The Blitzball minigame from Final Fantasy 10 is now, weirdly, an official part of Star Wars canon.
The fantastical sport – which is essentially 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 Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars.
As spotted by GamesRadar, author Mike Chen shared a series of Easter eggs from the novel on Twitter (below), revealing that he is a huge fan of Blitzball and therefore included it in the novel.
#6: There’s a reference to a sport called Blitzball played in a local lake. Blitzball is basically underwater hockey played as a minigame in Final Fantasy X. As a former NHL writer, I freaking loved Blitzball and spent hours winning leagues. pic.twitter.com/uad4uIMcrA
— Mike Chen – LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME is out now! (@mikechenwriter) May 17, 2022
It’s only a fleeting reference, but the sport is mentioned as something played in a local lake. Chen confirms this isn’t a coincidence and comes straight from Final Fantasy, saying he’s a big fan of hockey and therefore loved the minigame.
It’s not the only video game reference in the book, though the other one is much more on brand. A jedi called Jaro Tapa (from the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) is mentioned in the book and is seen with a “red-haired youngling”, who Chen confirms to be the Fallen Order’s protagonist, 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 being based on his dog).
There will likely be several more references hidden within the ever-growing franchise, with last weekend’s Star Wars Celebration revealing the new Andor Disney+ series and Jedi: Survivor video game, and confirming that The Mandalorian Season 3 is coming next year.
For absolutely every piece of Star Wars news from the event check out IGN’s round-up of everything announced at Star Wars Celebration 2022.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.