Blitzball, the notorious undersea sport from Final Fantasy 10, is canon in Star Wars lore. Kind of, anyway.
Several weeks back, author Mike Chen began listing pop culture easter eggs from his Star Wars: Brotherhood novel (thanks, Gamesradar).
“There’s a reference to a sport called Blitzball played in a local lake. Blitzball is basically underwater hockey played as a minigame in Final Fantasy 10,” Chen said on Twitter. “As a former NHL writer, I freaking loved Blitzball and spent hours winning leagues.”
I’d argue that Blitzball is closer to soccer than hockey since players kick a ball, but whatever! It’s arguably the most infamous minigame ever, and many Final Fantasy 10 fans will tell you they’ve never won a Blitzball match. I certainly haven’t!
Curiously enough, that’s not the only video game reference in Star Wars: Brotherhood. The story, which follows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, also features a brief cameo from Jedi: Fallen Order protagonist Cal Kestis. He’ll be back in the sequel Jedi: Survivor too.
Final Fantasy is overflowing with Star Wars references. So it’s fitting that the latter is finally looping back around to acknowledge the former.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
