At first glance, you wouldn’t think that Final Fantasy X’s pretty-boy protagonist Tidus and Mario would have anything in common. One is a blonde sports star whose father has somehow become a gigantic, world-ending monster, and the other is a mustachioed Italian plumber who is inexplicably in his mid-twenties.
Yet, according to a recent Famitsu interview with members of Final Fantasy X’s development team, it seems like they were going to work in the same field. That’s right, Blitzball star Tidus was supposed to be a plumber.
In that interview, FFX’s writer, Kazushige Nojima, explained that to come up with a reason for Tidus to be in the water – where the game’s main antagonist and Tidus’ monster dad, Sin, resides – he was going to be an underwater plumber who fixes pipes. However, before Tidus started wearing a toolbelt and growing a mustache of his own, producer Yoshinori Kitase came up with the idea for him to be an athlete. From there, the water sport Blitzball was conceived and Tidus’ plumbing aspirations were no more.
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Things progressed so far that concept art of Tidus as a plumber was drawn up. Sadly, none of this art was shown in the Famitsu article, although Tetsuya Nomura – FFX’s character designer – did mention that Tidus’ overalls are likely a leftover reference to his original vocation. After he became a Blitzball player, his design became more “sporty”, but the overalls remained.
The Famitsu interview also features other interesting tidbits about Final Fantasy X’s development, such as how Auron’s design was conceived, why the game focuses so much on water, and the possibility of another Final Fantasy X sequel ever becoming a reality.
To think that Tidus could have been trying to fix leaky faucets and clogged toilets instead of being a Blitzball superstar is pretty amazing. It definitely would have changed significant aspects of his character as you have to imagine that a simple plumber would have a different outlook on life than a major sports celebrity. Who knows, maybe having a regular 9 to 5 job could have helped Tidus learn how to laugh like a normal, sane person.
Source: Kotaku
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