Final Fantasy VIII weapons

The weapon equipment list in Final Fantasy VIII is the smallest of its kind in the Final Fantasy series, including the weapons equippable by temporary characters. There is a total of 35 equippable weapons (13 if one discounts the weapons that are upgraded versions of the original weapon). Specific items are needed to upgrade the weapons, and the Weapons Monthly magazines scattered around the world inform about the required items, although it is not necessary to read them to get the better weapons; it is enough to only own the required parts. Upgrading a weapon in the Steam version earns the player the achievement Handyman.


 * For list of weapon modeling items see junk shop.

Gunblades
Difficult to manage requiring a lot of skill. These weapons belong to Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy. All gunblade models have a 255% hit rate. Pressing the trigger button on-hit boosts damage for both Squall and Seifer.

Seifer's gunblade
Seifer uses his gunblade differently from Squall, in a backhand slash rather than a forward one, although this may just be his fighting style and not due to the weapon's design mechanic. He also uses it with one hand rather than two. Due to a lack of mention in any source material involving gunblades, it is unknown whether this is an actual model type or a custom designed model for Seifer's personal use.

Blaster Edges
Wrist mounted ranged weapons; Rinoa's preferred form of offense.

Gloves
Blunt and to the point; Zell's area of expertise.

Whips
The artful and precise weapon of Quistis.

Nunchaku
Selphie's preferred weapon.

Shotguns
Irvine's weapon of choice as an accomplished gunman.

Other weapons
The following are the weapons usable by other characters. None of these weapons can be purchased or remodeled, and are not mentioned in any issue of Weapons Monthly.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
All of Squall Leonhart's exclusive weapons in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series are gunblades from Final Fantasy VIII—the Revolver, the Twin Lance, the Punishment, and the Lion Heart. Squall wields the Revolver in battle and exchanges it for the Lion Heart in his EX Mode.

Ultimecia's exclusive weapons in the series are Blaster Edges from the same game—the Valkyrie, Cardinal, and Shooting Star.

The Machine Gun appears as the weapon of the "Machine" set, which otherwise includes Tools from Final Fantasy VI.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Squall and Ultimecia retain their exclusive weapons from the original game. Laguna wields his Machine Gun in battle, and the Machine Gun is now one of his exclusive weapons.

Zell's Ehrgeiz appears as a level 100 grappling weapon.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Many weapons, including Irvine's guns, Squall's gunblades, Zell's gloves, Selphie's nunchaku, and Rinoa's blaster edges, appear as weapons.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper

 * Weapons

Dead Fantasy
Marks the first time Rinoa wields a gunblade similar to Squall's as her primary weapon but also retains her Blaster Edge as her secondary weapon.

Her fan-made black gunblade is called Vanishing Star, designed by Monty Oum himself. It possesses a revolver gun component with duel triggers and features a blade with a white feather and the words Vanishing Star inscribed upon it. An actual gun barrel atop the weapon's blade, as well as exhaust ports on the blade itself, suggests that it can be used as a ranged weapon. On said gun barrel, the words All Existence Denied are inscribed: a direct quote of Ultimecia in the last battle of Final Fantasy VIII. Rinoa is seen wielding it one handed in a similar style to the Chinese Dao sword. When not in use it has a belt holster that it can attach to on the wielder's hip.

Her fan-made Blaster Edge is called Silenced Tear It can be folded against the arm when not in use and, when activated, can be unfolded and ready to launch within seconds. Like the Blaster Edge weapons from Final Fantasy VIII, the Silenced Tear is fired from a wrist mounted launcher and will return to the wielder near the end of its flight ready to be fired again. When unfolded, the center of the disc can be junctioned with magical power due to Rinoa's Junction System. In Dead Fantasy II, Rinoa junctions both Holy and Tornado from her Blaster Edge.

Merchandise

 * Final Fantasy Master Arms include miniaturized replicas of both Squall's Revolver and Seifer's Hyperion.
 * The Lion Heart model is included in the Play Arts Arms set along with four other ultimate weapons.
 * As Squall's primary and iconic weapon a scaled replica of the Revolver gunblade has been featured with every Squall figurine regardless of what media or game the figure is portraying.

Trivia

 * The weapon Selphie wields is called nunchaku in the NTSC versions and "shinobou" in the PAL version. This is because nunchaku is considered an illegal weapon the UK. For example, the use of nunchaku was, in the 1990s, censored from UK rebroadcasts of American children's TV, shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons and films. In Final Fantasy VIII Selphie's weapon model remains the same but was called "shinobou" rather than nunchaku in the SeeD written test question the player can take in the menu.
 * Rinoa's Blaster Edge might have been inspired by similar weapons found in  on the Super Famicom, a game that was released by Square in 1996. The weapons were mounted on the arm and launch a crescent-shaped scythe at the enemy.