Final Fantasy in popular culture

The Final Fantasy series has had many pop culture references throughout its existence.

Movies

 * In the movie Charlie's Angels, two boys are seen playing Final Fantasy VIII, pretending it was a two-player game.

Television and cartoons

 * The TV series Robot Chicken had a parody of Final Fantasy VII called the Final Fantasy Burger Chain, which is also a parody of fast food chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, featuring Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie as workers. The restaurant is owned by Sephiroth and is ultimately destroyed by Cloud in a fight with Sephiroth. The characters don't actually speak in this, as their dialogue is shown in a blue box at the top of the screen similar to games in the series from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy VII.
 * Videlectrix Films from Homestar Runner is a parody of Square Pictures, the company that produced Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
 * In an episode of the TV comedy, Two and a Half Men, Jake begs Charlie throughout the show to take him to the video store to rent the new Final Fantasy. When they are at the video store, the Final Fantasy X box was shown as the "new" Final Fantasy. But at the end of the show, the Final Fantasy II battle music is played, not Final Fantasy X's.
 * One episode of the third season of Captain N: The Game Master is loosely based on the original Final Fantasy. Matoya, the Prince of Elfheim, and Astos are featured.
 * In an episode of Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, several video games are parodied, including Final Fantasy VII. Coconut Fred is depicted as Cloud and must stop Butchy, who is depicted as Sephiroth.

Webcomics

 * 8-Bit Theater is a Final Fantasy based webcomic which follows the story of the original game, starring a Fighter, a Thief, a Black Mage, and a Red Mage.
 * The Order of the Stick comic series Episode 388, the characters Elan and Thog disguise themselves as Locke and Mog from Final Fantasy VI so they can get aboard the Blackjack to head to Azure City. However, Terra and Edgar are suspicious of them when they use the term "Resurrect" to describe a Phoenix Down and throw them overboard.
 * Neglected Mario Characters features many Final Fantasy characters, most notably Kefka and Celes in the "Mario Busters" series.
 * VGCats has several episodes relating to Chocobo raising, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XI, and Final Fantasy XII.
 * The comic Adventure Log is about a Mithra named Kiro's journeys in Vana'diel.
 * Three Panel Soul has a couple of comics about the writers' Final Fantasy XI characters.
 * The flash comic Weebl and Bob on December 10th, 2002, released an episode that was a satire of Final Fantasy VII. It featured Cloud, Aeris, a Chocobo, and a random encounter.
 * The Webcomic Gameworld and its upcoming side series Gameworld Gaiden Re-Direct contain characters from many of the Final Fantasy games as main and secondary characters alongside several original characters called Outsiders. It also has references to other Square-Enix Properties.
 * Youtube user lasagnacat is known for his video parodies of Jim Davis' Garfield comic strip. One of the parodies are set on a Final Fantasy VI medley, complete with the battle scene and theme.

Other Video Games

 * In Tales of Symphonia, a man in the slums is looking for a flower seller. This is clearly a reference to Aerith from Final Fantasy VII.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Melee, three of the random names that are chosen are Vivi, Lulu, and Odin.
 * In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, during the last case, after being compared to a spoon stirring a cup of coffee, the judge exclaims, "I'm a spoon!? I'm no spoony bard, I'll have you know!" This is a reference to the famous quote by Tellah in Final Fantasy IV.
 * In Mortal Kombat Armageddon, both Cloud's and Sephiroth's hairstyles can be purchased as head parts for the game's Kreate-A-Fighter mode under the names "Anime 1" and Fantasy, respectively.
 * In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, a Square Enix devoloped game, Ninja, White Mage, Black Mage, Moogle, and Cactuar are unlockable playable characters. This is the first time Mario is playable with Final Fantasy characters. Also, there's a Bomb going around at Bowser Castle Court, and a Chocobo as basket in the Airship Court.
 * In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, there is a flower vendor in the city of Dalaran named Aerith Primrose.[[Image:431px-Aerith_Primrose.jpg|thumb|Aerith Primrose]]
 * In Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, on Elicoor II, Fayt meets a flower girl named Ameena who is dressed quite suspiciously like Aerith Gainsborough (as well as she bears a striking resemblance to his friend Sophia).
 * In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 a TV commentator uses the phrase "I bet he'd slit his mama's throat for a five-yen piece!" to describe the character Tanaka. This is reference to the famous quote Edgar uses to describe Shadow in the SNES version of Final Fantasy VI.
 * In the fan-translation of Mother 3, a pig sings a "musical fanfare." The text box implies that this is the Victory Fanfare. It is unknown whether this was in the original Japanese version.

