Editing Square (video game company) (section)

===1985–1987: First games, ''Final Fantasy''===
[[File:Hironobu Sakaguchi in 2015 (16102150083) (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=A man speaking into a microphone|Hironobu Sakaguchi (pictured in 2015) was an early employee of Square and created its popular ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' franchise.]]
Square's first attempt at a game was an adaptation of the television game show ''Torin-ingen''. As Miyamoto had not secured the license to adapt it, the show's producers forced Square to cancel the game, prompting its team to be reshuffled.<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/> Square's first completed game was ''[[The Death Trap]]'' (1984) for [[NEC PC-8801]], a [[interactive fiction|text adventure]] set in a war-torn African nation. ''The Death Trap'' was the first game published under the Square brand.<ref name="SquareInfo1998"/><ref name="LastStoryAsks"/> Its sequel, ''Will: The Death Trap II'', was released the following year to commercial success.<ref name="paper"/> Many of Square's early titles were produced for PC devices, and focused on the [[Action game|action]] genre.<ref name="SakaguchiForbes"/><ref name="PUsakaguchi"/>

In 1985, the company negotiated a licensing agreement with [[Nintendo]] to develop titles for the Famicom ([[Nintendo Entertainment System]]).<ref name="SquareInfo1998"/> The company shifted to developing for the Famicom to benefit from its stable hardware, compared to the constantly changing components of PCs.<ref name="PCbook"/> Square's first Famicom release was a port of the [[run and gun video game|run and gun]] game ''[[Thexder]]'' (1985), and its first original game was the [[scrolling shooter]] ''[[King's Knight]]'' (1986).<ref name="paper"/><ref name="SakaguchiForbes"/> During this period, the team also hired new developers [[Akitoshi Kawazu]] and [[Koichi Ishii]], artist [[Kazuko Shibuya]], Iranian-American programmer [[Nasir Gebelli]], and composer [[Nobuo Uematsu]].<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/><ref name="IwataKawazu"/><ref name="FFVillustrator"/><ref name="1UPff"/> Yusuke Hirata joined that year as sales manager, and later became the company's publicity manager.<ref name="Hirata"/><ref name="HirataEGM"/>

In April 1986, Square moved into new offices based in [[Ginza]], noted as one of the most expensive areas for companies to operate; Sakaguchi later speculated Miyamoto was hoping to attract business by appearing affluent.<ref name="Foundation"/><ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/> Square was re-established as an independent developer in September of that year with capital of [[Japanese yen|¥]]10 million, buying the original Square gaming division from Den-Yu-Sha in December.<ref name="Foundation"/> Sakaguchi was appointed as a Director of Planning and Development,<ref name="bio"/> and Hisashi Suzuki became one of the company's directors.<ref name="SuzukiInfo"/> Due to the high cost of Ginza rents, the company was forced to move into smaller offices in Okachimachi, [[Taitō]].<ref name="Foundation"/><ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/> Square began struggling financially following multiple commercial failures for Nintendo's [[Famicom Disk System]] peripheral.<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/><ref name="RetroDisk"/>  Miyamoto asked the company's four directors for game proposals, with plans to have their staff vote on the best idea. Sakaguchi proposed making a [[role-playing video game]] (RPG), believing it to be a viable project after the success of [[Enix]]'s ''[[Dragon Quest (video game)|Dragon Quest]]'' (1986).<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/>

While skeptical, Miyamoto allowed production of the RPG on the condition it only had a five-person team. Sakaguchi led development, bringing in Gebelli, Kawazu, Ishii, and Uematsu.<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/> Production of the game, eventually called ''[[Final Fantasy (video game)|Final Fantasy]]'', proceeded in "fits and starts". Sakaguchi eventually received help from the other team at Square led by Tanaka, which included Shibuya and newcomer debugger [[Hiroyuki Ito]].<ref name="1UPff"/><ref name="ff12_zjs_ultimania"/><ref name="ff9_ultimania"/> Production on the game lasted roughly ten months. While shipments of 200,000 units were planned, Sakaguchi persuaded Square to double that number.<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/><ref name="1UPff"/> ''Final Fantasy'' was released in 1987 to commercial success, selling over 400,000 copies in Japan.<ref name="1UPff"/> It saw greater sales success in North American when it was released in 1989, selling 700,000 copies.<ref name="FFna"/> Two other Japanese successes from 1987 were ''[[Rad Racer]]'' and ''[[The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner]]''.<ref name="NextGenSakaguchi"/>