The success of Nintendo’s Famicom and NES helped popularize console gaming to a whole new audience of players, so maybe it’s not surprising that many of the series that started there continue to be foundational parts of the gaming landscape. Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda of course grew into some of the biggest series in gaming, but it wasn’t just Nintendo’s own first-party games that made an impression and stuck around. In this month in 1990, a game from a struggling developer hit the NES in North America, kicking off what would become one of the most storied gaming franchises running today.
By the time Final Fantasy landed in North America on July 12, 1990, it had already been out in Japan for three years. The initial release was already a hit, but it was the English language NES version where it really took off. These days, you’d probably struggle to find someone who plays games but doesn’t know Final Fantasy, but at the time of the first game’s release, the situation could hardly have been more dire for developer Square.