Secret of Evermore
Secret of Evermore is a game released by Squaresoft in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System featuring a young boy and a dog as its main characters. The game features several cameos by Final Fantasy characters, namely:
 * Cecil from Final Fantasy IV as a secret NPC, running an inn and armor shop at Ebon Keep.
 * Terra, Locke, Strago, Mog, and Umaro, all famous from Final Fantasy VI, standing in the crowd at the coliseum,
 * An item called the "Chocobo's Egg".

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars


Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was a game developed by Squaresoft, featuring light cameos of the Final Fantasy series.


 * The playable characters have vague likenesses to Final Fantasy Job classes; for example, Mario could be classified as a hammer weilding Dragoon
 * Princess Peach has the ability to heal and has weak attack power, similar to a White Mage.
 * Mallow is similar to a Black Mage, he is weak physically, but has very powerful magic attacks which allow him to control the weather. Even his blue-white striped pants reminds of Black Mage trousers (like Vivi's, or the Black Mage Artifact Amour from Final Fantasy XI).
 * Geno could be classified as a Time Mage, however, in name only. Due to his equal proficiency with spells and weapons, he could also be considered a Red Mage.
 * Some would say that Bowser is a rough example of a Monk, as he uses Claws for weapons.
 * Smithy has four Elemental Fiends, similar to the original Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy IX. Mack is fire-Elemental, Bowyer is lightning-Elemental, Yardovich is ice/water-Elemental, and the Axem Rangers are "Jump"-Elemental. The theme that plays in the Mushroom Kingdom is very similar to the castle theme in Final Fantasy V.
 * The concept of the final boss having an ultimate/stronger form is present.
 * Bahamut makes an appearance as a boss in Bowser's Keep as "Bahamutt".
 * Various Final Fantasy VI enemies also appear, including the CzarDragon, which was dummied out of the game, and Zombone, both as bosses. The Myconid enemy appears later in Final Fantasy IX.
 * A Final Fantasy tradition that ended with Final Fantasy VI (but returned in Burmecia in Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII) of having some monsters disguised as treasure chests continues in this game.
 * Similar to undead opponents being defeated by using Phoenix Downs and the Revivify, the "Pure Water" defeats the undead in this game, which consist of classic Mario enemies such as Dry Bones and Boo.
 * The concept of "Timed Hits" allows a player to hit the Attack button during the attack animation to cause a critical hit. This concept was repeated for the gunblade weapon in Final Fantasy VIII.
 * The Elixir and Megalixir appear as items in this game.

The most obvious Final Fantasy reference is a secret boss named Culex. His claim to be a Dark Knight in the past implies that he was from the Final Fantasy IV universe. Like earlier Final Fantasy characters, he has a much larger battle sprite than an overworld sprite. In addition, the battle music played during the Culex battle is the Final Fantasy IV boss battle music. Culex is protected by the four elemental Crystals from Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V. When Culex is defeated, the traditional "Victory Fanfare" is played. The Prelude also plays after the Culex battle. As well, Culex has many attributes of a super-boss: he has the second highest HP, with only Smithy having more, he and the crystals possess the strongest spells in the game, he is hidden and beating him is not required to beat the game, and beating him wins nothing more than a medallion to show the player's proof of their victory, similar to the Proof of Omega for beating Omega Weapon. Culex's parting words are that "in another life, another game, he and the player may have been mortal enemies".

