By the time Final Fantasy landed in North America on July 12, 1990, it had already been out in Japan for three years. “To be sure, we had our backs to the wall when we were developing Final Fantasy,” Sakaguchi said. But compared to what the Final Fantasy series would become, it feels almost more like a blueprint. That’s led to the common understanding that the “final” in Final Fantasy is a reference to it being a last-minute attempt to save the company, which turns out to be half-true at best. “To be sure, we had our backs to the wall when we were developing Final Fantasy,” Sakaguchi said.