Shadow (Final Fantasy VI)
Starting off this list we have the Western Ninja who’d kill his own mother for a nickel, Shadow (and his dog interceptor, of course). By the way, if you haven’t played any Final Fantasy title on this list yet, you may want to skip the second paragraph because it’s spoiler time.
Before becoming the cold-hearted assassin with a cute dog, Shadow and his friend Baram were train robbers. Unfortunately after a particularly successful raid, their infamy caught up to them. During the escape, Baram was injured and despite begging him to end his life, Shadow fled. Shadow would go onto live a normal life but despite getting married and having a daughter, he couldn’t live with himself and ran away. Thus began his life as the mercenary we know him as today.
As for Dissidia’s plot, it’s easy to imagine that Shadow would start off as a neutral party, jumping between groups that further his goal to take out Kefka. Due to this, we could see him working with characters on both sides, since most of Chaos’ forces don’t like the insane clown.
Shadow could be a very versatile fighter, using his Throw ability to damage enemies at a range while using his blade and interceptor to deal damage up close. As for what he throws, he could use items like shurikens and random weapons like low level daggers and the rare broadsword. Finally, his EX Burst could be his desperation attack, Shadow Fang.
Minwu (Final Fantasy II)
With the exception of Lightning’s Medic Paradigm, Dissidia Final Fantasy doesn’t have any healing magic in it. Up until now, that’s been fine. However, now that Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade’s adding three on three combat, it’s the perfect time to inclue Final Fantasy II‘s white mage, Minwu.
Besides being the only male healer in the series, Minwu spent most of Final Fantasy II working as the right-hand to the leaders of the Wild Rose Rebellion. As such, it’s easy to imagine that he could become Cosmos’ adviser in the plot, working on aiding the heroes in their quest to stop Chaos while also defending Cosmos from harm.
As a White Mage, Minwu could be the only character in the game who could target his allies in three on three battles and cast supportive magic like Protect and Regen. Much like Shantotto, he would have to rely on magic spells like fire, ice, and lightning to do damage since he isn’t skilled with weapons. Minwu’s EX Burst should definitely be Final Fantasy II‘s version of the Ultima spell. Minwu was instrumental in unlocking the spell and while it did kill him, he could learn it himself in the Soul of Rebirth bonus chapter.
Wiegraf Folles (Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions)
With Ramza Beoulve/Lugria confirmed for Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade, it’s only right that Tactics should get a villain. There aren’t many villains who stayed in the players’ minds quite like Wiegraf Folles. Although in Wiegrafs case this is partially thanks to his infamous final boss fight.
After the events of the Fifty Years’ War, a group of ex-soldiers would become the Corspe Brigde bandits. This group was led by the charismatic and honorable Wiegraf Folles and his sister Milleuda. While these bandits would eventually be defeated, the fighting would destroy the lives of Ramza and Wiegraf forever. Unfortunately for Wiegraf, his lust for revenge over his sister’s death would led him to join the Templars’ order. While there, he would eventually become a shadow of his former self, and this would eventually led to him being slain by Ramza after transforming into the demon Belias.
Story-wise, Templar Wiegraf would make for a perfect fit in Chaos’ army where he could serve as a leader for their Manikin forces. He could also serve as a good rival to Ramza, too, as they knew each other before he joined the Templars and he could have at one point even been a warrior for Cosmos.
As a fighter, Wiegraf would be a close range threat with his Holy Knight move set. His HP attacks could include moves such as Judgement Blade, Cleansing Strike, and Northswains Strike, which could also target enemies at medium range, because these three moves are swords that come from the ground. Naturally, his EX Burst would see Wiegraf transform into the demon Belias and tear his opponents apart with darkness attacks.
Fran (Final Fantasy XII)
After spending most of Final Fantasy XII in Balthier’s shadow, Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade could be the perfect place for the Vieran warrior Fran to leave her mark.
With the possible exception of Shadow, Fran is by far the most mysterious character on this list. In Final Fantasy XII, we learned that at some point she left the Eruyt Village, in the Golmore Jungle, in order to live a life of freedom. Some time afterwards, she would meet the sky pirate Balthier and the two would become good partners. Eventually after meeting Vaan, she and Balthier would get wrapped up in Ashe’s quest for power so she could avenge her fallen Kingdom of Dalmasca.
In Dissidia, Fran’s story could revolve around her learning to open up more, since throughout Final Fantasy XII Fran often let Balthier speak for her, especially early on.
As a fighter, Fran could serve as a mixed ranged fighter. At long range, Fran could use her bow to rain a hail of arrows on her opponents, while up close she could use a variety of kicks and punches to mix things up. Alternatively, Fran could also mix in some ice magic as her level three Quickening move, Shattering Heart, shows that she has an affinity for that element. Naturally, her EX Burst move would be her Quickening attacks.
Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII)
With Chaos being the big bad of the series and all, it’s kind of amazing that Square Enix hasn’t added Final Fantasy VII‘s Vincent Valentine into the game yet.
Originally a member of Shinra’s Turks division, Vincent’s life changed forever when the scientist Hojo shot him in the back and played mad scientist with his body. The experiments halted his aging and made him stronger, but he wouldn’t wake up until the Chaos tainted Mako and the protomateria was placed into his body.
Considering Vincent’s connection to Chaos, it’s easy to see how this could cause the forces of Cosmos to distrust him while others could see him as nothing more than a shard of Chaos. This, in turn, would cause Vincent to spend his time away from the conflict until eventually siding with Cosmos. Maybe for his own protection against the Manikin’s army, or to stand up to Chaos himself.
