Let me start this article with a bit of an apology: originally, I intended this post to be part of my "Dissecting Dissidia" series, but for some strange reason (mostly because of my typical geekgasming), the article wrote itself into a full blown in-depth look at one of the Final Fantasy franchise's recurring characters. Talk about getting carried away, eh?

The concept of this mini-encyclopedia is based off of the question that, if Dissidia were to be a celebration of twenty years of Final Fantasy, will Cid eventually grace his presence in Square Enix's upcoming cross-over battle arena? Don't worry, Dissidia fans, I'll eventually run a post regarding this glaring question. But for now, we'll be celebrating, not just Dissidia, but twenty years of Cid's glory. Who he was, what he did, where he's been... all of that in the many lifetimes he's ever lived.

This means everyone else can join in on the fun! Whether you're a console gamer or a handheld enthusiast, rest assured you'll be seeing a handful of Cids that you've seen before, whether in previous or current-gen consoles that you might own. It's our celebration of one gaming history's most celebrated franchises, after all. So we better start celebrating!

Grab those airship goggles, put on your best Cid-moustache (what I'd like to call a Cid-stache), and maybe a toothpick to chew on. It's a Cid-a-thon like no other: an exciting airship romp across the entire FF series!

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The Cid 411 file: many faces, one name. Cid, or Shidu in Japanese, is a recurring character featured in the Final Fantasy series. Sometimes, he's even found in non-FF titles that have been developed by Square Enix. Playable or no, Cid comes in different flavors: a headmaster for a flying school, a chain-smoking airship pilot with a spear, or a tank-engineering duck (didn't know that, did you?!). Choose your poison!

While each one of us may have our very own "favorite Cid" character, it still pays to see the full spectrum and get to know the Cid archetype as a whole. And the only way to do that is to get to know each of the characters. "All is one and one is all," to paraphrase the Three Musketeer's battlecry.

See, pretty much every Cid out there seems to be cut from the same cloth. More often than not, every iteration of Cid is depicted as a middle-aged man who has some close affinity to engineering, gadgetry, and mechanics. More specifically, he's often a character who commands or has built an airship. But that, my friends, is as far as the similarities go.

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Cid across the ages: the life (lives?) and times of Cid. Numbers? You want numbers? How many times has Cid appeared in Final Fantasy and Square Enix titles combined? That's a pretty hard thing to pull off, since the same Cid character may appear in different games. However, if we simply isolate the question to how many Square Enix games (or movies) has a Cid in it, then the answer is simple: more than twenty of them!

For those who are afraid of encountering any spoilers, I humbly beseech your forgiveness - I've tried compiling this library without touching on the most major of spoilers. If you wish, you may just skip the game you're intending to play in the future to still keep a tabula rasa experience of that game. Otherwise, if you don't fancy playing through all of these games, it's still going to be nice to know what you may have missed.

Hey there, Mister Moogle! Fire up the slideshow projector, will ya? It's time to have a recap of all of them Cids! Let's start with the main string of Final Fantasy titles first!

FF: Cid. Ah yes, the NES era. The game that started it all! Final Fantasy. Actually, contrary to popular belief, Cid was actually absent in the first FF game. He was, however, mentioned - yes, just mentioned, and not really appeared - in the re-releases (Final Fantasy Origins for the PS One; Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls for the GBA; and FF 20th Anniversary for the PSP). In the course of the story, Cid is later revealed as an ancient Lufenian who had built the airship that the Warrior of Light's party eventually discovers.

FFII: Cid. Chronologically speaking, FF2 is the first game to feature a Cid character. Here, he's built the world's one and only airship and has been charging exorbitant amounts of money to those who wanted a ride (ahh, the perks of monopolizing technology). He was asked by Princess Hilda to help the rebel cause, and eventually lent his airship. Too bad he died - no thanks to Emperor Palamecia, of course. Hmm. Thinking about it now though, I guess it all turned out to be OK. If Cid hadn't died of Palamecia's Cyclone onslaught, he wouldn't have passed down the airship to Firion.

