Sigh...as expected, a mixed bag regarding Cloud's alternate costumes. Excluding Cloud's default "1st-Class SOLDIER" outfit and his
Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children "Cloudy Wolf" outfit, I'm glad that a red/crimson outfit made it in (which I will interpret as dually referencing the
"2nd-Class SOLDIER" uniform as well as Cloud's red outfit from
Ehrgeiz).. I didn't even know that SOLDIER
had other "classes" of outfits..although couldn't the
Final Fantasy 7 developers have used green for 3rd-Class SOLDIER outfit to complete the "luminous chromatic triad/primary colors of light" arrangement?
In any case, the blue "3rd-Class SOLDIER" one kind of resembles the Shinra infantryman outfit minus the scarves and two shoulder pads, so I guess that I'm fine with it.. Overall, since the various grades of "SOLDIER classes" do exist, I'm glad that all of them are referenced.
So, the 3 SOLDIER classes and "Cloudy Wolf" - 4 out of 8 good costumes, good deal. I'm thankful that those ones managed to be implemented. I have an issue with the
other "Cloudy Wolf" outfits...I would have liked just
one Cloudy Wolf costume to make room for other key/vital Cloud costumes. In any case, the hues for the other "Cloudy Wolf" costumes are dark so it seems like they don't look distinctive enough from the normal black "Cloudy Wolf" outfit (unless they look more distinctive during gameplay), essentially being the "Brawl!Sonic, current!Lucario, and Pac-Man" uninspired alternate costume issue all over again. The "red/pink ribbon" reference is nice, I suppose, although I feel like it does not justify two alternate costumes dedicated to it..
And is there a reason that 4 of the Cloud costumes need to be so drab in coloration? I hope it's not that "third-party character needs to maintain 'recognizability/can't deviate too much from original design'" excuse that pops up so frequently... I mean, it's
Cloud; people know what he looks like - he even
cross-dressed for goodness' sakes!
Ideally, aside from the 3 SOLDIER classes and "Cloudy Wolf", I would have had these 4 options:
5 - Steady Light outfit, possibly with Ultima Sword/Blade/Weapon (based on Yo****aka Amano artwork): This one seemed like the most obvious one that I thought would be included, especially since it also doubles as a reference to
Dissidia Final Fantasy. The white boots also help to make it pop and stand out.
6 - Final Fantasy Tactics outfit (Cloud's red-orangeish sprite): This one seemed really obscure and distinctive with a nice red-orange coloration that pops (compared to the drab Cloudy Wolf recolors that we have now); a shame that it wasn't included.
7 - Lightning/Éclair Farron-based outfit (Cloud using the coloration of Lightning from Final Fantasy 13): Lightning seems to be fairly popular (
or detested...sigh), and she is personally infatuating, so I figured that she would be a shoo-in for some type of alternate costume, especially since she was initially designed with Cloud in mind. Also, it could double as a pseudo-reference to "cross-dressing Cloud", in a way, since Cloud is still taking on the aesthetics of a female character.. Very distinguishable from other choices.
8 - "Kingdom Hearts gear" outfit, possibly with bandaged sword (derives from Cloud's outfit in one of the Kingdom Hearts games...Kingdom Hearts 2?): It could act as a reference to Vincent Valentine,
Kingdom Hearts, and
Dissidia Final Fantasy all in one! And it looks rather menacing/cool..
9/Bonus - I would probably include the
"Cloudy Wolf costume with red/pink ribbon reference" outfit as a 9th costume choice for Cloud (integrated as an extra "bonus", seeing as how costume numbers have not all been uniform in past
Super Smash Bros. games)
----
Well, here's hoping that a off-chance future
Super Smash Bros. 4 update changes Cloud's alternate costumes or that
Super Smash Bros. 5 rectifies the 4 (out of 8) underwhelming Cloud costume choices...
Interesting that Cloud's "Cloudy Wolf" outfit gets an alternate pose. I hope that there is isolated stock artwork of said pose (aside from the Trophy render), in the vein of Wire-Frame Little Mac and female Villager..
Odd how "Cloudy Wolf" (primarily derived from a
movie) gets included over some of the more videogame-grounded concepts..
Also, with the currently-implemented costumes, it is kind of irritating that the "1st-Class SOLDIER" series of costumes and the "Cloudy Wolf" series of costumes are all jumbled up in terms of arrangement (ABABABAB arrangement as of 12-17-2015). The first set of 4 costumes should be "1st-Class SOLDIER" (AAAA), and the second set of 4 costumes should be "Cloudy Wolf" (BBBB) - thus yielding an AAAABBBB arrangement..simple! Wario had this down pat in
Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Little Mac already has this down pat in
Super Smash Bros. 4; why is the Cloud costume arrangement so confusing in
Super Smash Bros. 4?! >_>
