Final Fantasy (universe)

Final Fantasy (universe)
Developer(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft)
Publisher(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft)
Designer(s)	Hironobu Sakaguchi
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System
First installment	Final Fantasy (1987)
Latest installment	Final Fantasy Resonance (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. This series, together with Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts, is considered to be a flagship franchise for the publisher and a pioneer of the RPG genre.

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, storytelling, and presentation throughout the series' lifespan. The series's most acclaimed and popular entry, Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997, and is the primary basis for the series's representation in Smash; its protagonist Cloud Strife and antagonist Sephiroth are among the most recognizable characters in the entire Final Fantasy franchise.

Franchise description

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, a game which 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

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

In Super Smash Bros. 4

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.

The series had received numerous requests for a character in Smash. Cloud, as the series's most globally-popular character, was chosen decisively over options like Final Fantasy VI and V's Terra and Bartz for having received the most individual requests of any character.

Fighter

• 
  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

• 
  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

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

• 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

Source Tracks

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

• 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.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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

• 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 in December 2020 as part of Challenger Pack 8. A limited-time mode known as the Sephiroth Challenge was launched on December 17, 2020, which would allow early access to Sephiroth prior to his official release on the 22nd, when the mode was removed from access.

Stages

• 
  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

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

• Barret Outfit (DLC): Barret Wallace's clothes in Final Fantasy VII.
• Tifa Outfit (DLC): Tifa Lockhart's clothes in Final Fantasy VII.
• Aerith Outfit (DLC): Aerith Gainsborough's clothes in Final Fantasy VII.

Headgear

• Chocobo Hat (DLC): The headgear from Smash 4 returns in this game. Its design was also updated from Smash 4, now resembling to the latest appearance of Chocobo in Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy!, the remake of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.

Music

There were two Final Fantasy songs in the base game. Nine more were added in December 2020 as part of Challenger Pack 8. Notably, this is the first time that a movie is represented in the Super Smash Bros. series with music, with three songs originating from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Original Tracks

Unlike most remixes in Smash, the Final Fantasy remixes are owned by Square Enix instead of Nintendo.

• Opening - Bombing Mission (DLC): A new arrangement of the theme that plays during the opening sequence of Final Fantasy VII. Arranged by Yuzo Koshiro.
• Aerith's Theme (DLC): A new arrangement of the theme song of Aerith Gainsborough, one of the key characters and party members in Final Fantasy VII. Arranged by Keiichi Okabe.
• Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY VII (DLC): A new arrangement of the main theme of Final Fantasy VII, which is used as the main overworld theme. Arranged by Motoi Sakuraba.
• Cosmo Canyon (DLC): A new arrangement of the theme that plays while the party is at Cosmo Canyon. Arranged by Yoko Shimomura.

Source Tracks

Tracks sourced directly from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

• Let the Battles Begin!: The standard battle theme from Final Fantasy VII.
• Those Who Fight (AC Version) (DLC): The remix of "Let the Battles Begin!" heard in Advent Children.
• Fight On!: The standard boss battle theme from Final Fantasy VII.
• Those Who Fight Further (AC Version) (DLC): The remix of "Fight On!" heard in Advent Children.
• JENOVA (DLC): The theme of Jenova, played in Jenova's boss battles, as well as the battle against Professor Hojo and the stairs at the Point of No Return from Final Fantasy VII.
• One-Winged Angel (DLC): The background track during the boss battle with Safer Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.
• Advent: One-Winged Angel (DLC): The version of "One-Winged Angel" heard in Advent Children. It was used in Sephiroth's reveal trailer.

Victory Themes

• Victory! Cloud: A remix of the victory theme from Final Fantasy VII, continues to loop, replacing the standard results screen theme. Remains unchanged from Smash 4.
• Victory! Sephiroth (DLC): A short snippet from the ending of "Advent: One-Winged Angel". An ominous droning note about as long as the main melody punctuates the piece.

Media with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series

The Final Fantasy universe has media represented throughout the Super Smash Bros. series with a total of 13 games and medias. The latest game represented in this universe is Final Fantasy VII Remake, released on April 10, 2020.

Nearly all Final Fantasy content in Smash represents Final Fantasy VII and its associated media. Earlier numbered installments are indirectly referenced for having originated the series's various recurring elements.

