Victory pose

For real, though, we need to talk victory poses. Something coordinated for the live, on-camera finish!

Barret Wallace in Final Fantasy VII Remake

Whenever the player wins a battle, the party members will strike a victory pose (勝利のポーズ, shōri no pōzu?) (also known as victory dance). In the earlier games, these were generic and universal across all characters, but as the series progressed, the characters began to have unique victory poses, with some even changing as the story progresses. In some games, particularly the 3D games, when a character defeats the last enemy in the battlefield, the camera will do a close up on them when the victory fanfare plays.

Appearances[]

Final Fantasy[]

In the NES version, characters simply use their spell-casting poses alternating with their standing poses. In the cases of non-casters, unique poses were created to fill the blank. In later releases, the victory poses are universal across the jobs. The characters simply raise their arms a few times in time with the "Victory Fanfare".

Final Fantasy II[]

Most characters raise their arms a few times, as casting poses were not diversified. Guy, Ricard, and Josef only raise one arm. The party now runs across the battlefield to exit, indicating the enemies were blocking the way. Somewhat humorously, unconscious or petrified party members will be left behind as the rest of the party leaves the screen, and party members afflicted with Toad or Mini will move more slowly than the rest of the party.

Final Fantasy III[]

In the original NES version, casting poses were doubled up with victory poses and made unique for most classes.

In the 3D remakes, the characters stand in a loosely formed line, and each has a unique action when a level or job level is gained.

• Luneth stands with one hand on his hip. When he gains a level or job level he will jump and punch the air.
• Arc stands with his right hand over his heart. When he gains a level or job level he will jump into the air and raises both arms.
• Refia holds her hands in front of her. When she gains a level or job level she will spin.
• Ingus leans backwards with his arms crossed. When he gains a level or job level he stands up straight and pumps his fist.

Final Fantasy IV[]

Most characters repeatedly raise either one or both hands into the air.

Exceptions:

• Yang puts one leg forward and one palm toward the enemy repeatedly.
• Cid squats and smiles repeatedly.
• Fusoya puts his arms in a crescent shape repeatedly.

In the 3D remakes, each character has a unique victory pose.

• Cecil's pose depends on whether he is a Paladin or a Dark Knight:
  • Dark Knight - Cecil puts his sword on his shoulder and crosses his arms. He will raise his shield to the side when he levels up.
  • Paladin - Cecil moves his sword in a circular fashion and slashes the air. When he levels up, he will raise his sword.
• Kain spins his weapon around and stands in his iconic pose (). When he levels up, he will shift the equipped weapon to his left hand and will raise it, similar to Paladin Cecil's level-up pose. If Kain was mid-Jump when the battle ended, he will first fall to the ground, then pose.
• Rydia has two victory poses depending on whether she is a child or an adult:
  • Child - Jumps twice and takes a spin, cocking her head to the side. When she levels up, she will put her hands over her heart after she takes a spin.
  • Adult - Jumps twice and takes a spin. Upon leveling up, she will take a spin and hold her whip to the side instead of to the front.
• Tellah beats his chest twice. When he levels up, he will scratch his head after.
• Edward wipes his forehead and dusts off his clothes. When he levels up, he will nod.
• Rosa dusts off her cape, and puts her right hand over her heart. When she levels up, after dusting off her cape she will hold her bow down to the side instead of over her heart.
• Yang stretches and takes a bow. When he levels up, he will punch the air once.
• Porom spins once and jumps twice. When she levels up, she will put her hands over her heart.
• Palom spins once. When he levels up, he will cross his arms after spinning once.
• Cid shakes his stomach six times. When he levels up, he will crouch for a second and shake his head after he rises.
• Edge does a backflip, jumps with one sword in the air and places said sword on his shoulder. It is similar to Zidane's victory pose in Final Fantasy IX. When he levels up, he will show off his equipped katanas, slashing one to the left and another to the right.
• Fusoya places his weapon in front of him, puts it aside and crosses his arms.
• Golbez laughs six times.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-[]

All characters repeatedly raise both hands into the air.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years[]

In the Wii and PSP versions, all characters repeatedly raise both hands into the air.

