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. The game has 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 at junk shops, 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. However, stats are mainly gained via the Junction system, and thus the weapon upgrades are a particularly good way to become stronger, especially when most upgrades only give a negligible boost to Strength. The weapons most useful for upgrading are Squall's gunblades because they unlock new finishers to his Limit Break, and Selphie's ultimate weapon that has innate 255% hit rate.

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 and Seifer. Gunblades have a 255% hit rate. Pressing the trigger button on-hit boosts damage for both Squall and Seifer; gunblades don't naturally deal critical hits. Squall's gunblades unlock new finishers to his Renzokuken Limit Break, and thus it is good to prioritize his upgrades out of the party.

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.

Nunchakus
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
Squall Leonhart's exclusive weapons 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 are Rinoa's Blaster Edges—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. 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.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia
.

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
Rinoa's fan-made weapons were created by the late Monty Oum based on the weapons seen in Final Fantasy VIII. The Vanishing Star gunblade is her primary weapon with the words "All Existence Has Denied" engraved on its blade. Silenced Tear is her secondary weapon. This blaster edge automatically forms into a disc-like blade she can launch with her wrist-mount launcher. She uses it for ranged attacks and has junctioned Holy and Tornado within her weapon.

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 Rudra no Hihō 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.