‘Final Fantasy 7 Remake’: Why Tifa's Costume Redesign Is Important For Her Updated Version

Square Enix recently unveiled Tifa Lockhart’s costume redesign in “Final Fantasy 7 Remake.” During E3 2019, fans, however, noticed that her bust size is smaller compared to that of her character in the original games. However, the redesign still does justice to her original look in the first “Final Fantasy 7.”

In a Famitsu interview with director Tetsuya Nomura (via Twinfinite translation), Nomura confirmed that they’ll be following the same event progression in the remake as the original game. However, Nomura said that they’ve put in a modern twist on some of these areas to make sense in the game world.

For example, the infamous Honey Bee Inn area has been remodeled to have a more modern look. Aside from places, the playable characters have also been remodeled and given modern appearances.

For Tifa, her original outfit consisted of a white tanktop, black mini skirt with suspenders, and red gauntlets. Aside from her outfit, her supermodel figure and big bust were some of the main features of Tifa that many fans remember about her. After the E3 2019 “Final Fantasy 7 Remake” trailer, however, many fans became conflicted as to whether or not Square Enix remained faithful to her original iteration.

It turns out that Square Enix also modernized Tifa’s look for this entry. Instead of simply reusing her design from the original, they added some clothing that would make sense for her character. Along with her usual white top, she had a black sports bra to support her bust. The developers told Famitsu that this costume design would “bind” her chest tightly, hence the supposed smaller size.

This design is important so as not to ramp up the game’s ESRB rating. If the sports bra wasn’t included, many fans would ask about the unnatural movement of Tifa’s bust. Emphasis on the bust movement may potentially ramp up the rating from everyone to 18+, which would force the game to become unavailable to an entire generation of children.

Square Enix previously worked with Team Ninja, known for the “Dead Or Alive series,” on "Dissidia: Final Fantasy." We’ve yet to know how much of Team Ninja’s body physics work was passed to Square Enix.

“Final Fantasy 7 Remake” is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 on March 3, 2020.