Final Fantasy 9 released for the original PlayStation back in 2000, following hot on the heels of Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8. When it comes to the Final Fantasy fandom, Final Fantasy 7 is generally regarded as the best classic title in the series, however, Final Fantasy 9 currently holds the highest score of Metacritic out of the entire franchise with a rating of 94.
Of course, with any franchise that has a large fan following, the creativity on the internet is boundless in the forms of fan fiction, fan art, and of course, memes. If you fancy having a laugh, check out these hilarious Final Fantasy 9 memes.
10 Perfecting The Plan
The plot of Final Fantasy 9 begins with the Tantalus Theatre Group planning to host a play performance as a distraction, while they secretly kidnap Princess Garnet. However, once Zidane finishes his part of the play and gets into the castle, he runs straight into the princess who has already run away.
Before he can even kidnap her, Garnet asks Zidane to be kidnapped! It throws the group's entire plans out of the window, but they still get what they want so no harm done. This Gru meme perfectly sums up the strange turn of events.
9 The Bromance Is Real
Final Fantasy 9 gave us a bromance for the ages in the form of Vivi and Steiner, and this modified Brooklynn Nine-Nine meme sums it up perfectly.
Beyond the perfectly adorable interactions between the two of them, Steiner can even borrow a bit of Vivi's magic when using the Swd Mag. ability while Vivi is in the party with him. They're quite the dynamic duo, to say the very least of them.
8 Not now!
One of the most frustrating aspects of Final Fantasy 9 was the Trance system; the limit break move that changes a character's physical appearance in battle, as well as increasing their physical damage, and enhancing their skillsets. Trance activates as soon as its bar is filled, so players don't have any control over when it is best to use it.
Sometimes it activates at the end of a battle as the enemy performs its final move, which is a complete waste. Even more annoying is when characters go into Trance mode when you're fighting some really weak monster.
7 There's Always One
At the beginning of the play performance, Zidane and Blank perform a sword-fighting scene that presents itself as a mini-game where the player must input the correct buttons to perfect the performance. How well the player does will affect how many of the nobles in the audience are impressed, with a higher score earning you a better item as a reward. Additionally, Queen Brahne will only be impressed by a perfect score.
It's harder than it looks, so it's particularly frustrating when you discover you narrowly missed out on a perfect score because of one noble. Interestingly, this portion of the game is easier for PAL versions, as it runs slower than the NTSC version.
6 Lively you say...
Later in the game, Zidane and companions travel to Cleyra to help protect its people from Queen Brahne who aims to take their sacred jewel. The town area of Cleyra is described by a local as "the liveliest part of our town," despite it being completely empty other than your party members and the NPC guiding you.
Combined with the confused Travolta meme, this makes for one funny image to anyone who has played the game. Undoubtedly, they would have reacted in a similar way when they read this line in the game.
5 Better Love Story Than Twilight
When the party of heroes is trying to reach the Sanctuary, they have to travel through Conde Petie, a small town that only allows access through to the sanctuary to couples who get married. Of course, this means that Zidane and Garnet quickly perform the ceremony in order to pass through. The player can choose whether Vivi and Quina also get married, or whether they opt to wait to sneak through when a distraction occurs.
This wedding ceremony between two of the oddest, most unique characters in the game is strange at best, but Quina seems happy with the result. Coupled with the "Still a better love story than Twilight" meme, this scene becomes even funnier than it already was.
4 The Hero We Need
The ecological upset that can be caused by a native species is no joke. But if that invasive species just so happens to be a frog, look no further than Quina Quen when you need a hero.
Quina's well known for an insatiable appetite. Indeed, sating that very appetite by consuming enemies is the basis for learning new abilities to use with the Blue Magic command. However, Quina values one delicacy above all others, as Final Fantasy 9 players are well aware, and that delicacy would just so happen to be frogs. Next time a frog epidemic threatens the delicate balance of your local ecosystem, you know who to call.
3 Over 9,000
Any Dragon Ball Z fan that played Final Fantasy 9 would have struggled to not notice the resemblance between Kuja's Trance form and the Super Saiyan 4 form. Kuja even has an ape-like tail, so combined with the red fur and the powered up body, it's really not that much of a stretch.
When paired with this image of the shocked expression of Vegeta's face, this meme is quite funny. It also begs the question of who would win a fight, Vegeta or Kuja?
2 X Marks the Spot
One of the mini-games in Final Fantasy 9 was Chocobo Hot and Cold, with the game having a couple of variants as it can be played both in certain areas as well as on the world map. This mini-game opens up new locations, and allows the player to dig up some much-coveted treasure items.
The downside is there's a time limit each time you play, so if your chocobo indicates that it's close to some really big treasure when the time is seconds away from being up, you're out of luck.
1 Amarant who?
This meme is particularly funny as it draws a parallel between Final Fantasy 9 and a scene from Avengers: Endgame, specifically where Scarlet Witch tells Thanos that he took everything from her, but as he is a Thanos from a different universe he has no idea who she is.
Amarant's backstory tells of when he was a bodyguard for a noble in Treno, but one day Zidane, being the thief that he is, happened to be around and stole something from Amarant's post. Zidane ended up framing Amarant for the theft. However, when Amarant meets up with Zidane later in the game, Zidane doesn't remember him at all.