Mobius Final Fantasy

Mobius Final Fantasy (Japanese: メビウスファイナルファンタジー Hepburn: Mebiusu Fainaru Fantajī) is an episodic role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for iOS, Android, and Microsoft Windows. It was released in Japan in June 2015, and released internationally in August 2016. The player controls Warrior of Light (Wol), a man who wakes with amnesia in the world of Palamecia, and must help conquer the dark forces attacking its people. The game features gameplay elements from previous Final Fantasy titles, including leveling, exploration via standard navigation and fast-travel systems, and turn-based combat tied to a job system. Common themes were also drawn from the original Final Fantasy title, such as "warriors of light" and their fight against chaos and darkness.

The game, which began development in early 2014, was developed around the concept of a mobile game on a similar level to a home console game and "a rich gaming experience, anytime, anywhere"^[8]. This prompted skepticism from both in-house staff and external sources. While some assets were outsourced, most of the development was done internally by Square Enix's Business Division 1. Multiple staff from previous Final Fantasy titles were involved in development, including producer Yoshinori Kitase; director Motomu Toriyama,^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]} project leader Naoki Hamaguchi, character designer Toshiyuki Itahana and composer Mitsuto Suzuki.

The game registered over two million players within the first few weeks of release. Square Enix cited Mobius Final Fantasy as one of the most successful mobile titles they released in 2015, having over three million downloads in Japan before the end of the year. The English version also reached one million downloads within a week, with over three million in under a month. The graphics and gameplay were praised by reviewers, although some called the overall combat experience "simple". It was awarded as one of the Apple App Store's best games of 2015 in Japan. It was also awarded for being the most beautiful game on the Google Play Store in 19 countries for 2016.^[15] Mobius surpassed 10 million downloads in January 2017 with millions more since.^[16]

Mobius Final Fantasy
The Japanese logo for Mobius Final Fantasy
Developer(s)	Square Enix Business Division 1
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Motomu Toriyama[1][2][3][4][5]
Producer(s)	Yoshinori Kitase
Artist(s)	Toshitaka Matsuda Shintaro Takai Toshiyuki Itahana
Writer(s)	Kazushige Nojima Daisuke Watanabe[6][7]
Composer(s)	Mitsuto Suzuki
Series	Final Fantasy
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows
Release	iOS, Android JP: June 4, 2015 WW: August 3, 2016 Microsoft Windows JP: November 1, 2016 WW: February 6, 2017
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Mobius Final Fantasy is a role-playing game designed for mobile phones. The player controls the game's protagonist Warrior of Light (Wol) while navigating Palamecia.^[17] Players can customize settings, graphical quality, and adjust controls for their dominant hand.^[18] During local navigation on the field map, the player taps a location on a map and the character travels to that location. In some self-contained areas, the player can directly control the character.^[17][19][20] Along with standard navigation, the player can navigate the game world using a fast-travel system, progressively unlocked as the player progresses through the story.^[17][20] Many of the features in the game, such as the leveling system and exploration, are similar to those from previous home console Final Fantasy games.^[17]

Mobius features a tactics-focused, turn-based battle system, with players able to activate attacks by tapping enemies on screen. Players can use standard melee attacks with close-range weapons such as swords, and magical attacks.^[17][19] During combat the player accumulates Elements, which are necessary to activate Abilities, the game's form of summoned monsters. When ready for activation, a tile appears on-screen that the player touches to activate the Ability. Abilities have different attributes: the Shiva Ability unleashes an ice attack, while the Fat Chocobo Ability raises defense for eight turns while automatically healing the player. Elements can also be used by the player to strengthen their resistance to elemental attacks. If an enemy's weakness is struck enough times, their "break gauge" meter will be drained and they will be left weakened, allowing the player to attack freely.^[20] A job system and character abilities related to them form a key part of the system.

