Final Fantasy VI

MUSIC TO MY EARS

» SNES » 1994 » SQUARESOFT

Back in the early Nineties, you’d be forgiven for thinking sprites couldn’t tell complex stories like your typical Saturday morning cartoons or movies. But then, in 1994, Squaresoft came along and said, “Hold my beer,” and dropped an entire opera into the middle of Final Fantasy VI.

The sixth Final Fantasy game was already ambitious, with its gorgeous Mode 7 cinematic introduction expertly setting the tone, but this musical setpiece really shows the storytelling and technical prowess of the development team. There’s sprite choreography, action, an emotional score and even ‘vocals’. I can imagine the SNES trembles a bit in fear whenever you approach this moment in the story.

Sadly, I grew up too late to immediately appreciate what was going on here, and I didn’t really care too much for Final Fantasy VI when I first played it in the Noughties… but that changed last year. As a birthday treat to myself, I suited up and attended the Distant Worlds concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It’s a fantastic event where you get to hear a live orchestra perform Final Fantasy songs, and maybe even catch an appearance of composer Nobuo Uematsu.

About halfway into the show, conductor Arnie Roth addressed the audience saying, “Now, we’re going to do something a little different!” (His own version of “Hold my beer,” now I come to think about it.) As the orchestra started to perform the entire opera from Final Fantasy VI, complete with vocalists, and a narrator! My jaw dropped. The person I’d roped into coming with me gave me an icy, “Drew, what the hell have you brought me to?” look, but I waved it off. It was fantastic, magnificent even, and it made me appreciate this 16-bit scene – and the ambition of the game in general – so much more. In fact, when I was grabbing this screenshot I was transported back to my seat in the Albert Hall, frozen with awe. What a scene! What a soundtrack!

If you’re at all curious, you can find a version of the performance on Spotify right now by heading to bit.ly/ff6opera.