Versus Series | Zack Fair Vs. Cloud Strife 

The VII remake kinda made Cloud overpowered,, he literally killed fate. Sephiroth is also stronger than his Advent Children version due to lifestream, dimension and timeline fuckery.

I have to say... Your assessment on Cloud's battle tactics/fighting style was by far the best one that I have ever heard. You explained it far better then Death Battle when he fought Link...

Cloud really is a beast though. He tanked a mega flare from bahamut sin, still went on to fight the 2 brothers, then defeat Kadaj, then defeat sephiroth, then took a bullet to the chest and got hit with an explosion (not to mention the octaslash and such during his sephiroth fight) PLUS Sephiroth has power beyond anyone in the ff7 universe, and not even he could keep up with Omnislashv.6 speed. Cloud a beast. Plus id Dirge he is a year older, and who knows how much stronger, He's not sad anymore. I mean Vincent in Chaos mode was getting pushed back from Omegas wind spread, But Cloud just jumped through easily and cut his shield to stop it. I Mean he's a fucking beast for real

Cloud- badass soldier who defeated sephiroth at least twice, and also held a child's hand while taking her home not long before.

One correction: J.E.N.O.V.A. cells are not of the Cetra, the Ancients. It's an alien to the planet, a calamity that wiped the ancients out.

I love both characters but I do believe that Cloud is more powerful. I think that Cloud would've used magic in Advent children but his materia was stolen.

Cloud took down Sephiroth...cloud wins

I can imagine how the versus are gonna be like now. Cloud and the crew will get new feats that make them look far better than their Advent Children Selves. Sephiroth will use a bunch of magical spells in addition to his amazing swordplay. Cloud Strife >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Zack Fail

Zack took from everyone's Magic and style LOL.....I mean he is someone who uses Octoslash , and apocalypse which is both used by Sephiroth AND Genesis...basically Zack learned from all three of the big 3 SOLDIER 1st classes....That itself is an achievement

Total mismatch. Cloud stomps.

Clouds Omnislash trumps any of Zacks attacks. Octoslash doesn't compare. Hell, between that and Vincent's very own Chaos, I'd say it is the strongest limit break in the Final Fantasy games. Especially when both characters are paired with their strongest weapons.

tbh i like cloud more than zack and yes zack is a lovable character but in ff7 advent children he becomes a badass and he doesn't use matieria in advent children...i think

You are spot on who would win between the two. There is a common misconception that Cloud inherited Zack's fighting ability or technique this started with Maiden that Travels the Planet, in where Zack jokingly implies he taught Cloud the Omnislash. What really happened is Cloud's failure caused a merge in personalities between Zack's and his own and Tifa, you could say, was the catalyst. He didn't get Zack's memories nor his fighting ability. Cloud was already somewhat skilled as a swordsman before he received Buster Sword, as seen in Before Crisis.

I'm glad you actually compared them instead of just choosing which one you like better like certain other channels. Excellent video!

Zack fought against not only a large number of infantry man, but actually all of Shinra's. And he defeated all of them except for 3

you forgot about zack defeating genesis which is the boss of crisis core, and for genesis at the time being more stronger than sephiroth after their last battle and for zack fighting genesis twice and won

You didn't mention that Zack also used multiply weapon such as the Beach Umbrella, a Shinra Sniper Rife, his Ultimate Fist of Fury Punch, and to even throwing his Gils (money) at the enemy if he had to!

As an avid fan of the FF7 series, I give this match-up my stamp of approval.

A little correction there Cloud didnt take Zacks personality or memories, Cloud, using his own memories, "superimposed" himself in Zacks place, fabricating a fake past,and his personality isnt zacks either, his fake personality is comprised of clouds original personality, clouds ideal SOLDIER badass self, and tifas own expectations for him, which was created when tifa found cloud at the train station, shortly before the beginning of the game, not when Zack died

You're mistaken when you say that Zack got off better from Hojo's experiments because he was just in better shape. He didn't have mako poisoning because of the SOLDIER treatment, which involves mako treatment. So Zack was immunized. Cloud as a simple infantryman wasn't and so of course had major poisoning.

