Ever since his first appearance inFinal Fantasy VII,Sephiroth has been one of the game’s most popular characters. Who could forget the epic final battle with Safer Sephiroth, or that iconic theme song? It’s no wonder he’s frequently chosen as the best villain not only in theFinal Fantasyseries but in all of video game history.
RELATED:10 Easter Eggs Only True Fans Caught In The Final Fantasy 7 Remake On PS4
Because of his popularity and iconic status, Sephiroth has appeared in many other games, some of them having nothing to do withFinal Fantasy. Below are his more obscure appearances, from pixelated Sephiroth on a loading screen to a Sephiroth doppelganger in a widely panned RPG.
10Final Fantasy V
First on our list isFinal Fantasy V.You might wonder what Sephiroth is doing in aFinal Fantasygame two installments before his time. As it turns out, character sprites for manyFinal Fantasycharacters appeared on the loading screen ofFinal Fantasy Anthology,a compilation of the fifth and sixth games in the franchise. Sephiroth’s sprite was included inFinal Fantasy V’sloading screen, along with a 2D version of his rival Cloud Strife.
9Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring
Sephiroth’s first-ever appearance outside ofFinal Fantasy VIIwas in the fighting gameEhrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, as a playable character.He had two character models, appearing both fully-clothed and shirtless.
RELATED:Final Fantasy VII: Every Optional Encounter, Ranked
Sephiroth fights mostly with his fists in the ring but can also perform sword attacks and combos with his Masamune, dealing twice as much damage with every third strike. He even has a move where he grabs his opponent by the neck and stabs them in the chest for critical damage, which is how he killed Aerith inFinal Fantasy VII.
8Itadaki Street Special
Itadaki Streetis a series of real estate virtual board games that have an enormous following in Japan. Only one game in the series has ever seen a North American release,and it did not includeanyFinal Fantasycharacters.
Itadaki Street SpecialandItadaki Street Portableboth featured characters from the Square-Enix franchisesDragon QuestandFinal Fantasy.These games remain available in Japan only. Sephiroth made his latest appearance as a playable character inItadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary,along with Tifa, Cloud, and Aerith.
7Dissidia Final Fantasy
Dissidia Final Fantasyfeatured 22 characters from theFinal Fantasygames, including Sephiroth. The game revolved around a war between the deities Chaos and Cosmos, who each summoned ten warriors to help fight for their side. Sephiroth is an Agent of Chaos, of course, though he’s less interested in dominating the world than in fighting his arch-nemesis, Cloud.
AsDissidiais part of theCompilation of Final Fantasy VII,Sephiroth appeared in hisAdvent Childrencostume. He made several more appearances in theDissidiasubseries, including the most recent game,Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
6Kingdom Hearts
Sephiroth appearedinKingdom Heartsas an optional boss in the Olympus Coliseum. This fight is famous for its intensity – no matter what your skill level, expect to receive some serious damage.Kingdom Hearts: Final Mixadded an additional scene where Sephiroth and Cloud are locked in battle, but the result of the fight is not shown.
Sephiroth returned for another optional boss fight and face-off with Cloud inKingdom Hearts IIand hasn’t made an appearance since then. With the release ofKingdom Hearts III, many fans called for a DLC of Sephiroth content, having missed the challenging boss fights from the first two games.
5Puzzle & Dragons
The mobile gamePuzzle & Dragonsadded Sephiroth to its roster as part of aFinal Fantasycollaboration. It cleverly combined match-three puzzles with dungeon-crawling and monster-collecting, and it gave Sephiroth thematically appropriate attributes like dark and devil-type attacks. As the main antagonist of his game, Sephiroth could be found in the Netherworld dungeon with otherFinal Fantasyvillains, while Cloud and the otherFinal Fantasyheroes were obtained through a roll on the Egg Machine.
4Littlebigplanet
This platform-puzzle game that thrives on user-generated content has nothing to do with Square-Enix and Sephiroth on the surface. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find a community of devoted fansremaking famous scenes or even all ofFinal Fantasy VIIusingLittlebigplanet’sgame creator. To help with these endeavors, Sephiroth’s costume was released as part of theFinal Fantasy VIIcostume pack that debuted at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. The pack also contained costumes for Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Vincent.
3Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
It’s no secret thatFinal Fantasyhas some of the best music in the video game world.Theatrhythm Final Fantasyand its sequels,Theathrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Callare rhythm games where players tap the screen to the most famous tracks from the franchise. Of course “One-Winged Angel” is included.
RELATED:Final Fantasy VII: 10 Facts About Tifa Fans Didn’t Know
Sephiroth is an unlockable character inTheatrhythm, available only after the player has collected enough of a special item. He also appears in his Safer Sephiroth form as a boss in the later stages of the game.
2Ephemeral Fantasia
Sephiroth makes a cameo in this musical role-playing game that was marred by countless design flaws. For one, the game gives no indication of when and how to trigger important cutscenes within a very limited timeframe. For another, it was a traditional RPG that borrowed many elements fromthe genre. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, except that many of the characters seemed so familiar. It’s not a stretch to say that the king of Pandule and main antagonist, Xelpherpolis, looked a lot like Sephiroth with that name and the long silver hair.
1Japan-Only Releases
Most obscure of all are the games that never saw a North American release. WhileItadaki Street Specialwas exclusive to Japan, the collaboration with other Square-Enix franchises gave it greater exposure than mobile games likeFinal Fantasy ArtniksandFinal Fantasy Airborne Brigade.Given Sephiroth’s popularity and the buzz around theFinal Fantasy VIIremake, it may be the case that more Japan-only games will eventually see a stateside release. The demand is certainly there, at least.
