SUMMONS



Bahamut

Found in The various final fantasy games and a real beast in final fantasy eight you was able to fight him to join your league on a island. Seen as one of the most popular summons his powers are unmatched and uses his breath to wipe out his opponent. Summons by various heros including Yuna and Garnet. If you see one of these i suggest you run. Also known to be the king of Dragons. In various ff games his appearances change. The black-scaled King of Dragons is nearly always one of the most powerful summons. His primary attack, "Mega Flare", does non-elemental damage. Generally, he is one of the most difficult monsters to beat in order to get him to join you. In FF1, he appeared as a non-summonable character, who upgraded your class if you gave him the Rat's Tail item. In FF4, he was the God of Summons. He's such a popular character that he merited his own strategy/RPG game for SNES - Bahamut Lagoon.

Odin


An ancient king who wears an antlered helmet and rides a horse. After FF4, his steed changes to a six-legged horse named Sleipnir, who also appeared in FF3 as a regular enemy. He has two weapons which are related to his attacks. His main attack is a sword which slices the enemy in half, often known as the "Zantetsuken" or "Steel-Bladed Sword", for an instant kill. If the enemy can't be killed in one hit, such as a boss, he uses his Gungnir Lance for damage (the lance only appeared in FF5 and FF7). In FF6, Odin was upgradable to Raiden, whose "True Edge" attack had a higher success rate than Odin's "Atom Edge". In FF4, Odin was the king of Baron, killed by Cagnazzo, whose spirit still lived in one of the castle's towers. In FF8, Odin wasn't controllable, but appeared randomly at the beginning of battles for an easy victory. In FF9, the "Odin's Sword" accessory allowed him to deal damage if he couldn't kill an enemy, but without using the Gungnir.
Alexander

A giant mechanical tank, looking similar to a castle, with four cylinders that act as support structures. It dishes out Holy damage. In FF9, Alexander was the guardian eidolon for Alexandria Castle (it actually WAS part of the castle); however, it was not summonable in battle.


Atomos

This has been both a strong monster boss and a strong summoned monster. Its physical characteristics consist of little else but a large gaping mouth or portal which sucks the enemy in and does gravity-based damage (based on the enemy's HP.

Bomb

One of the most common enemies in the series. It looks like a little ball of fire with big eyes, a big mouth, and little wisps of fire coming out of the top. Its attack strategy remains relatively unchanged from game to game: each time it is hit, it increases in size and strength up to three times, and after the third, it self-destructs and delivers massive damage to one member of the party. The Bomb appears as a summon in FF4, if you pick up the "Bomb" item it leaves behind, and uses a fire-elemental attack similar to his self-destruct. Grenade is a souped-up version of the Bomb; in FF9 it had its own suit of armor! Not known to be a summon but usually just a common monster normally.

Minotour/Sekhmet

These guys are usually bosses. They're predominantly physical fighters. In every place besides Tactics, they're palette swaps of one another. They look like large muscled men with bulls' heads, carrying a mace or axe. In FF8, you can summon them as the Brothers GF.


Cactuar

As the name suggests, this creature resembles a small green running cactus-man with three spikes for hair. Two dots and a long open mouth for a face give it a rather cute, bemused look. It never has more than two poses, in which the feet run and the arms switch places. Despite its endearing figure, it can cause great damage with its attack, 1,000 Needles, which usually causes a constant 1,000 points of damage. In addition, most attack attempts fail or miss due to its high evade stat, and it often runs away before you can even get a chance to execute a command. However, it also has a tiny amount of HP, so one attack is usually enough. It often gives a large amount of ability points or money, but slim to no EXP. In Cactuar briefly shows up in one or two very rare occasions in DoC.

Carbuncle

This cute critter has green or turquoise fur and a ruby embedded in its forehead. It commonly casts Reflect on the whole party. In FF5 it looks quite a bit nastier when you fight him, but then it calms down again. In FF9, various equipped gems can cause Carbuncle's effect to change to Protect, Shell, or Vanish.


Chocobo

The hallmark of the FF series. These giant birds, sort of a cross between an ostrich and a chicken, are the work horses and all-around awesome beasts of the FF universe. Usually a corn yellow in color, their usage varies wildly from game to game. Baby chocobos are known as chicobos. In many games, Chocobos can be called in battle as summons. However, their primary purpose is transportation, though usually you have to catch one to use it. Riding on a chocobo will prevent enemy encounters, and in some games they can be upgraded to different colors. These different colors usually indicated different abilities, like being able to walk on water, mountains, or even fly.

Diablos

This summon looks very much like a winged demon from hell and bears a slight resemblance to Chaos (see FF1 and FF7). He emerges from a ball of liquid blackness, doles out gravity-based damage (one of the only summons who do), and transforms into a flock of bats that fly away. In final fantasy it is advised you do NOT open the magic lamp that cid gives you early in the game Or you might be starting over.

