Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi enjoys the FF14 Imp Attire he specially requested from Yoshi P

Hironobu Sakaguchi seems to have been enjoying his Kappa/Imp mascot suit in Final Fantasy 14 over the last few weeks. The series creator made the unusual request to the MMORPG’s director-producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida back in 2022, but it wasn’t until this May that a full-body suit based on the green Japanese folklore creature got added to FF14 as a limited time event reward. Since the costume made its debut in the game, the Final Fantasy creator’s character has been donning the outfit and taking snaps with other Kappa-suit wearing players, as shown on his X account. 

Hironobu Sakaguchi is known as the father of the Final Fantasy franchise. Although he left Square Enix and the Final Fantasy series back in 2003 to set up his own game studio, Mistwalker, Sakaguchi has become a self-proclaimed fan of MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 in recent years.  

Sakaguchi started playing the game in 2021 and is now considered an Honorary Warrior of Light. To say he has been an active member of the community would be an understatement, as he has created his own fashion brand SakaGUCCI within the game to sell limited edition items and even set up an in-game Free Company house called Square Developer’s Office.  

He also seems to have a fondness for cute depictions of kappa– an aquatic creature from Japanese folklore. Kappa, sometimes called water imps in English, are usually green or brown scaly four-legged beings with a turtle-like shell on their backs. They love cucumbers and can be cheeky or malevolent depending on the tale, often historically used as a warning to stop children swimming in rivers. 

Sakaguchi made a request to Yoshi-P back in 2022 for kappa to be added to Final Fantasy 14. Then in September 2023, Yoshi-P showed the first concept art for the kappa suit, which moved Sakaguchi to tears of joy, according to his reaction on X. Upon Yoshi-P’s suggestion, Sakaguchi had his own real-life kappa suit made, which he wore on stage at the FF14 Fan Fest held in Tokyo back in January 2024. The revelation that it was Final Fantasy’s creator inside the mascot suit invited many surprised reactions from attendees, with Sakaguchi declaring “I came back from Hawaii to become a Kappa!”. This May, the Kappa outfit (Imp Attire), consisting of a headpiece and body suit, was added to FF14 as an event quest reward for the Make It Rain campaign.  

According to Defaminicogamer, Sakaguchi got into the spirit of the event, taking Kappa screenshots and chatting to other players who he said “couldn’t believe their ears” when they spoke to him. His posts on X document his journey around different areas of the game in his green kappa suit. Here he is taking in the beautiful sunset scenery in Gridania.  

Although Final Fantasy 14’s Make It Rain campaign finished on May 31- it seems that Hironobu Sakaguchi will continue to wear his kappa outfit in the game.