Revolver (Final Fantasy VIII)

''See Also: Gunblade Weapon List The Gunblade is the weapon of choice for Squall Leonhart in most of his appearances in the Final Fantasy series. An iconic symbol from Final Fantasy VIII, it has since appeared in several other games in the series. It is a sword with a revolver gun-half which serves as the hilt for the blade. Despite its name, in it's original game appearance it could not be used as an actual gun, meaning it didn't fire projectiles, and could therefore only be used in melee combat. The firing of the Gunblade's chambers induced a tremor in the blade making it similar to a vorpal weapon.

Triggering a round in the gun chamber sends a shock wave through the blade, increasing its damage potential, but the timing required is hard to learn, which is why it takes years to master wielding a Gunblade. The player can effectively utilize this ability during gameplay by pressing the trigger button (R1 in the PlayStation version) just as Squall Leonhart is about to hit an enemy, thereby increasing the damage dealt to the target, similar to a critical hit.

Final Fantasy VIII
Limits: Rough Divide, Fated Circle, Blasting Zone Length: 141.9 cm Squall carries a customized version of the Revolver model as his personal weapon, adding an etching of Griever on the blade and a Griever keychain attached to the base of the hilt.

Final Fantasy XII
In Final Fantasy XII, Gilgamesh has the Revolver Gunblade amongst his collection of Legendary Weapons. However, like all his swords, it is slightly different, having an image of a Chocobo printed on the blade, and lacks the chain and Griever symbol.

Non-specific appearances
Since the Gunblade is Squall's icon weapon, the non-specific appearance of this blade is directly related with the appearance of Squall in other games, like Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, the Final Fantasy Anthology and Chocobo Racing.

Kingdom Hearts Series
Squall wields his Gunblade throughout the series as he leads the majority of the Final Fantasy cast into battle against the Heartless and Nobodies. His gunblade possesses the ability to transform into the Lionheart and back again, a trait that will carry on into Dissidia -Final Fantasy-.

The Keyblades Lionheart and Sleeping Lion vaguely resembles Squall's Gunblade, as both possess silver color schemes and Griever accessories.

Creation and Development
The weapons were, in their original appearance of Final Fantasy VIII, designed by Tetsuya Nomura. At the time when he was thinking of Squall's weapon, he was into silver accessories. He felt he wanted Squall to have a silver weapon as well. Another key factor in creating Squall's weapon was how he wanted some new way for the player to control the weapon in battle. With both of those ideas combined, he came up with a gunblade. Now that Nomura thinks back on it, he says it has a rather odd appearance.

Merchandise/Replicas

 * Final Fantasy Master Arms include miniaturized replicas of both Squall's Gunblade and Seifer's Hyperion.