The player starts off with the Onion Knight job.^[17][21][22] Each job can be leveled up using special "seed" items collected in battle to fill in a skill panel. Once the panel is complete, the job will evolve, such as the Onion Knight evolving into the pure Warrior class. As jobs change or evolve, the character's appearance will be altered to a degree.^[23] In the Chapter Two content update, Samurai, Assassin, and Red Mage jobs were added.^[24] In February 2016, multiplayer functionality was added, enabling up to four players to take on bosses.^[25]

Plot

Wol, the main protagonist, awakes stricken with amnesia in the foreign world of Palamecia.^[20] He is one of multiple "Blanks", people brought to Palamecia from other worlds and suffering from amnesia. Palamecia is under attack from the armies of "Chaos", and Wol must fulfill a prophecy in Palamecia that one of the Blanks is a "Warrior of Light" who will free the world from its darkness.^[20] Wol is aided on his journey by Princess Sarah Lotte Cornelia, the princess of a kingdom of Palamecia, and Mog, a moogle who volunteers to help in Wol's quest.^[20]

Chapter 2, entitled "Prediction and Hope", includes Wol and Mog adventuring through the Ishtar desert and Rune Temple.^[24] A side quest was also included, entitled "El Dorado of the Oblivion", which is set in the ruins of "Gold Volost of El Dorado". ^[24] In chapter 3, Wol is traveling to see Princess Sarah, who is waiting at her castle when she is attacked and held captive by the armies of chaos.^[26] Wol is then tasked with saving the princess and fighting against the overwhelming power of the Chaos giants.^[26]

In the chapter 4 prologue, Wol and Sarah begin an adventure to find the "Rune of Earth" to keep it out of the hands of chaos, and later in chapter 4 the story continues through new lands.^[27][28] In chapter 5, Wol journeys to find the source of the light that may give him the strength to conquer chaos.^[29] The sixth chapter shifted focus onto a different character, the heretic sorceress Meia.^[30]

Development

The concept behind Mobius was for a mobile experience comparable with console games^[31] and "a rich gaming experience, anytime, anywhere".^[32] Though it was possible to make a smartphone game equivalent to console games, it had yet to be done, so game producer Yoshinori Kitase sought to fill this perceived gap in the market. It was called the first Final Fantasy mobile game of this scale. While creation of some artwork and graphics was outsourced, most of the concept work and development was done in-house by Square Enix's Business Division 1.^[17] Instead of a new development team dedicated to mobiles, the production team was largely made up of veterans from the console Final Fantasy titles. The staff included scenario supervisor Kazushige Nojima and producer Yoshinori Kitase.^[31][33] The story is connected to the original Final Fantasy only thematically through its focus on "warriors of light" fighting against chaos and darkness: it is not a remake or directly related to the plot of the original.^[21] It is also considered by the team behind the game as a full entry in the series rather than a spin-off.^[34] Speaking after the game's initial release, Nojima stated that he felt his scenario was too bulky for a mobile experience.^[35]

Development began in early 2014^[36], and prompted skepticism from both Square Enix staff and its prospective platform managers, who were more used to the dominant 2D-based mobile games. One of the problems cited by project leader Naoki Hamaguchi was creating realistic facial expressions equivalent to those used in the 2013 film Frozen.^[37] For development, the team used the Unity game engine. The development team built a relationship with the team at Unity Technologies very early in the development of Unity 5 and this allowed them to have their opinions included in the engine.^[38] Despite being dependent on the Unity 5 engine, the team also customised the game editor portion themselves.^[39] The team needed to take differences between different phone models into account to allow high performance. To help with development and overcome potential difficulties handling the Unity engine, a special development environment and structure was created.^[33] The team used physically based rendering to create realistic lighting and environmental effects.^[23] The budget was far lower than graphically equivalent console titles, so the team were reluctant to buy in helping tools and had restrictions on staff numbers: one person was working on all the game's backgrounds, while three were in charge of character designs. Using experience from the development of Final Fantasy XIII, the team were able to create high-end graphics within mobile restrictions.^[40]

The team originally wanted to release the global version at the same as the Japanese version. However, since they also wanted to maintain a direct level of control over the development and operation of the title rather than outsourcing it like Square Enix usually does, the global version was delayed by a year. Direct operation allows them to ensure quality and directly take player feedback and reflect it into the service.^[41]

