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Final Fantasy, to its credit, has as many good antagonists as protagonists in its long and storied franchise. From Chaos to Kefka, they hail from all walks of life and with a great multitude of motivations, yet few have defined the cultural zeitgeist as much as Sephiroth. So prevalent is Sephiroth that his personality is as much defined by the culture around him as his actual appearances.
This antagonist is very omnipresent in terms of cultural impact, but what does that mean in real terms? Well, Sephiroth has appeared, by far, more than any other Final Fantasy villain in extended media, both within and without the Final Fantasy series itself. Let’s dive in and get the exact number.
Where Is Sephiroth From?
This might seem a bit redundant to most people, but it’s better to be safe when we’re talking about the multitude of games he’s appeared in. A baseline is important to establish.
Sephiroth first appeared in Final Fantasy 7 for the original PlayStation back in 1997. It was the first 3D entry in the series, seen by many as one of the best games, and also features some of Nobuo Uematsu’s best musical work. Sephiroth served as the main antagonist, yet was also killed before the game even started. He had a pretty strong presence despite being dead!
This of course all culminates in the battle against Safer Sephiroth in the finale, with his distinctive (but not the precise iconic) one-winged form. He is defeated, and this time returns to the Lifestream for good. Mostly. The rest is told in Advent Children and related books.
Though Sephiroth’s depiction with his one wing of white feathers is massively iconic, this specific form did not appear until Advent Children in 2005. Humorously, his first-ever appearance in his humanoid form with one wing was in Kingdom Hearts, 2002.
Which Games Does Sephiroth Appear In?
There is a veritable hoard of games in which Sephiroth makes an appearance, both big and small. For that purpose, we’re going to be splitting his appearances into two categories - Final Fantasy and Non-Final Fantasy appearances. There really are that many.
Let us start off with hisFinal Fantasy appearances, listed in roughly chronological order:
1997
2004
2007
2008, 2011, 2015, 2018
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2019
2020
2021
2023
2024
The second of the remake trilogy.
Fun fact - many claimed that a character from the First Soldier would be a young Sephiroth. Though this was denied, an extremely similar-looking character then appeared in Ever Crisis. Who just so happened to be Young Sephiroth.
That is, counting the multiple entries of Dissidia, about20 entries total that Sephiroth appears in. For the vast majority, he appears only as a cameo character, but in both the Final Fantasy 7 games as well as Dissidia, he plays a more major role.
Now, let’s move on to hisNon-Final Fantasy appearances, which there are actually much fewer of:
1998
2002, 2005
2011
Puzzles And Dragons
Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary
2017
A dedicated Itadaki Street game made to celebrate the shared 30th anniversary of both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
Sephiroth added as a DLC fighter.
Counting both Kingdom Hearts games, which make up the most prominent of Sephiroth’s non-Final Fantasy appearances, we haveapproximately 11 games in which Sephiroth appears. Outside of Kingdom Hearts, all of them are simple cameos, sharing no dedicated story of their own.
In total, across all games, that would give Sephirotha grand total of 31 video game appearances. For one character, that sure is quite a bit! Considering the absurd popularity of Sephiroth that shows no signs of slowing down either.
