You will never forget where you were on the very first Final Fantasy VII Day. It’s something you will tell your grandchildren about.
Yes retro gaming fans, this is real… January 31st is officially registered as “Final Fantasy VII Day” in Japan. This announcement comes via a Twitter post from the official FFVII account.
The national celebration of the beloved Square Enix title comes on the 26th anniversary for the game, which launched January 31, 1997.
Final Fantasy VII Day
The official “Final Fantasy VII Day” was registered with the Anniversary Association in Japan.
I’m not exactly sure how national anniversary days vs national public holidays work. But I wouldn’t expect schools to let kids stay home or employers to excuse a 24 hour game binge on January 31st.
In fact, I’m in Japan right now and I can tell you that I saw not a single person celebrating.
They looked at me with confusion when I screamed: “What’s wrong with you people? It’s Final Fantasy Seven Day!”
Surely, the country just needs some time to adopt their new anniversary day.
Jokes aside, it’s quite incredible that the country of Japan would recognize something like a video game as an official anniversary day.
It goes to show the level of respect that a video game can inspire at even a national level.
Japan has a lot of pride in their contributions to the video game industry.
And gaming has a much better image in the world today than it did 20-30 years ago. Video games are not just something ruining the brains of children and teens.
It is something that can be compared to any other respectable form of art. Because many video games have deservedly reached that classification: art.
And there are many who would advocate for FFVII to be on the list of games at that apex.
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII is one of the most treasured entries in a long long loooooong franchise.
There’s close to 100 entries in the Final Fantasy series, with more on the way.
And it’s safe to say that FFVII is still most people’s favorite.
We’ve mentioned it many times on Retro Dodo on lists like the best 90s games ever made and the best PS1 games of all time. You know we are madly in love with the game over here.
The original FFVII video game title was released on the Playstation. And it has seen ports for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC, iOS, and Android.
The game was also honored with a full remake in the appropriately titled Final Fantasy VII Remake, released in 2020.
So whether you’re playing the original or the incredible remake… January 31st should surely be a day you play Final Fantasy VII for at least a couple of hours in joyous celebration.
Anthony has been a video game lover ever since he can remember. He became a fulltime nomad in 2018, living throughout most of Asia. He focused his passion in retro gaming and began creating a game for the Game Boy Color while living in Nara, Japan during the 2020 pandemic. He is now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he spends most of his time gaming, going on long walks and meeting as many stray dogs as possible.