The characters were designed by Toshiyuki Itahana. In common with his typical drawing style for characters, Itahana created Wol to be a heroic fantasy character that both fitted within and did not conform to earlier Final Fantasy titles. He and other designers created the multiple job outfits to further convey the fantasy setting.^[42] After its reveal, some changes were made to the character's initial costume: due to negative player feedback about the amount of skin shown, the Onion Swordsman outfit was adjusted to be more covering.^[23] The game's environments were designed by Takako Miyake, who had previously worked on console Final Fantasy titles. She did not change her working style for Mobius Final Fantasy: all the assets were designed in high definition, and only adjusted slightly when they were brought into the mobile environment.^[43] The visual effects were handled by company veteran Shintaro Takai, whose main preoccupation was to make sure the game did not slow down during the flashier visual combat effects due to hardware constraints. The cutscenes were not affected by these issues.^[44]

Music

The music for Mobius Final Fantasy was composed by Mitsuto Suzuki, whose previous work includes The 3rd Birthday, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. When he was first asked to compose for the title, his impression was of a whole new setting that retained nostalgic elements from earlier games in the series, which he sought to incorporate into the score: a piece that encompassed this was his reorchestration of "Prelude". As part of writing for the game, he needed to create new tracks for game updates, which put added pressure on him to create music that would appeal to players. A concept present from an early stage was changing the battle music depending on what job was equipped by the player: Suzuki created an initial battle theme that acted as a base for other themes, then added elements like electronic elements and vocal work to give derivative tracks variety. The majority of the game's choral work, such as with the game's main theme, was done using synthesizers. Suzuki also needed to do remixes of earlier Final Fantasy music, such as the "Chocobo" theme, and pieces from other Final Fantasy games that would appear in special in-game events. Suzuki estimated that he created between 40-50 songs for the game.^[45] The music was recorded at the Red Bull Studios in Tokyo.^[46]

An official 2-CD soundtrack album for the game, Mobius Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack, was released through Square Enix's music label on February 26, 2015 under the catalog number SQEX-10534-5.^[47] The music on the album covers Chapters 1 to 3. According to Suzuki, this was due to the music feeling like it had reached a natural transition point by that stage of the game.^[45]

A second soundtrack album for the game was released on August 2, 2017. It features all of the music from chapters 4 to 8 along with music from the special events.^[48]

Release

A trademark for its original title, "Mevius Final Fantasy", was filed by Square Enix in October 2014.^[49] The game was officially announced in Famitsu two months later under the same name.^[21] Two days later, a teaser site was opened in both English and Japanese with a message from Kitase about the team's vision for the game.^[50] Its final name was announced during a livestream by the company dedicated to the game.^[22] Both titles, along with the logo artwork, took inspiration from the concept of the Möbius strip. Because of its origin, the title was changed from Mevius to Mobius.^[23] It was also apparently done in preparation for an international release.^[33] Pre-registration for Mobius opened on April 27, 2015, with a special weapon and item available to those who registered.^[51] In late 2015, no localization had been officially announced, though Kitase revealed through the Final Fantasy Portal App that it was under consideration.^[52] In a later post on the app during first anniversary celebrations for the game, Kitase confirmed that a global version was in development.^[53] The global version was released on August 3, 2016 for iOS and Android in English, Traditional Chinese and Korean. It would later be released for Microsoft Windows via Steam (software) in Japan on November 1, 2016 and worldwide on February 6, 2017 in English, Traditional Chinese and Korean. French and German support was added to the global version via iOS, Android and Steam on February 6, 2017.

