Alright, so while doing some basic discussion on Smashboards waiting for the next character reveal, the talk of what the next best FF character would be popped up. I had said that the series honestly could do well with a Smash series all its own (so long as it didn’t do something stupid like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale did with its combat system). With that in mind, I figured I’d lay out a character list for a hypothetical Final Fantasy Bros. Roster that has a bit better representation per series than Smash has. Smash is a little skewed in its reps of different properties; I’m going to try and have this a bit more even.
This won’t be nearly as in depth or as long as some of my other posts; just basic character list and maybe a simple rundown of their character type or description when needed….which may end up being the first couple of FFs due to their much older, much more simplistic character designs. Also, many of these characters will probably just have ‘Same as Dissidia’ for a description over their overarching Fighting Style/General Idea of their Specials.
Final Fantasy I:
Warrior of Light [Knight]- Just like with Dissidia, though Dissidia’s character was meant to kind of be all the avatar character’s job classes at once, it was basically modeled after, and fought like, a Knight.
Warrior of Light [Black Mage]- One of the most iconic looks for a Black Mage; best to just make it a character with a long flowing blue robe, the Yellow iconic hat, and the eyes and face totally obscured it shadows save for the glow of power emanating from their eyes. This character would be mostly like range, magic based with no real specific elemental focus.
Garland- Similar style to Dissidia’s just like with Warrior of Light; just turn Chaos into his Final Smash.
Final Fantasy II:
Firion – Same as Dissidia
Maria – Close range abilities are limited since she’s mostly a bow fighter. She can smash people with the bow or do a couple of one two hits, but will primarily be a zoning character who hits with arrows or dodges then counters with an arrow.
Mateus – Same as Dissidia
Final Fantasy III:
Onion Knight – Same as Dissidia
Cloud of Darkness – Same as Dissidia
I think FF III would be best off with only two reps. It has had the least amount of exposure to audiences outside Japan. I may be mistaken, but I don’t think III was even introduced to the West until its remake appeared on the DS. At least II was available for the PS One with that Final Fantasy Origins pack (it grouped I and II together). There was even an updated Origins pack for the PSP.
Final Fantasy IV:
Cecil – Same as Dissidia
Kain – Lance fighter. Think a fighting style that would combine the moves of Corrin (when their sword turns to a Lance and pierces the ground and jumps whatever direction want) and Byleth (for their Ahrengad Special….Side B….whatever that moves is called). Slow and some lag on moves, but powerful with Sephiroth’s Masamune’s reach. Aerials would basically be twirling the lance around for a spinning hitbox and Up Special would obviously be Jump so great vertical recovery, but poor Horizontal (might need a Forward Thrust special to get some Horizontal distance). [Or the same as Dissidia 012 because I forgot he was in it lol]
Golbez – Same as Dissidia
Final Fantasy V:
Bartz – Same as Dissidia. Also, I’m not calling him Butz.
Gilgamesh – Hear me out. I’d love to put Faris…even though it would likely be Lena if left up to Square…but Gilgamesh has appeared in many Final Fantasy games outside his original of V. Even his Battle Music, ‘Clash on the Big Bridge’ became iconic thanks to how good it was and it even got remastered in XII along with yet another Gilgamesh appearance. In fact, Dissidia’s appearance of Gilgamesh used the same reasoning of VIII for why you see him everywhere; he’s a dimensional traveler (explaining how he’s able to hunt all these famous swords). I think the implication is that he actually uses the Void from V to travel to different dimension. With how persistent he is and how well known within the FF community itself, it only makes sense the becomes one of the fighters to represent FF V over the other protagonists.
Ex-Death – Same as Dissidia…which would probably play a little like the customizable Palutena from Smash 4: two different abilities that counter; one for Physical Attacks and one for Special Attacks.
Final Fantasy VI:
Terra – Same as Dissidia
Celes & Locke – A duo akin to Pyra & Mythra that can switch back and forth with two different fighting styles.
Kefka – Same as Dissidia
Final Fantasy VII:
Cloud – Same as Smash Bros
Tifa – Same as Dissidia
Sephiroth – Same as Smash Bros
Final Fantasy VIII:
Squall – Same as Dissidia
Laguna – Same as Dissidia 012
Ultimecia – Same as Dissidia
Final Fantasy IX:
Zidane – Same as Dissidia
Kuja – Same as Dissidia
Hard to add another character from IX since they all kind of encroach on more established FF characters from the other games. Steiner’s a Knight who would play similar to Warrior of Light [Knight], Garland, Golbez, and basically every other heavy sword fighter. Vivi is basically just the generic Black Mage, just more adorable. Freya is based on Kain, Eiko & Garnet are both White Mage/Summoner Hybrids and would basically just play like Yuna who would be one of the characters to represent FF X, and Amarant is butt, so he doesn’t really get a chance. Beatrix is arguable and would basically be like a Fire Emblem Character like Chrom or Marth, so she’s doable, but like I said it may be better to just leave this one at 2 characters.
Final Fantasy X:
Tidus – Same as Dissidia
Yuna – Same as Dissidia
Seymour – A slower, maybe more aggressive Yuna Semi-Echo
Final Fantasy XI:
Shantotto – Same as Dissidia
Prishe – Same as Dissidia 012
Final Fantasy XII:
Vaan – Same as Dissidia
Ashe – Plays like ‘Hero’ from Dragon Quest, but with an Esper to help with some Specials (like Bayonetta’s Smash attacks) and without the Roulette wheel that’s the ‘Menu’ ability.
Vayne Solidor – Why did Dissidia have Gabranth? I mean, that just adds more fuel to my earlier post that Vayne was a pathetic villain for that game. You could have the body of the character be Vayne, but an Ethereal Venat covering him like Joker’s Arsene to do all the actual attacks (with Vayne maybe waving a sword around for a few attacks).
Final Fantasy XIII:
Lightning – Same as Dissidia
Snow – Up close & personal brawler like Little Mac…even though his weapon is technically a coat, because that makes sense (F(*&^ I hate XIII).
Best left at only 2 reps. Not only because I hated that game, but because when the main villain, Bartandelus was in human form, he didn’t really do much (he was a chubby Priest) and his Final Boss form was too damn big to make into something playable.
Final Fantasy Tactics:
Ramza – Fire Emblem type fighter with quick sword combos and other quick moves to be versatile in dodging and attacking.
Delita – Echo of Ramza (Delita was the mirror of Ramza on the road not taken)
Bonus Characters:
Chocobo & Mog – Design wise would be similar to FF 7’s summon of the two of them. Gameplay-wise it would be like Duckhunt Dog. Instead of random arcade western characters popping out, it would be more moogles appearing to attack or other chocobos or kicking a Fire Materia that can explode in the opponent’s face instead of a can. Final Smash could even be like Yoshi’s were its a stampede of different colored Chocobo coming in to trample the opponents.
Bahamut – Same as Ridley in Smash Bros; just a bulkier look. Even Ridley’s Final Smash makes a good ‘Mega Flare’ (despite Sephiroth having the Flare attacks as his neutral special). I think he might actually have Sephiroth’s ‘Shadow Flare’ in FFX as one of that Eidolon’s moves; that can be used here (A little cross sharing of moves is ok so long as characters are mostly unique from one another).
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