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As you can figure from up above, I've had a good run through my Final Fantasy 7 game at least three times. And as you've also likely figured out by now, FF7 is a rather popular game. In fact, it may be THE game of this entire generation--every time a general video game website opens a survey or poll for "best game," about 60 percent of the people who come shout, "FF7!! IT'S FF7!!" Then come the ones who scream "NO NO YOU IDIOTS DIDN'T YOU EVER HAVE A SUPER NES??" "But FF7 rocked!" "FF6 WAS BETTER THAN FF7, YOU WERE JUST BLINDED BY THE CINEMAS!! GET LOST, YOU IGNORANT PEONS!!" "But FF7 ROCKED!!" "SHUT UP!!" The SNES may have been the better system all-around, but more people rediscovered their love of gaming through the PS1, technically the first "hip for adults" console. And what's the first game most of them picked up? FF7. Add to that, FF7 had one of the best stories I've ever seen anywhere, and it didn't have a lame sequel one year later that killed all interest in the original. You can't claim "shallow graphics appeal" anymore either--I had to revisit the game to make this page and it hasn't gotten any younger. When you jump from Star Ocean 3 to this, it really looks like it could join all those SNES titles. It's only a matter of time before Hot Topic starts selling Cloud T-shirts.

Yet even if you're the biggest FF7 freak in the world, you still haven't seen the entire game. At least I hope you haven't--if you're already familiar with everything in this article, it'll be a lot less surprising and hold less entertainment value. But to really see ALL of FF7, you must get ahold of a save in the DEBUG ROOM. This is a raw series of rooms which the testers used to play the game and find glitches and errors. Square left it in, figuring no one would ever find it there. In the Information Age, nothing remains "unfound"....so it's time for the tour!

When you first enter the DEBUG ROOM, either through a specially-made save(like mine) or through a Gameshark hack, you're in the main hub, which looks like this. To get elsewhere and do something, just walk on any button, or any direction except left. Takashi Tokita and Masato Kato are...two people whose names are nowhere in the credits of the actual game.

The weird mark by one of the buttons is actually Yuffie seen from the top down. Talking to her lets you block all the battles or movies, or both, or unblock them, or whatever. I wonder what FULL NAME does.

I guess that is pretty full.

I first guided MMMMMMMMMMMM to room #1. Its position is actually three o'clock on the map, but judging by the message you get from entering and the early places you can go, I'd say it's the first room....and it has Aeris, Sephiroth, a green intoxicated Barret on the floor, a small dolphin, and that old man who was hidden in the mountains and wouldn't tell you anything until you gave him Chocobo food. From here you can get to many places on the first disc, although you'll have to deal with Cloud being named "ster" and Barret being named "Ballet."

Here's the real treat: if you talk to the green Barret and select "Before Memory," you get the scene in Tifa's hideout....BUT, it's DIFFERENT! You get...A DELETED SCENE!!

To recap: In the original, when Cloud went down here, Tifa said a few things...then Barret said a few things, then Barret threw Wedge right at the camera and started boxing while his daughter watched him. Cloud talked to everyone in the room, and went back up to the main floor....at which point Tifa followed him and told him not to bail out on her because they made a promise at a well when they were children. Here's what happens in this version of that part of the story, and it has no words since they scrapped it before translation time. Cloud goes down here again, but this time, everyone cares about what he has to say.

"What's that, Cloud?" "A glowing rock I picked up back at the Mako Reactor. I bet you wish you had one. It's neato torpedo!"

"And I....URGGG...GAAAK...NO! It's making me FREAK OUT and SHAKE MY HEAD A LOT!!" "I knew it! He's vulnerable to Kryptonite! That proves Cloud is from another planet! Ha ha, Cloud is from another planet!!" "NO IT'S NOT! It's just Materia. He's probably allergic or something."

"WHATCHOO TALKIN' BOUT, FOO?? YOU DUNNO BOUT MATERIA?? AW, I PITY DA FOO! DOOD, YOU SO DENSE!! HERE'S HOW TO DO IT RIGHT...."

So apparently this was the original spot where the Materia tutorial was placed. The difference between this and the final version is, since Cloud himself doesn't know, there's no way to skip the tutorial. In the final, as they're about to board the train Barret suddenly says, "Hey Cloud, uh, uh, I dunno how to use Materia!" I always thought that sounded rather awkward, and here's the reason why...it was added later. Since Cloud became the one giving the tutorial, he could refuse Barret and the player could then skip it.

"So now you know how to use Materia! But I'm still angry, 'cuz we out of donuts! So I gonna BLOW HOLES IN YOU ALL!! RAAAAAAAA!!!" *RATATATATATATAT* Yes, Barret shoots at his teammates...several rounds. They must be blanks because nobody even moves.

((Jessie gets in the middle)) "COOL IT, YOU TWO! We have to prepare for tomorrow night!" "Why, Jessie? What are we going to do tomorrow night?" "The same thing we do EVERY night....TRY TO TAKE OVER SHINRA!"

Tifa: "Let's just get some sleep, okay?" The screen fades to black and the "sleep" music plays, then Cloud wakes up in the empty hideout room and things seem back to usual. Until he walks outside....the deleted scene isn't over yet!

As Cloud walks out the door, he's called back by Tifa. "Where are you going? Would you just walk out on your childhood friend?" Hey, it's the well scene! But it's outside instead! It looks like in the original, Cloud was allowed to walk all the way out the door before Tifa called him back. We're back to the previous night again, since the other deleted scene wouldn't let Cloud go back to the first floor. But if it wouldn't, then when was he supposed to do this? Maybe it was unfinished...



This is the best part...as Cloud and Tifa talk, the neighbors who were outside hear them bickering and then crawl on their hands and knees and hide behind the lamppost to secretly watch them fight.