Final Fantasy 7’s Popular High School Redesigns Are No Longer Just an April Fools’ Day Joke

April Fools’ can be a frustrating day for gamers. On top of all the fake announcements that spread around online, some developers will even tease fake games or events. Sometimes these end up being a big hit with audiences, only for them to turn out to be one-off concepts never seen again. Thankfully, that won’t be the case for the high school redesigns Square Enix revealed for the cast of Final Fantasy VII. It’s been confirmed that these designs will be appearing in a new event in Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, which will begin on April 30th.

As of this writing, this event has only been confirmed for Japan. However, as noted by SiliconEra, these events tend to be held alongside the rest of the world, so it could just be a matter of time before an announcement is made for players in North America. Details are slim at this time, but the event will center around Midgard Seventh High School, where Barret is a gym teacher looking to assemble a baseball team to take on Shinra Private Academy. Familiar faces like Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Zack have been reimagined as students, while characters like Sephiroth and Angeal are over at Shinra.

Since this is a school setting, some of the familiar weapons associated with these characters are being swapped out. Cloud’s iconic Buster Sword has been replaced by a baseball bat, while Barret is now wielding a Harisen (paper fan). It’s all very silly, but the concept was quickly embraced by fans earlier this month. The new character designs quickly inspired fan art across social media. Given the quick turnaround, it’s a safe bet that this event was always planned for more than just some fun new character art, and it’s not a result of the positive reception. This is probably just a case of Square Enix knowing its audience!

Unsurprisingly, it seems merchandise based on these high school redesigns is also on the way. Japan has announced acrylic block sets based on the art created for this event. Currently, these are only available through a special giveaway, and only in Japan. However, it’s possible this could lead to more in the future.

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Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis has never gotten a release on consoles, so those hoping to participate in this event will have to do so on mobile devices, or on Steam. It’s possible these high school redesigns could get incorporated into other games in the future, but these will remain exclusive to Ever Crisis for the time being. With the event set to begin next week, we should have a lot more information about what to expect soon. A Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis livestream will take place on Thursday, April 24th at 11 a.m. PT, so we might learn more on that date.

Are you happy that this event is officially happening in Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis? What do you think of these redesigns for the characters? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!