The reimagining of Bahamut as a heroic dragon originated in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game and was further popularized by the Final Fantasy series of console role-playing games, among others. One such game, made in Japan, is called Bahamut Lagoon.

Bahamut plays a significant role in the Final Fantasy RPG series. In Final Fantasy I, the player could complete a quest for Bahamut to upgrade their characters' classes (The quest is technically completely optional, but it is difficult to complete the game otherwise). Again, he is frequently portrayed as the King of the Dragons, though in later installments this role has morphed somewhat into a "king of the summoned creatures." In several of the Final Fantasy entries, Bahamut will only grant his alliance after determining a player's worth in battle (e.g: Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VIII) and after gaining this alliance, he is one of the most powerful summoned allies available. Bahamut also played a significant role in the storyline of several games, most notably Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 and in the film Advent Children He makes an appearance in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars during a battle with a branwashed MagiKoopa. Magikoopa will summon him to hide behind.

He is known for his devastating battle technique called Mega Flare, where he exhales a powerful magical blast at all his opponents. In Final Fantasy VII, Bahamut is also accompanied by two more powerful versions: Neo Bahamut (Giga Flare), and Bahamut ZERO (Tera Flare). The attacks are named for the SI prefixes for ten to the powers six, nine, and twelve; the third is commonly misread as "Terra Flare" or "Tetra Flare". In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the character Kadaj summons Bahamut SIN to cause havoc in the city of Edge on the outskirts of Midgar. Also worth noting are that the suffixes and prefix for the variations of Bahamut in Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children are taken from the names of old Japanese fighter planes: KAI Bahamut ("Neo Bahamut"), Bahamut REISHIKI ("Bahamut Zero"), and Bahamut SIN ("Bahamut TREMOR").

In Final Fantasy XI, Bahamut is not a summon. Instead, Bahamut is introduced in the expansion Chains of Promathia as the Wyrmking, a Terrestrial Avatar that fights along his Wyrms: Tiamat, Vrtra, Jormungand, Ouryu, Fafnir and Nidhogg.

Due in large part to the successes of Dungeons & Dragons and the Final Fantasy series, the name Bahamut has become synonymous with dragons in general, even being incorporated into two games Bahamut Bahant Senki and Bahamut Lagoon.

Fictional dragons | Final Fantasy summoned creatures | Final Fantasy characters