Editing Square (video game company) (section)

===1987–1995: Expansion and notable staff===
The success of ''Final Fantasy'' prompted development of ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' (1988), which established many of the series [[Recurring elements in the Final Fantasy series|recurring elements]]. This and four more ''Final Fantasy'' titles would appear on the Famicom and [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] (Super Famicom), culminating in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' (1994). These were among a string of projects that Square produced exclusively for Nintendo consoles, including the portable [[Game Boy]].<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/><ref name="PolygonRetro"/> In 1990, Square moved its offices to the [[Akasaka, Tokyo|Akasaka]] district, and then to [[Ebisu, Shibuya]] in 1992.<ref name="SquareInfo1998"/> In April 1991, Square merged with an identically-named dormant company in order to change its share prices. As a result of the merger, Square's foundation was backdated to the other company's July 1966 founding date.<ref name="Foundation"/>

At that time, Square drew some of its development funding from loans from Shikoku Bank. Due to increasing development costs, the bank sent Tomoyuki Takechi on [[secondment]] to be their office manager in 1990. Takechi's secondment lasted until 1994, by which time Square had annual sales worth ¥16 million per year.<ref name="TakechiInterviewA"/><ref name="TakechiInterviewB"/> In August of that year, Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to offer shares for public purchase.<ref name="SquareName"/> Sakaguchi was by now a prominent figure within the company, and was promoted to Executive President in 1991.<ref name="EuroSakaguchi"/><ref name="bio"/> His increasing corporate involvement lessened his creative input, prompting him to give greater influence to other staff.<ref name="development2"/> Gebelli left Square in 1993, retiring on royalties from the ''Final Fantasy'' series.<ref name="EdgeSakaguchi"/><ref name="NextGenSakaguchi"/> Miyamoto stepped down as Square's President in 1991 while remaining a major shareholder, and was replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno.<ref name="Security1995"/><ref name="RPGFmiyamoto"/> In 1991, Suzuki became Vice President.<ref name="SuzukiInfo"/>

As ''Final Fantasy'' became a featured property for the company, Square produced additional projects that became successful series of their own.<ref name="EuroSakaguchi"/> The Japan-exclusive [[real-time strategy]] series ''[[Hanjuku Hero]]'', which began in 1988, parodied conventions of the RPG genre.<ref name="HeroA"/><ref name="HeroB"/> Kawazu helmed an RPG project for the Game Boy. Released in 1989, ''Makai Toushi SaGa'' (''[[The Final Fantasy Legend]]'') spawned the ''[[SaGa]]'' series, which Kawazu would continue to be involved over the years.<ref name="gpara"/><ref name="RetroInfo"/> After the release of ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' (1990), Ishii was offered the chance to create his own game, leading to the production of ''Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden'' (''[[Final Fantasy Adventure]]'') for the Game Boy in 1991. Ishii went on to develop additional ''Seiken Densetsu'' titles, released outside of Japan as the ''[[Mana (series)|Mana]]'' series.<ref name="IshiiManaInterview"/><ref name="NWRmana"/> A famous game from the period was ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', born from a collaboration between Sakaguchi, ''Dragon Quest'' creator [[Yuji Horii]], and ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' artist [[Akira Toriyama]].<ref name="vjump1"/><ref name="Mitsuda1UP"/> Among other standalone titles were the Western-exclusive ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'',<ref name="Evermore"/> and the ''[[Mario (franchise)|Mario]]''-themed ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' co-produced with Nintendo.<ref name="Max2"/> Reflecting on this period, Sakaguchi noted that ''Final Fantasy'' was the company's most recognized property, while celebrating the fact that the company would still be profitable on the merits of their other successful game series.<ref name="8yBnj"/>

Additional staff joined Square by the early 1990s, inspired by the successful ''Final Fantasy'' series, with several first working on ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' (1991),<ref name="FFIVstaff"/><ref name="SEgames95-91"/> [[Yoshinori Kitase]] acted as a writer and later director,<ref name="KitaseCareer"/> artist [[Tetsuya Nomura]] began as a graphic designer,<ref name="SilNomura"/> and [[Tetsuya Takahashi]] and [[Soraya Saga|Kaori Tanaka]] were both artists and writers.<ref name ="live"/><ref name="part1"/> [[Takashi Tokita]] became a full-time employee at the company,<ref name="GamaTokita"/><ref name="IVfaninterview3"/> and Hiroyuki Ito began his work as a game designer.<ref name="ff9_ultimania"/><ref name="1upIto"/> [[Chihiro Fujioka]] worked on several projects including co-directing ''Super Mario RPG''.<ref name="Fujioka"/> [[Kenichi Nishi]] worked in minor roles on ''Chrono Trigger'' and ''Super Mario RPG''.<ref name="CubedNishi"/> [[Masato Kato]], who joined in 1993, became scenario writer for ''Chrono Trigger''.<ref name="KatoInterview"/><ref name="KatoTrigger"/> Artist [[Yusuke Naora]] first worked on ''Final Fantasy VI''.<ref name="PolygonRetro"/><ref name="NaoraDesign"/> [[Kazushige Nojima]], known for his work on the ''[[Glory of Heracles]]'' series, joined as a scenario writer.<ref name="GparaNojima"/> Future director [[Motomu Toriyama]], who had no experience with game development, began as a scenario writer.<ref name="GStoriyama"/>

Square also hired additional music staff.<ref name="Mitsuda1UP"/><ref name="RocketInterview"/> [[Kenji Ito]] contributed to both the ''SaGa'' and ''Mana'' series.<ref name="ItoRPGF"/><ref name="GamaIto"/> [[Hiroki Kikuta]] worked on the ''Mana'' series and standalone projects.<ref name="RocketInterview"/> [[Yasunori Mitsuda]] started as a sound designer and was lauded for his work on the ''[[Chrono (series)|Chrono]]'' series.<ref name="Mitsuda1UP"/> [[Yoko Shimomura]], formerly a [[Capcom]] composer, did her first work on ''[[Live A Live]]'' (1994).<ref name="GamaShimomura"/> In 1995, Square moved its headquarters to the [[Shimomeguro]] district in [[Meguro]].<ref name="SquareInfo1998" />