Act 1	Release date
Chapter 1: Blank Slate (第1章 空白の運命 Dai Isshō: Kūhaku no Unmei, lit. "Chapter 1: The Fate of the Blank")	JP: June 4, 2015[18] WW: August 3, 2016[54]
Chapter 2: Hope and Prophecy (第2章 予言と希望 Dai Nishō: Yogen to Kibō, lit. "Chapter 2: Prophecy and Hope")	JP: July 1, 2015[55] WW: August 3, 2016[54]
Chapter 3: Chaos and the Crown (第3章 戦場の王女 Dai Sanshō: Senjō no Ōjo, lit. "Chapter 3: The Princess of the Battlefield")	Part I JP: August 1, 2015[56] WW: October 5, 2016 Part II JP: September 1, 2015[57] WW: December 7, 2016
Chapter 4 Prologue: A New Light (第4章プロローグ 新たなる輝き Dai Yonshō Purorōgu: Aratanaru Kagayaki, lit. "Chapter 4 Prologue: A New Glow")	JP: November 1, 2015[58] WW: January 10, 2017
Chapter 4: Doubt and Illusion (第4章 幻想と疑問 Dai Yonshō: Gensō to Gimon, lit. "Chapter 4: Illusion and Doubt")	Part I JP: December 1, 2015[59] WW: January 23, 2017 Part II JP: January 1, 2016[60] WW: March 2, 2017
Chapter 5: The First Warrior (第5章 はじまりの戦士 Dai Goshō: Hajimari no Senshi, lit. "Chapter 5: The Warrior of the Beginning")	Part I JP: April 1, 2016[61] WW: June 1, 2017 Part II JP: May 1, 2016[62] WW: July 2, 2017
Chapter 6: Bewitching Memories (第6章 追憶の魔女 Dai Rokushō: Tsuioku no Majo, lit. "Chapter 6: The Witch of Reminiscence")	Part I JP: October 8, 2016 WW: October 3, 2017 Part II JP: November 19, 2016 WW: November 2, 2017
Chapter 7: The Light of Hope (第7章 希望の光 Dai Nanashō: Kibō no Hikari, lit. "Chapter 7: The Light of Hope")	Part I JP: April 22, 2017 WW: March 9, 2018 Part II JP: May 9, 2017 WW: March 20, 2018
Final Chapter: Closing the Loop (最終章 終極のメビウス Sai Shūshō: Shūkyoku no Mebiusu, lit. "Final Chapter: The Last Mobius")	Part I JP: June 11, 2017 WW: May 7, 2018 Part II JP: July 15, 2017 WW: May 22, 2018

Act 2	Release date
Warrior of Despair: Prologue - The Slumbering Warriors (破滅の戦士篇 プロローグ 眠れる戦士たち Hametsu no Senshi-hen: Purorōgu - Nemureru Senshi-tachi, lit. "Warrior of Ruin Act: Prologue - The Sleeping Warriors")	JP: April 11, 2018 WW: November 15, 2018
Warrior of Despair - Chapter 1: A World Adrift (破滅の戦士篇 第１章 予言なき世界 Hametsu no Senshi-hen - Dai Isshō: Yogen Naki Sekai, lit. "Warrior of Ruin Act - Chapter 1: A World Without Prophecy")	Part I JP: April 27, 2018 WW: December 17, 2018 Part II JP: May 11, 2018 WW: January 7, 2019 Part III JP: May 18, 2018 WW: January 15, 2019
Warrior of Despair - Chapter 2 (破滅の戦士篇 第２章 凪の日常 Hametsu no Senshi-hen - Dai Nishō: Nagi no Nichijō)	Part I JP: July 11, 2018 Interlude: Graff JP: July 20, 2018 Part II JP: August 22, 2018
Warrior of Despair - Chapter 3 (破滅の戦士 第３章 未知なる一歩 Hametsu no Senshi - Michinaru Ippo)	Sophie JP: August 31, 2018 Graff JP: September 14, 2018 Part III JP: September 26, 2018
Warrior of Despair - Chapter 4 (破滅の戦士 第４章 転がる石のように Hametsu no Senshi - Korogaruishi no yō ni)	Sophie & Graff JP: October 12, 2018 Part II JP: October 24, 2018
Warrior of Despair - Chapter 5 (破滅の戦士 第５章 運命の乱流 Hametsu no Senshi - Unmei no Ranryū)	Sophie JP: November 7, 2018 Part II JP: November 21, 2018 Graff JP: November 28, 2018

Collaboration events with Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Terra Battle, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, Hoshi No Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XIV have also occurred in the game.

Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X have had original stories told alongside their respective games' stories with Final Fantasy XIII set between Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy X between it and Final Fantasy X-2.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 73/100[63]

During its pre-registration period, the game received 200,000 registered users.^[64] By July 12, just over a week after release, the game had one million registered players in Japan.^[65] This number had expanded to over two million by the following month.^[66] Speaking after release, Kitase said that Square Enix considered the game a success as it introduced the mobile community to AAA-style graphics.^[40] In Square Enix's 2015 annual report, Mobius was noted as one of their successful mobile titles for the year, stating that the higher production values when compared to other mobile games on the market had contributed to its popularity.^[67] In addition, Mobius was among the finalists for the 2015 Unity Awards for mobile games in the "Best 3D Visual Experience" category, and was named among Japan's "iTune's Best of 2015" by Apple Inc..^[37][68]

Dengeki Mobile, in a pre-release review, praised the gameplay and strategy present in early random encounters and boss battles, although the reviewer had minor reservations about the quality of the entire game as they were not able to play through all of it. They also stated that players might encounter difficulties during some boss battles. The reviewer summed up the experience as "simple, yet engaging".^[64] Famitsu, in a similar feature, praised the gameplay and presentation, echoing many of Dengeki's compliments. One thing they noted was that the performance needed to be adjusted for different mobiles as running the game rapidly drained the phones batteries when on its highest settings. The reviewer also recommended tablets over mobile phones as a means of playing the game.^[69] Western reviews were similarly mixed, with TouchArcade praising the games visuals but calling the user interface an "overly busy nightmare".^[70] Kotaku examined the game in July 2015 and called the gameplay "monotonous" and lacking in plot, though it noted that many chapters were still to be released.^[71]

For the Western release of Mobius, the pre-registration exceeded 125,000 registered users.^[72]

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External links

• Official website

Bruce Thomas (actor)

Bruce Thomas (born May 17, 1961) is an American actor known for portraying the character of Batman in a series of commercials for General Motors' OnStar service that aired from 2000 to 2002.

Bryce Papenbrook

Bryce Papenbrook (born February 24, 1986) is an American voice actor who has done voice work for Animaze, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Funimation and Studiopolis and has performed the voices for several anime roles, particularly those of young male protagonists. He is best known for his portrayals of Kirito in Sword Art Online, Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan, Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Masaomi Kida in Durarara!! series, Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Shirou Emiya in Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Meliodas & Zeldris in The Seven Deadly Sins, Red in Pokémon Origins, Kaito in Ajin: Demi-Human, and Makoto Naegi and Nagito Komaeda in the Danganronpa series. In animation, he provides the voice of Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.

Daisuke Watanabe

Daisuke Watanabe (渡辺 大祐, Watanabe Daisuke) is a Japanese video game writer employed by Square Enix. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and the action RPG series Kingdom Hearts.

David Lodge (voice actor)

David Lodge is an American voice actor who works for anime as well as animation and the video game community and is known for his voice work in the Power Rangers franchise. Two of his best-known voice roles there were as Villamax in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and Loki in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. In anime, he voiced Kenpachi Zaraki in Bleach and Jiraiya in Naruto. In animation, he provides the voice of Luxor in Tutenstein and Tenderheart Bear in the 2010s Care Bears cartoons. In video games, he voices a variety of roles, especially in World of Warcraft.

Debi Derryberry

Debi Derryberry is an American voice actress who has provided voices for a number of animated television series, anime and video games. Her voice roles include the title character from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Wednesday in The Addams Family cartoon, Jackie in Bobby's World, and Draculaura in Monster High. She is the voice of Clay in the Playhouse Disney segments presented in the early 2000s. In English language dubs of anime, Derryberry provided the voice of Ryo-Ohki in the Tenchi Muyo series. She received a Best Actress in a Comedy award at the American Anime Awards for her work as Zatch in Zatch Bell!

