Final Fantasy 7 remade in Little Big Planet 2 looks shockingly good
Before the era of consumer-driven game-making software like the Unreal Engine editor in Fortnite and Roblox gave fans another way to unleash their creativity: Little big planet.
Now, more than 10 years after the release of Little Big Planet 2one creator has completely recreated the original Final Fantasy 7 down to the smallest detail in the game.
The impressive undertaking reinterprets and recreates the original Final Fantasy 7 section by section. Creator Jamie Colliver has rebuilt everything — from Cloud’s spiky hair to the iconic themes composed by Nobuo Uematsu — within Little Big Planet 2.
It is an impressive undertaking to say the least; the original Final Fantasy 7 lasts approximately 36 hours, presents an extensive world map of various regions and contains more than 130,000 words of dialogue according to one report — dialogue that Colliver says he added in its entirety to his remake.
It is no perfect one-on-one recreation in any way, but turns the game into a platformer using Little Big Planet 2‘s suite of tools. The game does not feature turn-based combat, but characters can perform attacks that reduce a boss’s health by a certain amount.
Colliver portrays beloved Final Fantasy locations, like the dirt-covered slums of Wall Market, with building blocks textured to resemble a junkyard or signs designed in neon. So while every location doesn’t capture the art and textures of the PlayStation game, it at least manages to capture the atmosphere of each area.
“I spent a lot of time deciding what would be in the foreground, middle ground, and background to best represent the depth of field of each location,” Colliver told Polygon via email. “Wutai was particularly challenging due to its sheer size as a continent, and the many cutscenes and hidden paths, making the planning process a nightmare!”
In addition to redesigning the environments, Colliver also had to consider the size restrictions of each level. Little Big Planet 2.
“I had to get creative with fitting so many characters into small spaces, which sometimes resulted in levels being split into smaller sections,” Colliver said. “Storage space was also a big constraint, as it limited the physical size of a level. This forced me to plan out the level architecture before adding more detailed elements.”
Colliver told Polygon that the project took him “countless hours of dedication” and three and a half years to complete. He did it all simply because he loves the original Final Fantasy 7.
Colliver said: “My project is a passionate tribute to the original PS1 version of Final Fantasy 7 and I hope viewers enjoy seeing every big and small moment reimagined by a lifelong fan.”