This is late, but I really enjoyed the video and versus match. The only thing I feel compelled to mention is that I do not believe that Zack receive a additional boost of strength of Jenova's cells from Hojo's experiment. My belief is because of two reasons. 1. If you go to Nibelhiem's Mansion in FF7 after recovering Cloud from his coma, you find notes in the tube room where Zack and Cloud were held in. The notes inform us that out of the two test subjects, only one was receiving positive signs of reacting to the Jenova's cells, while the other was negative. I think Cloud was the only one reacting to the Jenova's cells considering how he was able to mimic Zack's moves afterwards and how Sephiroth was able to manipulate him during FF7. 2. In Crisis Core, Zack's stats didn't improve at all after the incident in Nibelhiem.

There is a reason, why I hate Zach fans and CC so much.

actually it's stated in, though it's been awhile since I've played crisis core, one of the research papers about both cloud and zack with jenova cells that zack's physiology didn't change that much, believed to be because he had already went through the changes from SOLDIER. However, I haven't played the game in awhile, so I can't remember it exactly.

Did zack have a chance agaist sephiroth nope... cloud bead Seph even in seph strongest enhanced form...

i think one thing that wasn't really touched on was the fact that Cloud was only in infantry unit because his body rejected the Jenova cells (or so it seemed) the first time he was injected..but they were still in his body. they would eventually awaken enabling him to throw Sepheroth into the mako reactor..which means that he was already more powerful than Zack before he was killed ..and even before his second exposure

I think by the end of VII, Cloud surpassed Zack in every category. Crisis Core kind of messed with the original FFVII's continuity. The remake should fix that. I believe Cloud's one real weakness is his mental instability. That's basically the one thing Zack had that Cloud probably never will(or at least not consistently), and that could be just enough for Zack to win against him. If I remember correctly, the power of Jenova allowed it to copy another's form and even memories. Cloud (injected with J-cells) absorbed Zack's memories, which gave him the exact same abilities as Zack. It wasn't until the end of the game that Cloud made the distinction between his own memories and Zack's, which was when he finally broke through the wall that was Zack's abilities and was able to create his own. Or at the very least, modify Zack's abilities to make them his own. This is where Omnislash comes into play. Zack apparently invented this ability, but as the Octaslash, which is showcased in CC and talked about in MotP. But Cloud(with the resolve to actually fight) was able to take that "memory" and take it to the next level.(And even further it more in AC)

Cloud also has the perfect "S cells" inside of him, something Hojo couldn't give Zack because he had already been enhanced previously. Making Cloud the only original human injected with Sephiroth's cells. This is the only way I give Cloud the edge over Zack in physicality.

I understand both combatants pretty well. But saying How the battle would go with limited ability use sounds wrong. Seeing as Zack has a huge arsenal of materia, including many that weren't mentioned I feel the magic aspect of fight works be more than in Zack's favor. Not to mention the many many limit breaks that he has as well. Also as for the speed strikes, I feel Zack may not be the best at countering them but he isn't completely defenseless against them. After all, he stood up to Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis only defeating two of them. They all at once point gave him a hard time but he lived through each encounter. I can agree to why Cloud would win but noticed some off details, great video.

Cloud was actually able to over power sephiroth BEFORE being injected with jenova cells. That's why people were confused because he seemed physically stronger than the rest.

Cloud W-Summons Knights of the Round. Battle is over before second summon. The next few minutes is spent watching Zack's body be brutally mutilated by angry spectral knights. Cloud makes popcorn, and grabs a beer. The end.

30:35 The student has become the master.

To everyone saying this isn't fair because it's maxed Cloud vs a learning Zack. Zack has trained for years and years in the Soldier program. Cloud was just a natural. Imagine if Cloud had received the same training? He'd be stronger than Zack without a doubt.