Eric Bauza

Eric Adrian Bauza (born December 7, 1979) is a Canadian voice actor, animation artist, and comedian.

His notable roles include Stimpy of Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon and Slip & Slide D'Peel of Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. He also voices Rodolfo/White Pantera for El Tigre on Nickelodeon, Storm Shadow, Destro and Tunnel Rat on G.I. Joe: Resolute, Razoff from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, and The Professor and Pipo Monkeys in Ape Escape. He also voiced Lord Takagami from Dick Figures: The Movie.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake is an upcoming action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4. It is a remake of the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII, retelling the original story following mercenary Cloud Strife as he and eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE battle against the corrupt Shinra megacorporation, and the rogue former Shinra soldier Sephiroth. Gameplay is planned to be a fusion of real-time action similar to Dissidia Final Fantasy, and strategic elements, and the game will be released as a multipart series.

Rumors and demands for a remake of VII existed for many years, but multiple reasons were given for why the project was not being developed. Four key original staff members returned to help with Remake: original character designer Tetsuya Nomura returned as both director and main character designer, original director Yoshinori Kitase acted as producer, Kazushige Nojima returned to write the script, and composer Nobuo Uematsu is also involved. The decision to release Remake in multiple parts was taken so the team did not have to cut any of the original content. They also decided to add new content and adjust the original character designs to balance between realism and stylization.

Hajime Tabata

Hajime Tabata (田畑 端, Tabata Hajime, born May 5, 1971) is a Japanese game director and the previous Luminous Productions COO and Head of Studio who formerly worked for Square Enix. He was the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 2 and part of the Final Fantasy Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent.Tabata resigned from Luminous Productions and Square Enix Group on October 31, 2018.

Julie Nathanson

Julie Nathanson (born May 10, 1975) is an American actress, voice actress and singer who can be heard as Silver Banshee and Jewelee in DC's animated film Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay and as Jess Black in Ubisoft's Far Cry 5. She has been voicing Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, replacing Paige O'Hara in various media since the 2011 video game Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.

Kazushige Nojima

Kazushige Nojima (野島 一成, Nojima Kazushige, born January 20, 1964 in Sapporo) is a Japanese video game writer and is the founder of Stellavista Ltd. He is best known for writing several installments of Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game series—namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the Kingdom Hearts series. Nojima also wrote the original lyrics of Liberi Fatali for Final Fantasy VIII and both Suteki da Ne and the Hymn of the Fayth for Final Fantasy X.

List of Unity games

This is a list of notable games using a version of the Unity engine. The main article on the Unity engine gives further details on the engine itself and its versions.

Motomu Toriyama

Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求, Toriyama Motomu) is a Japanese game director and scenario writer who has been working for Square Enix since 1994. He initially worked on cutscenes in Bahamut Lagoon and Final Fantasy VII. Toriyama started directing with Final Fantasy X-2 and has continued doing so with large-scale projects such as Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Since 2003, he has been directing his own team of scenario writers at the company. He is currently directing Mobius Final Fantasy and is a member of Square Enix's Business Division 1, and part of the Final Fantasy Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent.

Nazca Corporation

Nazca Corporation (株式会社ナスカ) was a Japanese video game company that developed video games for the Neo Geo. The company was formed in 1994 by a group of employees from Irem who were tired of the company's inactivity. In 1996, the company was acquired by SNK.

R-Type II's graphical style bears great similarity to what this team is known for. However, it is generally thought their first game was Air Duel; they would later make games such as Armed Police Unit Gallop, Undercover Cops, Pound For Pound, Ken-Go, and Kaitei Daisensou. Their final game for Irem was Geostorm, after which they left and created Nazca, creating Neo Turf Masters and Metal Slug; the latter shares many stylistic similarities to the previous Irem works and both titles were made with the same development kits used for several Irem arcade games. They were seemingly absorbed by SNK thereafter, and would make the second and third Metal Slug games and possibly Neo Geo Pocket Metal Slug and The King of Fighters R games. It is believed the team disbanded after SNK filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Nine of the original Nazca staff (including planner Meeher, designers Akio and Susumu, and development manager Kawai) answered questions from an undated text interview that was translated and included in Metal Slug Anthology.

