There are two secret characters in FFFVII, Yuffie and Vincent.
You do not have to find them to complete the game but they're excellent characters and it is highly recommended that you do.

Yuffie

If you explore the forests North-East of Junon, then you might bump into a optional character, Yuffie.
Once you find her, you will have to fight her. She is not hard, but afterwards you have to talk to her carefully, otherwise she will take some of your GIL and run away.
So you'll have to find her all over again.
After the battle you'll find yourself in a large field, (weird, considering you were in a forest a moment ago...) and to prevent Yuffie from running away, here are some clues as to what you you say to her...

1. Avoid picking options that result in viewing a different screen, i.e. the Main Menu.
2. Be nice, and patronise her a bit.
3. Try not to waste time viewing other options or details.

Still not got the hang of it? Here's exactly what you need to reply to her if you're stuck on this one...

Yuffie will ask you to fight again,
Reply, Not interested.
Talk to her again and Yuffie will think that you are scared of her,
Reply, ...Petrified.
Yuffie will say that she is going to leave,
Reply, Wait a second!
Yuffie feels that you want her to join your party,
Reply, ...That's right.
Yuffie will ask if you want to know her name,
But Reply, ...Let's hurry on.

If you try to use the Save Point to the North, or select the wrong answer, Yuffie will run away and steal around 500 GIL from you.
Then you have to re-find, re-fight her, then go through the same conversation again, that is, if you want her to join your party.
If you have done this correctly, you will be able to name her, after having left the field without her running away.
Note: Later on in the game, (if you have Yuffie) if you go to Wutai, then you will get to play a side quest, have a look at our walkthrough for more information.

Vincent

Head over to the Shinra Mansion at Nibelheim, (you come here in late Disc One, but if you missed it then you can still go back later anyway) and once inside, go left into a room. There's a letter on the floor. Pick it up and it'll give you clues to find the code for a safe...
Here's where to find the clues, codes, and what to do with them:

Clue (#1) Behind the ivories short of tea and ray - Go through door on the left, (just above the room where you found the letter) and you will find a room with a piano. You can play on it,
but the keys for "Te" and "Re" aren't working! So look behind the piano, (press around the area) and Cloud will find the first code! Code: Right 36.

Clue (#2) The lid of the box with the most oxygen - Return to the main hall. Go upstairs and turn left. You'll find a treasure chest in a green-house-type room.
Open the treasure chest and you will get an Enemy Launcher (a weapon for Barret). Search the chest again and you will get your second code! Code: Left 10.

Clue (#3) The creak in the floor near the chair on the second floor... then to the left five steps, up nine steps, left two steps, and up six steps (?) - From the main hall, go up the stairs, and go right. Near the Secret Entrance to the basement (you have been there in Cloud's past), search the chair near the bed, you'll hear a creak and Cloud will shake his head. So, press left for 5 of Cloud's steps, then up for 9 steps, left 2 steps, and up 6 steps. This should take you down the corridor outside the room.
You'll be somewhere at the end of the corridor outside the room with the chair. Press for the third Code! Code: Right 59.

Clue (#4) What! No clue?! - Read the letter again until you are given the options to read the clues.
Scroll the cursor down to Clue 3, but don't select! Instead go down once more to find a fourth option in invisible ink! Select it, and get the last code! Code: Right 97.

So, now you have:
Right 36
Left 10
Right 59
Right 97

But what do they mean?
Go upstairs, then take a left. Warning! Boss coming up! Get yourself ready!
Go to the room above you, and go to the safe at the back.
Press when you're next to it, Cloud will have a bad feeling about the safe....
You'll have 20 seconds to do the code. Here's how:

When the timer comes up, another box with 00 in it pops up as well, it's the number that is currently on the safe door.
So, remember the code? Good. Press right, until the number says 36, STOP! Another number more and you have to start all over again.
When you reach 36 successfully, press . Then quickly press left to get to number 10, STOP! Press .
Then press right until you reach 59, STOP! Press . Last one! Go right again, until you get to 97, STOP! Quickly press before the time runs out!
If you make a mistake, just wait for the time to run out, and you can try again.
If you do it, then the safe opens, a red Summon Materia pops out and lands behind you, and a 'successful' box comes up. When you press to get rid of the box,
the Boss, Lost number fights you!
Check the Walkthrough, Secrets or the Boss Guide for the strategy to defeating this Boss.

