References to previous Final Fantasy games and other media
We all know Final Fantasy IX is packed with references to previous games, but some of them might be a little hard to spot. So here are all the ones I've managed to find.
- When the Black Mages in Black Mage Village adopt a Chocobo, they name him Bobby Corwen. The first syllables of those two words spell Boco (also known as Boko), the name of Bartz's faithful Chocobo in Final Fantasy V.
- Also in Black Mage Village, having Une's Mirror and Doga's Artifact in your inventory and examining the gramophone will cause "Dorga and Unei's Theme" from Final Fantasy III to play. The items are also references, to Unei/Unne (spelled Une in Japanese) and Doga/Dorga (spelled Dōga in Japanese), supporting characters in FFIII.
- The dwarves in Conde Petie cry "Rally-ho!", a reference to the dwarves of The Dwarves' Castle in FFIV, who say "Lali-ho!" and the dwarves of the Great Sea Trench in FFV, who say "Tally-ho!". One of those dwarves is named Rallybo, which sounds phonetically similar to "Rally-ho!".
- In Lindblum, an NPC named Locke can be encountered, referencing Locke Cole, one of the playable characters from FFVI.
- Mount Gulug is a reference to/mistranslation of Mount Gulg, also known as Gurgu Volcano, from the original Final Fantasy. The name in Japanese is written Gurugu, which could be rendered in English as either Gulg, Gulug or Gurgu.
- Steiner's and Beatrix's Climhazzard ability is a reference to one of Cloud's Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII. Incidentally, the name is a mistranslation - it's actually supposed to be Climb Hazard, referencing how the Limit Break involves Cloud jumping high into the air. Squaresoft kept the mistranslation in FFIX, possibly to make the reference clearer.
- Cloud's Buster Sword can be found on the wall in the weapons shop in Lindblum. Examining it will cause Zidane to remark "I remember a guy with spiky hair who carried something like this", an obvious reference to Cloud himself (though it could also be referring to Zack Fair, the original owner of the Buster Sword).
- In the play "I Want to Be Your Canary", Marcus utters the line "No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!", referencing Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart, the protagonists of FFVII and FFVIII respectively.
- Garnet's original name is Sarah, referencing Princess Sarah from the original Final Fantasy. Garnet's real mother is named Jane, also a reference to Queen Jayne from the original FF.
- Princess Cornelia, from the play "I Want to Be Your Canary", is a reference to Coneria (written Kōneria in Japanese), a town from the original FF. In later remakes of the game, the town has been renamed Cornelia.
- The villain Garland is a reference to the original FF's main villain, who was also named Garland.
- Mog, Eiko's pet Moogle, is a reference to Mog, the Moogle party member from Final Fantasy VI. Her Eidolon transformation, Madeen, references Maduin (both are written Madin in Japanese), an Esper from FFVI. Madeen's attack was also mistranslated - it was supposed to be called Terraforming, not Terra Homing. Terraforming is the hypothetical process of a planet modifying its atmosphere to make it more similar to Earth and therefore more inhabitable.
- Examining the grandfather clock in Quan's Dwelling will give you a message saying there's nothing inside. This is a reference to FFVI, where there would be an Elixir inside every grandfather clock. Since this is the only grandfather clock in the whole game, it's likely an intentional reference.
- The world map looks remarkably like it does in the original FF.
- When Princess Garnet is first encountered, she is wearing a robe similar to the outfit of the White Mage class from the original FF. Freya wears a Red Mage outfit, and Vivi is obviously modelled after the original FF's Black Mage.
- All of the characters behave, in battle, like a different class from previous FF games. Zidane is a Thief, Vivi is a Black Mage, Garnet is a Summoner/White Mage hybrid leaning more towards the Summoner side, Steiner is a Knight, Freya is a Dragon Knight, Amarant is a Monk/Ninja hybrid, Eiko is a Summoner/White Mage hybrid leaning more towards the White Mage side and Quina is a Blue Mage.
- Steiner's and Beatrix's ability Shock is a reference to Leo's special ability from Final Fantasy VI.
- The Eidolon Carbuncle has abilities called Ruby Light, Emerald Light and Diamond Light, possibly referencing Ruby Weapon, Emerald Weapon and Diamond Weapon from FFVII.
- One of the SFX moves available during the play fights at the start of the game is Meteo, a Meteor-esque move. This could be a reference to how the spell name Meteor was shortened to METEO in the English SNES version of Final Fantasy VI.
- The powered-up state known as Trance refers to Terra's Trance (also known as Morph) in FFVI, which allowed her to turn into her Esper form.
- Zidane's strongest weapon, the Ultima Weapon, is a recurring weapon in the series, also known as Atma Weapon in Final Fantasy VI.
- One of Amarant's abilities is called No Mercy, which is one of Seifer's Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VIII.
- There is a little girl NPC in Lindblum called Elena, referencing one of the Turks from FFVII.
- Chocobos are called at chocobo footprints on the world map, which is also how they were called (or at least encountered) in FFVII.
