Attack of the Genetic Experiments
For whatever reason, Final Fantasy VII‘s main villain, Sephiroth, is extremely popular. But I recently came to the realization that his backstory closely resembles that of another very popular game character that came shortly before him: Mewtwo. From Pokemon Red and Green, of course.
Obviously, that’s referring to the Japanese release dates, since both games did originate there, after all. And in the case of Pokemon, I’m only referring to the in-game story, because the anime didn’t come until much later.
Oh, and obviously, there’s a lot of spoilers here, assuming there’s anyone left that doesn’t know these things and might actually care about that.
Anyway, let’s look at Mewtwo’s story.
- Scientists find a mysterious, powerful, ancient being: Mew.
- Mewtwo is born as a result of genetic manipulation involving Mew’s DNA.
- Diaries detailing the genetic experiments involving Mew and Mewtwo are scattered throughout a mansion on Cinnabar Island.
- Mewtwo is extremely violent and powerful. It becomes the strongest and highest leveled Pokemon in existence.
- Mewtwo eventually turns on its captors, and the mansion is destroyed and burned down as a result.
- In the end, Mewtwo hides at the bottom of a deep, obscure cave system (Cerulean Cave) waiting for someone to challenge it.
And Sephiroth:
- Scientists find a mysterious, powerful, ancient being: Jenova.
- Sephiroth is born as a result of genetic manipulation involving Jenova’s DNA.
- Diaries detailing the genetic experiments involving Jenova and Sephiroth are scattered throughout a mansion in Nibelheim.
- Sephiroth is extremely violent and powerful. He becomes the greatest and strongest member of SOLDIER.
- Sephiroth eventually turns on his employers, and the mansion is destroyed and burned down in the process.
- In the end, Sephiroth hides at the bottom of a deep, obscure cave system (Northern Crater) waiting for someone to challenge him.
The parallels aren’t perfect, of course. Their connections to their respective mansions are slightly different, and Mewtwo isn’t particularly a villain in the games. Mew and Jenova also actually have very little in common. There’s also the fact that “scientific creation turns on its masters” is an old archetype that predates both games by many, many years. But the similarities are very much there, and I find them a little suspicious.
Also, the main hero of Pokemon Red and Green has no personality, just like Cloud in Final Fantasy VII. BAM.