FF7's Yuffie will star in DLC for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on PlayStation 5, yet there is another character from the series who deserves a starring role. Red XIII was done dirty in the original version of FF7 Remake, and he deserves a DLC episode of his own.
In FF7, Red XIII joins the party when they free him from imprisonment within Hojo's lab. Red XIII is one of the last surviving members of his species, and he has been experimented on by Professor Hojo of the Shinra Corporation. FF7 included a scene where Hojo planned to breed Red XIII with Aerith in order to create a hybrid with a long lifespan, but the two of them were saved by Cloud and his friends. This scene was removed in FF7 Remake, and a new section of the Shinra Headquarters was added to give him a chance to help out the other characters, using his agility and size to bypass barriers.
Red XIII's role was downgraded in FF7 Remake, though, as he was reduced from being a main party member to a guest character. Speaking to VG247, co-director Naoki Hamaguchi explained developers didn't want to introduce a brand new character with a unique fighting style so late into the game. This likely also helped cut down on development time for the game, but Square Enix now has a chance to give Red XIII his time in the spotlight as part of future DLC for FF7 Remake: Intergrade.
How FF7 Remake DLC Could Tell Red XIII's Backstory
In the Japan-exclusive FF7 spin-off Before Crisis, which followed the Turks through the events of FF7 and up to the ending of Advent Children, one chapter involves the Turks kidnapping Red XIII and bringing him to Midgar. What makes this Red XIII backstory so important is that it also introduced another living member of his species: a female named Denah. The original ending of FF7 showed Red XIII with cubs, even though he was said to be the last member of his species. In Before Crisis, Red XIII lets himself be captured by the Turks in order to allow her to escape. It's likely that she is the mother of his cubs from the ending of FF7.
A "Red XIII Episode" depicting his backstory would give fans the chance to play as him for the first time in the remake series (outside of unofficial FF7 Remake mods), as well as bring Deneh into the main story. The Yuffie DLC is adding characters from Dirge of Cerberus to FF7 Remake Intergrade, so there's no reason a Red XIII DLC couldn't do the same for Before Crisis.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 10, 2021.