Would you like some direct feed Sakaguchi Hearts pics?

Check out team Kingdom Hearts' tribute to their former master.

2009-10-21 16:21 / Anoop Gantayat / 1 Comment

You asked for it! Well, okay no one actually asked for it. But I'm certain you, the gamer hardcore enough to read a site that covers Japanese games in English, have been eagerly anticipating yourself some direct freed screenshots of Final Fantasy father Hironobu Sakaguchi's cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep.

So, here you go, in-game Sakaguchi looking like how real Sakaguchi probably looked after Final Fantasy The Spirits Within got panned.

Of course, the above character isn't really meant to be Hironobu Sakaguchi. It just sorta looks like him thanks primarily to the goochstache.

The character's name is actually Master Eraquis. As revealed in Jump earlier this week, Eraquis is the teacher to Birth By Sleep main characters Ventus, Tera and Aqua.

The Japanese writing for "Eraquis" looks extremely close to "Square" in reverse, further leading to theories that the character's design was a tribute to Sakaguchi.

Square Enix shared the above screenshot as part of its announcement of a final release date for Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. As detailed earlier today, the new PSP Kingdom Hearts game will arrive on January 9, carrying a price of ¥6,090.

See this gallery for even more screens.