The Sapporo Snow Festival features two gigantic snow sculptures of Cloud Strife and Sephiroth fromFinal Fantasy 7, courtesy of the Japanese military and show organizers.
The Sapporo Snow Festival is currently taking place in Hokkaido, where the impressive local attraction will remain until February 12th. The event is an impressive display of gigantic and intricate snow sculptures put together by the Japanese military, who move an impressive amount of snow to get things ready for display. One of the main snow sculptures this year should be instantly recognizable to most gamers, as it features two characters fromFinal Fantasy 7.
The snow sculpture diorama shown above features a Buster Sword-wielding Cloud Strife bearing down on Sephiroth, who seems relatively disinterested in the entire situation. It’s probably a small mercy that the military didn’t show a more emotionalFinal Fantasy 7scene like a certain one withAerith Gainsborough, or the tears from nostalgic gamers would probably have poured forth and created an unintentional skating rink to go along with the winter fare.
Some gamers may be wondering why the two snow sculptures have an almost ‘DeviantArt Uncanny Alley’ shaping to them, but there’s a reason why Cloud’s head seems so small on a comparatively large torso. Since snow is not exactly the most sturdy of building materials, the military decided to reduce the size of his spiky head, so that Snow Festival attendants wouldn’t bear witness to the protagonist of the most belovedFinal Fantasytitle beheading himself halfway through the week.
As if the size of the sculptures weren’t impressive enough, a light show is activated at sundown which provides a burst of color and movement to the otherwise canvas-like display. There’s also an official Square Enix shop located close to the festival, although it isn’t clear if this location helped bring Cloud and Sephiroth to the Sapporo Snow Festival in an official capacity. In any event, fans inspired by the behemoth rendition of Cloud can head there to try to get their ownCloud Strife costume.
The festival isn’t the only thing to make a large homage toFinal Fantasy 7this week, asKingdom Hearts 3made a direct referenceto the title just 6 days ago in a cross-promotional effort. Little news has come forth about the long-awaitedofficialFinal Fantasy 7remake, so fans will have to make due with a giant sculpture or two for the time being, both of which will remain in place until the end of the upcoming weekend.
No news yet on if next year’s Sapporo Snow Festival will include any of thefranchise’s favorite heroines, though we wouldn’t mind seeing the show organizers attempt a Cactuar recreation either.
Final Fantasy 7is available as a digital download for PS4 and PS3, with the officialFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeexpected to release later exclusively on the PlayStation 4.