Ifrit

This fire demon often appears early in the game and acts as Shiva's foil. His attack is usually called "Hellfire", but was translated to "Inferno" for FF6 (NA) (man, those Nintendo guys are really heavy on the censorship!). His early name translation was inconsistent - in FF3, an early boss was called "Jinn", and he was a palette swap of the Ifrit summon spell; whereas in FF4 (SNES), Ifrit was actually called "Jinn". The creators of MQ made the confusion worse by including a fire monster named "Jinn" who had a palette-swap twin named "Iflyte". In FF12RW, there was yet another low-level Esper named "Djinn" along with Ifrit.

Leviathan

This is a long, thin snake-like dragon who controls the power of water. this summon is usually assosciated with water rather than fire. In FF4 and FF5, this monster (not Bahamut) was the King of Phantom Beasts/Summons. In FF7, it was the personal god of Wutai and its scales could calm the fires in Da-Chao Statue.

Phoenix

A bird composed of fire who revives all dead/knocked-out allies and sometimes gives a fire attack as well. In FF5, the Phoenix was Lenna's Dragon who killed itself, then rose to become Phoenix. Usually it can be summoned at will, but in FF8, Phoenix could only be called using Phoenix Pinions. Once this item was used, Phoenix appeared randomly if all playable characters were knocked-out in battle.
Quetzalcoatl

Yes, that IS the way it's spelled in FF8; they didn't have room for the full name. This featureless bird casts thunder-based damage. The 12RW is still thunder-elemental.


Shiva

The ice-based summoned creature takes the form of a beautiful frost-woman, adorned with jewels and costuming. Her attack, Diamond Dust, freezes the entire battle arena and shatters, causing ice-damage to the enemy. Her long time foe is Ifrit.

Ramuh


An old, wizened man who wields a staff and has power over thunder at about the same standing as Shiva and Ifrit. His attack is usually called Judgment Bolt. In FF6 and FF9, he was given a much larger character role as a speaker for the summons.

Siren

Siren is a beautiful blond woman, who plays a harp and causes silence. In FF8, she sits on a rock in the water and also does damage with her spell.
Tonberry

The rather spooky Tonberry is one of the most recognizable FF mainstays. The effect of its signature attack tends to vary, but it always wears brown cloth robes, carries a lantern, and uses a "chef's knife". It tends to have a lot of HP and gradually creeps toward the characters until it's close enough to instantly kill one or all of them. In FF6 and FF9 they appear in triplets and use Pearl/Holy a lot. FF6 and FF7 have a Master Tonberry who has a star over its head and twice the difficulty! It usually gives great items as a reward, though. In FF8, if you collect twenty Chef's Knives and defeat the King Tonberry which appears in the Centra Ruins, you can call Tonberry in battle as a GF! FF10 and FFX-2 boast even larger and far nastier versions, such as the Don Tonberry. In FF11, Tonberries were actually once subjects of an ancient kingdom. In a vast war, culminating in a magic explosion, they were slowly turned into Tonberry form.
Titan

The Titan has had multiple roles, but the majority of those is as a summon. He looks like a giant man with white eyes and a loincloth. He shakes the ground or lifts it above the enemies' heads to crush them. As with most earth attacks, it does not affect flying enemies. He's usually stronger than Ifrit, Ramuh, or Shiva. There was a Titan in FF1 (renamed Giant in Dawn of Souls) who ate rubies.

Yojimbo

A very strange fellow dressed in ornate traditional Japanese clothes, and accompanied by a little red doggie. He only attacks when paid. The strength and type of attacks depend on a number of compatibility factors, the most significant of which is how much gil he is given.
Terrato/Midgar Zolom

A giant snake who delivers an earth attack. "Midgar Zolom" reappears in FF7, and in an attack by Elidibs in Tactics. Midgar is a city in FF7.

Sylph

The Sylph summon consists of several pixies that steal HP from the enemy and give it to the characters. In FF4, it only gave HP to the caster; in FF5, the entire party. In Tactics, Fairy did not steal HP, but did heal the entire party. In FF12RW, Sylph is non-elemental (despite having an attack called Aero).
Magus sisters


The Magus Sisters consist of Cindy (the fat one), Sandy (the tall one), and Mindy (the small one). In Japan, they are known as Mag, Dog, and Rag. They are enemies in FF4, but return in FF10 as summons (in insect costumes for some reason). They're nearly impossible to defeat because of the way they complement each other with healing, status effects, and physical attacks. They cannot be defeated until all three of them are down, but their Overdrive requires the trio to be active with full overdrives. You can't command them to use specific actions, but you can "suggest" what you want them to do. They're pretty smart, though, and incredibly powerful (as long as they're not "taking a break")!

Ragnarok

In FF6, you are given a choice between Ragnarok the sword (see weapons) and Ragnarok the summon. The summon looks like a sword and turns one enemy into an item. It also teaches the Ultima spell.