Feline Friday is my chance to celebrate famous cats across the arts, whether their origins are in gaming, film, anime, literature or anywhere else.

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レッドXIII (Reddo Sātīn)

First Appearance: Final Fantasy VII (1997)

With his sleek design and humble demeanour, the lab animal known as Red XIII has long been my favourite character in the Final Fantasy franchise. I never would have considered him for Feline Friday, however, due to his more canine-like tendencies: snarling and howling, especially.

This was up until it was pointed out to me that one gameplay trailer from a few years back refers to him as a “courageous feline”, completely undermining my understanding of his species, and superficially qualifying him as a big red kitty cat. Now that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is in our hot little hands, it’s time to give this lovely fella the spotlight.

Cloud Strife and his insurrectionist cohorts first meet this enigmatic creature during a rescue mission to extract the captured Aerith. The deplorable scientist Hojo seeks to interbreed the two captives — protip: don’t Google image search that pairing — and from all appearances, the beast poses a threat to their ally’s wellbeing.

As it turns out, this was merely a display to fool Hojo and prompt Cloud’s team into action, as Red XIII apologises for his conduct immediately thereafter. He is a well-spoken, introspective character whose advanced age lends an air of wisdom to the otherwise bombastic personalities on the roster.

The moniker of Red XIII is just what he had been named during his time as a Shinra experiment, and he remarks that his new colleagues can call him whatever they wish. He’d surely regret this on my playthrough when I dubbed him “Snugglebu” (because goddammit that nine character limit wouldn’t allow for Snugglebutt).

Red’s weapon of choice is to channel his inner Willow Smith and whip his hair back and forth — that is to say, his prickly headdress serves as a suitable melee option, and he recklessly throws himself into the fray to deal damage. You’d think a guy whose tail sprouts an endless flame would have some kind of fire technique, but short of equipping the appropriate Materia, you’re out of luck.

Upon arrival to his hometown of Cosmo Canyon, it is revealed that Red’s real name is Nanaki, and he is seemingly one of the last of his species. We also learn of his immature stubbornness (relative to his lengthy lifespan), and complete disdain for his father, Seto, whom he believes to have been a deserter during the village’s deadliest invasion.

In what ended up being my favourite scene in FFVII — and amongst my top moments in gaming overall — his adoptive floating weirdo of a grandfather Bugenhagen sends Red and the party through the perilous Cave of the Gi to discover the true nature of Seto.

There, standing atop a cliff, they find a lone statue that resembles Red’s leonine appearance. This was Seto’s last stand, where he protected Cosmo Canyon from the invading tribe until he was petrified by their poisoned arrows. Stunned to learn that his father was in fact a champion who died to protect his people, Nanaki resolves to continue on with Cloud and company to rescue the planet.

As near as I can recall, Seto told Bugenhagen to seal the cave and not tell anyone, though whether or not the old coot was supposed to keep his heroics a secret seems a bit of a mystery to me. Perhaps he was worried that his son would come looking for him, thereby unleashing the vengeful ghosts of the Gi Tribe in the process. Or perhaps Bugenhagen is just an asshole. It’s up to interpretation, I guess.

Red XIII was relegated to a non-playable partner role in 2020’s Final Fantasy VII remake; disappointing on the surface but logical when one considers he appears near the game’s conclusion. But at last, he is now a fully kitted team member in Rebirth, boasting a new Vengeance mechanic and infinite levels of floof.

Even as a turn-based purist, I will readily admit that seeing this crimson warrior flip and twist around the battlefield has got me intrigued. Should Rebirth make the expected transition to PC (or should I suddenly come into a large sum of money, and inexplicably spend it on a PS5 as opposed to two points of cocaine), I might have to finally take the plunge to see what all the fuss is about.

Tragically, my second favourite character, Cid Highwind, is now the guest appearance for this iteration. He’d better still tell us to “sit your ass down in that chair and drink your goddamn TEA!”

But I digress. Although Red XIII may be a minor factor in the overarching narrative of Gaia, he most certainly leaves an impression from the moment he makes his debut. According to the Final Fantasy Wiki, he remains the only quadrupedal playable character in the mainline series, which sounds surprising until you recall that he’s limited to bonking you with his noggin as a means of offence.

By my estimate, the other feline party member Cait Sith remains the only playable character based on a robot that was brought to life in order to become a fortune telling kitty. And that’s certainly nothing to sneeze at, either.

Whether you’re playing the original FFVII, the newly minted remake trilogy, or any number of his cameos across Square Enix’s many spinoff efforts, I hope you might consider bringing Nanaki into the fray. He’ll be your best friend, and snuggling him is surely less awkward and more rewarding than snuggling Vincent Valentine.