the Goblin for new roles!
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If you were lost in the game and you forgot where to go next, you could always visit Arylon, the Dancer. She would give you hints and always knows where you have to go |
 by OverOneHundred |
The Chaos Side
In Final Fantasy I the final boss is Chaos the “God of Discord” as he is called later in Final Fantasy Dissidia. After the Warriors of Light got their tribute, now it is time for the antagonists of the game
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The four Fiends by Dourdan |
Chaos by Doctor G |
Warmech |
A few contributions not about Final Fantasy I but the whole series and later titles
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Ifirit, Bahamut and Shiva, the 3 popular Summons drawn by Hybridmink. There might be an art tribute to the Summons /Espers/Eidolons in 2013 or 2014 on GAHQ |
The Warrior of Light and Firion from Final Fantasy II forward to new battles drawn by Ephemeralvision. There will be an art tribute about Final Fantasy Protagonists in 2013 on Game Art HQ for sure. |
Thanks a ton to the Artists who are also Final Fantasy fans and participated in this art project about such an old game
Thanks @ everyone who created this great start of the Final Fantasy series for us over 25 years ago!