I agree with most of this except for a lot of the magic. In FF7 Cloud is shown to be very effective with the materia and still owned quite a few if his base at Aeriths church is anything to go by. Cloud didn't use materia in Ac, because he never got back to it, not because he abandoned it. In fact, a lot of clouds jobs were simply deliveries so the Materia was left at home because it wasn't needed.

What about a match-up of Dante vs someone??? Iam curious to see the details of Dante . Would be exciting.

Flashback to FF VII: Crsis core: where zack defeated his enemies with a freaking parasol. Yeah cloud is a beast alright, but zack would be 3x stronger. He just died early ;_;

I saw how long this video was and I was like "30 mins I ain't watching this whole thing!" but I actually did. Good job man you were very informative

I can't choose between zack and cloud I love them both

ya Cloud!

One little thing you missed is Clouds PTSD and emotional levels tended to interfere with him and throw him off guard during battles at times, where as Zack was very grounded and maintained a precise focus during a confrontation.

Jenova cells didnt take to zack because of the mako put in him from soilder. Basiclly the earth mako rejected the alien jenova inside his body

Zack is best character but Cloud is more powerfull.

Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos!

zack got owned by sephiroth. Cloud owned sephiroth four times.........end.

You know the ONLY reason why he knows ANYTHING is because of Zack, right?

as much as i love zack i think as many people have said you did a great analysis of this matchup and i agree.

Long story short, Zack could've been one of the strongest Final Fantasy characters if he wouldn't have die.

Zack's cooler

cool vid, however Zack had jenova cells before he was captured by Hojo, all members of SOLDIER were injected with them.

cloud was able to copy zacks moves and skills and improve on them from only memories of seeing him in combat! and took on sephiroth without mako or jenova cells and threw him into a reactor presumably killing him, zack got decimated by sephiroth with mako and jenova cells and since sephiroth is considered by the creators to be the strongest in the ff7 universe was there any real doubt who would come out of this one? people who think different have only played crisis core or watched ac, and not played the og! btw totally agree with the ending these two would never go all out it would be a heated spar at best!

I think this is very biased cuz cloud was able to plan and strategize and get stronger WITH the cells for years after getting the cells while Zack was never able too, he got that strong without them. So saying this if both of them still live zack would be MILES away from cloud.( also zack was able to defeat a army after carrying cloud for days so he prob only had like 1/3 his strength)

This video Is absolutely amazing bro! well made.

Aerith's death was very powerful and sad. Zack was really bad A$$, loyal guy and a true soldier. The story before the events of Final Fantasy VII are really interesting. The personalities between Zack and Cloud are slightly different but more similar I believe. Zack seemed to be more of a courageous go getter but he was also smart in the field. Cloud seems a bit more reserved. I think they could trade some wins. They each have slight advantages in certain areas. I do not think that either one of them would dominate the other, but Cloud's further development overall is a significant advantage over Zack in a fight.

clouds hair looks like gokus when goku is a super saien

but if Zack's busta sword is so weak (first weapon you get in ff7) then isn't Zack being a bad ass with an aweful weapon

There's no need for arguing here, so I'll just add my vote for Zack. Man...imagine Zack as president...The anthem for his country: "Embrace your dreams. If you want a good life you need to have dreams...and honor." Everyone has their own sword that they hug too...Amazing...

The intro for the magical powers was so perfect. THat FFX soundtrack plus Luna and Noctis...just flawless. I wasnt even done watching when I commended. That ending was even better!

These two can't fight! That's Cloud hero/big bro / Brother basically! It should be Cloud vs Lloyd irving

Great Analysis sir, I commend you. I had not thought of nor considered that Zack was holding his own against Sephiroth Prior to injection of JENOVA cells. That's a great point man.

Of course Cloud strife is the best.

Erm cloud spent most of his young life in Shinra using guns......Zack however did not and use the sword, since we are talking about a sword fight....then Zack wins

I would love to see a Squall vs Seifer video along with Bizzaro Sephiroth vs Griver Ultimecia!