- After the Prima Vista crashes in the Evil Forest, an ATE shows the Tantalus band playing "Rufus's Welcoming March" from FFVII.
- Freya's weapon Kain's Lance references Kain Highwind from FFIV, who was also a Dragoon/Dragon Knight.
- Necron uses an attack called Grand Cross, the same as one of Exdeath's attacks from FFV.
- Nova Dragon is an alternate translation of Shinryu, a boss from FFV ("Shin" can translate as either "holy" or "new", and "ryu" means "dragon". "Nova" is Latin for "new").
- The four elemental fiends fought in Memoria are references to the Fiends from the original FF, though Marilith was mistranslated as Maliris (this fiend was originally named Kary in the NES FF, which was itself a mistranslation of the Hindu Goddess Kālī).
- Garland's airship is named Invincible, a reference to the airship of the same name from Final Fantasy III. In Oeilvert, the stone faces reference previous airships, namely the Sky Warriors' Airship from FFI and the Dreadnought from FFII.
- When encountering the Eidolon Ramuh, he asks Dagger to complete a story for him. The story he tells her is the backstory of Josef, a guest character from FFII.
- The Gizamaluke Bell and Holy Bell key items needed to proceed through Gizamaluke's Grotto reference the Goddess's Bell key item from FFII, which is needed to break the seal on the keep in Kashuan/Kas'ion/Kashion/Kashuon and retrieve the Egil's Torch key item.
- The description for the Magical Fingertip key item references Gogo, a secret character from FFVI.
- The battle intros reference the first six FFs in noise, visual effects and music.
- The way Mist works and the way the villains abuse it references Mako from FFVII.
- Garland's palace is named Pandemonium, referencing Pandaemonium, the palace of the Emperor in FFII.
- One of Kuja's attacks is called Flare Star, which is also a move Ultima Weapon/Atma Weapon uses in FFVI.
- The sprite of a Chocobo on the Chocobo Tetra Master card comes from FFV. The sprite on the Airship card is of the Ronkan Ship from FFV. The Namingway card depicts Namingway from FFIV - if the card is shown to an NPC in Daguerreo, he will change the name of one of your characters, similar to the original Namingway.
- Gaia's red and blue moons reference the Red Moon and the True Moon from FFIV.
- Garland's purpose as an alien guardian tasked with finding the souls of Terra a new home is similar to that of Fusoya/FuSoYa and Kluya/KluYa from FFIV, who did the same for the Lunarians.
- Cid's surname Fabool, written Fabūru in Japanese, refers to the kingdom of Fabul from FFIV.
- Steiner's Sword Arts moves Power Break, Armor Break, Mental Break and Magic Break refer to the Arts of War abilities Power Break (Rend Power in the PSP version), Armor Break (Rend Armor), Mind Break (Rend Magick) and Magic Break (Rend MP) used by the Knight job class in Final Fantasy Tactics.
- The Stellazzio refer to the Zodiac Stones from FFTactics.
- The optional boss Tantarian depicts several enemies from FFV- its body resembles Page 64, the front cover depicts Page 256, the back cover shows Page 128 and the spine shows Page 32.
- Kuja being motivated by fear of his own mortality is similar to Xande from FFIII.
- The Eidolon Atomos first appears as a boss in FFV. Inversely, the optional boss Hades first appeared as a summon in FFVII.
- The item Pumice that teaches the summon spell Ark is called Fuyuuishi in Japanese, which translates as "floating stone". This refers to the Levistone/Floater Stone key item from FFI, which enables you to obtain the Sky Warriors' Airship. The Eidolon Ark also resembles an airship, to further the connection.
- The first full party of main characters you have available is Zidane, Steiner, Vivi and Dagger - in other words, Thief, Fighter, Black Mage and White Mage, the default party in the original FF.
- The story of Garnet and Eiko is similar to the story of Rydia from FFIV; both were Summoners whose villages were destroyed because people feared their tribes' power.
- Zorn and Thorn's Twincast ability was also used by Palom and Porom in FFIV. Zorn and Thorn's spells Meteorite and Light Flare are references to (and in Japanese, use the same names as) Palom and Porom's Comet and Pyroblast spells respectively. (In Japanese, Comet/Meteorite is called Puchi-Meteor, or Mini-Meteor, and Pyroblast/Light Flare is called Puchi-Flare, or Mini-Flare).
- The enemy Veteran looks very similar to the Allemagne enemy from Final Fantasy VII (it was supposed to be called Ahriman, but was mistranslated). In the Japanese version of the game, it's even called Ahriman.
- Cid's wife Hildagarde Fabool is named after Princess Hilda from Final Fantasy II.
- Vivi casting Fire in the Ice Cavern to allow the party to progress recalls Rydia doing the same thing in Mt. Hobs in FFIV.
- Both Vivi and Bartz from FFV have a fear of heights after falling from a high place (Vivi from falling out of the Cargo Ship, and Bartz from almost falling off the roof of a two-story house while playing hide-and-seek as a child).
