After Final Fantasy 9 remake hopes were crushed by the Switch 2 Direct, Square Enix reignites the hype with a cryptic post: "If you know, you know"

Final Fantasy 9 remake hopes may have been crushed during the recent Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, but the dream will never die, because Square Enix is acting rather mysterious on social media, and fans aren't sure if it might be teasing the return of the 2000 JRPG for real this time.

Rumors of a Final Fantasy 9 remake are nothing new – they've been floating around for years at this point, and Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, producer of FF14 and FF16, is well aware that people want it to happen, although he's expressed his doubts that a remake could be squeezed into one single game. Not that I imagine that those desperate for its return would mind a Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy-style approach, mind you. Anyway, everyone wants it, Square Enix knows we want it, and official news has remained completely silent.

Recently, hopes have been particularly high. It was only last month that Square Enix launched an official 25th anniversary webpage for Final Fantasy 9 while teasing "various projects," which probably fed into fans being convinced for a few short seconds that a remake was being announced during the Switch 2 Direct, only to realize it was Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. Now, though, Square Enix has posted a line from the game on Twitter, "my memories will be part of the sky," while captioning the screenshot, "if you know, you know," complete with a crying emoji.

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Before you get too excited, there are a couple of ways you can read into this. Without spoiling anything, that line comes from the ending of the game – Square Enix might just be referring to how emotional it is if you're aware of the context. Obviously, though, everyone would much rather it mean something else, namely, 'Yes, this is a Final Fantasy 9 quote, and you know what that means.'

Square Enix still hasn't actually announced anything, but fans are going predictably feral. "Please announce it Square I'm begging on my hands and knees," one writes. "Leaving this summoning circle here. I FEEL IT'S HAPPENING SOON," says another, sharing their efforts to manifest the remake. Even YouTube Gaming is joining in: "PRETTY PLEASEEE," it begs.

So, is it finally happening? We'll just have to watch this space – FF9 enthusiasts have been let down before, after all. However, with the JRPG's actual anniversary in Japan coming up on July 7, we can still convince ourselves that there's good reason to stay excited for now.

For more games like Final Fantasy 9, be sure to check out our roundup of the best RPGs you can play right now.