FFIII: Cid Haze. A floating continent can't live by without airships. And as you know, if you've got airships all around, you're bound to find a Cid nearby. In FF3, Cid Haze is an airship pilot working for the King. That's before you rescue him, of course. He's introduced in the story as someone trapped by the Jinn's curse over Kazus Village and asks you to go get his airship and lift the curse. In the DS remake, even more depth is given to Cid, as it's later revealed that he was the one who rescued the orphans (your party) as kids.

FFIV: Cid Pollendina. Here's the first-ever playable Cid character. Cooky-crazy as he is, Cid was the chief engineer who discovered the key to airships (thereby an invaluable asset the the Red Wings fleet). Cid Pollendina is painted as a passionate workaholic - a very daring-doo sort of person who does free fall stunts. He is a close friend to the Baron Castle crew of Cecil, Kain, and Rosa, and eventually, Cid helps your party out in their pursuit of Golbez. For some reason, he looks to me like a jolly old man in a very tight Mega Man outfit. Especially in the DS remake.

FFV: Cid Previa. Previa's led quite a ripe life of scholarly genius and exceptional engineering. He built the device that allowed the city of Karnak to harness the power of the Fire Crystal, especially for airships - too bad Exdeath found a way to corrupt it. While the crystals were failing, he was thrown into prison where he eventually meets Bartz/Butz. If Cid Pollendina had a daughter, this time he's got a grandson: Mid. Together, the grandfather-grandson duo help out the party through feats of great engineering throughout the game.

FFVI: Cid del Norte Marguez. It's all about the hat. If he were given a different colored palette and painted purple, I'd say he might look like Grimace from the Ronald McDonald club. Cid in FF6 is a very close friend to Celes and an engineer and researcher working for the Magitek Empire. Too bad his discoveries were used for vile means, and he eventually catches whiff of the Emperor and Kefka's plans. He helps the party out with their rebel group, and depending on certain actions done by the player, stands the chance of dying later on.

FFVII: Cid Highwind. "Everyone's Cid." The legendary captain of the Highwind airship and always carrying that iconic spear and smoking a cigarette - which of course had to be Disney-fied and replaced with a toothpick in Kingdom Hearts - boo.

Currently, Cid Highwind is probably the top-billing Cid character who appears in the most number of Square Enix titles, spanning a handful of games and even a CGI movie, which includes the following (aside from the original FF7, of course):

• Dirge of Cerberus: as leader of WRO's airship division
• Crisis Core: a cameo where Zack gets mail from Shinra about a rocket launch
• Advent Children: trying to spear down the great Bahamut
  
• Kingdom Hearts: a gummi ship mechanic
  
• Kingdom Hearts II: worked with other FF characters to restore Radiant Garden
  
• Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories: just a memory-version of him though
  

FFVIII: Cid Kramer. Isaac C., Victor B., and myself were just arguing about this guy. Both of them say he looks like Robin Williams; I still insist he looks more like Elton John. Anyways. Cid of FF8 is the headmaster of Balamb Garden and husband of Edea. Together, they founded the orphanage where everyone apparently comes from. Eventually, he formed the SEED to order around a bunch of emo kids to go out and slaughter his Ultimecia-possessed wife (I'm loosely recounting the story, so forgive me for certain... exaggerations).

FFIX: Regent Cid Fabool IX. This guy was actually playable for a very quick scenario somewhere towards the later part of the game. He's the prime ruler of Lindblum, but due to a lovers' quarrel with his wife, Hilda, he eventually turned into a frog. Well, he turned into an oglop first, and in the process of getting him to turn back into a human, was turned into a frog instead. He's also good with airship building (given he's in his human form) and was the one who ordered Zidane to "kidnap" Princess Garnet from her crazy and hostile mother.

FFX: Cid. He of green eyes, bald head, and Al-Bhedian glory. Cid (who doesn't reveal his last name this time around, aww), is the father of Rikku and Brother - and the uncle of a certain heterochromic summoner we know. While Cid was pretty cool in FFX, even to the point of being "playable" during certain key boss battles when you could use him as a Trigger command to move the Fahrenheit airship that you helped excavate, he kinda went all emo in FFX-2 after he regretted turning "Yuna's" Zanarkand into a tourist spot.

