Final Fantasy 10's brilliant Blitzball is now (technically) Star Wars canon

Final Fantasy X
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 10's Blitzball is officially canon in the Star Wars universe. 

Earlier this month, author Mike Chen took to Twitter to reveal some little-known facts about Star Wars: Brotherhood, a novel charting the adventures of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars. Over the course of the thread, Chen reveals that there's mention of Blitzball from Final Fantasy 10 in the new novel, a game played in a local lake.

Final Fantasy 10 fans will better know Blitzball as "underwater hockey," as Chen attests to just above. It turns out that as a former writer covering the National Hockey League, Chen adored Final Fantasy 10's absorbing mini-game, and put hours upon hours into winning leagues in the original game.

In fact, that's not the only video game detail that features in Chen's new novel. According to another tweet, there's a "blink-and-you-miss-it" cameo from a Jedi called Taro Tapal and a "red-haired youngling." Chen confirms that this youngling is none other than Cal Kestis, protagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (and soon star in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor next year in 2023).

It turns out there's a whopping great 42 easter eggs and other secrets hiding out in Chen's new book, according to his length Twitter thread. If you're at all curious to find out what else the author is hiding - or, for that matter, the adventures of Anakin and Obi-Wan - you can purchase Star Wars: Brotherhood right now in physical and digital storefronts.

While you're here, check out everything we know about Final Fantasy 16, the return of Square Enix's iconic saga.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

Read more
Exodus
Former Mass Effect veterans' new RPG Exodus puts us in the shoes of an organization that has "inspiration from the Jedi"
MTG Final Fantasy art of Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy VI dropping potions into water
Following MTG Final Fantasy, another Square Enix Magic collab is “likely a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if’”
Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
After 26 years, a secret Star Wars reference to George Lucas has been uncovered: "We got a new Phantom Menace Easter Egg before GTA 6"
Star Wars Battlefront Kit Fisto
After 16 years, a playable Nintendo Wii build for a canceled Star Wars: Battlefront 3 game appears to have been found, and modders are going to finish it
Final Fantasy 14 producer Yoshi-P interview's the series' founding father Hironobu Sakaguchi
After 3 years of playing Final Fantasy 14 "almost every single day," series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi reckons the MMO "might be the game that I've played the most in my life"
Clive looks to the horizon in Final Fantasy 16
10 Games like Final Fantasy to play today if you love JRPGs and unforgettable stories
Latest in Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail cinematic screenshot showing Alphinaud Leveilleur, an Elezen boy with short white hair
Final Fantasy 14's funniest speedrunning beef continues as runner who lost a world record to its original champ in just 1 day returns, beats record, is promptly dethroned again
Final Fantasy 7
Sony finally managed to pry Final Fantasy 7 away from Nintendo thanks to a "schmoozer" of a former employee who hung out with Square Enix executives at his parties, according to one former PlayStation boss
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition
Square Enix kills Final Fantasy game's mobile version after being unable to "completely fix" a bug stopping fans from accessing their additional paid content
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
Final Fantasy creator says the original JRPG's programmer was "like a god" to him: "I still strongly feel that the core program itself is the ‘life’ of a game"
Final Fantasy 14 producer Yoshi-P interview's the series' founding father Hironobu Sakaguchi
After 3 years of playing Final Fantasy 14 "almost every single day," series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi reckons the MMO "might be the game that I've played the most in my life"
Final Fantasy 14 patch 6.4 The Dark Throne
As the Final Fantasy 14 devs "continue to take a firm stance" against mods that can enable harassment, Yoshi-P says improvements are starting in patch 7.2
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip