Kuja/Dissidia (PSP)

Kuja is one of the villains fighting for the side of Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy. With porcelain skin and long, silver hair, he has an elegant appearance. However, this beauty is strictly external - Kuja is cruel, assertive, narcissistic, and extremely envious of Zidane. He fights using graceful spells that are as much style as substance. Due to his relative youth and inexperience, the other villains look down on Kuja, but he considers them animals and strives to prove himself their superior. Unable to understand the bond his rival Zidane shares with Squall and Bartz, he lays traps to test Zidane's resolve and separate him from his friends.

He returns, along with the other characters from Dissidia, in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Attire
Kuja's appearance is identical to his original design in Final Fantasy IX, simply more refined. Kuja wears a deep purple jacket held closed by a silver band, with white sleeves and gold linings. His legs are covered in the back by a white cloak held in place by four straps connected to a codpiece. From the thighs down Kuja wears purple leggings and pointed boots. His hair is more silver than lavender as it was in Final Fantasy IX, and retains the feather. In an appearance feature unique to Dissidia, Kuja is surrounded by five orbs of energy. The orbs orbit him in formation as he moves and are enchanted with Holy and Flare magic to be used to attack with, but do not appear in most cutscenes.

Kuja's first alternate outfit "Lapis Bolero" has more bluish tones, matching his original concept artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, while his Trance form is purple instead of red.

Kuja's second alternate outfit, "Archromatic Bolero" is meant to invoke the imagery of an "Angel of Death," Kuja's title. Kuja's outfit and hair are colored black and white with various gradients. His Trance form in this outfit is dark gray.

Kuja's third alternate outfit, scheduled to be amongst the first paid DLC for Dissidia 012, is an original character design by Hideo Minaba, Final Fantasy IX's art director and the original character designer for both Kuja and Zidane. The costume is intended to envision Kuja as he would have appeared during his time as a wealthy citizen of Treno. Kuja wears an elaborate outfit with frilled sleeves and leggings in blue and purple hues. The cloak covering his legs is colored gold and slit partway up, and he wears a gold vest with several straps over his lower arms. His head is topped with a large, black, three-cornered hat.

Kuja's Manikin version, Capricious Reaper, is purple.

Dissidia 012
Recently brought to the side of Chaos, Kuja is originally unwilling to fight as he believes his lack of services with not Chaos's victory as he confides it Cloud whom has no interest to fight as well, revealing he has no intention of fighting his rival Zidane. However, having overheard their talk, Kefka accompanies Kuja in confronting Lightning's group, with Kuja forced by the senior Chaos member into fighting Lightning. He is defeated quickly and fades away with Kefka pondering what to fit his head with after he is revived.

In the TGS trailer, Kuja is met by Bartz, Zidane and Squall, who believe him to be a rarely-seen Warrior of Cosmos. Kuja also later fights Zidane, to whom Kuja advises that Zidane should use his weapons unless he wants to die or run away. Eventually Kuja break's Kefka's hold over Terra out of spite.

Destiny Odyssey
Ultimecia taunts Kuja, infuriating him and motivating him to prove himself superior to her. Kuja meets with Kefka, who advises Kuja to use one of Zidane's friends as bait. Kefka directs Kuja to Squall who is traveling alone and is thus easy prey. Kuja intercepts Squall in the Rift and tells him his plan to use him as bait, but Squall attacks him. Kuja is defeated, but decides Squall, traveling alone, would be a poor choice to use as a trap. Kuja concocts a new plan to capture Zidane using a fake Crystal, and plants it in Kefka's Tower for him to find. However, Bartz falls into the trap instead, and Kefka taunts Kuja about his failure. Though Kuja is irritated by Kefka, he follows his suggestion and turns to Exdeath, who weaves a second fake Crystal for Bartz to find as a trap.

When Bartz reunites with Zidane and shows him the fake Crystal, Kuja's plan works and Zidane is transported away. Kuja taunts Zidane with the prospect of being alone, unable to protect his friends, and leaves Zidane in his solitude. Garland speaks to Kuja, warning him that the two of them, as with all the other villains, are prisoners of fate. This convinces Kuja the other villains are not as superior to him as they think, stating he was destined to take the "lead role," and that he will emerge victorious in his plan to prove himself superior to them. Zidane escapes and begins to travel back to his friends, and meets with Kuja again in the Crystal World. Kuja questions Zidane's choice to continue believing in his friends, and Zidane asks if Kuja has friends of his own. Outraged at being associated with the other warriors of Chaos, Kuja attacks Zidane and is defeated. Zidane claims his Crystal, and Kuja begins to fade away. Zidane asks Kuja why he refuses to believe in others, and Kuja responds he does not see the point, as in the end, people are still alone. Zidane tries to explain the true meaning to Kuja, but Kuja refuses to listen and fades away.

Shade Impulse
Zidane finds Kuja reciting poetry in the Crystal World after Cosmos's death, resigned to his fate of death once Chaos destroys the worlds. Zidane still refuses to give up hope, and Kuja attacks him. Defeated again, Kuja asks Zidane to kill him, but Zidane instead offers Kuja his hand and help. Kuja brushes Zidane away, believing he will never understand him, and tells Zidane to go, accepting his fate to return to where he must go and vanishes. After he fades, Zidane says that he and Kuja will return to the same place when the war is over.

If a Warrior of Cosmos other than Zidane encounters Kuja, he will remark that he is nothing more than an imitation, and he'll most likely perish before he could witness the end of the world. He remarks that he has nothing left to fear, but he won't die alone, as he wants them all to join him to die as a fitting end to what he considers a tragic farce. After being defeated, he mentions that he had nothing left to lose, and wishes that he could have known what it truly means to live.