FFXI: Cid. With this game being an MMORPG, this guy is plopped into the world of Vana'diel (in the city of Bastok, to be precise) as the head engineer who built, you guessed it!, the airships. You first meet him via the "Cid's Secret" quest, where you have to help him manage certain matters at the Steaming Sheep restaurant. "Manage certain matters" here would mean Hilda - she's Cid's love interest in the game - and Cid wants you to check in on her. This isn't the first time a Hilda appears alongside a Cid, by the way: see FFII and FFIX.

FFXII: Doctor Cidolfus Demen Bunansa. FF12 is the first of sorts for the Cid character. For one, we have two instances of Cid in one game. Another first is that the more prominent Cid (Dr. Cid) is the first-ever villainous Cid in a game - with a boss battle against him thrown in too. He's a pretty cool Cid, and a pretty cool villain too (much like how Kefka was a "cool" villain). Directly, he doesn't give Vaan and the rest of the party any airship transportation - well, he's a villain, so why would he help out the good guys? - however... his son does. *wink*

FFXII: Al-Cid Margrace. The other Cid in FF12, Al-Cid Margrace, plays a less important role than Dr. Cid, but still figures as a strong character who excels in politicking - he is, after all, a noble; a member of the Rozarrian family of rulers - and he's aided Larsa in formulating strategies to avoid an impending war. You can also probably see Al-Cid as the dashing debonaire gentleman type - respecting ladies and admonishing the men who try to hurt them. He later becomes a playable character in FF Tactics A2 for the DS.

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An alliance of Cids across Ivalice. Great! With FFXII over and done with (as well as the main line of Roman-numeral'ed Final Fantasy games), we might as well jump into FF12's mothership, collectively known as the Ivalice Alliance project. There's a whole slew of games under this banner, and just as you would expect, a whole slew of Cid characters (I guess "Cid" is a pretty popular name in the world history of Ivalice, eh?).

• FF Tactics: Cidolfas Orlandu. Final Fantasy Tactics (which was recently ported to the PSP) was actually the first game published for Ivalice Alliance, and of all the characters that you could acquire for your army, how could we ever forget the Thunder God Cid? He's got one of the game's best and most powerful weapons, after all. Cid's one of Ivalice's best generals and remained the undefeated champion over the 50-year war in which he got his nickname. He's a close friend to Ramza's dad, and after being thrown in jail after Delita's schemy politicking (oh, Delita, you slimy bastard, you), he gets rescued by Ramza and joins their party.
  
• FF Tactics Advance: Cid Randell. He's actually a St. Ivalice local (meaning, he lives in the "real world" Ivalice) and is the dad of Mewt, one of the game's main protagonists. After Cid's wife's death, he became a pathetic loser who resorted to alcoholism. Eventually, he found himself in the parallel Ivalice universe as the Judgemaster. Talk about a life-changing u-turn. Cid's actually playable if you finish all 300 missions (no thanks).
  
• FF Tactics A2: Cid. Like FF12, here's another game with two Cids in it. And what makes matters more confusing is that both Cids are playable (another first in the FF franchise). You first meet Cid. Yes, just Cid. He leads the Gully Clan and whaddya know, he's of the Bangaa race - he's a non-human/non-hume Cid! Another first.
• FF Tactics A2: Al-Cid Margrace. Previously seen in FF12, he comes back in Tactics A2 as part of your party, along with Vaan and Penelo. His previous characterization in FF12 is very much prevalent here. Actually, including him in your party is more for novelty than for winning battles. See, he only becomes powerful (i.e. useful) if there are female characters in your party - he's the playboy after all. So having him go to battle is pretty useless if you don't throw in a couple of Viera or Gria units.

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Across time and space: Cid in other dimensions. All right. You guys still with us? Don't worry, we're down to the last roll call of Cids! We're now heading out to spin-off territory to discover all them other Cids found in other dimensions. We'll first start with other Square Enix games, and head off to the movies. Roll the next slides, please!

