Final Fantasy X's Blitzball Was Inspired by Star Wars' Podracing
Now this is underwater podracing.
One of Final Fantasy's most famous minigames came from a galaxy far, far away. Longtime Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase told IGN that Blitzball, the underwater sport from Final Fantasy X, was inspired by the podrace in Star Wars: Episode I (Kotaku).
"I took this idea directly from Star Wars," Kitase said, explaining that he borrowed the concept from the famous race in Episode I.
What did Kitase say about Star Wars?
Kitase spoke with IGN at the Lucca Comics and Games festival in Italy. He was talking about how much Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 owes to Final Fantasy when he turned the question around and pointed to his own influences. He said he needed to create a big sport that would fit inside the game's fantasy world, and the podrace gave him the spark.
Kitase produced Final Fantasy X, which came out in 2001, just two years after The Phantom Menace hit theaters. The timing lines up neatly with the excitement around Episode I and its big Boonta Eve race on Tatooine.
What is Blitzball?
Blitzball is a team sport played inside a giant floating sphere of water, and it mixes soccer and rugby. It isn't just a side activity either, because the hero, Tidus, is a star Blitzball player, so the sport is part of the story from the very first scene, and winning the league unlocks a powerful late-game item.
Has Star Wars ever returned the favor?
It has, in a small way. Author Mike Chen slipped a Blitzball nod into his Star Wars novel Brotherhood, and he confirmed on social media in 2022 that the reference was on purpose. So the inspiration went from Star Wars to Final Fantasy and then right back into Star Wars.
My read is that this connection makes a lot of sense once you see the two side by side, because both events are loud, fast spectacles that a whole city gathers to watch, and both put a young hero in front of a roaring crowd early in the story. (Neither one has a clear rulebook, which feels very on brand.) It's also a fun reminder of how much The Phantom Menace shaped games and movies that followed.
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Which is better, podracing or Blitzball? Tell us in the comments.
