her. During the game's ending, she reunites with Squall and kisses him on the Balamb Garden balcony for the first time. Other appearances Rinoa appears in Square's and Sony's PlayStation 2 technology demo. Originally a pre-rendered video, the demo recreated the ballroom dance scene in real-time. She appears in several other games, such as the 2012 rhythm video game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and in the role-playing video game Puzzle & Dragons as part of a Final Fantasy collaboration. Her outfits are available for players to put on their characters in the video game Gunslinger Stratos 2. Rinoa, accompanied by her pet dog Angelo, appears as a playable character in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Rinoa and Angelo are also available for recruitment in the free-to-play mobile game Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia. Reception Rinoa Heartilly has been mostly well received by video game critics and the general public. Japanese fans voted Rinoa as the tenth favorite female Final Fantasy character in an official Square Enix survey in 2013. In 2020 NHK conducted an All-Final Fantasy Grand Poll of Japanese players, with Rinoa ranked as the thirty fifth greatest Final Fantasy character by Japanese respondents. David Smith at IGN UK regarded her as one of the franchises' most memorable characters. Natalie Flores from Paste Magazine praised her character arc as Rinoa starts as a pacifist heroine and becomes motivated to aid SeeD to defeat Edea and Ultimecia. Mike Gorby, writing for Goomba Stomp, observed that Rinoa subverts gender stereotypes and roles expected of a typical female character and compared her favorably to Squall as he found her more realistic. When Game Revolutions Johnny Liu expressed the wish that the game had voice acting, he specifically mentioned Rinoa. She has been noted due to her beauty by multiple video game publications. IGNs Justin Kaehler and Naomi Cheung remembered the "hot" Rinoa as one of the game's main strengths. GamesRadar described her as "rough around the polygonal edges", but also "feminine enough to make fanboys latch on for years to come." Some critics focused on the relationship between Rinoa and Squall. IGN noted that their first dance together was both cute and awkward. Aneni Soren of RPGamer wrote a feature article about the "great" relationship between Squall and Rinoa. Jenni Lada of TechnologyTell ranked Final Fantasy VIII as the third most romantic Final Fantasy game. IGNs Ryan Clements called Final Fantasy VIII "one of