Zidane... Cat tail...? What?!!!!

[Paddy McGee]

Zidane from Final Fantasy IX has a cat's tail, not a monkey's tail

According to an interview with Final Fantasy IX art director Hideo Minaba from Dengeki PlayStation volume 151, Zidane Tribal originally had a black leopard's tail, but it was difficult to see it against the backgrounds so they changed it into a yellow cat's tail. There are other tidbits in...

www.resetera.com

So here's a post from over on ResetEra - it popped up on my news feed.

Ends up his tail...is a cat's? What's going on...



Let's DISCUSS!

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[Dionysos]

Nonsense!

The similarities of the Genomes to DragonBall’s Saiyans can’t just be a coincidence. This must be an attempt to throw us off the scent!

He even behaves like a monkey rather than a cat. He’s a thief. He hangs from his tail. He’s cheeky. I *guess* being a cat he could be a cat burglar. But he'll always be a monkey-man to me.

I'm not sure how accurate that translation on ResetEra is, but that really throws me if true. The stuff about Dark Crystal I learned recently, so that's right.

Also... Geck Steiner. They dodged a bullet with that one!

 

[Soulcorruptor]

Cat's do not hang from their tails, unlike some species of monkeys. By this fact alone and also the illusion to going super sayin with trance makes me still say it's a damn monkey tail.

 

[Cruise]

I like him as being a cat-boi. Monkeys are overrated.

 

[Miko]

...

Spoiler: Look at your own risk

Nope! I'm having a hard time seeing it too! Although I will say that when I was really little I actually thought he was part cat because of this scene where his eyes look a bit cat like! But then I actually played the game for myself and changed my mind.

But hey, does it really mater? My boi Marcus be walking around here looking like a dang goblin but calling himself human, so I don't even know what to believe anymore. I suppose next week we'll find out the Burmecians are actually a type of hamster!

I jest of course. Monkey just seems to fit Zidane's personality more, IMO.

 

[bandokanon]

...Minaba may have been the art director but that didn't give him control over the character designs. That was Itahana's job, I'm pretty sure. (Not that I know how art direction works with multiple people in charge...) And both Itahana and Amano's concept art portrayed Zidane with a yellow (though sometimes black, except that's not the official final product so it barely counts) prehensile tail. (Cat tails are not prehensile.)
If it were a cat tail he would not have been able to do this:

P.S. It's neither. It's a Genome tail.

 

[Duhemsounds]

I agree with what have been said, Zidane has some monkey moves in the game and when we look the design of his tail it looks like a monkey one, cat tails are more fluffy and not that long and are thicker.

 

[Starships]

It doesn't help that everybody in the English translation calls him a Monkey. I don't know about the Japanese version, maybe they don't?

 

[bandokanon]

It doesn't help that everybody in the English translation calls him a Monkey. I don't know about the Japanese version, maybe they don't?

....I guess I would have to find out by playing the japanese version myself, since looking it up on google is getting me mixed results. One person saying something along the lines of "in english steiner calls zidane monkey for some reason lol" and another article blatantly referring to his tail as monkey-like and going so far as to say "he's called a monkey when scolded" so.... idk man.

I don't want to play another game in japanese yet. I'm still struggling with lennus 2. Trying to compile a transcript as i go along to help me with my japanese studies. but it's taking me forever. x'D