Im impressed with your detailed and very informative versus matchup between Cloud and Zack.

Cloud is love. Cloud is life.♥

I agree with this outcome because of 2 things, and these 2 things are the ONLY reasons Cloud would win. 1. Better equipment. Cloud's fusion buster is a massively impressive and versatile weapon, which easily outclasses the buster sword. 2. Experience. At the point of AC, Cloud has just as much, if not more experience than Zack. Zack is military trained yes, but Cloud has the lessons and experience he gains from the members of the party you gain in 7. And to be fair, Genesis isn't nearly as big of a threat as Sephiroth. At the time, Sephiroth wasn't a world ending threat, so Zack didn't need to push himself as hard as Cloud did. Cloud saw the end of the world hovering there in the sky, he knew if he didn't stop Sephiroth, everything was going to go bye bye. Zack was simply fighting to save Genesis, or atleast attempt to, because he wanted to honor Angeal's legacy. So, even though Zack in my opinion has more experience, Cloud has the experience that made him grow faster. Also, does anyone else remember when Zack claims he is sluggish after the 4 year nap? That means that the last fight Zack has at his peak is against Sephiroth, and he STILL takes on that army of soldiers. And according to Last Order, is STILL fast enough to dodge multiple assault rifle fire. Now, give them both a standard issue SOLDIER blade, and you have a much different situation.

I don't agree with the magic part because I have to cite that Cloud's materia was stolen from him by Kadaj and his gang. I also would like to point out that while Cloud assimilated Zack's memories as his own, that doesn't mean that Zack's training was also brought into it. Cloud never made it to SOLDIER, although he was capable of making it physically (it was the mako treatment that would do Cloud in, which is why he wasn't able to make it in SOLDIER.), he did not get the training as the other SOLDIERS had. I would assume that SOLDIER training would prepare the operative for almost any battle scenario possible, including the battling of Sephiroth (simulators). I feel that Zack would win due to the training and physical ability, along with the Jenova cells he acquired before death. It wouldn't take long for a 1st Class SOLDIER to get accustomed to the enhancements. Add his other abilities and you have yourself a deadly killing machine. With that said, if we were to make the physical abilities an edge for Zack and magic a tie, the victor by your evidence would still be Cloud. I would have to say that Cloud's sword provides him with a decent edge, multiple swords are better than just one sword. How would you divide the categories in percentage by their importance? That would help out in deciding who would win in this battle. I did enjoy the video though, it was thought of very well.

That was probably the best explanation of Zack and Cloud in the intro I have seen on the internet.

i thought cloud said that once you join shinra you get injected? and thats how you become first class depending on how the soldier reacts?

You forget some things - that SOLDIER members get frequently injected with Mako - as well as Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. By the time people asked Cloud Strife if he was a SOLDIER member they told him that they knew the glow of the eyes somewhere (first one was the Shinra president, who was stabbed by Sephiroth at the Shinra HQ). He recognizes him as being a former SOLDIER by the glow in his eyes but doesn't remember him. Also that SOLDIER members have to get Mako showers. By the time Zack encountered Sephiroth he had already been exposed to Mako and wasn't his match which resulted in Zack being severely injured by Sephiroth. Joining SOLDIER requires a high tolerance for Mako. When Cloud gets severly wounded by Sephiroth his body started to react with Mako. However, in FFVII:AC Sephiroth acknowledge that Cloud has gotten stronger than in their last encounter. Maybe this has something to do with the Jenova cells. As well as Jenova's cells making anyone who carries them a puppet to her will. Maybe Hojo did inject more Jenova cells into Cloud as he acknowledged Cloud as a special specimen for his experiments in FFVII: Last Order. After falling into the Lifestream with Tifa during the events in FFVII Cloud could've broken free from Jenova's influence over his mind but kept Jenova's cells which continue to mutate inside his body which lead Cloud to obtain strength and master magic more effectively and quicker than anyone else in his group. However I think that there is a great possibility that Cloud could loose a fight against Zack because it seems like Cloud only finds something that pushes him to fight when he encounters his arch nemesis Sephiroth, the one who took everything away from him and who resembles Cloud's dark side. Also this was stated in the Highwind on FFVII AC when Tifa, Cid, etc came to support Cloud and aid him with his materia. After all he lost several fights against the three Sephiroth clones in FFVII:AC and won only when he saw that they obtained the dark materia. Also he was only able to defeat the leader of the three Sephiroth clones when he got healed from his Geostigma injury

