Cactuar

Cactuars are enemies in Square Enix's  series. Cactuars have made a few crossover appearances with the Mario franchise alongside other Final Fantasy characters in various sports games, where they have a unique design with segmented limbs.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
A Cactuar made its first crossover appearance with the Mario franchise in the game Mario Hoops 3-on-3 as a playable character. Other Final Fantasy characters in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 are Ninja, Black Mage, White Mage, and Moogle. Here, Cactuar is unlocked by first unlocking Glare Desert, the fourth (and final) court in Star Cup. Then the player must play the court in exhibition mode. Cactuar's head will appear buried in the ground once the player scores 100 points during the match. The player has to dribble the ball over him a few times. Some times he'll shift around the court if the player isn't quick enough, making it a bit difficult to catch him. He'll also disappear for the current round if left alone too long, and will return next round once either team scores a point. When dribbled enough times on his head, Cactuar will pop out of the sand (and hurt the player or AI if they are in his hit box) and run away. Afterwards, the player has to win the exhibition match to trigger Cactuar running across the player's victory screen. When all requirements are met, Cactuar is unlocked as a playable character.

When controlled by the AI on the opposite team, Cactuar's behavior will sometimes run around the player a few times before attempting to steal the ball from them.

More Cactuars can be seen in Glare Desert as spectators, and in the game's ending credits, there is a brief scene with six Cactuars and a watermelon-patterned basketball on Sunset Beach.

Mario Sports Mix
Cactuar, along with the other Final Fantasy characters, returned in the game Mario Sports Mix. Here, it is the only character to have a stat amount over the max of 5 (indicated by a red bar instead of a yellow bar). Cactuar is unlocked by winning 60 games or beating it on a secret route of the Star Cup (to reach Cactuar, the player must mostly follow the same route to unlock She-Slime, but in order to unlock Cactuar, the player must be on the left side). It has the highest speed stat (depicted by a red stat bar), but its other stats are at their lowest level. However, Cactuar's high speed comes with a high drawback in that it ends up skidding whenever it has to quickly change direction. When Cactuar makes a special move, it will send spikes all over everybody (sometimes including its own teammate(s)) making them shocked and unable to move.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3

 * Baller Name: Stick and Sting
 * Type: Speedy
 * Special Shot: 1000 Needles
 * Letter to Tap: S

Mario Sports Mix
Cactuar's special shot is 1000 Needles, in which it will fire needles to briefly stun opponents. In Basketball, it will use the move and then spin into the hoop while holding the basketball; in Volleyball, it attacks and aims the volleyball at the ground; in Dodgeball, it attacks and aims the dodgeball at opponents; in Hockey, it attacks and then aims the puck at the goal. Cactuar has the highest Speed stat of all the playable characters in Mario Sports Mix, and this overwhelming speed sometimes makes the character difficult to control. Additionally, Cactuar's Power and Technique stats are among the lowest in the game, both having a rating of 1/5.