A fan-favourite character from the PS1 classic RPG Final Fantasy 9 will be joining Square Enix’s upcoming kart racer Chocobo GP.
Black Mage Vivi Ornitier will be taking to the racetrack when the Nintendo Switch game launches on March 10, with a new spotlight on the character being revealed on Chocobo GP’s official Japanese Twitter account.
黒魔道士のビビも参戦
マシンのモチーフにもご注目！
(CV: #大谷育江 さん)レース開幕まであと70日！#チョコボGP pic.twitter.com/F544UbCqhA
— チョコボGP公式 (@Chocobo_GP) December 30, 2021
Although Vivi was glimpsed in the game’s reveal trailer back in December 2021 – alongside his ally Steiner – the latest update from the official Chocobo GP Japanese Twitter account also provides more details on the character’s appearance in the game.
The snippet shows Vivi racing around a track seemingly based on Alexandria, a key location in Final Fantasy 9, and players can also hear an up-tempo remix of “Melodies of Life”, the main theme from Final Fantasy 9.
Voice actress Ikue Ōtani will also return to voice the character, a role she has performed since Vivi’s first speaking appearance in Kingdom Hearts II. There’s no word yet on whether Melissa Disney, Vivi’s English language voice actress, will also return.
Chocobo GP will see players zooming around locations from various Final Fantasy games, collecting power-ups based on Magicite, a powerful crystal found in many entries in the series. Unlike many entries in the kart racing genre though, not everyone in Chocobo GP seems to stick to karts though – the eponymous Chocobos seem to race on rocket-powered rollerblades, while Vivi himself is in a bumper car.
While the cute racing spin-off is set to launch in just over two months, the next core Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy 16, has had its development delayed by six months, with producer Naoki Yoshida blaming the impact of the COVID pandemic. The upcoming epic returns to a more medieval style of fantasy, much like Final Fantasy 9.
In other news, Hideo Kojima has said he’s working on a “radical project” for 2022, while also dabbling in a radio project on the side.
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