25 years after its initial launch,Final Fantasy 9remains one ofFinal Fantasy’s treasured classics. Considered by many to be their favorite in the series, this PlayStation 1 title offeredFinal Fantasy’s prestige presentation, gameplay, and storytelling in a high fantasy package that harkened back to its earliest days on the NES. WhileFinal Fantasy 9wasn’t to everyone’s tastes, owing to how different it was to the more mature-lookingFinal Fantasy 7and8, it roped enough players in to cement itself as an enduring touchstone for the series.
While it only has one modern port to all platforms to show for its efforts, fans have been celebratingFinal Fantasy 9’s qualities for many years, and Square Enix is finally joining them in earnest. The 25th anniversary ofFF9has quickly turned into one of thelargest milestone celebrationsFinal Fantasyhas thrownfor one of its entries in recent memory. It feels good to see Square Enix rule out the red carpet for one of its more underrated RPGs, but it’s hard to ignore how this anniversary’s top-end announcements are thinner than expected.
Final Fantasy 9’s Anniversary Has Summoned An Embarrassment of Riches
This Scale Of Support Is Unprecedented For FF9
Festivities forFinal Fantasy 9’s anniversary began well before July 7. Back in 2024,Final Fantasy 14launched itsDawntrailexpansion, which was filled with pointed references and homages toFinal Fantasy 9’s setting and characters. Then, roughly a month beforeFF9’s anniversary,Magic: The Gatheringreleased itsFinal Fantasy-themed Universes Beyond set, whichfeaturedFF9’s Black Mage party member Vivias an especially strong card. In between these two events, Square Enix put up a website specifically to keep track of everything that was happening forFinal Fantasy 9’s anniversary, and, now that the special day has passed, that site has plenty to list.
Merchandise is plentiful, with everything from plushes, to music boxes, to Vivi’s own hat being available for purchase, and that’s just the beginning.AnFF9music vinyl is being released, a fanart contest is underway, a picturebook detailing Vivi’s early life for the first time is being localized in 2026, tie-ins with the Japan-only Square Eastern mobile gamesEmberstoriaandSengoku Ixawill host new 3D models forFF9characters, and several memorable cutscenes were even arranged in a high-resolution “movie,” with more goods likely on the way.Final Fantasy 9has never had more attention, but ironically, fans had been expecting something else.
Final Fantasy 9’s Biggest Announcements Are A No-Show At Its Anniversary
In fact, there are two projects that theFFcommunity has anticipated for years that are conspicuously missing from the anniversary line-up. The first is aFinal Fantasy 9animated show from Cyber Group Studios, which was announced in June 2021 and went silent for the subsequent four years. Second, and even more notable, is aFinal Fantasy 9remake listed in the Nvidia GeForce Now database leak from the same year. Even as useful as the Nvidia leak has proven, anFF9remake’s existence has been continually reinforcedby more leaks and insider statements in the ensuing years.
New Final Fantasy 9 Adaptations Missed Their Most Exciting Announcement Window
That then begs the question of where these majorFinal Fantasy 9products are. As nice as Vivi’s backstory book is, it’snot a newFF9gameor a multimedia adaptation thereof, and the gravity of those announcements would deserve all the ceremony Square Enix is currently heaping onFF9’s anniversary. Square Enix does seem to be treating the back half of 2025 and first half of 2026 as a collective 25th anniversary window forFinal Fantasy 9, so these exciting announcements could still arrive, even if their absence will overshadow all the proceedings in the meantime.