In the 3D remakes, the recurring characters' poses are essentially the same from the 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV with their facial expressions, but new playable characters have their own victory poses:

• Ceodore - Slashes his sword twice then and fist pumps with his left hand.
• Biggs and Wedge -
• Black Mage -
• White Mage -
• Luca - Places her weapon behind her head and rests her right arm on her waist.
• Calca and Brina - Both spin around once before Calca bows and Brina curtsies. When Calca levels up, he spins in a jump and places both hands on his waist. When Brina levels up, she holds her dress and holds both hands together.
• Ursula - Spins once, jumps and lands in a fighting pose.
• Monks - Punches twice, then crosses arms in an 'x' and ends with both arms on their side.
• Palom (adult) -
• Leonora - Puts her hands together then bows.
• Porom (adult) -
• Gekkou -
• Zangetsu -
• Izayoi - Swipes her left hand in front of her face and places it on her hip.
• Tsukinowa -
• Guards -
• Harley - Adjusts her glasses with her right hand.
• Golbez - Spreads both arms out, then brings right hand to his face.

Final Fantasy V[]

Bartz, Faris, Galuf, Krile, and Lenna simply raise their arms in the air repeatedly.

Final Fantasy VI[]

At the start of the battle, characters have unique "intro poses", being variations on them entering a battle, making this and Final Fantasy VIII the only games to do this. After the battle, party members spin around once quickly, then start pumping their fists into the air in a victory dance.

Characters will not perform a victory dance in the following battles: against Vargas, first battle with Ultros, Cyan during the Siege of Doma, any battles within the Serpent Trench, on the rafters above the stage in the Opera House, the battles during the mine cart sequence, the Battle over the Floating Continent, while escaping from the Floating Continent, the first three Humbaba battles, during the sequences of the Statue of the Gods, and finally the final boss.

SNES

2014 Matrix Software

Final Fantasy VII[]

Each party member has a unique victory pose they perform if they survive the battle, although there are battles where the party will not pose.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-[]

Vincent performs his Final Fantasy VII victory pose with an extra spin. He only performs the pose during certain scenes, or after completing an Extra Mission.

In Extra Missions where Cait Sith is used, his victory pose is a backflip.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-[]

Zack's victory pose differs depending on how much HP and what status he has at the end of the battle:

• At full HP, he swings his sword above his head several times before attaching it onto his back, mimicking Cloud's victory pose from Final Fantasy VII.
• If he has less than 100% HP, but higher than 25% HP he simply attaches his sword to his back.
• If he has lower than 25% HP remaining, he will wipe his brow while attaching his sword to his back while leaning down in a tired fashion.
• If he has won the battle under the Stop or Stun status, he will break free and stretch aloft midair before sheathing his sword.

Final Fantasy VII G-Bike[]

Cloud performed his trademark victory pose of twirling the Buster Sword before placing it behind his back. This was seen in the announcement trailer.

Final Fantasy VII Remake[]

When winning all battles in either the Corneo Colosseum or Shinra Combat Simulator, the party (with the exception of Sonon, a newcomer for Remake) will reenact slightly modified variations of their victory poses from the original game.

• Cloud pumps his fist twice, spins his sword in one hand, and then places it on his back.
• Barret squats, stands and punches the air with his normal hand. His victory pose loops.
• Tifa brushes down her skirt, and then stretches her arms and back.
• Aerith brushes down her dress, smooths back her hair, collapses her staff and tucks it away into her dress.
• Yuffie jumps up and down twice, does a twirl, briefly loses her balance, and puts her shuriken away.
• Sonon twirls his staff above his head, briefly plants it in the ground, and then places it on his back.

Cloud and Tifa also have two victory poses and one defeat pose for competing in the Wall Market gym squats and pull-ups challenges, respectively.

• Cloud's post-workout poses include the following:
  • If Cloud wins the squats challenge by a wide margin, he raises his right fist high into the air.
  • If Cloud wins by a narrower margin, he raises his right fist closer to face height.
  • If Cloud loses he falls onto his knee, with his head bowed down in a similar defeat pose to the PlayStation Portable Dissidia games, except without holding his sword.

• Tifa's post-workout poses include the following:
  • If Tifa wins the pull-ups challenge by a wide margin, she gives a "peace" or "victory" sign with her right hand.
  • If Tifa wins by a narrower margin, she pumps her fists together at face height.
  • If Tifa loses the pull-ups challenge, she falls onto her hands and knees leaning onto her right side, with her head bowed down.

Final Fantasy VIII[]

Characters perform "intro poses" at the start of a battle. Characters also perform victory poses after winning battles.

Final Fantasy IX[]

Party members perform victory poses after a winning battle. Both permanent and guest party members perform them, but there are occasions the party member will not pose, and some characters are more than one pose, depending on which weapon they have equipped.

Final Fantasy X[]

Party members perform victory poses upon winning a battle. The characters also exclaim victory quotes when they win a battle. If the character is afflicted by Haste at the end of battle, the victory pose animation is sped up. Aeons also have victory poses.

