Kekfa Palazzo's Magically Changing Appearance

It only takes one glance at Kefka for anyone to see what he is: a clown. But he is more than just a clown, he is a clown who takes on a number of different appearances all in the same game. Is it magic? Is it a secret ability?

No, actually, it's just Square forgetting what the man looks like, as I will detail below.

Case One: The Sprites

As you can see here, he has a lovely green cloak with a poofy white collar and wears red underneath. He also has a feather in his hair. And yet, when he appears as a boss...

...his cloak has mysteriously been dyed red! In fact, hardly any color there looks the same. But at no point does Kefka's actual sprite change in the least!

The only change in appearance that does make any sense is in the final battle, at which point Kefka has become a god. But even then, his sprite shows no change whatsoever.

The only sprite that bears any direct resemblence to other FFVI art is the headshot he got for the GBA version of the game, which is clearly based on one of Amano's pieces, as you can see below.

Case Two: The Amano Art

In general, I have great respect for the artwork of Yoshitaka Amano. His pieces capture the essence of so many classic Final Fantasy characters to the point that when I think of most of the characters I think of his art before their ingame appearance. What I am not so fond of, however, is how Kefka has different looks even in Amano's art!

The first looks like his sprite, since it's the only apparent reason he has a green cloak in those, while the second and third bear some resemblance to his boss sprite. The third image is particularly notable due to the lack of makeup, which is something no other Kefka image has (aside from the god images).

Case Three: The FMVs

And then they made FMVs for FFVI's release on the Playstation as Final Fantasy Anthology. Guess what came with it? Why, Kefka redesigns, of course!

Makeup! <3

His collar is now yellow and red instead of white and red, and he now comes with lacy frill. Great job, Square, make him even more flamboyant.

Fear me.

You might think that they'd have kept his final boss form the same for the FMVs, but no, he is now mysteriously pale-skinned and has no demonic wings.

Case Four: Dissidia

The fact that Tetsuya Nomura was going to do the redesigns for the characters appearing in the multi-FF game Dissidia may have led to speculation that Kefka was going to get a half-dozen belts. Unfortunately, this is not the case — unfortunately because instead of being a somewhat whimsical clown, he now looks utterly terrifying.

Ironically, though, Kefka's Dissidia art actually resembles some of the FFVI designs. His alternate form looks like his boss form, his EX Mode form bears a strong resemblance to his final form, much more so than in the Anthology FMVs.

In Conclusion

Square has no idea what Kefka actually looks like and makes it up every time they use him in something new.

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