Cloud

Cloud Strife was born in a small mountain village Nibelheim. Growing up, he hardly had any friends, his only confidante being Tifa Lockhart, a girl living next door. An unfortunate accident, during which Cloud failed to save her from a fall up in the mountains, almost left her permanently bedridden. This gave Cloud a big motivation to get stronger and never fail his friends again. Inspired by the tall tales of Sephiroth’s grandiose exploits, he set out to join Shinra Electric Power Company’s elite SOLDIER unit, leaving behind a promise to Tifa to save her one day.

Years later, Cloud finds himself in Midgar as a sellsword and is recruited by his former friend Tifa to join the Avalanche – an eco-terrorist organization whose goal is to save the planet Gaia and stop Shinra Electric Power Company from draining the energy known as Lifestream from it.

Their first task together is to bomb the No. 1 Reactor. Cloud comes across as arrogant and proud throughout the mission, but despite a brief moment of weakness, he sees the operation through. After this success, Tifa convinced the leader of this Avalanche cell, loud and passionate Barret Wallace, to hire Cloud for another mission.

The operation to bomb the No. 5 Reactor went south quickly as the whole place was revealed to be a trap set up by President Shinra. During his attempt to escape, Cloud was separated from the group and fell down into the slums below, landing in the middle of a flower field blooming inside the slums church. There he met with Aerith Gainsborough, a flower merchant. She convinced him to become her bodyguard, essentially giving a start to one of the most important relationships in gaming history. Players can relive their story, try to stop Shinra, and hunt down Sephiroth in a new format of Final Fantasy VII Remake, which was released in 2020. The next chapter of their adventures is slated to be released in the not-so-distant future, and who knows, maybe the gaming’s most famous spoiler will no longer come true.

Cloud Strife first appeared in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a DLC character and was considered one of the best fighters throughout the lifespan of the game. In Ultimate, he became an unlockable character. While heavily nerfed from the previous game, he still retained his signature style, fast movement speed, and powerful Smash Attacks and Special Attacks.