Final Fantasy (universe)

Final Fantasy (universe)
	;
Developer(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft)
Publisher(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft)
Designer(s)	Hironobu Sakaguchi; Tetsuya Nomura
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System
First installment	Final Fantasy (1987)
Latest installment	Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy (2026)
Article on Wikipedia	Final Fantasy (universe)

The Final Fantasy universe (ファイナルファンタジー, Final Fantasy), stylized in-game as FINAL FANTASY and FINAL FANTASY VII, refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties hailing from the long-running role-playing game (RPG) franchise created and owned by Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft). Since the release of its first installment in 1987, the franchise is one of the best-selling Japanese RPG series in the world and is considered one of the most innovative, with numerous breakthroughs in its usage of in-game graphics, full-motion videos, and various visual and sound content throughout the series' lifespan. The single best-selling and most popular entry in the franchise is Final Fantasy VII, originally released in 1997. Likewise, its protagonist Cloud Strife and antagonist Sephiroth are among the most recognizable characters in the entire Final Fantasy franchise. This series, in addition to Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts, is considered to be a flagship franchise for the publisher and a pioneer of the RPG genre.

Franchise description[edit]

Logo of Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy is one of the leading and most influential forebearers of Japanese RPGs. Numbered installments of the series are largely unrelated, featuring entirely different worlds and casts of characters. The series is connected by overarching themes and motifs, including the Crystals, its character-driven stories of life, loss, love, and power, its bestiary of foes and summons, recurring magic spells, classes, and weaponry, and iconic species such as Chocobos and Moogles. The series was also initially known for its painterly promotion artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, and its music by Nobuo Uematsu.

During his time at Square in the late 1980s, Hironobu Sakaguchi intended to create a role-playing video game modeled after the foundations of then-rival company Enix's Dragon Quest. Thematically inspired by role-playing forerunners such as Ultima, Wizardry, and Dungeons & Dragons, the game was originally intended to be titled "Fighting Fantasy", but due to trademark issues, Sakaguchi had to change it, later christening the name "Final Fantasy". Square was struggling to stay afloat at the time, and Final Fantasy was not expected to reverse their lack of a breakout hit. The outcome of the release starkly contrasted with expectations, however, as the game's December 1987 release on Nintendo's Famicom sold more than half a million copies. The game was localized by Nintendo of America 3 years later, to modest success.

While Dragon Quest codified the Japanese role-playing genre, Final Fantasy played an instrumental role in further supporting the genre's dominance in Japan, becoming known for its rich, complex storytelling and ensemble casts. The game's sequel, Final Fantasy II, boasted a more involved plot and a party of named, fully-defined playable characters, while Final Fantasy III introduced the series's popular Job system and Summons. A trilogy of Super Famicom installments, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy VI, brought the series to even greater heights, becoming among the most acclaimed and best-selling games of Japan each year. The trilogy introduced the series's Active Time Battle system, which merged traditional turn-based gameplay with real-time tactics, and enriched the series's reputation for rich storytelling, complex themes, and rewarding gameplay. IV and VI were localized in North America as Final Fantasy II and III, where they achieved particular cult renown during an era where JRPGs were still niche internationally, while V was popular in Japan for its rich Job system, granting unprecedented character customization.

Square reached an inroads in 1995 upon the rise of 3D polygonal graphics. Sakaguchi believed that the franchise would be left behind if it did not adapt to them, like their contemporaries. As Nintendo's then-upcoming 3D console, the Nintendo 64, lacked the necessary memory and storage needed for the project's scope, Square felt they had no choice but to end its long-running relationship with Nintendo and develop Final Fantasy VII exclusively for the PlayStation.

Upon its release in 1997, Final Fantasy VII took the series to its greatest heights yet, not only in Japan but worldwide. It released to widespread critical acclaim, commercial success, and great influence on the game industry. Its gameplay, cinematics, and character-driven narrative led it to become a killer app for the PlayStation, greatly expanded the conventional global audience for the JRPG genre, solidifying Final Fantasy as one of the most popular video game franchises. Final Fantasy VII eschewed the series's medieval-themed fantasy aesthetics in favour of a post-industrial, science-fiction influenced setting and characters. Its cast, designed by Tetsuya Nomura in his breakout project, became some of the series's most popular and iconic. Telling the story of Cloud Strife, a freelance mercenary initially recruited against the wicked megacorporation Shinra, Cloud's story takes him beyond the cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar into an intensely psychological battle for his memories, identity, and the life force of the Planet.

VII was followed up in 1999 by the sci-fantasy love story Final Fantasy VIII, its anticipation on the back of VII leading it to become the fastest-selling game in the series to that point. Its vocal theme, "Eyes on Me", was sung by Faye Wong and became a major pop hit throughout Asia. 2000's Final Fantasy IX returned to the series's retro roots and traditional fantasy trappings to cult acclaim, before the series debuted on the PlayStation 2 a year later with Final Fantasy X, the game which to remains one of the franchises's best-known and most popular. X boasted full 3D graphics and backgrounds and fully-voiced characters for the first time in the series, depicting the love story between protagonists Tidus and Yuna amid the death-shrouded, Okinawan-inspired world of Spira.

The series became increasingly experimental throughout the 2000s, as the greater demands of gaming hardware and increasing development time caused its release cadence to slow down. 2002 saw the release of Final Fantasy XI, an MMORPG that is still officially supported to this day. Final Fantasy XII closed out the series on PlayStation 2 in 2006, while Final Fantasy XIII closed out the decade in 2009 as the series's most sci-fantasy installment yet, boasting a heavily action-based "stagger" battle system. Though contentious for its focus on raw battles and purely cinematic-driven story at the expense of free exploration, it nonetheless was hugely successful. Also during the 2000s, Square would release the first official sequels to previous popular Final Fantasy games, including Final Fantasy X-2 and the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, continuing and expanding the stories and worlds of various popular games. They would follow suit in the early 2010s, following up XIII with a pair of sequels continuing the story of protagonist Lightning. Square also released two animated films based on the franchise, the infamously-flopped Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a CG-animated canon sequel to the original game.

The 2010s saw the infamously-failed release of a second MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV. The game was famously rebooted from scratch in 2013 as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which reversed its fortunes completely and has become one of the most popular and dominant MMORPGs to this day, seeing continued story expansions and support. 2016 saw the release of Final Fantasy XV, which was initially conceived as a companion project to XIII that instead spent 10 years in development hell. Though a modest critical success, the game was commercially successful and carried the brand through the PS4/Xbox One generation. As of 2023, the series's most recent numbered installment is Final Fantasy XVI, produced by the creative team of Final Fantasy XIV as their first purely-offline project. It took a large swing from the series's traditional RPG gameplay into a purely action-based direction.

Above all this, Final Fantasy VII remains the series's most popular entry to this day, and one of Square Enix's flagship projects throughout the 2020s has been the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, a high-definition, ground-up reimagination and expansion of the game's original story with a real-time action battle system. A remake has been much demanded since the era of the Compilation in 2005, and the Remake trilogy has correlated with a great resurgence of popularity for the cast and world of the original game. The trilogy is set to conclude in 2027 with Final Fantasy VII Revelation.

Beyond the numbered installments, Final Fantasy has encompassed a number of spinoffs, including:

Final Fantasy Tactics, a strategy RPG series set in the world of Ivalice (the eventual setting of Final Fantasy XII).
Dissidia Final Fantasy, a series of 3D crossover fighting games uniting heroes and villains from across the series.
Final Fantasy Type-0, a school-set, mission-based action RPG that released as part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos, featuring similar concepts as Final Fantasy XIII.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, a GameCube-exclusive action-RPG that emphasized local co-op and became a metaseries.,
World of Final Fantasy, a beginner-friendly crossover RPG built around collecting monsters and summoning heroes from the series.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, mobile role-playing games set in the world of Lapis; later repurposed as the offline console RPG called Final Fantasy Resonance.

The series's beloved Chocobo birds have also starred in their own games, including the Chocobo Racing series and the dungeon-crawling Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon. Square Enix have since patched up the series's relationship with Nintendo following their infamous 90s split. Many spinoffs and remakes were released for Nintendo platforms throughout the 2000s, and the 2010s and 2020s saw an initiative that led to the majority of the main series's back catalogue being ported. Final Fantasy VII Revelation will release simultaneously on Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, taking the game full circle from its infamous role in the console wars 30 years prior.

Though not strictly Final Fantasy games, many of Square's other RPG franchises have roots as spiritual successors to Final Fantasy games or its spinoffs. These include Bravely Default, spun off from a DS game called Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Mana, which spun off from the Game Boy's Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden, Octopath Traveler, which was inspired by the job systems and ensemble storytelling of Final Fantasy V and VI, and most famously, Kingdom Hearts.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is mentioned among the titles listed in the Chronicle in Western versions of Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

The Final Fantasy franchise makes its proper debut in the Super Smash Bros. series as a DLC franchise, marking the first time a third-party company was introduced to the series via DLC. The franchise is primarily represented with Final Fantasy VII with one fighter, a stage, two music tracks, the fighter's trophies, and a Mii Fighter hat. Geno from Super Mario RPG was also simultaneously released as a Mii Fighter costume to further commemorate Nintendo's relationship with Square Enix.

Fighter[edit]

Cloud (DLC): Cloud Strife, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, makes his debut in the Super Smash Bros. series as a downloadable newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4. His default designs are taken from the lore of Final Fantasy VII and his attacks generate unique sound effects inspired from the original game. His attacks primarily revolve around his iconic weapon, the Buster Sword, and references to most of the Limit Breaks he acquired in his debut title. Cloud ranks 2nd on the Super Smash Bros. 4 tier list, owing to his high mobility, great range, moderately fast frame data, and Limit mechanic making him one of the most popular characters to have as a pocket choice. He is voiced in Japanese in all regions despite having an existing English voice actor.

Stage[edit]

Midgar (DLC): The iconic cyberpunk conurbation on the planet Gaia appears as a stage in Super Smash Bros. 4. One of the several Mako Reactors and the main Shinra Electric Power Company structure can be seen in the background. The layout of this stage is identical to those of Battlefield and Dream Land 64, however, there are the omnipresent Summons from the Final Fantasy series that appear as stage hazards, each with their own abilities which directly impact the stage and, likewise in the Final Fantasy series, can only be called upon by Summon Materia.

Mii Costume[edit]

Main article: Alternate costume (SSB4)/Mii Fighter

The Mii Costume was released in the fifth wave of DLC Mii Costumes, along with the Geno Mii Costume and Cloud, on December 16, 2015.

Headgear[edit]

Chocobo Hat (DLC): A headgear featuring the franchise's most popular mascot, the chocobo. The headgear's design is sourced from the eponymous character's cartoony appearance in the Chocobo sub-series, specifically in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, the third game in the Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon trilogy.

Music[edit]

Main article: List of SSB4 Music (Final Fantasy series)

Source Tracks[edit]

Tracks sourced directly from Final Fantasy VII.

Let the Battles Begin! (DLC): The normal battle theme from Final Fantasy VII.
Fight On! (DLC): The standard boss battle theme from Final Fantasy VII.

Victory Theme[edit]

Victory! Cloud (DLC): Cloud's victory theme, a remix of the battle victory theme from Final Fantasy VII. Unlike other victory themes, this theme continues to play over the match results.

Trophies[edit]

Main article: List of SSB4 trophies (Final Fantasy series)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

After being DLC in the previous installment, Final Fantasy returns as part of the base game. While most of the content was unchanged at launch, far more was added in December 2020 as part of Challenger Pack 8. This includes a new stage, several new music tracks, over a dozen spirits, several Mii Fighter costumes, and a new fighter in the form of the antagonist Sephiroth. Once again, the vast majority of this content is pulled from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Fighters[edit]

61.
Cloud (Unlockable): A former member of SOLDIER turned mercenary, along with his default and Advent Children designs, returns as an unlockable fighter after being DLC in Smash 4. One notable change is that his Limit mechanic has been nerfed; he can only hold on to his maxed-out Limit Gauge for 15 seconds without using it, and whenever he is attacked while manually charging it he will lose a little bit. Apart from this and some range nerfs, he performs similarly to how he did in Smash 4. The Limit Gauge is also persistently displayed above his character portrait at all times. Finally, as of version 10.1.0, his Final Smash in his Advent Children designs was changed to Omnislash Ver. 5. He is once again voiced in Japanese in all regions.
78.
Sephiroth (DLC): The formerly renowned SOLDIER and arch-nemesis to Cloud Strife arrives as the third downloadable newcomer in the Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Armed with his signature weapon, Masamune, he strikes elegantly with exceptional reach. He also possesses a unique fighter ability; after sustaining enough damage, he will unfurl his black wing, making him faster and his attacks more powerful akin to Cloud's own Limit Gauge and Joker's Rebellion Gauge. His Final Smash, Supernova, transforms him into Safer∙Sephiroth and can cause a variety of status effects at random on any opponents caught in it. Like his rival, he remains voiced in Japanese in all regions. He was released alongside a new stage; Northern Cave, several new Final Fantasy music tracks, and multiple spirits in December 2020 as part of Challenger Pack 8. Notably, a mode known as the Sephiroth Challenge was launched on December 17, 2020, with the premise being to defeat a computer-controlled Sephiroth on the chosen difficulty (Easy, Normal, or Very Hard). Beating this opponent would unlock Sephiroth as a playable character a few days before his "official" release on December 22, at which point this mode was made permanently unplayable with future updates.

Stages[edit]

Midgar (Starter): The City of Mako returns as part of the base game, functionally unchanged from Smash 4.
Northern Cave (DLC): A new stage based on the planet's core, the location of the final battle against Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. The stage itself is a simple flat arena with two platforms at each side. The background recreates and retells the endgame sequence of Final Fantasy VII, including the Highwind airship descending into the planet's core, narrowly escaping the activation of Holy, and Meteor being stopped by the power of the Lifestream after Holy proves ineffective. This stage was released in December 2020 as part of Challenger Pack 8.

Mii Costumes[edit]

Main article: Alternate costume (SSBU)/Mii Fighter

In addition to the Chocobo hat returning from Smash 4, the following Mii costumes are available as downloadable content, as part of version 10.1.0, within the eighth wave of Mii Fighter outfits after Challenger Pack 8 and Sephiroth. They were released on December 22nd, 2020.

Outfits[edit]

Barret Outfit (DLC): Barret Wallace's clothes in Final Fantasy VII. Its design was inspired from the character's artwork instead of the character's polygonal model in the original release.
Tifa Outfit (DLC): Tifa Lockhart's clothes in Final Fantasy VII. Its design was inspired from the character's artwork instead of the character's polygonal model in the original release.
Aerith Outfit (DLC): Aerith Gainsborough's clothes in Final Fantasy VII. Its design was inspired from the character's artwork instead of the character's polygonal model in the original release.