One of the best-selling video game franchises of all time1, Final Fantasy started as what was supposed to be the "final" game produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi for bankrupt developer Square2. With the success of Final Fantasy, Square was able to turn its fortunes around and its prophetic title turned out to be not quite so prophetic. Sakaguchi stayed on with Square and the Final Fantasy brand has had a number of sequels and spin-offs. The spin-off Final Fantasy Adventure was popular enough to create the Mana series. Games from other series (such as the SaGa series ) have been localized under the Final Fantasy brand in the United States for marketing purposes. It has also lent its name to both anime and Hollywood film productions.
Final Fantasy as a series is linked by reoccurring themes (e.g. vigilantism, environmentalism, anti-imperialism), entities and objects (e.g. moogles, chocobos, a character named Cid, Genji equipment, airships), game play conventions (e.g. active time battles, character classes), and mythos (heavy Japanese and Nordic influences). However with a few notable exceptions, each game is stand alone and can be enjoyed without playing any other game in the series.