After the fight, go to the Safe, press to get the key, and pick up the red Odin Summon Materia behind you.
Exit the room, and go right, all the way to the Secret Entrance, down the stairs, through the long cave, and into the library.
You'll find Sephiroth in there... He throws a green Destruct Materia at you, and tells you to go North, then disappears.... Make sure you pick up the Materia before you go!
Exit the room, and go up to find a purple door, you'll find the key from the Safe fits.....
Go inside, and examine the coffin, the lid will fly off, and you'll meet Vincent Valentine for the first time!
You start talking, when you have options to speak, talk about Sephiroth. He will shut his coffin on you.
Talk to him again. When you get an option to speak, select Who are you? The name screen will come up, when you have picked his name, (or kept it as it was)
he will shut his coffin again.
Exit the room, and head out of the Mansion, Vincent will come out and ask if you will meet Hojo along the way.
Cloud says they will probably meet him, and Vincent joins you! You can now select your Party (which you can have Vincent in).

Back Attack Glitch

When you begin a battle and you're backs are facing the enemy, simply press L1 + L2 + R1 + R2, (as if you were running away)
then immediately let go and your party will be facing the enemy! However you will then be fighting from the back row, so you might want to change that.

W-Item Glitch

Note: W-Item can be found in the underground Traintracks when you return to Midgar in late Disc Two, or digging for treasure at Bone Village.

This is a glitch, a cheat, that obviously wasn't intended and may leave you feeling rather guilty, so be warned!
With the W-Item you can duplicate any item you wish as long as it can be used in a battle, by simply going through a few easy steps.
When in a battle, select the Item command with a character that has W-Item equipped and choose the item you wish to multiply.
Then select a target and the item screen will pop up again for you to use another item, select the same item and instead of selecting a target,
cancel, and you'll notice you'll have one more of the item you have chosen.
Now you can carry on selecting and cancelling the item you want duplicating until you have as many as your heart desires...

Note: You cannot multiply something that you have none of and each item has a maximum limit of 99.
Happy now? You've got a dirty cheat which you can use as much as you want...

(Deep: Nah, don't listen to her, cheat, cheat, cheat all you want! You know you want to!)

Secret Movies

In the beginning of Disc One when you invade the Shinra HQ, there is a hidden movie you can watch by going in through the entrance, going up the stairs and into the upper-right door.
There will be a screen on the wall, examine it to see a cool advert for some new Shinra vehicles.
Also, in Disc Two, (after finding Cloud's memory) if you return to the Shinra Mansion and head into the basement/library, you'll see a hidden flashback about Cloud and Zack.

Kalm Traveller

There is a man on the second floor of the house on the right in the village called Kalm, this man gives you prizes if you find him three items:

The Guide Book - Can only be found if you 'Morph' a Ghost Ship in the Underwater Reactor during Disc 2-3 (in the underwater glass tunnel section).
The Earth Harp - This can only be won from Emerald Weapon, who swims around underwater in Disc 2 onwards.
The Desert Rose - This also can only be won from Ruby Weapon who lies buried in the sand near the Gold Saucer in Disc 2 onwards.

When you give the traveller the Guide Book, he'll give you an Underwater Materia to remove the 20 minute time limit when fighting Emerald Weapon.
When you give him the Earth Harp he'll give you a Master Magic, a Master Summon and a Master Command Materia, which allows you to cast every Magic, Summon and Command Materia in the game! Which is totally worth it!
However when you give him the Desert Rose, you'll only get a Gold Chocobo... 'What! A GOLD Chocobo!' you say? Well in my oppinion it's easier to breed your own and it would have higher stats anyway, so you shouldn't really bother beating Ruby unless you just want to beat it for the fun of it! ^_^

(Deep: Or if you want to complete the game 100%. ¬_¬)

Master Materia

To get the Master Materia, which allows you to cast every Magic, Summon or Command Materia in the game, either beat Emerald Weapon and give the Earth Harp to the Traveller in Kalm, (see above) or Master all of your Magic, Summon or Command Materia.
So, to get Master Magic, master all of your Magic Materia.
To get Master Summon, master all of your Summons (including Knight of the Round).
To get Master Command, master all of your Command Materia.

