Close your eyes, it’s August 1997.

Songs such as Wannabe and Mmmbop populate the top 100 list, Hong Kong is given its sovereignty, and the first Harry Potter book has just been released. But most importantly, Final Fantasy VII is but a month away from release!

And if you've wondered why Cloud hasn't smiled much in the Compilation, here's your answer.

Forum member Brooke dug up some old FF7 previews from August of 1997 and was kind enough to share them with us. If you were already a Final Fantasy fan then, you might enjoy the nostalgia of the excitement that had been absolutely ravaging the West after the game’s January Japanese release. If you were not, it’s a pretty fascinating look at just how beside themselves people were to play this game. Also included is the preview of Final Fantasy Tactics, another imminent release at the time, as well as a truly prophetic piece about gaming and the third dimension.

Well, it would appear that fanfics haven’t gotten any better.

I’ve never seen that shirt anywhere in my travels, it’s too bad “Sears Funtronics” doesn’t exist anymore, I’d try it out – expiration date notwithstanding. Also, it never occurred to me before how identical Alucard is to Sephiroth! And look how much Sony’s focus on 3D games hurt them through the PS1 generation and beyond… That said, it is rather interesting, considering how hard Sony just pushed a new kind of 3D at E3 in 2011.

  This is especially interesting, though. It’s an interview with all the big names (Sakaguchi, Nomura, Hashimoto, Naora, Uematsu) about FF7. It’s neat to just see how young they look, much less the thoughts behind the improvements the North American release saw over the Japanese. I’m amazed they mention the “resurrection of a certain character,” and how about VII’s development time (3 years) and that the next entry would be finished “sometime next year.” Those were the days, all right.

We hope you enjoyed this nostalgia trip and/or history lesson, and again a big thanks to forum member Brooke for providing us with it.