The concept behind Final Fantasy battle system had one big inspiration… NHL Football

I thought I knew everything about Final Fantasy. I consider myself as a guru, but something was revealed today that made me go… wait that!?

Final Fantasy–a series that has been relevant for decades–had an unlikely inspiration for its battle system. What could it be? Well the last thing on your mind would be something sport related. And even weirder is the fact that it’s actually American football–NHL.

Final Fantasy old school battle system

Uh, okay.

Square Enix’s Hiroyuki Ito–a legend–originally thought about making a creative battle system for the NES, and was actually inspired by American Football, he revealed to 1UP.

“It was just a logical process, where I thought, ‘How can I create an efficient battle system for a role-playing game?’ That’s the answer that I came to. At the root of it all, though, there’s a basic kind of system that comes from professional sports… NFL Football is probably the closest thing.”

Well that’s just shocking in a way. I have no words. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.