Final Fantasy X-2[]

The party will perform victory poses after a winning battle. The pose the party members strike depend on the dressphere they currently have equipped, and each member has unique poses for each dress. The party will also exclaim victory quotes upon winning the battle, depending on the part of the story, which dressphere they have on, and the condition they win the battle in.

Final Fantasy XI[]

The victory emote allows players to do a simple victory pose, in which the character raises their weapon in the air.

Final Fantasy XII[]

After defeating a mini-boss or a non-storyline boss, the current surviving party members, including guests, perform their victory poses. The party stands in a formation—depending on how many have survived the battle—and the camera pans across each of them on the Congratulations screen.

The pose they perform is either a weaponless pose or specific to the weapon type they are holding, including if they fight barehanded. Each character has two weaponless poses, each performed with a probability of 1/6. There are also special cases where a character will only do their weaponless poses after defeating certain bosses.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings[]

When a battle is won all characters turn and face the camera, then perform their respective pose. In some missions, victory poses are not used.

• Vaan - throws his sword up in the air and catches it with his right hand.
• Penelo - spins her staff round and smiles.
• Kytes - jumps twice in the air with his staff, and then gives a thumbs up.
• Filo - does a backflip on her skybandit, then winks and gives a thumbs up.
• Llyud - jumps up in the air, spins his lance around, then lands.
• Balthier - cocks his gun, then holds it up in the air.
• Fran - puts down her bow, looks away from the player.
• Ashe - pumps her fist downwards.
• Basch - holds his knightsword up in the air, with his face close.

Guest poses:

• Ba'Gamnan - spins his weapon round, stands it on the ground, laughs heartily.

Final Fantasy XIII[]

• Lightning returns her gunblade into its holster. She also performs this pose in some cutscenes.
• Snow pauses for a moment, then pumps his fists.
• Sazh spins his guns, returns them to their holsters, and dusts his hands.
• Hope folds his boomerang and puts it in his back pocket, the model for the boomerang disappearing.
• Vanille throws her rod into the air with a smile, then catches it and folds it into its pouch.
• Fang twirls her spear, then puts it back on her back.

Final Fantasy XIII-2[]

• Playable characters:
  • Serah - Her weapon reverts into Mog, he pops up into the air, and she catches him in her arms.
  • Noel - Puts his two swords back together into one and swings it onto his back.
• Feral Creatures:
  • Beast: Lays down on the ground.
  • Spook: Bows down.
  • Demon: Turns around.
  • Stalker: Waves its stinger and shakes its wings.
  • Armadillon: Flares its scales open and soundlessly roars.
  • Nudibranch: Hops upward.
  • Woodwraith: Shakes its head slightly.
  • Flan:
    • Miniflan: Opens its mouth wide.
    • Regular Flan: Raises its arms and opens its mouth.
  • Behemoth:
    • Quadrupedal: Rears up on its hind legs and appears to roar.
  • Goblin:
    • Small: Sits down.
    • Large: Shakes its hands in the air.
  • Sahagin: Leans forward and roars soundlessly while flaring its wings.
  • Ochu:
    • Small: Jumps happily.
  • Cactuar:
    • Small: Does a hop, leans slightly to the right, and puts its hands next to its head.
    • Large: Rotates its arms.
  • Tonberry: Waves its knife back and forth.
  • Potcat: Performs a warm gesture with its paws.
  • Chocobo: Jumps up repeatedly in an excited manner.
• Militarized Unit:
  • Tilter:
    • Large: Stands upright.
  • Razorclaw: Roars soundlessly.
  • Zwerg Droid: Bows down.
  • Vespid: Waves its stinger and shakes its wings.
  • Leech: Hops upward.
  • Flan: Raises its arms and opens its mouth.
  • Annihilator:
    • Pink Lily: Opens and closes its petals.
• Ancient Automata:
  • Pulsework Soldier: Stands upright and gestures its arm.
  • Combat Engineer:
    • Testudo: Retracts its arms inward.
  • Bomb: Spins around.
• Special:
  • Champion:
    • Lightning (RAV): Returns her gunblade into its holster.
    • Lightning (COM): Twirls her sword.
    • Lieutenant Amodar: Lowers his gun and performs a thumbs up to the camera.
    • Nabaat: Flips her hair.
    • Snow: Pauses for a moment before pumping his fists.
    • Sazh: Spins his guns, returns them to their holsters, and dusts his hands.

Serah does not perform her victory pose in the Void Beyond during episode 5 until she reunites with Noel in A Dying World and examines the Oracle Drive because Mog is invisible.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII[]

Lightning is the only playable character, and each pose is unique for each type of garb used to deliver the final blow on an enemy.

