Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director celebrates a Golden Joysticks win by recreating a beloved meme

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Naoki Hamaguchi tries his hand at a segway

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth characters
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director celebrated its Golden Joystick Awards 2023 win by tapping into a much-memed scene from the upcoming game.

Last week, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth took home the 'Most Wanted' award at the Golden Joysticks for 2023, as voted on by the public. To celebrate, game co-director Naoki Hamaguchi did an impression of Cloud on his beloved segway, as depicted in the tweet just below.

Final Fantasy 7 fans have been head over heels for Cloud on his little segway since the story trailer for Rebirth dropped earlier this year in September. The new method of traveling around Costa Del Sol has really won over a lot of folks for its silliness, which is actually something Hamaguchi and company are deliberately going for with Rebirth. 

Hamaguchi, for his part, admits in a follow-up tweet that he couldn't ride the segway quite as well as Cloud does in the new game. The Square Enix veteran is being a little harsh on himself here - Cloud has a stand atop his segway to grip onto for good measure, while Hamaguchi's left to balance on his own two feet and hope for the best.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is finally out early next year on February 29, 2024, exclusively for PS5. A new ESRB rating for Rebirth promises impalement, which has understandably got some long-time Final Fantasy 7 fans incredibly worried about what will go down in the remake sequel. 

Check out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PLAY Magazine's new cover for a massive 10-page spread, including hands-on time with the game itself. 

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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