• FFXIII (and Versus XIII): Cid...something? Not yet revealed. Will probably be some airship dude again. Or not. I could be wrong. Maybe Cid could be a she this time, who knows? He (or she) could even be a Summon in FF13, I suppose... Haha! Highly unlikely, though that would be a fairly interesting plot twist to the Cid re-occurrence. With the Xbox 360 version announced, they can probably surprise us with just about anything else now.
  
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Oh, I think we'll be needing an entirely new article for this. No Cid character for Dissidia has been revealed yet, but chances are it could be an NPC. I'm also not certain which Cid will represent the entire Cid lifeline - for all we know, it could be an entirely new Cid we haven't met before. This is a cue to all PSP readers to file away some thoughts on this subject.
  
• The Kingdom Hearts series: Cid Highwind. I'm considering this as a different Cid from the one we were introduced to in the FF7 universe. Mainly because he no longer has his cigarette with him. It's an alternate universe, after all. And most, if not all, of the borrowed FF characters had slightly different personages, character histories, and physical appearances that may or may not fit their actual canon.
  
• The Chocobo series: Cid. In the Chocobo games (Chocobo Dungeon, Racing, Tales, etc.), Cid is usually depicted as a jolly, rotund engineer. He reminds me of Santa Claus. With spiked hair like Apollo Justice.
• FF Crystal Chronicles - My Life as a King: Mogcid. He's not just a Cid character in this game. Now he also plays the role of another recurring staple: a mog. Actually, he's more of a moogle than a Cid. The only reason why he's a Cid is because he's a mog with an airship. Hence, Mogcid. Maybe in a sequel or such, they should introduce a Cidmog: a human airship pilot with a red pompom on his cap.
• Dragon Quest - Rocket Slime: Ducktor Cid. Yeah, he comes with a fowl appearance now (he's a duck!), but nonetheless, still an engineer. No longer a mechanic of airships, but now, he plays a crucial role in tank-building. And yes, it's another non-human Cid. It's not really party of the FF franchise, but we're adding this for novelty's sake - just for fun! If only the game had a "Final Fantasy" attached to it somewhere though, Ducktor Cid would be the first non-human Cid in an FF game.
  
• Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within: Dr. Sid. Moving the FF franchise to the feature-length CGI movie industry has its perks - mainly, that you get to spell Cid's name differently and that you get to voice-cast Donald Sutherland to play the part.
• Final Fantasy Unlimited: Cid. The Cid from the FF anime series is probably the youngest Cid in the entire franchise. Nonetheless, he's a genius when it comes to mechanics - so much so that he worships his inventions. His Ultimate Hammer invention is pretty kickass.
• In pop-culture. Cid has appeared many times in many various media aside from movies and games. He's appeared in various OVA from Japan, manga comics, cosplay conventions, toys, figurines, dolls, and the subject of many a fan fiction. Heck. Even yaoi (nooooo!).
  

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The million-dollar question: so who is Cid, really? Now that we've met or re-acquainted ourselves with all of the Cids, it's time to look at the Cid archetype as a whole. The way I see it, the Cid character represents the noble-hearted and steadfast friend you could always depend on to get the job done.

He may be losing his marbles at times (i.e. frequently), but as a whole, he's just being practical. Cid's ends always seem to justify his daring-doo means, and that's even if he's playing the part of a villain.

Some might even consider Cid as the fatherly type of person. From time to time, he does exhibit a fairly deep sense of wisdom - whether imparted directly or delivered through his actions - and a sense of caring (even though he might not show it much).

Overall though, he's just a pretty kickass character. And that's why we're celebrating him today!

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A Cid for you and me. As closure to our Cid celebration, allow me to quote Aunt May from the second Spider-man movie: "I believe there's a hero Cid in all of us... that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams."

It's a bit cheesy, I know. But I think that's why Cid's remained a staple character through 20 years of gaming. He may have had different iterations throughout every installment in the franchise, but if you lump all of the Cids together into one core concept of a character, then you have a force to be reckoned with.

And yeah. If you're running low on cash for a highly-elaborate cosplay outfit (Otakon 2007 Cid Highwind cosplay pic above from Flickr), just go for Cid. You might even impress the ladies on the side.

I end now with an open question: who's your Cid?