Square Enix initially made Final Fantasy X’s Tidus a plumber

In a recent Famitsu interview, Final Fantasy XThe main developers of tell have taken the game from its conception to its realization.

“To put the character in the water, for the initial shot, there was a time when Tidus had to be an underwater plumber,” said playwright Kazushige Nojima.

Character designer Tetsuya Nomura even drew illustrations of Tidus, the plumber, but during development the character was changed to a Blitzball player.

Blitzball is an aquatic sport practiced in FFX, so it was a way to put Tidus in the water without him fixing the pipes.

Famitsu asked Nomura if there were any traces of the character who was previously a plumber.

“The overalls seem to be,” Nomura replied, adding that initially he had designed designs that gave the impression of work clothes. But once Tidus became an athlete, the design got a lot sportier.

Yoshinori Kitase, the game’s producer, says it was his idea to make Tidus an athlete. The inspiration for this was Kitase’s love for sci-fi movies that have elements of racing or sports.

“Until then, there had been no sports component in the Final fantasy series, ”Kitase said,“ so I thought that would be a new challenge. “

By making Tidus an athlete, the producer added, it would give him a unique identity among FF protagonists.

“At that point, I discussed it with Nojima, and he went from being a plumber in the water to an athlete competing in the water.”

Interesting! But still doesn’t beat the best Square Enix concept ever scrapped: Tetsuya Nomura originally wanted the characters from Kingdom Hearts use chainsaws.

“The first gun I showed to Disney was a chainsaw,” Nomura said previously. “Everyone has that crumpled look on their faces and no one has said a word in the whole room. “

He quickly realized that the chainsaw was not going to work, and the weapon of choice eventually became the now iconic Keyblade.