The Blitzball mini-game from Final Fantasy 10 is now, oddly enough, an official part of the Star Wars cannon.
The fantastic sport – which is mainly underwater hockey played by the inhabitants of Spira in Final Fantasy 10 – is mentioned in Star Wars: Brotherhood, a novel focusing on the adventures of Anakin Skywalkers and Obi-Wan Kenobi during Clone Wars.
As discovered by GamesRadar, author Mike Chen shared a series of Easter eggs from the novel on Twitter (below), revealing that he is a big fan of Blitzball and therefore included it in the novel.
# 6: There is a reference to a sport called Blitzball that is played in a local lake. Blitzball is basically underwater hockey, played as a mini-game in Final Fantasy X. As a former NHL writer, I loved blitzball and spent hours winning leagues. pic.twitter.com/uad4uIMcrA
– Mike Chen – LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME are out now! (@mikechenwriter) May 17, 2022
It is only a fleeting reference, but the sport is mentioned as something played in a local lake. Chen confirms that this is not a coincidence and comes straight from Final Fantasy and says that he is a big fan of hockey and therefore loved the mini-game.
It’s not the only video game reference in the book, though the other is much more on the mark. A jedi named Jaro Tapa (from the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) is mentioned in the book and is seen with a “red-haired kid”, who Chen confirms is the main character of the fallen order, Cal.
There are several other references and Easter eggs included in Star Wars: Brotherhood that Chen unpacks in his thread, including the basis of some plot points (such as the giant space corgis based on his dog).
There will likely be more references tucked away in the ever-growing franchise, with last weekend’s Star Wars Celebration unveiling the new Andor Disney + series and Jedi: Survivor video games, confirming that The Mandalorian Season 3 is coming next year.
For absolutely all Star Wars news from the event, check out IGN’s summary of everything announced at Star Wars Celebration 2022.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He will talk about The Witcher all day.