Final Fantasy XIV[]

After the party finishes an instanced dungeon, a scene showing them using the "/joy" emote as a victory pose plays, first showing the other party members posing, then focusing on the player's character, who poses while "Duty Complete" appears on screen.

In some duties, an alternate scene is used. In Tam-Tara Deepcrot (Hard) and The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 3, a customized sad emote is played as neither battle had a desired outcome. The sad emote is also used for most duties throughout Shadowbringers and Endwalker. In the Wanderer's Palace (Hard), the pose is interrupted by a group of revenge-driven Tonberries attacking the boss Manxome Molaa Ja Ja. In Alexander - The Burden of the Son, the party will first turn away from the boss before doing the emote as it explodes behind them, a gag on the common action movie trope of protagonists being unfazed by explosions behind them. In the normal version Eden's Verse: Refulgence, neither the party members nor player character will do a victory pose. Instead it will show Gaia nearly collapsing from exhaustion after delaying the Flood of Light in a battle against Shiva.

In the Ultimate Fight trailer, Yda attempts to make a victory pose after summoning the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to defeat Livia sas Junius but is beaten to the punch by Minfilia.

In the 3.2 patch, the "Victory" emote was added, which depending on the player's class/job at the time will make them replicate the victory pose of one of several Final Fantasy characters (ex. when used as a Dark Knight, the character will mimic Cloud's victory pose from Final Fantasy VII).

Final Fantasy XV[]

Although there is no direct "victory pose", party members have certain animations and conversations they do after a battle, depending on how well the player did and the enemies defeated. Guest characters join in when present.

When accessing equipment shops, 2D sprites in the party's likeness signal if they can use the equipment. The sprites perform the familiar victory pose from Nintendo era Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy Type-0[]

Though the victory poses vary among them, the present leading member of Class Zero usually utters "Mission Complete" in victory.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light[]

After each battle the characters will run to form a line and strike their respective pose:

• Brandt jumps up and down twice while pumping his fist and then stands still while holding his weapon.
• Yunita moves her hand holding her weapon to her heart, then swings it back and forth twice and stands still holding her weapon looking straight ahead.
• Aire laughs and looks forward.
• Jusqua dusts off his clothes and puts a hand through his hair.
• Krinjh twirls his weapon and slings it over his shoulder.
• Torte looks around.
• Rekoteh jumps once and ends with her arms spread out.
• Rolan

Final Fantasy Dimensions[]

The main characters simply raising their arms in the air repeatedly.

Dissidia Final Fantasy series[]

The games feature intro poses, victory poses and defeat poses.

Two variations of intros are present: short intros are used in normal battles, and have the player character saying a line before assuming their battle stance. Long intros are used in boss fights, and include the short intro, but incorporate the player performing some action, and the enemy talking to the player before the battle begins. The game introduces "defeat poses" that usually involve the player's chosen character staggering and falling to the ground as the camera circles or focuses around him/her.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest[]

Characters perform the classic victory pose of raising their hands up.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

Humanoid characters raise their hands up and down. Red XIII has a unique victory pose where he performs a howl. Sazh's chocobo chick, though just a pixel wide, will pop from his afro as he poses.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]

Most characters will perform a brief pose in which they brandish their weapons after battle, though this act is not often noticed in the face of large text such as "YOU WON" and "QUEST CLEARED".

World of Final Fantasy[]

Party members perform victory poses after a winning battle. Lann and Reynn have two victory poses each, depending on whether either of them appear as a Jiant or Lilikin in battle.

The player can view the victory poses of Mirages within the Mirage Manual (with the exception of Mega Mirages). S-sized Mirages that accompany the player on the field will play their victory pose after detecting a Treasure Trove in a dungeon.

In The Coliseum, the lead character will play their victory pose after winning a match. In the Maxima version, Hauyn does not have a unique victory pose, simply standing still.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring[]

Each Final Fantasy VII character will perform their victory pose upon winning their match against their opponents while playing the victory fanfare. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent, and Sephiroth will make their iconic victory pose from their game while Zack uses the same victory pose as Cloud.

Other media[]

In Kingdom Hearts, whenever Sora wins a battle in the Coliseum, he will perform either Squall's, Cloud's or Zell's victory pose. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora will perform Cloud's victory pose, while Riku will perform Squall's. This changes for Riku in the remake. Also, in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, when winning a game in the Coliseum, Disney Town or on the Command Board, Ventus will perform what seems to be a mix of Zidane's and Cloud's victory pose.

Gallery[]