As a fighter, Vincent’s moveset could revolve around the three gun types from Dirge of Cerberus. At long range, Vincent could snipe away with the rifle, while up close could see him mix it up with his shotgun and pistol. His HP damage could see him briefly attack as his limit break forms, kind of like how Yuna uses her summons to attack. Of course, his EX Mode would naturally see him turn into his Chaos form. Could you imagine taking on Chaos as Vincent? You could almost see Chaos taking on Chaos without his Mankin form in 012.
Genesis Rhapsodos (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII)
An obsession with even something as innocent as a book can be a very dangerous thing and nowhere in the Final Fantasy series is this more apparent than with Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
Originally a product of Shinra’s Jenova Project, Genesis would start off loyal to Shinra until a duel with his friend Sephiroth injured him and he started degrading. Now degrading due to being a product of the Jenova Project, Genesis believed that his cure was within the legendary final missing chapter of the poem Loveless and set out to recreate the poem under the guise of a Shinra deserter.
As for Genesis’ role in Dissidia, it’s easy to see him side up with Sephiroth due to the two’s past as friends. It’s hard not seeing the two of them clash again because despite them being friends, Genesis always envied Sephiroth. Alternatively, Genesis could start off fighting for Cosmos, but like in Crisis Core could defect to Chaos once his degradation began again.
As a fighter, Genesis’s gimmick could be his ability to increase the power of his blade/HP attacks by infusing them with magic like he did in Crisis Core, but at the cost of leaving himself open for a bit. His blade work would therefore be a majority of his attacks, but he could also mix it up a bit with fire magic and even the odd feather from his black wings, if they made it so his design was that of him degrading.
Once Genesis enters his EX Mode, Genesis’ blade could be permanently infused with magic (just like in his final battle in Crisis Core) and his EX Burst attack should be his Apocalypse attack. Alternatively his EX Burst could see him channel the power of the Goddess Materia and become the Genesis Avatar once again.
Caius Ballad (Final Fantasy XIII-2/Lightning Returns)
Considering the fact that Lightning was made to be the leader of the new heroes in Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy, its surprising that they didn’t also give Final Fantasy XIII its own villain character. Well, who better would fit this role better than Lightning’s shape-shifting immortal rival from Final Fantasy XIII-2 Cauis Ballad?
In Final Fantasy XIII-2 Caius serves as the immortal protector of the multiple reincarnations of a seer named Yuel. His immortality is due to the Heart of Chaos that he inherited from the Goddess Etro. While this immortality was originally supposed to be a blessing Caius would later see it as a curse after seeing multiple versions of her die. Despite this however Caius would continue his role as her protector, while also trying to find someone strong enough to inherit the Heart of Chaos and therefor end his curse.
Besides serving as a rival for Lightning in the Dissidia plot, it’s hard to imagine what Caius would do now that he’s free from his role as protector of Yuel, since in Lightning Returns once freed all he really did was sit in a temple after losing the Heart. Alternatively he could serve under the god Shinryu, making it so the cycles never end so others could feel the pain of immortality much like he had to when he was the inherent of the Heart of Chaos.
As a fighter, Caius could serve as a mixed-fighter by using his massive sword as well as powerfull magic attacks to deal damage. For brave attacks Caius could remain human and use attacks such as Blast Wave, Graviton and Eye of Bahamut. Much like with Vincent his HP attacks could see him transform into his Chaos Bahamut form briefly to use attacks such as Mega Flare and Inferno which, while powerful, would leave him open to counter-attacks while he’s changing back.
Finally in his EX Mode Caius should activate the Heart of Chaos to increase his damage output and give himself the Regen status. Finally, with his EX Burst, Caius could summon the three Bahamuts again to unleash one hell of a Mega Flare attack.
Auron (Final Fantasy X)
If you’re a certain Goddess whose stuck in an eternal war with the God of Discord himself, you’re going to need one hell of a badass guardian. And, while the Warrior of Light is great and all, you just can’t beat the resume of Auron from Final Fantasy 10.
Originally serving as a monk of Bevelle, Auron would leave this life behind to become the guardian for Yuna’s father Lord Braska. The two would become fast friends and, along with the help of Tidus’s father Jecht, they would usher in the Calm by defeating Sin, although at the cost of Jecht and Braska’s life. This event would change Auron forever (losing your friends would do that) and he would look after Tidus till the time would come to bring him to Spira. Now back in Spira, Auron would agree to become Yuna’s guardian so he could watch over his friends kids and prevent them from making the same mistake they had made.
In Dissidia, Auron could serve either as one of Cosmo’s protectors due to his past as a guardian. Alternatively he would continue to look over both Tidus and Yuna while also trying to talk Jecht into leaving Chaos because Auron could be one of those characters who remembered his past. Therefore, he would remembers fighting alongside both Jecht and Braska back in Spira.
As a fighter Auron should be a slow but hard hitting character, possibly even the slowest in the game to reflect his side of the Sphere Grid in FFX. His Brave attacks could include basic heavy hitting sword attacks while his HP attacks could be his Overdrives from FFX. Could you imagine using Shooting Star to send your opponents flying to the other side of the arena?
Alternatively to balance out his slow attack speed Auron’s HP attacks could instead be his Break attacks. This way he could inflict temporary stat debuffs to throw things back in his favor. As for his EX Burst attack, it could be his final Overdrive Tornado, where he creates a tornado which engulfs his opponents before he sets it on fire with a jug of alcohol, somehow.
So that ends this list, but are there any Final Fantasy characters that you would like to see that didn’t make this list? If so, then feel free to share them in the comments below.
