Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director: “Almost nothing” from the original mid‑’90s development survived — “there’s almost no documentation left”

“What I really want to avoid here,” Hamaguchi says, “is basically because I am such a big fan of the game. Because of that, what I’m not doing is trying to overwrite the original game with my own fan perspective version of it and create a new version of the game, which is essentially a fan fiction of it.”

Thankfully, several veterans from the original development team—including director Yoshinori Kitase and artist Tetsuya Nomura—are involved with the remake, which helps bridge the gap left by missing records.

“I’m really grateful to have them available,” Hamaguchi says. “Even when paperwork is missing, we can go straight to the source.”

Hamaguchi acknowledges the debate around “yellow paint” in games, but argues “there is definitely a need for that kind of thing”—the main question is how it’s executed.