Editing Cloud Strife

:''For fighter info, see [[Cloud (SSB4)]] and [[Cloud (SSBU)]]. For other meanings of "cloud", see [[Cloud (disambiguation)]].''

|name = Cloud Strife

|image = {{tabber|width=300px|title1=Final Fantasy VII|tab1=[[File:Cloud Strife.png|x300px]]|title2=Advent Children|tab2=[[File:AdventChildrenCloud.png|x300px]]}}

|caption = [[File:FinalFantasySymbol.svg|50px]]<br>Official artworks of Cloud from ''{{s|wikipedia|Dissidia Final Fantasy}}'' and ''{{s|wikipedia|Dissidia Final Fantasy NT}}''.

|universe = {{uv|Final Fantasy}}

|firstgame = ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII}}'' (1997)

|games = ''[[SSB4]]''<br>''[[Ultimate]]''

|lastappearance =''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII Remake}}'' (2020)

|console = PlayStation

|species = Human (augmented with Mako and Jenova cells)

|gender = Male

|creator = {{s|wikipedia|Yoshinori Kitase}}<br>{{s|wikipedia|Kazushige Nojima}}<br>{{s|wikipedia|Tetsuya Nomura}}<br>{{s|wikipedia|Hironobu Sakaguchi}}

|artist = {{s|wikipedia|Tetsuya Nomura}}

|homeworld = Nibelheim (birthplace)<br>Edge (surrogate hometown)

|voiceactor = {{s|wikipedia|Takahiro Sakurai}}

|interwiki = wikipedia

|interwikiname = Wikipedia

|interwikipage = Cloud Strife

'''Cloud Strife''' ({{ja|クラウド・ストライフ|Kuraudo Sutoraifu}}, ''Cloud Strife'') is the main protagonist of ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII}}'', its [[wikipedia:Final Fantasy VII Remake|high-definition remake]], and its related media, the ''{{s|wikipedia|Compilation of Final Fantasy VII}}'', from [[Square Enix]]'s {{uv|Final Fantasy}} series.

Initially appearing as a proud, yet arrogant and aloof swordsman who claims to be a former member of the elite paramilitary group SOLDIER, Cloud is hired by the insurgency group Avalanche as a mercenary to help them in their cause against the Shinra Electric Power Company. As Cloud's journey unfolds, he rediscovers his past and, alongside his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart and newfound friends within Avalanche, abandons his quest for power and fame in favor of fighting to defend his friends and their home planet Gaia.

Cloud made his ''[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Super Smash Bros.]]'' debut in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' as a playable character via [[downloadable content]], and returns in the base roster of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.

Cloud was born in the mountain village of Nibelheim. During his childhood, his father died and he was raised by his mother. Due to his lack of close friends, Cloud, perhaps as a coping mechanism, considered himself to be superior to all the other village children, and thus did not enjoy their company.

Despite this, Cloud had a crush on his neighbor {{s|wikipedia|Tifa Lockhart}} while growing up, and the two became friends despite not being close during their childhoods. At the age of 14, Cloud, upon learning of the legendary hero [[Sephiroth]]'s exploits and desiring to impress Tifa, left Nibelheim for [[Midgar]] to join SOLDIER, the paramilitary arm of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a megacorporation that effectively ruled the world.

 

 

Afterwards, Cloud and Zack were captured by Shinra's corrupt head scientist, Professor Hojo, and experimented upon to test Hojo's Reunion Theory, a facet of the Jenova Project. This experimentation resulted in Cloud becoming as powerful as a 1st Class SOLDIER but also rendered him catatonic. Four years after being deemed failures during the experimentation, Zack eventually escaped with a weak and delirious Cloud in his arms and attempted to flee to Midgar.

 

However, Zack was ambushed by a massive army of Shinra troops; despite his best efforts to protect himself and Cloud, Zack was overrun and gunned down, although the troops ignored the catatonic Cloud and left him for dead. Upon regaining some awareness, Cloud manages to have one final conversation with Zack before his death, with Zack bequeathing the Buster Sword to him and saying that his legacy will live on in Cloud. Mourning the loss of his best friend, Cloud took the Buster Sword with him and trudged onward to Midgar. Within the timeline of ''Final Fantasy VII Remake'', the actions of Cloud's party retroactively change history, allowing Zack to survive and bring the delirious Cloud to Midgar himself.

