Cosplay Girl Wearing Tifa Lockheart Costume

Designed by Tetsuya Nomura, Tifa was not present in early versions of Final Fantasy VII, and instead only three characters were intended to be playable: protagonist Cloud Strife, heroine Aerith Gainsborough, and Barret Wallace. However during a phone call to project director Yoshinori Kitase, the idea was suggested at some point within the game to permanently kill one of the characters, and after heavy discussion it was decided to have Aerith die. Nomura later joked that this was his idea to introduce Tifa into the game. Regardless, the notion of having two concurrent heroines and the protagonist torn between them was something Kitase liked, describing it as something new not present in past Final Fantasy games.
Tifa was developed to use the "Martial Artist" character class that appears in previous games in the series. She has long, black hair in a style resembling a dolphin's tail at the tip, and garments described as simple and monotone consisting of a white tank top and black mini-skirt. In addition, red boots and gloves cover her hands, sleeves extend up her arms from her wrists to her elbows, suspenders connect her skirt to her shoulders, and a large metal guard covers her left elbow. She stands about 5 feet 4 inches (167 cm) tall, and has three sizes of 36-24-35" (92-60-88 cm).