June 4th, 2000 - With the Japanese launch of July 7th approaching ever faster, Japanese television has been flooded with Square's Final Fantasy IX commercial. We have to say that, compared to western commercials for past Final Fantasies, it's rather sub-standard and nothing really worth touting about. In fact, the first half is the short video shown at this years E3; not really worth downloading.

What it does give us though is a good listen to Final Fantasy IX's main theme, "Melodies Of Life" by Emiko Shiratori - and we must say that we're rather fond of it.

Here's the familiar image of VIVI lying face-down in the rain. This is shown for about twenty seconds. On the deck of an airship, VIVI warms up an attack... ...just look at those eyes! Square seem keen to emphasise the presence of the crystal in Final Fantasy IX. The crystal dramatically explodes... ...and turns into the logo for Final Fantasy IX. Now the commercial goes a little... cheesy, for want of a better word. Note the VIVI toy you can get if you pre-order. 7800 yen, and coming to a store near you (well, not quite) on July 7th.