Battle
Kuja is described as a Graceful Glider. He is the only character able to Glide through the air outside of EX Mode, and can attack while moving. This is crucial to Kuja's Bravery attacks, which consist of two-part attacks where the second part of the effect changes depending on his distance from the opponent. This gives Kuja a great deal of versatility when attacking. The start-up of his Bravery attacks are also varied between close and long-range techniques. His HP attacks stun the opponent, dealing Bravery damage before damaging their HP. As a downside, Kuja's attacks are mostly mid-ranged and he does not do as much damage as melee fighters. His Bravery attacks are also easy to block.

Boss
Kuja is fought in Destiny Odyssey VIII and IX, Shade Impulse, Distant Glory, and Inward Chaos.

EX Mode
Final Requiem vQbdlTdIRzo Kuja's EX Mode is his Trance form from Final Fantasy IX. During EX Mode Kuja gains the abilities "Hyper Glide" and "Auto Magic." Hyper Glide allows him to maintain altitude longer when gliding, letting him remain in the air almost indefinitely, while Auto Magic leaves Flare orbs in the air when Kuja jumps, staggering opponents, and surrounds him with Holy orbs while gliding to knock opponents into the air. This lets Kuja damage opponents simply by moving around them. Some attacks may also be nullified or reflected by these orbs while Kuja is moving.

Kuja's EX Burst is Final Requiem, where Kuja conducts a flurry of Flare Star attacks to bombard the opponent. The player is required to rapidly press to fill up a power bar as Kuja attacks. Failing to press the button quickly enough will result in Kuja skipping to the end of the attack, minimizing the Brave damage done. Kuja finishes the EX Burst with several Holy spells, followed by an Ultima spell.

Equipment
Kuja is able to equip the following: Daggers, Staves, Rods, Bangles, Hats, Hairpins, Ribbons, Clothing, and Robes. In Duodecim Kuja can also equip Poles, Headbands and Breast Plates.

Allusions

 * The poem Kuja recites at the beginning of his Shade Impulse scene with Zidane is the exact same poem he states just before Bahamut attacks Alexandria in Final Fantasy IX. Zidane's offer to assist Kuja mirrors Kuja's final moments in Final Fantasy IX.
 * If a character other than Zidane faces Kuja in Shade Impulse, Kuja says, "I have nothing left to fear! But I refuse to die alone...You will all join me!" This paraphrases Kuja's dialogue when defeated as Trance Kuja in Final Fantasy IX, "I won't have to be afraid anymore...but I'm not gonna die alone. You're all coming with me!"
 * As with Zidane, two planets can be seen fusing during Kuja's EX Burst, alluding to Terra assimilating Gaia. However, opposite to Zidane, it is the red planet Terra that emerges as the dominant planet in the fusion.
 * Kuja's Bravery attacks are all themed after the spells Holy and Flare, spells he is able to cast as Trance Kuja. His HP attacks are all attacks he uses in Final Fantasy IX - Seraphic Star's appearance of a burst of white energy is based on the appearance of the Holy spell in Final Fantasy IX, Flare Star is one of Kuja's signature attacks, and Ultima is the spell Trance Kuja uses when defeated.
 * Kuja's ultimate weapon, Terra's Legacy, refers to his home planet in Final Fantasy IX. His second strongest weapon, Whale Whiskers, is the name of the strongest rod that can be used by Princess Garnet. Kuja's third weapon, the Punisher, curiously is taken from Final Fantasy VI instead, and is a rod used by Banon.
 * Kuja's pose when ending his EX Burst is similar to the pose he takes in Final Fantasy IX when he destroys Terra.
 * In his victory pose, Kuja floats to the ground in a pose identical to his original artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, then assumes a pose identical to his Dissidia artwork.
 * At the beginning of Destiny Odyssey IX, Ultimecia goads Kuja by saying he is "no more than a vessel, a flawed one at that," and Kuja's response is to accuse her of lying. This roughly parallels Kuja's conversation with Garland in Final Fantasy IX, where Garland tells Kuja he is a mortal and Kuja refuses to believe him at first.
 * If fighting as Kuja against Garland, the latter will remark, "I sense you are haunted by your fate." This is a reference to the end of Disc Three of Final Fantasy IX, in which Kuja learns of his mortality and is driven into an insane rage.
 * In Destiny Odyssey 45 Kuja beginning to fight with Garland could be a reference to Kuja's plans to fight Garland but was unable.
 * When Kuja faces Yuna, he says "I'll rip you away from your dear friends." This alludes to when he extracted the Eidolons from Garnet.

Trivia

 * Kuja is the only character that can glide without being in his EX Mode.
 * Kuja is one of two characters that do not use physical attacks whatsoever, the other being Yuna in Dissidia 012.
 * Kuja is one of three characters with the exact same set of moves in midair as on the ground. The other two are Exdeath and Ultimecia.
 * Kuja is the only Warrior of Chaos to use White Magic spells, in this case, the prominent usage of Holy.
 * Kuja is one of three characters, the others being Zidane and the Warrior of Light, to have more than one intro quote when fighting his rival.
 * Kuja is one of the only three villains who ends on a good note with his rival, the others being Jecht and Golbez. All three of these villains also have a familial tie to their rivals.
 * Kuja is one of only three Warriors of Chaos whose "deaths" in Shade Impulse have them fading away in a blue light rather than darkness, the other being Sephiroth (who fades in a gold light) and technically Jecht (as he fades into Pyreflies).
 * Kuja is the only character in Dissidia 012 that has a recolor for their 3P form