ABSTRACT
Final Fantasy VI, released at the peak of the 16-bit era for the Super Nintendo in late 1994, has long been a fan favorite, in part because of its iconic opera sequence. This chapter argues that the opera sequence is not merely a novelty, but rather that the entire game is organized around notions of theatrical—and especially operatic—production. The use of operatic conventions in Final Fantasy VI was relatively novel at the time, though other games have since employed opera in various ways. The score to Final Fantasy VI is highly leitmotivic—melodic fragments appearing in one cue become recontextualized and transformed by their appearance in others. The Japanese role-playing game might serve as a means by which to reconcile the conflict between opera and cinema described above; by the above definition and Citron’s logic, Final Fantasy VI is certainly a game of operatic proportions.
