Cactuar

Cactuars (also called Cactrot or Sabotender) are a small cactus-like creature from the Final Fantasy series of computer role-playing games. They are typically depicted as having stiff arms and legs, three black dots on their faces representing two eyes and a round mouth and three red quills at the top of their heads. They have their own language (mostly consisting of variations of the word "Ge-ka"). A Cactuar also cannot stand getting wet, as it weakens them. They are best known for their defensive attack, 1000 Needles (also called Blow Fish), which does exactly 1000 hit points of damage to an opponent. There was a Jumbo Cactuar in Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X-2 which was probably 10-20 times larger than the average Cactuar, wore a moustache and specialized in the 10,000 Needles, which instantly killed any player character (the maximum number of hit points in the Final Fantasy series is 9999).

In the Bikanel Desert in Final Fantasy X-2, there exists a small area known as the Cactuar Nation. The leader of the cacti and cactuars is an ancient cactus named Marnela, who has a special bond with a young Al Bhed boy named Benzo. Benzo is the only person who is able to understand their language. The Cactuars in this area appear as realistic cacti. This "realistic" stage is how they appear when they are born, then later in their lives, they uproot themselves and become what many players know as a Cactuar. When they reach a certain level of maturity, they root themselves again, becoming cacti once more. They have a mortal enemy of a fiend by the name of Angra Mainyu. When you take a mission to find the last Gatekeeper Cactuar, there exists a cave where all the cactuar who abandon their duty to become realistic Cacti reside. These cactuars are exactly the same as normal cactuars but have an ability to shoot needles at monsters, reviving them and make them grow about 4x their original size, transforming them into giant formidable opponents.

In Final Fantasy Unlimited, the Cactuars used to live in a peaceful desert until they were attacked by the Wandering Ocean (an entity composed of souls who died at sea), which destroyed their home and forced them to hide underground. But it was thanks to the Comodeen & Kaze, the Cactuars got brave enough to used their own lifeforce to create a whirlwind that destroyed the Wandering Ocean. Everyone was sad about their new friends dead, until it turned out the Cactuars can be revived via sunlight. Fungo was only one of the heroes to translate the Cactuar language.

In Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, these creatures have their own islands, and are the only random battles that can be fought there, save the Jumbo Cactuar battle in Final Fantasy VIII, which upon defeating it, a Cactuar becomes available as a Guardian Force.

In Final Fantasy XI, Cactuars have an organic look, instead of dots in the eyes they have two lines and the arms are not always in the same position. They live in the Kuzotz Region (which includes the Altepa Desert, Quicksand Caves and the Kuftal Tunnel). Cactuars have Spanish (or semi-Spanish) names in this Final Fantasy (Sabotender Mariachi, Sabotender Enamorada, Sabotender Bailarina, Sabotender Sediendo etc.). The most powerful Cactuar is "Cactrot Rapido". This Cactrot runs insanely fast, it requires almost 18 persons to kill it and has the special ability "10,000 needles" that deals damage to each party member in the area equal to 10,000 divided into the number of players that receive the attack. This cactuar drops two special items named "Arte del Sol" (Sun earring) and "Arco de Velocidad" (Speed bow).