Prerelease:Final Fantasy VII

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Final Fantasy VII.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Oh boy. There is a lot of pre-release footage, documents, and interviews that need to be archived here. Start looking in the Japanese only Disk 4 first. Cross-reference the info to see if I screwed up a detail. This archived website has many prerelease materials to sort through. Another website here. Check what game released on a Nintendo console after FF7 and link it with the last part of the last sentence.

Developmental Timeline

1994

• Apr. - Development of Final Fantasy VII begins for the SNES, despite the developmental team focusing on Chrono Trigger.

1995

• Dec. - Final Fantasy VII resumes where Square hires 3D graphic design artists.

1996

• Jan - Development is shifted to the PlayStation.

1997

• Jan. 31 - Final Fantasy VII is released in Japan.
• Aug. 31 - Final Fantasy VII is released in North America.

1994

April

After Final Fantasy VI had finished development, Square had already begun work on Final Fantasy VII for the Super Nintendo. However, a lot of the staff were occupied with Chrono Trigger, and it became significant enough to the point where development on the sequel game was halted.

1995

August

To do: This video is good for finding out more info about the tech demo.

Originally, Square developed Final Fantasy VI: The Interactive CG Game as a tech demo to test out new hardware, and what they wanted to do for the series' jump to 3D.

(Source: Shmuplations, weeatvideogames (Video))

December

To do: Add info about how development resumed this year.

In 1995, Final Fantasy VII officially resumed development as Square recruited 3D graphic artists.

(Source: Archive.org)

1996

January

Shift to PlayStation

Wanting to keep their price low for Final Fantasy VII and needing to use more space for their games, Square knew that the Nintendo 64 wouldn't be fit for their standards. Although they initially considered switching to the Sega Saturn and PC, Square officially announced on the second that they would be officially switching the development of their future games to the PlayStation instead. This would ultimately result in Nintendo shutting them out until the presidents of both companies had already left.