How Final Fantasy XIII's 16-Bit Trailer Came Together

Yesterday, Square Enix released an awesome 16-bit trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, recapping the story so far with retro graphics. This morning, associate product marketing manager Mat Kishimoto explained to IGN how that project came together.

“This trailer was made in close partnership between the Square Enix Japan and the Square Enix America offices,” Kishimoto explained to IGN, adding that actual development took place in the US. “This was only built as animation. No segment within the trailer was ever playable as a game. We utilized a lot of different tools to create it. While we can’t go into all the details of how the audio or video files were created, the process included creating assets from scratch by referring to the SNES version graphics --this took hours upon hours -- making ‘old school’ sprites into current day resolution, and a lot of building from the ground up.”

Kishimoto noted that the project took approximately six months to develop, but added that it “did not take any time away” from Final Fantasy development. “This trailer was a collaborative effort between the development team along with various global Square Enix teams with the ultimate goal to tell the story of the Final Fantasy XIII franchise to excite fans in anticipation of Lightning Returns,” Kishimoto said. “We knew it would be challenging to compress the stories of this franchise because the games’ lengths were quite long and the story is expansive.”

“The idea was approved in-person from Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of both Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy VI, last November at the Square Enix Japan offices,” he continued. “We also worked with the sound team to make sure that the music fit seamlessly with the scenes and ended up going through 20+ rounds of revisions. While there was some hesitation initially, none of us expected the community to react so positively. Each step of the process was a challenging one, but it was a great experience to give something like this back to the Final Fantasy community as the release date for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII gets closer and closer.”

As for the original idea behind the trailer, Kishimoto explained it was “a two-pronged approach.”

“First, we needed to educate Final Fantasy fans who may have never played Final Fantasy XIII or Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a way that was still relatable by including classic Final Fantasy references,” he said. “Secondly, we knew if we just used the high resolution cinematic cut scenes, it would only resonate with those that were familiar with [Final Fantasy XIII]. But in order to excite more people to experience Lightning’s journey, we listened to the passionate Final Fantasy fan base to choose this specific style.”

“This was a global project that came to fruition thanks to the collaborative efforts with the development team in Japan,” he concluded. “Though this will not be a playable game, we hope you all have enjoyed it.”

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will hit stores on February 11th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For much more, read the developers’ answers to your questions, plus our hands-on impressions. Look out for our review closer to launch.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

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