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A new nationwide survey in Japanese magazine Famitsu shows that Final Fantasy 7 is still as popular as ever almost 30 years later.
Famitsu – one of Japan's biggest gaming publications – published the results of a poll of the nation's favorite video game characters (via Genki_JPN on Twitter). From the responses of 5,400 participants, unsurprisingly topping the poll is Mario, gaming's number one guy, and second place goes to Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7, which also isn't hugely surprising given the popularity of the game to this very day, as well as its beloved remake trilogy currently ongoing.
However, Final Fantasy 7 fans came out in full force, as in third place isn't Sonic, Pikachu, Lara Croft, or any of the other faces of massive franchises – it's Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7. Tifa is already having a great month with the announcement of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, but alongside that, Capcom announced she'll be joining Street Fighter 6 as a DLC fighter for the game's fourth season, after about a decade of Tekken fans begging for her to be added to the series.
Famitsu did a nationwide survey of gamer’s favorite video game character! (5,400 people)1. Mario2. Cloud3. Tifa4. Kirby5. Link6. Leon S. Kennedy7. Pikachu8. Slime9. Kazuma Kiryu10. Persona 5 protagonist (Joker) pic.twitter.com/JNxl8e65a4June 12, 2026
The rest of the list isn't exactly full of many shockers, mind you. Kirby comes in fourth, with Link, Leon Kennedy, and Pikachu following. And, with the poll taking place in Japan, you know Dragon Quest has to feature in some form, so as funny as it is, it's not exactly a shock that the Slime would be the most popular character in the series as opposed to any of its protagonists.
Rounding out the top 10 are Sega's first entries on the list, Kazuma Kiryu from the Like a Dragon series and Joker from Persona 5.
At the very least, that should tell you who is winning the eternal Tifa vs Aerith shipping war among Final Fantasy 7 fans…
