kit's game art archive

final fantasy vii (1997) has had its fair share of spinoffs, prequels, and sequels -- and with an upcoming mobile game (final fantasy vii: ever crisis [2023]) set to release next thursday for ios and android, it's safe to say that fans have been pretty well-fed over the years. but dirge of cerberus (2006) and crisis core (2007) are old news tonight. have you ever heard of BEFORE CRISIS: FINAL FANTASY VII?




this was a mobile game released exclusively via FOMA, softbank, and EZweb (japan-based cellphone carriers) in 2004, which solely focused on the turks' (shinra electric power company's administrative research/dirty work department) fight against the (admittedly kind of extremely awesome) eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE. taking place around 7 years before the events of the main game, it provides further backstory for familiar faces such as reno, rude, tseng, and rufus -- as well as some lesser-known figures like... katana... and knife?


knife (left) & katana (right)

...badass. these sharply named (and dressed) newcomers served as the main characters of before crisis, among the ranks of other awesomely-titled turks such as:


rod (left) & gun (right)


nunchaku (left) & shuriken (right)


legend


and several others! shoutout to martial arts, shotgun, and two guns.

unfortunately, this is the only time we've seen these turks, as they haven't been brought up outside of before crisis (which has been discontinued and rendered completely inaccessible as of 2018). it's likely that these artworks are last we'll see of them for a very long time.

if you're interested, here's a forum post from thelifestream.net with much more information on the current state of this lost piece of ffvii history:
https://thelifestream.net/forums/threads/the-ffvii-mobile-game-initiative-2004-2008-era.20015/

who knows? maybe we'll find it someday. until then, i'll leave you with some more archived screenshots and some more concept art, which you can find and scroll through at your leisure here:

concept art gallery: https://www.creativeuncut.com/art_before-crisis-final-fantasy-vii_a.html
stills of game footage: https://thefinalfantasy.net/ff7-before-crisis/screenshots.html

goodnight! <3

hey. you ever wanted to use cloud strife's phone? don't lie to me...
in any case, i've got some good news for you.



in 2004, panasonic released the panasonic FOMA P900iV in conjunction with the debut of final fantasy vii: advent children (2004) in japan. the cellphone model features heavily in the film, with cloud making and taking many a call as he goes about his sephiroth-remnant-busting business.

the phone comes with several pre-installed pieces of advent children related media, including:

- various short clips from the film that could be assigned to contacts' incoming calls
- animated avatars of cloud, tifa, and aerith
- two wallpapers (cloud and his wolf insignia, "fenrir")
- two ringtones (aerith's theme from the original game and a medley of numerous pieces used throughout advent children)
- two notification sounds (a wolf's howl and the final fantasy victory fanfare)

you can find documentation of these specific features on the final fantasy wiki here: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Panasonic_FOMA_P900iV

the FOMA P900iV utilized a sleek clamshell design, as well as the ability to twist the top screen down at a horizontal angle (like how cloud holds it in that picture up there!). it was available in three different colors ("champagne gold", "cloud black", and "bronze orange"), had a built-in barcode scanner, and the ability to make video calls.




i wish we still did stuff like this. where's the final fantasy xvi iphone? come on, square enix!