- Beatrix shares many similarities with Cecil from FFIV - both are servants of a self-serving monarch (the King of Baron for Cecil, and Queen Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI for Beatrix) who are ordered to murder innocents in order to acquire crystals for said monarch. Both also later come to question their orders and later rebel against them.
- The Eidolons being trapped inside jewels could be a reference to the Espers being trapped in Magicite in FFVI or the Materia from FFVII.
- Steiner's Sword Magic abilities could be a reference to the Spellblade abilities used by the Mystic Knight/Sorcerer Job class in FFV.
- The Ice Cavern is a reference to the Cavern of Ice (also known as Ice Cavern or Ice Cave) from the original FF.
- The Soft item being able to one-shot enemies made of stone was also possible in FFV.
- The late-game boss Deathguise, written Desugeizu in Japanese, is a reference to the boss Deathgaze/Doom Gaze in FFVI.
- The boss Hilgigars (Hirukigāsu in Japanese) references the boss Hill Gigas from the original FF (known as GIANT in the NES version). "Ki" is used in place of "gi" in the Japanese spelling due to a rather complicated Japanese pronunciation rule that I won't get into here.
- Both FFVI and FFIX make it possible to kill enemies by reducing their MP to 0.
- The name of the music that plays during the battle with Trance Kuja is titled "The Darkness of Eternity". Its alternate title, "Dark Messenger", is also the special ability of the summon Diabolos in previous FF games (this ability is sometimes called Evil Messenger).
- Freya's ability Reis's Wind references Reis Duelar/Reis Dular, a secret character from Final Fantasy Tactics. Her ability Cherry Blossom references Cloud's ultimate Limit skill from the same game.
- In the Desert Palace, a puzzle involving three statues is encountered, one of an evil god named "Promise of the Evil God", one of a goddess named "Illusion of the Goddess" and one of a demon named "Truth of the Devil". This is a reference to the Warring Triad/Statues/Goddesses from FFVI, which comprised the statues Demon/Poltrgeist/Poltrgst, Fiend/Doom and Goddess.
- Oeilvert is a reference to the Veil of Wiyu artefact from Final Fantasy Tactics, which in the Japanese version told the story of a woman named Oeilvert. (Strangely enough, "Wiyu Veil" and "Oeilvert" are both pronounced "Uiyuvēru" in Japanese).
- The Invincible being an airship capable of travelling between two worlds is the same as the Lunar Whale/Big Whale/Magical Ship from FFIV.
- "Iifa Tree", the music that plays (obviously enough) inside the Iifa Tree, is based on "Another Moon", the music that plays when walking around the Red Moon in FFIV. The music "Crystal World", which plays inside the location of the same name, is a twisted remix of the series' iconic theme "Prelude", which is often played in early FF games when characters encounter the Crystals.
- The hidden Blackjack minigame may be a reference to the memory minigame from FFII, as both are accessed by entering a long button combination during a random part of the game (at the "The End" screen in FFIX, and while riding the Snowcraft in FFII).
- In Treno, there is a woman in the inn who will tell Zidane his Treasure Hunter rank. This is yet another reference to FFTactics, in which your character also had a Treasure Hunter rank that could be raised by collecting Artefacts, similar to how in FFIX the rank is raised by collecting Key Items.
- In Gilgamesh's cameo, he describes himself as a "treasure hunter" despite obviously being a thief (being shown stealing from people at various points in the game), a reference to Locke from FFVI who also insisted on being called a "treasure hunter" rather than a thief.
Other references:
- Examining the fountain in Lindblum will tell you "Looks like there's no place to put the medal here". Since there is no medallion, this is obviously a reference to a puzzle in Resident Evil 2.
- When Cid is turned into a frog, he looks a lot like Frog from Chrono Trigger.
- Stiltzkin's name is a reference to the fairytale character Rumpelstiltskin.
- One of the NPCs in Lindblum will exclaim "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!", referencing Bones McCoy's catchphrase from Star Trek.
- When defeated for the first time, Steiner says "Bah! Only a flesh wound!", referencing the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- The Prince of Burmecia being named Puck is a reference to the nature spirit from mythology, and more specifically to his appearance in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.
- The play I Want to Be Your Canary is very Shakespearean in tone, and is very similar to both King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. The king in the play is named King Leo, also a reference to King Lear. This is obviously intentional, as the author of the play is Lord Avon, a reference to Shakespeare, who was often called the Bard of Avon.
- Zidane having a monkey-like tail is a possible reference to Goku from the anime/manga Dragon Ball. There are many similarities in backstory between Zidane and Goku (coming from a different planet but being unaware of it at first, being sent to wipe out the lifeforms on the planet but forgetting their mission, etc. etc.).
- Sir Fratley is a reference to Michael Flatley (both names are written Furattorē in Japanese).
- Necron's line "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." was originally said by Yoda in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
That's all I can think of. Are there any I missed?
