Bahamut has consistently been one of the most powerful and ferocious Summons/Eikons/Eidolons within the world of Final Fantasy. He's been in nearly every single game within the series since the beginning, with the only notable exception being Bahamut's lack of any appearance in Final Fantasy 2.

The role and design of the Dragon King or Lord of the Skies can vary quite a lot depending on the game, which can make rating and comparing every variation of Bahamut a bit of a challenge. This tier list will primarily be placing Bahamut in the tiers based on both designs and also how useful he is within each game as well as how prominently Bahamut is featured within each Final Fantasy story, though the following will also only consider mainline entries.

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S Tier

• Final Fantasy 1: The original Bahamut is not only iconic for being the one to start them all, but also for playing a unique and essential role within the landmark JRPG title that no other Eikon has done since. Bahamut serves to promote every chosen party member to a new job, a step that is necessary for Final Fantasy 1's brutal late game.
• Final Fantasy 5: This game has possibly the most beautiful and intimidating Bahamut artwork that the series has ever seen, which is actually somewhat par for the course in Final Fantasy 5 and all of its beautiful pixel art. Bahamut's story role isn't quite as significant as in the previous entry, Final Fantasy 4, but he does still become an epic boss fight.
• Final Fantasy 7: This version of Bahamut comes in multiple forms for the player to obtain and summon in battle. Each of the different Bahamuts has different levels of power and different requirements to obtain, which can make collecting all the Bahamut in Final Fantasy 7 almost like a side quest within itself. They're all very powerful and likely something the players will rely on at various points.
• Final Fantasy 14: One of Bahamut's most essential roles within any FF game is certainly in Final Fantasy 14. He appears in multiple forms throughout the wildly popular MMORPG as well as being a strong summon. Players who delve deep into the lore of Final Fantasy 14 will find Bahamut to appear in multiple essential moments.

A Tier

• Final Fantasy 16: The latest appearance of Bahamut in the series is fairly standard, with a quest and boss fight resulting in the ruler of the skies becoming available for the player to use in combat. The implementation is standard, but the Eikon abilities are powerful, and the boss fight is one of the best in Final Fantasy 16, with the cinematics pushed to a new level of action-packed and impressive.
• Final Fantasy 4: Bahamut's second appearance as a summon within the series sees the dragon taking on a much more significant story role than he'd ever had before along with the standard boss fight and subsequent summon ability that had been normalized in the third game. His artwork in the pixel version of FF4 is the most impressive the series had seen up to that point.
• Final Fantasy 10: The Bahamut that Tidus and Co. encounter on their pilgrimage in Final Fantasy 10 has one of the most unique looks of any throughout the series. He's obtainable as a summon and has a fairly powerful Overdrive move that will likely mean many players using him quite often once he's around. Bahamut also plays a unique story role in 10-2.
• Final Fantasy 8: Bahamut appears in the late game of Final Fantasy 8, which may make him less memorable for certain players. His fantastically fierce design accompanied by the power he brings as a GF makes him easily stand out in many other ways, though, despite showing up late to the party.

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B Tier

• Final Fantasy 9: Bahamut plays a part in the story of Gaia, including events like the Battle of Alexandria. He's also one of the more powerful Eidolons in Final Fantasy 9, something that isn't uncommon in almost every game in the franchise, but he may not feel quite as powerful as some of his counterparts. On top of that, his art isn't quite as impressive as many of his other counterparts.
• Final Fantasy 13: All three mainline games within the world of Final Fantasy 13 have Bahamut appearances. The appearances can vary in quality and screen time, with Caius Ballad's Chaos Bahamut being much more prominent in Final Fantasy 13-2 than anywhere else.
• Final Fantasy 3: This game has the distinction of being the first time Bahamut was ever available as a summon. It's nothing particularly special but does stand out by setting the standard for acquiring him as a summon through a boss fight which has some story implications.

C Tier

• Final Fantasy 6: Bahamut is an esper in Final Fantasy 6 and, unlike his previous appearances, he serves virtually no role within the game aside from that. He has some combat utility and nice artwork but is pretty forgettable overall.
• Final Fantasy 11: Bahamut is one of the main characters in the game's brutally difficult Chains of Promathia storyline. He does make for an interesting character while he's around, but he's ultimately only involved in a very small part in the surprisingly active Final Fantasy MMORPG and is not available as any kind of summon like in other titles.
• Final Fantasy 15: This version of Bahamut was apparently supposed to play a larger role in the story, but that wound up going in the trash along with many other things when the DLC for Final Fantasy 15 was tragically canceled. The result is many players will likely barely remember Bahamut was even in this game at all.
• Final Fantasy 12: Bahamut sadly makes almost no appearance in Final Fantasy 12 outside of having the last dungeon, AKA Sky Fortress Bahamut, named after him. The DS spin-off game Final Fantasy 12: Revenant Wings is all from this era that gets an actual Bahamut appearance.

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