Final Fantasy

• Playable characters:
  • The Flare spell, used by Sephiroth, debuted in this game, as a Black Magic spell used by Black Wizards and originally localized as Nuke.
  • The spells of Sora's Magic (Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga), originally localized as Fir3, Bolt3, and Ice3 respectively, first appeared as Black Magic spells in this game, where they were used by the Black Mage and Red Mage classes.
  • One of Sora's taunts references the spell Curaga, which first appeared in this game as a White Magic spell used by the White Mage and Red Mage classes, and was originally localized as Cur3.
• Music:
  • "Victory! Cloud": The non-looping initial part of the victory theme is the series recurring battle victory motif, which debuted in this game.
  • "Aerith's Theme": Its arrangement features a brief harp part reminiscent of the series's signature "Prelude", first heard in this game.

Final Fantasy II

• Playable characters:
  • Chocobos appear as downloadable content headgear for the Mii Fighters.
• Stage elements:
  • The summon Leviathan appears on the Midgar stage.
• Spirits:
  • Chocobo appears as a spirit (combined with Moogle).

Final Fantasy III

• Playable characters:
  • Megaflare and Shadow Flare first appeared as attacks in this game.
  • One of Sora's taunts references the magic spell Aeroga, originally localized as Aero 3, from the game.
• Stage elements:
  • Odin, Ramuh, and Ifrit appear on the Midgar stage.
• Spirits:
  • Moogle (combined with Chocobo), Shiva, and Ifrit appear as spirits.

Final Fantasy V

• Playable characters:
  • Gigaflare first appeared as an attack in this game.

Final Fantasy VII

• Playable characters:
  • Cloud Strife, the protagonist of the game, appears as a playable character. All of his special moves and his Final Smash, Omnislash, originated as his Limit Breaks, a core mechanic of the game.
  • Barret appears as a costume for the Mii Gunner.
  • Tifa appears as a costume for the Mii Brawler.
  • Aerith appears as a costume for the Mii Swordfighter.
  • Sephiroth, the game's main antagonist, appears as a playable character.
• Stages:
  • Midgar, the setting of Final Fantasy VII's opening act, appears as a stage.
  • Northern Cave, the final dungeon from Final Fantasy VII, appears as a stage.
• Stage elements:
  • The designs used for Odin, Leviathan, and Ramuh originate from the game.
  • Bahamut ZERO, which appears in Midgar, also originates from the game.
  • The Highwind airship makes a cameo appearance in Northern Cave.
• Spirits:
  • Tifa, Barret, Aerith, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, The Turks & Rufus Shinra, and Bahamut ZERO appear as spirits.
  • Cloud, as of 10.1.0, and Sephiroth’s spirit artwork are sourced from this game.
• Music:
  • "Opening - Bombing Mission": Both the source track used in Cloud's reveal trailer for Smash 4, although it is not available in Smash 4, and an arrangement for Ultimate.
  • "Let the Battles Begin!": The main battle theme, sourced from the game.
  • "Victory! Cloud": An arrangement of the victory theme from the game.
  • "Fight On!": The main boss battle theme, sourced from the game.
  • "Aerith's Theme": An arrangement of Aerith's theme.
  • "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY VII": An arrangement of the game's overworld theme, first heard on Disc One.
  • "Electric de Chocobo": The retrieved track, used in both the December 2015 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Final Video Presentation for Smash 4 and the "Mii Fighter Costumes #8" video for Ultimate when showing the Chocobo Mii Costume, although it is not available in the series.
  • "JENOVA": The boss theme for Jenova's forms, sourced from the game.
  • "Cosmo Canyon": An arrangement of the eponymous location, Cosmo Canyon.
  • "One-Winged Angel": The final boss theme against Sephiroth, sourced from the game.

Final Fantasy VIII

• Stage elements:
  • Ifrit uses its design from this game, rather than VII. This is the sole direct representation of a mainline installment other than VII.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

• Playable characters:
  • Cloud's outfit and Fusion Swords from the CGI movie appear as an alternate costume. A few variations of the outfit remove the large sleeve revealing his Geostigma-infected arm.
  • Cloud's alternate Final Smash, Omnislash Ver. 5, is sourced from the film.
  • Sephiroth's appearance and characterization, particularly in Winged Form, is primarily based on that of the film. Toshiyuki Morikawa first voiced him here.
• Music:
  • "Those Who Fight (AC Version)": An arrangement of the original game's battle theme, used in the film during the Turks' fight with the Remnants of Sephiroth.
  • "Those Who Fight Further (AC Version)": An arrangement of the original game's boss theme, appearing in the film for the fight with Bahamut SIN.
  • "Advent: One-Winged Angel": A symphonic metal arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" that plays during Cloud and Sephiroth's final showdown. Used for Sephiroth's reveal trailer in The Game Awards 2020.
  • "Victory!