Zack is nowhere near CC Sephiroth' level of power, let alone Cloud, Chaos Vincent or Sephiroth(post nibelheim). Cloud's sword Ultima Weapon or the First Tsurugi is WAY more powerful than the Buster sword and Omnislash is more powerful than any limit break that Zack has. Zack was killed by Shinra grunts, the most generic human enemies you wack around with your sword. They are so weak and expendable they are the first enemies in the game just to teach you the controls.

lets keep in mind though these are educated guess battles, let be honest after YEARS of fighting shinra he had little to no true sword fights, so who can say at the end of the day, zacks soul did tell him he could take sephy in the movie.

This is easily the best done Zack vs Cloud battle. My only thing is Zack is underrated because he beat goddess powered Genesis alone, who is stated to be above Sephiroth. Even though Zack is my favorite character and I prefer he won, Cloud was supposed to be stronger than Zack by Advent Childern.

3 mistakes i noticed 1. training had nothing to do with zack overcoming mako poisoning! i can train for ten years and the first time i inject steroids its gonna fuck me up unlike someone who has had before its called tolerance! zack had a resistance to mako poisoning because he was already exposed to mako energy! all soliders 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class have been mako exposed to different degrees that's why all soldiers have mako eyes! only reason their so few soldiers is mako energy is extremely dangerous and soldiers need to pass physical and psychological tests to ensure they can survive and not go mad during the procedure! this is me guessing here but i reckon cloud failed the psychological test and could never become a soldier! 2 im pretty sure all when you become a 1st class soldiers you have jenova cells, so that why hojo's experiments had little effect on him the only difference between hojos experiments and the soldier programme is increased exposure to mako and dangerous levels of jenova cells to the extent that they control you and you become a sephiroth clone! zack was more adjusted having been exposed to both jenova cells and mako energy thanks to soldier while it was the first time cloud was exposed to either and at dangerous amounts hence why he was fucked 3. um cloud didn't abandon his materia it was stolen and not returned until after the final battle! when you played final fantasy 7 and when you play as cloud do you keep all materia slots empty, i don't and last i checked he was capable of preforming all magic summons in the game they just keep defaulting him to using fire and ice in dissidia because it would be over kill if he busted out high level magic or knights of the round! im impressed they kept sephiroths black materia even if they nerfed it!

Thank you !!! thank youuuu !!! hahaha finally someone appreciated Clouds in the way it should be....i was getting so freaking tired of those how heat cloud with no reasonable reason !!! i do too love Zack but at the same time i love Cloud... both of them are really cool....Finally Finally someone has fair to Cloud and talk Logic !!

your opinion was dead on man LOVED IT..as someone who has played every inch on the FF7 game even down to finding the elusive underwater materia..i think you took the story to a good level even if it was just a (combative fight) training simulation..the way you described and depicted every scene an flaw of a character.. (STANDING OVATION) You did the game an movie justice.. I WOULD HAVE TO SAY ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. .(clap clap clap)

I'm trying to get over the mispronunciations, but there are so many! Anyway, good video.

After escaping from the Professor Hojo's experiments, Zack and Cloud were on the run from Shinra for roughly 9 months before Zack was killed, not a few days.

Finally, someone who actually doesn't let his emotions and fantardiness get in the way showed up. This is one of the best Zack vs Cloud I've ever seen.(probably the best)

Like someone below stated you cant used a maxed out cloud vs a learning Zack.

