For us older fans of the series, it's almost unbelievable that nearly 20 years stand between us and the initial release of Final Fantasy VII. I know that it makes me feel old, and it only gets worse every year!



In honor of its 17th birthday, here are 17 facts about Final Fantasy VII that you may or may not have already known.



#1 Surprises In Rocket Town

In Rocket Town, there's a portrait of Final Fantasy's legendary creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. It appears on a wall in one of the houses if you know where to look!



#2 There Was No N64 Version

Despite rumours to the contrary, Final Fantasy VII was never in development for the N64. Yes, Squaresoft did do some work, but this was only a technical demo for the console to show how Final Fantasy could work in 3D. Following the release of this demo, a lot happened.



#3 Cloud's Hair Was Supposed To Be Black

Perhaps in order to look a great deal more like his counterpart Zack, Cloud originally was supposed to have black hair instead of blonde. Suppose they figured that if they really did give Cloud black hair, all the scenes with Zack would be extremely confusing.



#4 Did Aerith Die Too Soon

Although Aerith's death happens before this part of the game, if you use a cheat to resurrect Aerith, she has a line upon landing in Gaea's Cliff. This has lead people to believe that her death was originally meant to happen later in the game.



#5 Yuffie Tells It Like It Is

Should you try to find Yuffie in Disk 2 with Cid as the party leader, she'll refer to him as a "bow-legged old man" instead of a "spikey-headed jerk". If Tifa is the party leader, Yuffie will refer to her simply as "Boobs".



#6 Sephiroth Versus Sephira

According to Kaballah, the term Sephira (plural form = Sephiroth) refers to concept of the Tree of life which holds attributes such as Divine Intellect, Divine Will, and so on. Sounds a lot like Sephiroth to us.



#7 Have A Tissue

The Tissues you win at the Gold Saucer may seem pointless, but they are actually a reference to Japanese culture where companies would give out tissues with all sorts of advertising on them.



#8 Creepy President Shinra Encounter

At the Honey Bee Inn, you can peek through the Queen's Room keyhole to see a rather disturbing scene regarding President Shinra.



#9 Reno, Fans' Number 1 Turk

Reno is the only minor character from Final Fantasy VII to have a Play Arts figure.



#10 Vincent And Yuffie Are Left Out

Because they are optional characters and it would've been too expensive to include them in, Yuffie and Vincent are not in any of the game's FMVs.



#11 Real Estate In Costa Del Sol

You can purchase a house in Costa Del Sol for a hefty 300,000 Gil.



#12 Pandora's Box

The only way you can master an Enemy Skill Materia is by learning the Pandora's Box skill from a Dragon Zombie in the Northern Crater. This skill is only performed once (without cheating) during each save file upon beating a Dragon Zombie for the first time.



#13 Breeding Chocobos

Final Fantasy VII is the only main series Final Fantasy where you can race and breed Chocobos.



#14 More Weapons To Fight

There are two additional weapons that you can battle in the North American version of Final Fantasy VII that were not in the original Japanese version; Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon.



#15 Save Fort Condor

If you lost the final battle at Fort Condor, you will lose access to Fort Condor permanently and the ladder letting you into Fort Condor will be removed.



#16 Huge Materia Quest

If you don't gather any Huge Materia before visiting Bugenhagen, you will not be able to acquire the Master Materia or the Bahamut Zero Materia from the upper conservatory floor in his house in Cosmo Canyon. These can be obtained elsewhere, however. You can dig up the Bahamut Zero Materia in the Bone Village and the Master Materia can be obtained from the Kalm Traveler side quest.



#17 No Gameovers!

There are four types of fights that you can lose without getting a Game Over screen: Battle Square Fights, any of the Pagody Fights, any of the Fort Condor Fights, or the boss battle against Snow.



And that's it folks. Let us know in the comments if you know any more interesting facts about Final Fantasy VII. In the meantime, Happy Anniversary Final Fantasy VII.