 

The trauma of these events, combined with Hojo's experimentation, drove Cloud insane; his memories warped, causing him to believe that he was an ex-SOLDIER and to forget that Zack ever existed. At Tifa's behest, he joined her in allying with the second generation of Avalanche led by {{s|wikipedia|Barret Wallace}}, and aided them in their battles against Shinra and a revived Sephiroth alongside allies including {{s|wikipedia|Aerith Gainsborough}}, [https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Red_XIII Red XIII],  [https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Cait_Sith_(Final_Fantasy_VII) Cait Sith], [https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Cid_Highwind Cid Highwind], {{s|wikipedia|Yuffie Kisaragi}}, and {{s|wikipedia|Vincent Valentine}}. Eventually, Cloud discovered that his memories were fake and, with Tifa's aid, came to terms with his past and was able to move on. Despite Sephiroth killing Aerith and Cloud giving him the Black Materia, Cloud and his friends eventually managed to defeat Sephiroth, saving the world.

 

In the years that follow, Cloud, Tifa, and the party go their separate ways. In the movie sequel ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children}}'', Cloud and Tifa settle down in the city of Edge and set up a delivery business called the Strife Delivery Service. He also takes in two children; Denzel, an orphan suffering from Geostigma, a disease that has started to appear after the defeat of Sephiroth, and Barret's adopted daughter Marlene.

Kadaj eventually leads an attack on Edge to find the remains of Jenova. The former members of Avalanche reunite to face him, and Cloud manages to cure his Geostigma using Lifestream-infused water flowing in Aerith's old church. Cloud encounters Kadaj and defeats him in the ruins of Midgar, but Kadaj merges with Jenova's remains to resurrect Sephiroth. The two duel once again and Cloud emerges victorious, resulting in Sephiroth fading away while his manifestations die immediately afterward. Cloud then returns to the church with the infected children and uses the water to cleanse the Geostigma out of them. He then says farewell to the spirits of Zack and Aerith, who had been with him throughout the events of ''Advent Children''.

 

 

Cloud was originally voiceless in his game of origin; although he is voiced by {{s|wikipedia|Kenyu Horiuchi}} and {{s|wikipedia|Nozumu Sasaki}} in the arcade and PlayStation versions, respectively, of ''{{s|wikipedia|Ehrgeiz}}'', it was not until his appearance in ''{{s|wikipedia|Kingdom Hearts|video game}}'' that he was given a consistent voiceover. In Japanese, Cloud is voiced by {{s|wikipedia|Takahiro Sakurai}} in all appearances since ''Kingdom Hearts''. In English, Cloud was voiced by {{s|wikipedia|Steve Burton|actor}} from ''Kingdom Hearts'' up until ''Final Fantasy VII Remake'', with {{s|wikipedia|Cody Christian}} replacing Burton as the English voice from ''Final Fantasy VII Remake'' onwards. However, Burton was not asked to reprise his role for ''Super Smash Bros.'' due to conflicts regarding his contract with Square Enix, so Sakurai's voice is used in all international versions.

Cloud appears as a [[newcomer]] in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'', and was formally announced during a [[Nintendo Direct]] on November 12, 2015.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF3AnGHbG6s Nintendo Direct Presentation - Mario, Zelda, Pokemon & More | Game Overviews (11/12/15)]</ref> This makes him the fifth character to be both [[downloadable]] and from a third party developer, and the first fighter hailing from [[Square Enix]]. According to ''Super Smash Bros.'' series creator [[Masahiro Sakurai]], ''Final Fantasy'' characters were heavily requested to appear in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, with Cloud receiving the most support out of all of them.<ref name=SakNom/>

While discussing potential candidates from the ''Final Fantasy'' series to include in ''SSB4'', Sakurai stated in an interview with Square Enix veteran Tetsuya Nomura that he could have included characters such as [https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Fusoya Fusoya] from ''Final Fantasy IV'', [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Bartz_Klauser Bartz Klauser] from ''Final Fantasy V'', or [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Terra_Branford Terra Branford] from ''Final Fantasy VI''.<ref name=SakNom>[https://www.sourcegaming.info/2016/01/20/sakurai-x-nomura-creator-interview-2016-part-one/ Sakurai x Nomura: Creator Interview 2016 (Part One) - Source Gaming]</ref> However, Sakurai ultimately said it was difficult to imagine a ''Final Fantasy'' character to include that was not Cloud, primarily owing to his design and iconic status.<ref name=SakNom/>

