Which Final Fantasy VII prequel stars Zack Fair?

The Final Fantasy VII prequel starring Zack Fair is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

Crisis Core is an action role-playing game released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007. It follows Zack Fair, an optimistic SOLDIER operative who hopes to become a hero while serving Shinra. The game fills in the history behind events that the original Final Fantasy VII presented largely through flashbacks and fragmented memories.

Zack’s missions bring him into contact with Angeal Hewley, Genesis Rhapsodos, Sephiroth, Aerith Gainsborough, and Cloud Strife. The story explores the SOLDIER program, Shinra’s experiments with Jenova cells, and the events surrounding the Nibelheim incident. Zack’s friendship with Cloud is especially important because it helps explain Cloud’s confused understanding of his own past in the original game.

Crisis Core is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and is explicitly a prequel to the 1997 game. Its remaster, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, retells the same core story with updated visuals, voice acting, and gameplay. The other listed choices do not fit: Rebirth is a later remake-project title, Dirge of Cerberus follows Vincent, and Ever Crisis is a broader episodic retelling and compilation rather than Zack’s defining prequel.