Final Fantasy (franchise)

Final Fantasy is a multimedia franchise owned by Square Enix (formerly Square) and created by Hironobu Sacaguchi. This franchise spans the realms of video games, feature films, animated series, literature and other merchandise. The main game series is the titular Final Fantasy series, starting with the first game Final Fantasy on December 18, 1987. Since that first game's release, the franchise has become one of the is one of the largest and most well known RPG franchises, as well as a tentpole for Square since it's inception. Several spinoffs have made for the franchise, such as the Final Fantasy Tactics series and the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series, as well as the Chocobo series and the Kingdom Hearts series. Final Fantasy characters have made cameos in other media, like the Mario Sports games, the Super Smash Bros. games, and some Itadaki Street games.

Outside of video games, the franchise has two major motion pictures and several direct to video films. The first one was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which released in 2001. Although it was the most expensively produced video game-based movie of its time and was the first movie with photo-realistic animated characters, the movie was a box office bomb and is often cited as the demise for its production company, Square Pictures. Another film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, released in 2005 and took place within the same continuity as Final Fantasy VII, which was one of the landmark games for the overall franchise. Other media include films like Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and animated series like Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals and Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.

Due to the success of Final Fantasy, a lot of its content has been featured in other Square Enix games. One of the most notable examples is the Kingdom Hearts series, in which several Final Fantasy characters make an appearance, especially those designed by the series creator, Tetsuya Nomura. Items such as Potions and Ethers, including some of their respective upgrades, are also recurring throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. This also applies to spells, such as Fire and Cure, as well as their respective upgrades. Sometimes, even game mechanics are reused in other Square Enix games, such as the Active Time Battle in .