Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

The original release for Final Fantasy IX is nearing its 25th anniversary, with the game’s debut on Japanese PSX on July 7, 2000. In honor of that anniversary coming up, over the weekend Square Enix published a new anniversary-themed website on the Japanese Final Fantasy domain, featuring new art.

The site is primarily a placeholder at the moment, with more details around celebrations of the anniversary coming soon, but a few things were announced at launch, most of them merch:

• A new vinyl album, to be released on July 9
• A picture book featuring a new story of Vivi from before the events of the game, releasing July 2
• Collectibles including new figures of Zidane and Garnet, a pendant based on Garnet’s Alexandrian necklace, and a line of plush characters, all available for preorder now
• Themed eyeglasses and capsule toys in collaboration with Japanese eyewear brand Zoff

The website also mentions a “Commemorative Lottery,” but has no details as to what exactly that might mean yet.

Of course, all of these things are Japan-specific, though it may turn out that some of the physical items may be shippable elsewhere or may also be sold out of other regions in the future. Who knows, maybe the rumored remake of Final Fantasy IX might be a future announcement; I’d pick that up in a heartbeat.

Source: Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary Special Page

To this date, I'm surprised that merch in the form of themed eyeglass frames exists. I saw some for Madoka Magica years ago and I was like, "who would buy this?".

I guess someone out there will.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 10th April 2025 20:17)

To this date, I'm surprised that merch in the form of themed eyeglass frames exists. I saw some for Madoka Magica years ago and I was like, "who would buy this?".

I guess someone out there will.

It's funny, because I've looked at themed sunglasses before and thought about trying a pair, but yeah, eyeglasses that I wear every waking moment seems like a weird thing. I guess the difference is that if you are wearing them literally all the time you'd want ones that are a little more subtle and not too flashy, and that kind of defeats the purpose of getting themed ones in the first place?

It looks like this Zoff brand does it fairly frequently and the stuff I see on their Twitter doesn't look too crazy from a brief glance, so I dunno. Moot point anyway since I don't think we're the target market either in terms of personality or region.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?