Great analysis bu bou forgot an important detail. In Advent childern Sephiroth bother Loz stole Cloud's materia stash after his fight with Tifa. When Cloud saw her her unconscious he immediately turned for he materia but realized that something that could have turned the table in cloud's favor had been stolen. I see this as the directors trying to display more of Cloud's physical attributes rather than he's casting , healing , and shielding spells. With that note you should have made some reference to the amounts of magic he used in the games and how much damage the do.

cloud strife had his friends and people to back him up to fight his battles.Zack went solo til the very end and without zack cloud would have been dead.

Zack pre Hojo's experiments would mop the floor with Cloud. Zack died because he was exhausted from fighting Minerva, Genesis and his horde of copies, Shinra mechs, dragging Cloud with him and eventually he had to face the entire Shinra army. He had no rest but he still gave them hell and almost defeated them. Zack would have survived easily if he had been in full strength but Hojo's experiments started taking it's toll during the final fight and Zack started to become exhausted and this lead to his death.

Cloud is stronger than Zack. But Zack fair is just a better character

Cloud strife was the side kick of Zack in FFVII wasn't he?

I'm confused, isn't Zack able to do 99999 damage in one hit whereas Cloud can only do 9999?

I think you're wrong about one thing. The reason Zack withstood the Mako Energy was because he was already infused with Mako before. All 1st class soldiers are infused with Mako hence the glowing eyes.

Cloud is a true badass

BTW, the whole Zack surviving bullets to the head thing is a fact, he does live after all that, that's how cloud obtained the buster sword

Youre thinking the wrong way here.. You cant let them fight when they have different time period.. Its like you are trying to make a medieval warrior fight a world war soldier... If Zack was still alive in Advent Children he could had more experience than before and he will have more powerful spells and faster speed.. As for weapons.. You forgot that the Buster sword was his second weapon.. Uf he was still alive he will not always rely on his Buster sword and also have multiple ones... You're kinda cheating in this fight..

Whats the point of this comparison? Its not even fair considering Cloud have alot more battle experience vs Jenova/Sephiroth and multiple monsters, robots and other creatures, its obvious Cloud wins.

I thought the Sephiroth cells (cloud and zack had Sephiroths Dna implanted not jenova's thats why cloud was considered a Sephiroth clone) were rejected by zacks body which is why genesis needed clouds dna to stop his own degradation. so zack wouldn't have gained any strength after the experiments that hojo put him through he only had the normal enhancements that all soldier had (the enhancements that makes his eyes glow).

one fight I would like to see is Squall Leonhart vs. Cloud Strife

Sephiroth > Cloud > Chaos Vincent >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Zack

It was one of the shortest BEST summaries of FF VII iv'e ever heard. good job!

Minus the s-cells n the fact that Zack died n Cloud lived n had all those battle to get stronger then Zack would be alot stronger, as a fighter cloud always had his friends to rely on Zack on the other hand mostly fought alone, even if Angeal had his back most of the time he would let him fight alone cause he believed in him n that he could handle it.

In all honest, I'll end this here - Cloud will win since Zach died before being allowed to improve with jenovas genes unlike Cloud. 2. If he was alive still - Cloud wouldn't have his omnislash. He trained with the buster sword and only created the fusion sword after studying it. 3. Zach was quite strong before he died. He had tons of experience beforehand and if allowed to improve - would of win. 4. The thing though - he was shut down before he could so... yes, cloud will win in this case.

Zack will lost

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I watched your season 1 a long time ago but just came across this again. I'm subscribing and looking forward to more!

These kids now a days dont know shit about FFV7... Let me end the story. No Zack? cloud been dead. indeed

What you seem to be forgetting is that Cloud defeated a Sephiroth that had been in the lifestream for years increasing his spiritual power to the point where he could literally build his body back from pure force of will, not a "really powerful soldier". Sephiroth's power at this point was too much.

Cloud is stronger. AC shows how Cloud fights without materia, and does it better than Zack ever did. Zack is just a dead loser.