Comparing IX to any others is like comparing apples to oranges. It's more of a humorous cartoon. Zidane is great for his role, and cannot be compared to any others. In the other games, Terra rules all. Shadow would except he's not the 'hero'

cecil is good, cloud is good, squall is bad, butz is bad (bartz is the worst translation i've ever seen, but V doesn't translate anything well at all) frionel is good (firion is a terrible translation too) and I and III don't really have 'heroes'