It might be hard for some to fathom this, but we are nearly 25 years removed from the release of Final Fantasy X. I know, you weren’t the only one who felt old when reading that. Celebrated as one of the best video games ever released, Final Fantasy X follows Tidus, an elite athlete, who gets yanked from his comfortable life when a monstrous creature called Sin wipes out his home city. What follows is a cross-country trek with Yuna, a summoner who’s hell-bent on ending Sin’s reign of terror. This is admittedly a gross oversimplification of the game’s now-revered story, but it’ll suffice for now. Because I’m not here to list off the 100,000 reasons why Final Fantasy X is great, you already know it’s great. I’m here to talk about blitzball, baby!
For the few of you reading who haven’t at least dabbled in Final Fantasy X (you don’t know what you’re missing), blitzball is a fictional sport that is featured quite prominently in the game. In fact, it’s the main character’s main occupation until an “act of God” changes his life course. And let me tell you this: It’s awesome! And even some two-and-a-half decades later, I still think this fake sport is worth its own standalone game.
