The parts where he roamed around the world reminded me of The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Warrior, but then he'd enter into combat and everything would be different. What a bizarre game, I thought to myself. I was intrigued.īefore I had the chance to buy the game for myself, though, a friend of mine picked up a copy and showed it off to me. The campaign worked: This 'Final Fantasy' game looked vast, intimidating, enormous, impressive, essential.
I didn't really know what Final Fantasy was at the time, nor did I particularly care that said 'summer' was just a marketing invention being peddled by Nintendo Power to drum up interest in role-playing games among American players after their big Dragon Warrior push had fallen flat. 25 years ago, the 'Summer of Final Fantasy' captured my imagination.