Note: You'll need to have all of FFVII's Materia first, and I mean all of the game's Materia. For example, if you have every Magic Materia except for Ultima, it wouldn't work,
so you need every single Magic Materia in the game mastered before you attempt to get Master Magic.

When you've mastered your Materia, go to Bugenhagen's Observatory in Cosmo Canyon during Disc 2 onwards and touch the Materia there to receive it.
Touch the Green Huge Materia for Master Magic, the Red Huge Materia for Master Summon,
and the Yellow Huge Materia for Master Command.

Sleeping Man's Cave

How to get there:
On the first Disc, get on the Buggy, (obtained at the Gold Saucer) and drive to Costa Del Sol. Talk to the man next to the ship and he will smuggle you onto the ship if you give him 100 Gil. Pay him and get on the ship. It will then sail you to the Eastern Continent.
Get off the ship and make your way through Junon until you see a man in the middle of the road waving his arms.
Talk to him and he will offer you a helicopter ride, say you want to go 'out of town', and the helicopter will pick you up. When you are out of Junon, (you should be in the Buggy) head North-East and you will come to a forest area. Head North to where there is a river and cross it.
Go North-East again and you will come to a cave.

In Disc 2-3, just land the Highwind on a peice of land surrounded by mountains and a river, in between Junon and Midgar. (There should be a Cave.)

Go inside the cave and there will be a Sleeping Man on the floor, talk to him, he usually speaks a load of rubbish, but if he says, "You've already fought [number of how many times you've fought] times..." then keep note of that number and fight enough battles to make the 2 last digits the same.
Go back and talk to the Sleeping Man, if he says, "Who're you?" then you get either the Mythril or an accessory. You get either an Ice Ring or a Bolt Ring, when the last two digits are even. For example 588 or 144.
You will get the Mythril when the last two didgits are odd. For example 155 or 433.

What's Mythril?
Mythril is a pretty rare substance in FFVII, although it can't be sold, you can trade it with the Weapon Seller near Gongaga, see below, for Aeris' 4th limit Break Manual, the GREAT GOSPEL, or a Gold Armlet.

After you've finished Rocket Town, and have received the Tiny Bronco on Disc 1, you need to get to the Weapon Seller's house, you can go back to Costa Del Sol, (if you're coming through Junon) and use the Buggy to go to the Weapon Seller's house North-East of Gongaga.
Or land the Highwind on a peice of land North-East of Gongaga (Disc 2-3) and enter the house.
Talk to the man in there and choose to give him the Mythril.
He will reward you by letting you pick one of the two boxes in his house. If you go up the stairs and pick the black safe-like box, you will get the GREAT GOSPEL!
But if you choose the box by the bed you will get a Gold Armlet.
You will be able to continue getting Mythrils from the Sleeping Man, but you are only allowed one-at-a-time, so you have to take your old one to the Weapons Seller if you want another!
The Weapon Seller will also continue to give you Gold Armlets in exchange if you already got the Great Gospel.

Lucrecia's Cave

You can go to Lucrecia's Cave to find Vincent's 4th Limit and Ultimate Weapon, but also to learn a bit more about Vincent's past...
You can get there by either using a Green, Black or Gold Chocobo, (please refer to the Chocobo Breeding Guide Section for details on how to get these Chocobos, the lake is between Nibelheim and North Corel) or you can hop in the submarine to go underwater and through a tunnel South-East of the Gold Saucer (by the submarine dock and the sunken Gelnika) and surface when you get to the end. You'll be in a very small lake surrounded by mountains. Land the sub at the dock and enter the waterfall. Inside the waterfall/cave you'll meet "Lucrecia" triggering some flashbacks about Vincent's past. Make sure you have Vincent in your party, and head into Lucrecia's Cave to hear a bit about Vincent's past. There won't be anything else here for a long time, (in the later parts of Disc 2 onwards) so come back around the end of Disc 2, and lying in the cave will be the Death Penalty and also Vincent's level 4 Limit Break Manual, Chaos.
Remember to have Vincent in your party though!