Cloud's strengths include highly [[disjointed]] range thanks to his [[Buster Sword]], surprisingly fast attacks relative to his range and power, and quick overall mobility.<ref name=SakNom/> Despite being a heavyweight, these traits collectively give him a heavily offensive playstyle that is useful for combos and excellent at aerial combat, especially [[edgeguard]]ing. Additionally, Cloud's unique [[Limit Break]] mechanic slightly boosts his attributes and converts his special moves into fast and powerful KOing options once it is full, further improving his offensive presence to the point that he can score KOs even at fairly low percentages.

However, Cloud has a few glaring weaknesses in spite of his tremendous strengths. The most notable of these is his inconsistent KO potential, which is due to his very small number of easy-to-land KOing options outside of his Limit Break special moves. Aside from this, Cloud's polarized aerial movement results in his recovery and off-stage endurance both being lackluster.<ref name=SakNom/> Lastly, his grab game is one of the worst among the cast, some of his moves have noticeable ending lag.<ref name=SakNom/>

Overall, Cloud, like {{SSB4|Mario}}, boasts numerous advantages that are supplemented by a relatively low learning curve,<ref name=SakNom/> which have contributed to him achieving very noticeable tournament results and representation. As a result, Cloud is ranked 2nd out of 55 on the current [[tier list]]; this places him in the S tier and positions him as a top tier character.

;Cloud

:''The protagonist of FINAL FANTASY VII, Cloud wields the enormous Buster Sword, a memento from his comrade Zack. Once a SOLDIER of Shinra, he now fights as a mercenary against the corporation he originally served. His decision to join AVALANCHE's insurgence, however, will transform his destiny.''

;Cloud (Alt.)

:''Filling the Limit Gauge allows Cloud to perform a Limit Break, supercharging his next special move. His down special becomes Finishing Touch. With a huge swing of his sword, Cloud summons a whirlwind that inflicts only 1% damage, but boasts brutal launch power. Go for a KO while foes' damage is still low!''

CloudTrophyWiiU.png|Classic (Wii U)

CloudAltTrophy3DS.png|Alt. (3DS)

CloudAltTrophyWiiU.png|Alt. (Wii U)

</gallery>

{{clr}}

Cloud returns as a playable character in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''. He was formally announced alongside the rest of the cast via ''Ultimate''{{'}}s E3 2018 trailer on June 12th, 2018.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93H7YC-83o Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018 - Nintendo Switch]</ref> Although his moveset is largely unchanged in regard to aesthetics, Cloud received noteworthy mechanical changes, particularly to his Limit Breaks. Unlike in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'', the Limit Gauge is now constantly displayed next to his [[damage meter]], and a full Limit Charge must be used within 15 seconds before it depletes entirely. Starting with version 10.0.0, his ''Advent Children'' costume has a unique Final Smash called "Omnislash Ver. 5", which is a cosmetic change to his standard Final Smash, [[Omnislash]].

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|zh=Cloud

*Cloud is the only character with an alternative costume based on a movie, being ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children}}''.

*Cloud is the first character to have his [[victory theme]] continuously play over the results theme, with the second being fellow third-party character Joker.

*Cloud is the only third-party character in ''Ultimate'' who does not use pre-existing artwork for his Fighter Spirits.

*Cloud, Sephiroth, Joker, and [[Hero|Eight]] are the only third-party characters whose debut console was solely a Sony console.

**He, Sephiroth, and Hero each hail from one of the two companies that merged into Square Enix, as Cloud and Sephiroth were from Squaresoft and the Hero was from Enix.

*Cloud is the first fighter whose [[Final Smash]] was substantially altered in an update, and consequently the first fighter whose Final Smash varies depending on the [[alternate costume]].

*Article on the [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Cloud_Strife Final Fantasy Wiki]

[[Category:Third party characters]]