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). The weapon system also differs from the other games in that specific rare items are needed to upgrade the weapon. The Weapons Monthly magazines scattered around the world inform about the required items to upgrade the different weapons, although it is not necessary to read the magazines 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.

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 in the game. 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 from Final Fantasy VIII, including Irvine's guns, Squall's gunblades, Zell's gloves, Selphie's nunchaku, and Rinoa's blaster edges, appear as weapons.

Merchandise/Replicas

 * 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

 * 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. In that game, these weapons are mounted on the arm and launch a crescent-shaped scythe at the enemy.