The Theatrhythm series was almost named 'Final Fantasy is Music'
Well, that's straightforward!
THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE is out now on Switch, and it’s the latest installment in the THEATRHYTHM series that started 12 years ago. In honor of the occasion, Square Enix has shared a developer interview about the series as a whole, and it’s revealed one very interesting tidbit about the franchise’s name.
THEATRHYTHM may not be the easiest name to say (or spell!), but a decade+ after its reveal, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Oddly enough, Square Enix did consider going a completely different direction before they settled on THEATRHYTHM, as was revealed by series director Masanobu Suzui.
We started talking about plans for the first THEATRHYTHM game around 12 years ago. It all began with long-time series producer Ichiro Hazama coming to us, to discuss his ideas for making a rhythm game that used FINAL FANTASY music.
The tentative title we came up with was the rather grand sounding “FINAL FANTASY is Music” (pained laugh).
The name “THEATRHYTHM” was proposed by Mr. Tetsuya Nomura during development on the first game. It’s a very unique and distinctive name, which sounds like nothing else out there, so I think it’s a great title for the series.
Incidentally, the subtitle for this latest game “Final Bar Line” was also decided upon in a conversation with Mr. Nomura. The key words “final line/ double bar line” came to mind from the music related motifs used in the stave notation UI design, and that led on to the final title.
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