5 Final Fantasy Characters Who Really Deserved Their Own Spin-Off Game

The Top Five

Final Fantasy has had more than it's fair share of spin-offs. We've had action games with broody gunslinging vampires (is there any other type these days?), giant grudge match beat-em-ups – hell, even the Chocobos have gotten in on the act, and they're not even fully sentient.

Each game in the series is fit to bursting with intruiging characters: people, monsters, and some that are a cross of both. And after nearly 25 years of titles, more than a few of those have made a warm space for themselves in gamers' collective psyche.

But amongst the gargantuan stable of characters that populate Square Enix's flagship franchise, who is the most deserving of their own turn in the spotlight?

Here's a look at five individuals who'd have no problem carrying a game as the hero, even though let's be honest, all we really need is a protagonist who's prone to neither whining or oversleeping, like so many of those damn J-RPG kids these days.

Auron

Everybody’s favourite samurai warrior priest ghost, Auron somehow manages to pull off some of the other FF protagonists’ trademark tropes without ending up looking like a backing dancer in Cyberpunk: The Musical.

He’s got Cloud’s ludicrously overpowered sword, but you can bet your life Auron doesn’t get any jibes about overcompensating for something. He’s got Vincent’s scarlet coat, but no-one cracks wise to him about looking like a wimpy Dracula wannabe, unless they've become disillusioned with the integrity of their spinal column.

Maybe it’s the sunglasses and thousand-yard stare. Maybe it’s the voice so deep even hell itself couldn’t hold him. It could even be the fact that he carries around a gallon jug of Sake just for a cheeky swig mid-battle. All we know is, Auron don’t take no crap, and that’s the kind of spin-off players need – taking names and showing those monsters just who the hell is boss around here.  The other protagonists can suck it; Auron is a thousand times the man they’ll ever be, without even being fully corporeal.  You tell ‘em Auron. I mean, Sir.

Moogles

D’aww, bless their fuzzy little hearts. Everyone loves Moogles right? I mean look at them, with the bouncy pompoms and ickle bat wings. They flap about pretty much every FF world, helping you out and just generally being adorable. I mean who wouldn’t want to play a game where you’re a delightful mystic kitten with a silky pink coat?

Ah screw it. Nobody actually likes moogles. Be honest now. What you really want is a Duck Hunt clone in which the little bastards flutter past the screen and you pepper them with buckshot. Speaking of pepper, maybe you could combine it with a Cooking Mama style minigame in which you drag your spoils back home and whip up some tasty moogle-based cuisine. Mmm, tastes like strawberries.

Sin

If there’s one thing better than jumping onto the back of a giant demon whale, crippling it with fire magic and beating up the immortal parasite who rides around inside it (spoilers), it’s being that giant demon whale and tearing a hole in the whole damn planet. 

Spira, the one-continent world of FFX, is chock full of elaborate steeples, shanty towns and giant goldfish bowl stadiums which are ripe for a smashing. 

Imagine a Rampagesque destroyathon in which you fly about - just like whales always do - generally wreaking havoc and making an awful mess of the place. Sounds fun, right? But that's not all! The thing is, Sin has a goddamn city inside of his belly. So once you're done swallowing the population of an entire world, the game turns into a Simcity type affair in which you manage the lives of the tiny people, keeping them happy and contented inside your lower intestinal tract. Only it's kinda easy. Need a new hospital for your internal township? CHOMP. There goes Macalania general, and you get a brand new trauma ward out of the wreckage. You just don't wanna know what happens to the town once you delete it to start a new game...

Biggs and Wedge

Ah, Biggs and Wedge. Always seen together, in every game, in a variety of bit-part guises. Sometimes they're the comic relief bad guys, sometimes they're revolutionaries, and sometimes they're the doormen who are inexplicably better at blitzball than trained professionals. What is their secret agenda? How do they follow the player through all these parallel universes or alternate timelines, or whatever it is that means the FF games can be totally different in every way apart from chocobos and gil?

We mere gamers may not be able to perceive their shadowy endgame, but dammit we deserve to play it. Navigating your way through Final Fantasy worlds, fighting the best of the best of monsters and malcontents, and goofing off at the Galbadia Hotel. A quest to save not just one world, but all the worlds you ever played through. Tell me that doesn't set your nerd senses aflame.

Zell Dincht

In a world where everyone and their chocobo has an angst-filled back story, you know Zell Dincht has got your back. He's doing exactly what you want to do in these games – punchingthe hell out of everyone and everything.

Whining about a dark past? Not Zell Dincht. He's too busy breaking his way out of a jail cell with his bare hands. He's a member of a private army where everyone specialises in some kind of weapon, and he uses his freakin' fists. Put it this way – he demonstrably cares more about the cafeteria running out of hot dogs than he does about the impending apocalypse. If thats how much he cares about hot dogs, think about how much he'll care about kicking your ass. I mean for crying out loud, one of his limit breaks involves striking the enemy with a dolphin. Can you even begin to claim that you don't want to play a beat 'em up as this man? A beat 'em up in which every object, person and piece of terrain is fully destructible? Yeah, thought not. Zell Dincht Punches The World – coming soon to all gaming devices.