500 Years Later: An Oral History of Final Fantasy 7, by Polygon’s own Matt Leone, is an extensive chronicle detailing Square Enix’s creation of the legendary game. Originally published on Polygon in 2017 and printed a year later, the story has just received a second edition courtesy of the publishers at Read-Only Memory.
The hardcover tome offers 240-pages of detailed interviews from more than 30 developers, designers, and artists who worked to bring Final Fantasy 7 to life. The print version of this epic tale includes commissioned illustrations by artist Sparrows, in addition to eight interviews not found in the original 2017 online publication.
The second edition arrives just in time for this month’s release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PlayStation 5, and the printing has been improved with enlarged text, dark turquoise ink, and a new holofoil cover, but is otherwise unchanged from the original. If you’d like to add this impressive insight into video game history to your shelves, you can pick up a copy for $37.99 exclusively from Read-Only Memory.
For more examples of Matt’s work, we’d encourage you to check out Like a Hurricane: An Unofficial Oral History of Street Fighter 2, available from Read-Only Memory, Amazon, and the Polygon Store. Initially published as a series of articles on Polygon, Like a Hurricane is the culmination of years of research and features interviews with more than 60 professionals who played a role in creating the classic fighting game.