Books, Comics/Manga and Magazines
In Ken Akamatsu's acclaimed manga, Love Hina, Squall and Rinoa make a guest appearance in Volume 3, page 37, frame 6. The pair are seen walking out of a gaming plaza as Keitaro, the protagonist of the series, and Naru, the love interest, careen into a stack of plush mascot toys possibly meant for delivery to said gaming plaza. They proceed to regard the two and the devestation with bewildering astonishment.
 * In the same manga, one major recurring character, Mutsumi Otohime, arguably resembles Final Fantasy VII character Aerith Gainsborough, and has even worn a similar dress during one chapter.
 * Finally, in Chapter 113 of Love Hina, when Keitaro defeats the kendo girl Motoko Aoyama, using the same technique she often deals to him, he compares it to the Lancet ability of Final Fantasy X's Kimahri Ronso, which absorbs a small amount of HP and MP and sometimes, the ability of a monster.
 * On page 114 of book 4 a cactuar-like artifact hits Keitaro over the head. It should also be noted that the cactuar pose is frequent in the earlier artifacts uncovered by Seta in the series though wether or not this is intentional is unknown.
 * There are some parallels that indicate that Shinmeiryu (God's Cry School) techniques are similar to Sephiroth's. Practitioners even wield a nadachi as their common weapon; a 1.5 to 2 meter long sword that Sephiroth's Masamune was based upon.
 * Another of Akamatsu's works; Negima! Magister Negi Magi, has a character drinking a beverage called Last Elixir which has been noted as being a reference to Final Fantasy. Also in Negima, issue six, chapter 91, first page panel three, when Negi and Kotaro visit Chisame at a cosplay event, there are two cosplayers dressed like Tifa and Yuffie.
 * In the manga "Midori no Hibi"(Days of Midori in english), Chapter 57, Page 5, panel three shows two incredibly ugly "women" dressed in very good Yuna and Rikku costumes from Final Fantasy X.
 * In the manga version of the anime, Hare+Guu, there is a running appearence of a young Aerith. She hs her exact hairstyle and the exact outfit from the original game. When Hare goes to the city, there is a little girl in his class who looks exactly like a younger version of Aerith. The first time she was shown, she was in a completely different outfit but you knew it was her by the hair. But in every appearence after the first, she is wearing her traditional long dress and bolero jacket.
 * In Shiro Amano's manga adaptation of the video game Seiken Densetsu (called Legend of Mana in English), Quistis Trepe gets a reccuring cameo as the main character's idol and fanboy obsession, but in the original translation her name was misstranslated into "Kistis Tulip". The main character of the manga, Toto, collects everything involving her including fake autographed photos and life-sized dolls. He even attempted to defeat three evil dragons with the request of meeting Quistis in person as payment.
 * In the manga adaption of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Squall, with his name changed to Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Cloud all make their respected appearances as they do in the game. In the Kingdom Hearts II adaptation, the same characters, as well as Seifer, Fujin (with her name changed to Fuu), Raijin (with his name changed to Rai), and Vivi appear as well.
 * Ryukishi07, creator of the visual novel and manga Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, is a self-proclaimed fan of Final Fantasy V. His pen name originated from Lenna — "07" in Japanese can be pronounced as "reinana", and "Ryukishi" means "dragoon". It's also loosely the basis for the Higurashi character, Rena Ryugu.
 * In the manga Fruits Basket, author Natsuki Takaya often writes about her video game fandom, especially of the Final Fantasy series, in side columns and author's notes, such as her reaction to Aerith's ultimate fate in Final Fantasy VII. During 2000, she often wrote about her anticipation of Final Fantasy IX being released that year.
 * In the manga Angel Sanctuary Kaori Yuki writes in her notes about her reaction to Final Fantasy VIII and her opinion on the graphics and Squall and Rinoa's relationship.

Real world

 * The 2004 Summer Olympics' women's synchronized swimming event had one team swimming to Liberi Fatali.
 * Professional wrestler Chris Sabin got his namesake from the Final Fantasy VI character Sabin.
 * The Goalie for the Atlanta Thrashers, Kari Lehtonen, has worn a helmet featuring Yuna and Rikku from Final Fantasy X-2.
 * In 2000, a 16-year-old Spaniard boy killed his parents and his sister with a katana, proclaiming to be on "another avenging mission by Squall Leonhart".
 * A baby had been named after Sephiroth, who was born at November 3rd, 2006.
 * 6-piece American Post-hardcore band A Skylit Drive's CD Wires...and the Concept of Breathing has multiple references to the Final Fantasy series:


 * The song "I'm Not a Thief, I'm a Treasure Hunter" is a quote from Locke Cole, from the Final Fantasy VI.
 * The song "Knights of the Round" is a summon in Final Fantasy VII.
 * The song "Balance" quotes the story Final Fantasy X in the chorus.
 * The song "All It Takes for Your Dreams to Come True" is a quote from the President Shinra in Final Fantasy VII.
 * The song "This Isn't the End" is a quote from Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII.
 * The song "In the Beginning There Was Void" and "Pursuit Lets Wisdom Ride The Wind" are quotes from Final Fantasy V.