Lost Game Pitch Revealed: Sakaguchi’s First Vision
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the visionary creator behind Final Fantasy, has sparked excitement across the gaming community after revealing an image of his nearly forty-year-old notebook that documented the very first game proposal of his life. The handwritten draft was shared on his personal X account and instantly became a treasured piece of gaming history, as it offers a rare glimpse into the embryonic phase of Square’s earliest creative philosophy long before the studio rose to fame. The page, filled with handwritten notes, sketches and structure outlines, captures the humble beginnings of a young creator who would eventually become one of the most influential figures in the RPG world.
The notebook page Sakaguchi shared contains a synopsis of a game concept from around 1984, accompanied by a hand-drawn world map and a storyboard illustrating how the narrative would branch depending on the player’s decisions. While he did not mention the game by name, many long-time fans and historians believe the document is the prototype for Death Trap, the 2D text-based adventure that became both Sakaguchi’s first completed project and the first game Square ever released in the same year. The game placed players in the role of a spy traveling across East Africa to rescue a kidnapped scientist and, despite its simplicity, it became a significant stepping stone that influenced the studio’s future direction.
At the time of its development, Sakaguchi was only twenty-one years old and working part-time at Square. His responsibilities overlapped between game design and a separate programming assignment that was ultimately scrapped midway. Pressed for time, he rewrote the script in April, pushed into full production in June, and completed the game by September. Although Death Trap was not a major commercial sensation, it performed well enough to warrant a sequel titled Will: Death Trap 2 the following year. More importantly, it helped establish Square’s foundation during the early years of its creative evolution.
A decade passed, and the team that once joined forces for Death Trap gradually evolved into the group that built the Final Fantasy series, one of the most iconic RPG franchises in global gaming history. Sakaguchi also shared behind-the-scenes photographs from the development of Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII, sparking nostalgia within the community. Legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu reflected on those early days, recalling that even during Square’s grassroots beginnings when a small group of young creatives worked side by side, Sakaguchi naturally emerged as a leader whose direction everyone respected.
The rediscovered documents not only highlight the origins of Sakaguchi’s career but also illuminate the early creative DNA that shaped Square’s identity. They provide a profound look at how a modest text adventure prototype gradually led to the birth of Final Fantasy and influenced the long-term evolution of the RPG genre. For fans, this small notebook represents more than nostalgic memorabilia. It is a powerful testament to the passion, discipline and discovery that fueled a young creator’s journey and eventually changed the course of gaming history forever.
This rare glimpse into Sakaguchi’s earliest work hits with surprising emotional weight because it shows how the seeds of creativity that once fit on a single notebook page eventually grew into a global legacy that redefined the RPG landscape.
origin: automaton
