Akitoshi Kawazu
Production of "Romancing SaGa" began in 1990, when Nintendo approached series developer Square about developing a new "SaGa" title for their in-development Super Famicom. The request was due to the success of the previous "SaGa" titles on the Game Boy. Series creator Akitoshi Kawazu was pleased at Nintendo's request, as he could make substantial improvements to his gameplay design on better hardware. There was also demand for a third Game Boy "SaGa", so two projects began in parallel; Kawazu led a team on "Romancing SaGa", while Square's new Osaka studio developed "Final Fantasy Legend III" (known in Japan as "SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha"). During early production, Kawazu wanted to break away from the "SaGa" brand and call the game something different, but ultimately it retained the "SaGa" name. The game's "Romancing" title was suggested by Nobuyuki Inoue, inspired by the adventure movie "Romancing the Stone". Kawazu was a little mixed on the impression given by the title, but the illustrations and music helped make the game more in line with the "romantic" style implied by the title. Kawazu acted as director, lead designer, and scenario writer. The producer was Masafumi Miyamoto, founder and former president of Square.