Phoenix (summon)

Phoenix is a summon that appears in various games. Its ability, Rebirth Flame (sometimes simply called Rebirth) revives all fallen allies. Sometimes it also deals fire-Elemental damage to all opponents. It usually has an important story element.

Appearances
Most Final Fantasy games feature an item called "Phoenix Down" which can be bought and used to revive fallen group members. In some games it is referred to as "Fenix Down" due to text length constraints.

Final Fantasy V
Phoenix makes its first appearance as a Level 5 summon. It is obtained at the top of the Phoenix Tower, where Reina Charlotte Tycoon has a flashback, where she must decide whether or not to cut the tongue of her Hiyruu to save her mother. If she refuses, the party obtains the summon.

Phoenix does fire damage to an enemy and revives a party member.

Final Fantasy VI
Phoenix is an Esper that is obtained in the Phoenix Cave. Locke Cole has been searching for a way to revive his girlfriend Rachel, and found a way using the Phoenix Esper. He uses Phoenix to revive her, and she lives long enough to make Locke's guilt go away. Afterwards it is gained as a piece of Magicite. It costs 110 MP to summon and it teaches the following spells:
 * Life X10
 * Life 2 X2
 * Life 3 X1
 * Cure 3 X2
 * Fire 3 X3

Final Fantasy VII
Phoenix is a Summon Materia that is obtained at Fort Condor if Cid Highwind manages to protect the Huge Materia inside from the Shinra. If he does so, the condor sitting atop the fort dies and it is reborn into the Phoenix Materia. Its attack is called "Pheonix Flare" and costs 180 mp to cast. It deals fire elemental damage to the enemy party and revives all dead party members at full hp.

Level -- AP Needed
 * Level 1  --    0
 * Level 2    --  28000
 * Level 3   --   70000
 * Level 4    --  120000
 * MASTER   --   800000

Stat Changes
 * Magic +2
 * Magic Defense +2
 * Maximum HP -10%
 * Maximum MP +10%

Final Fantasy VIII
Phoenix is a "semi-Guardian Force" in this game, and can only be summoned if someone uses a Phoenix Pinion.

Final Fantasy IX
Phoenix is an Eidolon that only Eiko Carol can summon. It is learned by equipping a Phoenix Pinion, and it randomly has a chance to be summoned automatically if Eiko is in the party and there is a Game Over. This rate is proportional to the amount of Phoenix Pinions the party has.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
One of eight creatures the Summoner can summon, Phoenix will fully revive any fainted unit and instantly KO any Undead in the area with 100% accuracy. It's area effect is two spaces outward and one space diagonally from the center of origin.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited
In the anime, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Phoenix makes several appearences, as a summon. The Soil Charge Triad (Soil is like the coloured bullet of a Magun, used to summon creatures) needed to summon Phoenix is:

Followed by saying: "Burn up! I summon you, Phoenix!"
 * The origin of all things, Mother Black
 * The heat that will scorch all creation, Fire Red
 * The critical point of everything, Burning Gold

Phoenix is later upgraded to Giga-Phoenix (the Soil Charge Triad remains the same)

Etymology
The mythical bird, Phoenix, first appeared in Ancient Egyptian culture. Since then its myth has been derived in several different cultures including Greek and Chinese, even finding its way into contemporary American culture through the Harry Potter books and X-Men comics. One thing rings true through all these myths, the Phoenix is seen as a sign of re-birth or immortality. The Egyptians represented the Phoenix on their sarcophagi as a heron and referred to as "benu". The Greeks would later define it as a beautiful bird with red and gold plumage. In some myths, the Phoenix is big enough to cover the sun and turn day into night. Its song is so beautiful that the Greek sun god would stop his chariot, which he towed the sun with, to listen to its song. Every 500 years, it is said that the Phoenix, reaching death, would build a nest of sweet smelling wood or cinnamon, which would be set on fire. This fire would consume the bird and from the ashes it would be reborn. The bird would wrap these ashes in an egg of myrrh and fly to Heliopolis in Greek mythology, or the altar of the sun god Ra in Egyptian mythology to deposit it. The Phoenix can be seen in the night sky as a constellation during summers in the Southern Hemisphere.