Meteor Strike (Final Fantasy VI)

Meteor Strike
(メテオストライク, Meteo Sutoraiku?)
Availability
Required	Level 10
Character(s)	Sabin, Gogo
Classification
Type	Blitz technique
Skillset	Blitz
Effect	Physical damage to one opponent, doubled if opponent is alone
Specifications
Power	180
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Meteor Strike

Hurls a single enemy into the ground.

Description

Meteor Strike, also known as Suplex, is Sabin's level 10 Blitz technique in Final Fantasy VI. It deals physical damage to one opponent, doubled if the opponent is alone, making it a powerful attack against single targets.

Meteor Strike is performed by Sabin leaping toward the enemy and grabbing it, jumping high into the air with it, before slamming it to the ground below.

Sabin's Meteor Strike is the first use of the ability in the Final Fantasy series. Since its debut it has seen many uses, most prominently by Tifa as one of her Limit Breaks with the same name in Final Fantasy VII. The ability is the subject of a popular in-joke related to Sabin's ability to use the skill on the Phantom Train boss.

Obtained

Meteor Strike is available to Sabin at level 10.

Gogo can also use any Blitz techniques that Sabin has learned by equipping Blitz in Gogo's ability menu. This allows Gogo to use Raging Fist.

Mechanics

Meteor Strike is input using the following inputs, depending on platform:

Platform	Input
SNES
PlayStation
GBA
iOS/Android/PC

When the combination is entered, Meteor Strike will be randomly used against one of the opponents.

As a physical damage ability, it deals damage with the following formula:

$180 + ((Level \times Level \times (180 + (Strength \times 2))) / 256) \times 3 / 2$

where "Level" refers to the user's level, and Strength refers to the user's Strength. The damage is halved if there is more than one enemy standing in the current formation.

Use

Meteor Strike can deal major physical damage to a single opponent if only one remains. Against a single target, if the target is not immune, it is potentially the strongest Blitz technique. If used when multiple targets are active, the ability will not be much stronger than Sabin's earlier single-target abilities, and will have the same drawback in unreliability as it randomly targets one opponent. The main drawback to the ability against single targets is that some enemies, specifically flying enemies and some bosses, are immune to the ability.

In comparison to other Blitz techniques, Meteor Strike is one of only two, alongside Raging Fist, that deals physical damage and thus relies on Sabin's Strength stat, a naturally high stat for him. Meteor Strike will deal more damage and is ideal against single targets, but is less reliable overall.

Most of Sabin's damaging Blitz techniques deal magic damage. Two of these are single-target attacks; Aura Cannon can be stronger against enemies weak to holy, while Phantom Rush ignores Magic Defense and once acquired makes Meteor Strike mostly obsolete. The other two—Rising Phoenix and Razor Gale—hit all targets, and should be used when multiple targets are fought unless some enemies resist or absorb their respective elements.

Because the vast majority of damaging Blitz techniques use Sabin's Magic stat to determine damage, players should level him up with magicite equipped to boost his Magic stat; as a consequence, Meteor Strike will fall behind.

Due to Gogo's naturally higher Magic stat, Gogo benefits more from using the magic-based techniques than Meteor Strike, but can use Meteor Strike against single targets that resist magic.

Gallery

SNES.

GBA.

2014 mobile/Steam.

Behind the scenes

The Best Moment of Final Fantasy 6

Sabin's ability to use Meteor Strike on the Phantom Train is a popular in-joke in the Final Fantasy VI fandom. A video of the battle declaring it "The Best Moment of Final Fantasy 6" depicts Sabin using Suplex (as it was called in the original release) to defeat the Phantom Train in one hit; the video has over one million views.

The meme is so popular that it has been acknowledged by Square Enix. Official Final Fantasy social media accounts celebrating Final Fantasy VI's 27th anniversary mentioned "suplexing trains" as one of the events to occur during the game, and in the lead-up to the release of the Pixel Remaster port, the official Final Fantasy Twitter account tweeted a video of Sabin using Meteor Strike on the Phantom Train to reassure players "you can still suplex the train in Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster". After numerous comments that the animation for Meteor Strike did not flip the Phantom Train's sprite as in previous versions, the account addressed these concerns by stating the video was taken from an pre-release version of the Pixel Remaster port and the animation will be corrected in the final release.

A common misconception is that bosses in Final Fantasy VI are typically immune to Meteor Strike and the Phantom Train's vulnerability was a glitch or oversight that was retained through re-releases of the game due to the fame of Sabin's feat. In actuality, many bosses throughout the game are vulnerable to Meteor Strike, including several of the eight legendary dragons. Even so, it is Sabin's ability to use Meteor Strike on the Phantom Train that has stuck in the minds of the fandom above any other enemy.

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]A meteor or "shooting star" is the visible streak of light from a meteoroid or micrometeoroid, heated and glowing from entering the Earth's atmosphere, as it sheds glowing material in its wake. Meteors rarely explode in the Earth's atmosphere. The term has become associated with quickness with the adjective "meteoric". In the context of myth and superstition, meteors and comets sighted in Ancient and Medieval Europe were once held as ill omen, said to be the message of the heavens' displeasure of man's affairs to herald grave catastrophes.

Pieces that withstand atmospheric ablation are known as meteorites, but the name of the spell in the series refers to the overall phenomenon.

A suplex is a wrestling throw that involves lifting the opponent and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs.