Cloud (Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U)

This article is about Cloud's appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. For other uses, see Cloud Strife.

Cloud
Universe	Final Fantasy
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Omnislash
Tier	N/A ()

Cloud (クラウド, Kuraudo) is the main character from Square-Enix's Final Fantasy VII. He is an upcoming downloadable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. He is the sixth non-Nintendo character to appear in the series, following Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, Pac-Man and Ryu. He was announced right before the end of the Nintendo Direct of November 12th; and much like Ryu, a pack will be released featuring his themed stage, Midgar.

His release date and price are currently unknown.

Attributes

Strengths

• Except for the first two hits of Neutral Attack and Down Tilt, all of his attacks have disjointed hitboxes as he fights with a sword.
• His Buster Sword grants him a large range for most attacks.
• Has three Meteor Smashes, Forward Aerial, Down Aerial and the second hit of Climhazzard.
• Has a projectile, his Neutral Special, Blade Beam.
  • Blade Beam has low startup and travels quite fast.
    • When powered up, it gains multi-hit properties and do more damage and knockback.
• His Forward Special, Cross Slash, can trap opponents between hits.
  • When powered up, it gains super armor.
• His Up Special, Climhazzard, is quite fast and launches Cloud upwards much like Marth and Lucina's Dolphin Slash.
  • When powered up, it sends Cloud even higher.
  • Similarly to Shulk's Up Special, pressing the Special button again while preforming this move will cause Cloud to quickly plummet downward with his sword extended.
• His Down Special, Limit Break, powers up his Special Moves in terms of damage, launch power, and in some cases distance covered or even adds multi-hit attributes.
  • He can use Finishing Touch as his Down Special once using Limit Break, which can deal massive knockback to nearby enemies.
• His Final Smash, Omnislash, functions similar to the ones of Ike and Robin, but in addition blasts the ground with a large explosion when finished.

Weaknesses

• Blade Beam has considerable ending lag that leaves Cloud vulnerable.
• Charging Limit Break takes around 6 seconds, leaving Cloud vulnerable during this period.
  • Once a Special Attack is used under the Limit effect, Cloud must charge it again in order to benefit from it.
• Finishing Touch can only be used once Limit Break is charged.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack: Does two kicks and swings the Buster Sword. Looks similar to Shulk's Neutral Combo.

• Side Tilt: Does a forward swing in an arc. Possibly based on his normal attack in Final Fantasy VII.

• Up Tilt: Does an overhead swing. Covers a good range all around him, much like Bowser and Donkey Kong's Up Tilts.

• Down Tilt: Slides with his leg outstreched, covering a good range in front of him. Functions similar to Mega Man's Down Tilt.

• Dash Attack: Slides along the ground and slams with the broad part of his Buster Sword in front of him.

Smash Attacks

• Side Smash: A triple slash attack, with the first two hits trapping opponents and the third hit having strong knockback. In a similar fashion to Pit and Dark Pit's Forward Smashes.

• Up Smash: Does a strong swing upwards. Pressing the Special button again during this move will cause Cloud to slash downward while falling quickly.

• Down Smash: Stabs on both sides, Cloud hits first with the hilt of his sword, which autolinks into the second hit, with the blade, functioning like Ganondorf's and Toon Link's Down Smashes. Looks similar to Wolf's and Little Mac's Down Smashes.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial: Swings around himself. Looks similar to Ike's Neutral Aerial.
• Forward Aerial: Braver, also known as Brave Slash, from Final Fantasy VII; it is Cloud's first Limit Break in the game. He does an overhead swing and slashes forwards in a downwards arc, being able to Meteor Smash the opponent. Looks similar to Ike's Forward Aerials.

• Back Aerial: Faces his back and does a single swing. Looks similar to Ike's Neutral Aerial.
• Up Aerial: Pushes his sword upwards, with one hand holding the base and the other holding the blade.

• Down Aerial: Stabs downward, can also Meteor Smash. Looks similar to Shulk's Down Aerial.

Grabs and Throws

• Pummel:
• Forward Throw:
• Back Throw: Kicks the opponent backward.
• Up Throw:
• Down Throw:

Special Moves

Cloud's Special Moves
	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Blade Beam
Side Special	Cross Slash
Up Special	Climhazzard
Down Special	Limit Charge/Finishing Touch
Final Smash	Omnislash

Taunts

• Down Taunt: Stands nonchalantly, with his Buster Sword pointing to the ground and a hand on his hip.
• Up Taunt: A modified version of his signature Victory Animation in Final Fantasy VII; he twirls his sword twice and then places it on his shoulder. Seen right before his tagline in his trailer.
• Side Taunt: Cloud places the Buster Sword on his back and pumps his fists forward, close together, as yellowish-green light glows on the ground around him. This comes from his spell-casting animation from Final Fantasy VII.

Costume Gallery

Cloud's default look is based off his official artwork for Final Fantasy VII, however borrowing some details from his appearance in Dissidia Final Fantasy. He has an alternate costume based off his appearance in the animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (also known as "Cloudy Wolf" in Dissidia Final Fantasy). This alternate costume also changes Cloud's face and hairstyle to the one from the movie, and swaps out his Buster Sword with the Fusion Sword; this doesn't affect his attacks.

Announcement Video

Gallery

Trivia

• Cloud is the first newcomer in SSBWU/3DS that is from the 90's, as his game was released in 1997.
• Cloud's pose in his official artwork in Smash Bros. mimics his pose from his official artwork from Final Fantasy VII.
• Cloud is the first character from Square-Enix to appear in the Smash Bros. series.
  • He is notable as Final Fantasy VII never came to any Nintendo systems, although the game was initially planned for the Nintendo 64 before moving to the Playstation.
    • Cloud, however, did appear in the music spinoff, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and its sequel, Curtain Call, for the Nintendo 3DS. His first appearance on a Nintendo console was in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, for the Game Boy Advance.
• Cloud's addition to Smash Bros. marks his fourth appearance in a fighting game, the first being Ergheiz: God Bless the Ring, released in 1998 for the Playstation, and the others being the three installments of Dissidia Final Fantasy (the first two being on the Playstation Portable and the third being on Arcade machines).
• Cloud's announcement, "Storms Into Battle!", is a joke referencing his name, as some protagonists of the Final Fantasy games bear names that have relation or motif with weather (i.e. Cloud, Squall, Tidus).
• Cloud's dashing animation is a reference to the gliding movement system seen in Dissidia Final Fantasy and its sequels.
  • It could also reference his dashing animation upon attacking during battles in the original Final Fantasy VII.
    • He is the seventh character in the game that dashes by floating over the ground, after Bowser Jr., Rosalina, Palutena, Meta Knight, Charizard, and Mewtwo.
• His trailer shows him speaking in japanese, being possibly voiced by his official voice actor, Takahiro Sakurai (who has been voicing Cloud in all his full voice appearances since Advent Children). It is unknown if he will be featured with an english voice when released (with his official english voice actor being Steve Burton).
• Despite having a very unique moveset in Dissidia Final Fantasy, none of these attacks are featured or inspired by in Smash Bros.
• Braver is the only Limit Break that is not part of Cloud's Special Attacks, but rather one of his normal attacks.
• Meteorain is the only Limit Break not featured in any attack.
• Much like in Dissidia, Cloud's idle stance in Smash Bros. looks similar to Zack Fair's stance in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.
• Much like in Dissidia, the design of Cloud's Buster Sword is exactly like the original Final Fantasy VII.
  • In Crisis Core and Advent Children, the sword has a slightly different design with additional ornamental details; the handguard is colored gold and has swirl designs, the part of the blade bearing the two holes is raised slightly and sectioned off from the rest of the blade, and there are etchings engraved on the blade near the handguard.
• Cloud's trailer makes various allusions to Final Fantasy VII itself:
  • The very beginning of the trailer is a nod to the opening of the original game, showing the small glows of Lifestream flowing through the air, with the Bombing Mission theme playing in the background.
  • At 0:47, the background of the splash card for Cloud's announcement has a design that calls back to the posters for Advent Children.
  • At 0:51, the screen twirls and the iconic Battle Theme, Those Who Fight, starts to play, referencing the random encounters present in the game. Also, Charizard, Samus and Kirby appear lined up against Cloud, a nod to the turn-based battle system.
  • At 0:55, Cloud fights Mario, Sonic and Ryu in succession at the Punch Out Arena. This could be a reference to the Battle Arena in Gold Saucer, where Cloud fights by himself against waves of opponents.
  • At 1:06, Cloud is shown lied down in front of Zelda, in her crouching animation, holding a Lip's Stick, with some Pikmin, at the Kalos Pokémon League stage. This is a reference to his first encounter with Aerith, the flower girl, who is one of the main characters in Final Fantasy VII; he meets her after falling from the Sector 5 Reactor, blasting through a church ceiling and landing on a flower bed that is cared by Aerith. The stage in question also references that very church.
  • At 1:23, Cloud is shown riding on King of Red Lions while looking quite dazed, referencing a discussion on motion sickness he has with a travel-sick Yuffie Kisaragi in the original game aboard the ShinRa ship during the invasion of Junon, and also aboard the Highwind airship when the party acquires it. Despite not suffering from motion sickness in these events, Cloud does suffer from it in his flashbacks, more specifically at the back of a ShinRa truck alongside Zack and Sephiroth on a mission to exterminate monsters at Mt. Nibel.
  • At 1:25, Cloud, seen in his Advent Children alternate costume, attacks Wario in his Wario Bike, proceeding to picking it up and walking away with it. This references the motorbike minigame from the original game in which Cloud rode a motorbike, the Hardy Daytona, and protected his friends aboard a pickup truck from a convoy of ShinRa bike troopers. This is also a reference to Cloud's own bike, the Fenrir, in the animated feature Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
  • At 1:39, Cloud is seen performing his signature casting animation from Final Fantasy VII (which is one of his Taunts) near the Prince of Sablé, who proceeds to transform into a frog. This is a reference to the recurring magic spell, Frog, seen in the series. In Final Fantasy VII it is accessible through the Transform Materia. As the name suggests, the magic turns enemies into frogs.
  • At 1:58, the trailer showcases the Midgar Stage, where various Summons appear, among them Odin, Leviathan, Ramuh, Ifrit and Bahamut ZERO.
  • At 2:16, Ike and Cloud are seen standing in front of each other, with close shots of their faces, while Cloud is holding a Smash Ball, and proceeds to unleash his Final Smash, Omnislash. This is a reference to the scripted battle that happens between Cloud and Sephiroth by the end of the game. This also references the fact that Omnislash resembles Great Aether in terms of functionality.
  • At 2:36, Cloud is seen at Gaur Plains, as six Mii Fighters are seen running and jumping around using the Chocobo hat. This is a reference to the Chocobo Farm, a place in the Final Fantasy VII where Cloud can raise and breed Chocobos he captures around the world. A seventh and much larger Mii Fighter is seen using the same hat, sleeping at the right side, which in turn references Chubby Chocobo (also known as Fat Chocobo).
    • In addition, this scene also references the Chocobo Woods, a location in Final Fantasy III where Chocobos and the Chubby Chocobo can be found. Cloud's phrase "Smells Like Chocobos" is a recurring quote in the series which references the fact that Chubby Chocobo can only be summoned in places that "Smell like Chocobos" in Chocobo Woods.
• Gameplay-wise, Cloud's trailer is the longest of all trailers in the game, and features pretty much his entire moveset except for his Getup Attack, Ledge Attack, Pummel, Forward, Up and Down Throws.
• Cloud's dizzy animation could be a callback to his painful flashbacks and memories in Final Fantasy VII.
• Cloud is the first third-party character with an Alternate Costume that changes his character model.
• Cloud is the first third-party swordsman.
• Cloud is the fifth swordsman to have a projectile attack, after Link, Toon Link, Robin and the Mii Swordfighter.
• Cloud is the only character in the game whose weapon changes when his costume swap is applied.
  • This weapon, the Fusion Sword, is from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and is swapped with his Buster Sword. It does not, however, change any of his attacks or the damage delivered with those attacks.

• Cloud is the second character in the series whose Final Smash is shown by name upon activation, the other being Pokémon Trainer's Triple Finish in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.