Because the common use of pseudonyms in arcade titles to hide identities, details of its staff remains scarce. One known key member is composer Takushi Hiyamuta (credited with names such as "HIYA!" and "HIYA-UNIT"), responsible for composing nearly every game listed here, in whole or part (he did not compose for Kaitei Daisensou; also, although he did not compose for R-Type II, he did for Super R-Type). He was considered part of SNK's in-house band, the "Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan". He was interviewed for the Metal Slug Complete Sound Box released in 2008. The only works he is credited for since Metal Slug 3 are Yuusha 30, and producer on Sammy Corporation's Dolphin Blue, a credit he shares with fellow Nazca staffer KOZO. He currently works as a freelance musician, serving as the lead guitarist in the rock band GRowTH.

Graphic designer Akio worked for SNK after their bankruptcy in 2001, serving as the lead character designer for Metal Slug Anthology, and as character designer for Metal Slug XX . His final involvement with the company was the design of Metal Slug protagonist Marco Rossi for 2010's Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting, released a few months after Metal Slug XX. Other contributions he made directly for the company are currently unknown. He currently works as a freelance artist, remaining fairly active on Japanese art website Pixiv, and has contributed illustrations to Mobius Final Fantasy and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition.

Kazuma Kujo, credited as KIRE-NAG in the first Metal Slug, went on to form Granzella Games after leaving both Irem and Nazca, but declined to comment on the status and identity of key staff members including lead designer Meeher and graphic artists Akio and Susumu.

Atsushi Inaba, formerly of Capcom and producer at PlatinumGames, was a member of Nazca (after leaving Irem) doing income management, then SNK after its acquisition, rekindling his interest in video game development. Although details were never delved, Inaba stated he did programming work on a Samurai Shodown title and was unhappy with his experience at SNK. Atsushi Kurooka (credited as A. Kurooka in the first Metal Slug), who is also a producer at PlatinumGames, revealed on Twitter to a user he worked on Metal Slug and GunForce 2 (known as Geo Storm in Japan).

Robyn Addison

Robyn Addison is an English actress best known for her roles in television series such as Survivors and Casualty. She has numerous other television drama and theatre credits.

Sarah Anne Williams

Sarah Anne Williams is an American voice actress that provides voices for video games, anime, audiobooks and commercials. She was born in Indiana and now resides in Los Angeles.In anime, she is known her performances as Sayaka Miki in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Nonon Jakuzure in Kill la Kill, Lisbeth in Sword Art Online, Karin Miyoshi in Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Puck in Berserk (2016) and Yuniko Kozuki in Accel World. In video games, she is known for her performances as Jinx in League of Legends, Uni / Black Sister in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, Echo in Mobius Final Fantasy, Jack Frost in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, Chihaya Mifune in Persona 5 and Mist in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Steve Burton (actor)

Jack Stephen Burton (born June 28, 1970) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Jason Morgan on General Hospital from 1991 to 2012 and 2017 to present, and Dylan McAvoy on The Young and the Restless from 2013 to 2017. He also voiced the character Cloud Strife in a wide range of Square Enix products, including Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Kingdom Hearts series. In 2017, Burton returned to General Hospital in the role of Jason Morgan, under the alias of "Patient 6."

Yoshinori Kitase

Yoshinori Kitase (北瀬 佳範, Kitase Yoshinori, born 23 September 1966) is a Japanese game director and producer working for Square Enix. He is known as the director of Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X, and the producer of the Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XIII series. Kitase is an Executive Officer at Square Enix, the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 1 and part of the Final Fantasy Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent.

Yumi Hara

Yumi Hara (原 由実, Hara Yumi, born January 21, 1985) is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She is affiliated with Arts Vision. In December 2017, her management announced that she would put her singing career on hiatus and she will be focusing on her voice acting career.