The Sunken Gelnika

Items/Accessories/Equipment: (You know, all that junk.)
Heaven's Cloud (a weapon for Cloud)
Megalixir
Escort Guard
Conformer (a weapon for Yuffie)
Double Cut Command Materia
Megalixir
Spirit Lance (a weapon for Cid)
Hades Summon Materia
Outsider (a weapon for Vincent)
Highwind (Cid's 4th Limit Break Manual)

The Gelnika is a sunken Shinra plane, located south-east of the Gold Saucer, use the Submarine near the dock there and drive into the wreck to enter it.

The Gelnika contains four rooms, all filled with valuable items and dangerous enemies. So I recommend equipping strong weapons, armour, accessories and materia.
The first room will be referred to as the 'Safe Room' as it contains a Save Point, and there are no battle encounters, there is also a Heaven's Cloud (a weapon for Cloud). Save your game and enter the second room next to the Save Point.

Pick up the Conformer, (top left of the room hidden by a pipe on the ceiling, on the lower level, the best thing to do is to move around in the general area and keep tapping until you can hear the chest opening) and the Double Cut materia, (top right of the room on the lower level). Then on the higher level, the Escort Guard is on the stairs and the Megalixir at the lower right area.
Then return to the Safe Room and Save.

Then enter the room on the left of the Save Point, if you came here before you Returned to Midgar in late Disc 2, you battle Reno and Rude,
if you have completed the Return to Midgar mission they won't be here.

Anyway, go through this room and enter the last room; the Cargo Room.
You'll find lots of excellent items scattered around here, so pick them all up, unfortunately there are just as powerful enemies here to match!
Anyway the Items here are another Megalixir, Spirit Lance, (A weapon for Cid) Outsider, (A weapon for Vincent) Cid's 4th Limit Break Manual, Highwind, and finally the Hades Summon Materia.

That's it, finished! But you might want to stay a little longer and level up against those tricky enemies.
Also, a quick warning; before you leave the Gelnika, SAVE! As there's a chance of Emerald Weapon being right outside it, so you automatically have to battle the weapon!

Tifa's Piano

To get a prize from the piano, press the following buttons whilst playing:
+ + +

If you get it wrong, stop playing and start again.
On Disc 2, (After finding Cloud's memory) you can get Tifa's 4th Limit Break Manual (if Tifa is in your Party) by playing the above tune.
If you play the tune correctly on the piano before the 2nd disc you will get 1 GIL,
if you almost do the tune on disc 2 onwards, (with Tifa in your party) you will get 1 GIL.

You can also play the 'Highwind' theme by pressing:

Down, Left, Up, + , + , Down, Left, Up, + , Right, Down, Left, Down. But it doesn't do anything.

Secret Room In Cosmo Canyon

If you return to Cosmo Canyon after Returning to Midgar in late Disc 2, there will be a new area that was blocked before.
Head up the ladder near the bonfire to enter the Item shop. Then go through an opening to the right of the desk and round to the back,
to find the secret room. Inside is a Full Cure Materia, a Magic Source and an Elixir.

Key to Midgar

If you want to return to Midgar in Disc 2-3 without doing the big mission in late Disc 2, you can dig up the Key to Midgar in Bone Village.
In Disc 2 enter Midgar on foot and you'll see a man standing alone outside the Sector 7 door. Talk to him and he'll say that he's lost his Key while on a digging expedition. There's only one place to dig in FFVII, so it's off to Bone Village!
Once at Bone Village, talk to the digger in the bone-building and select the option for finding "Normal Treasure".
Place excavators in a circular shape around the top half of Bone Village, (up the ladder) and blow up the dynamite. They should then all look in the direction of the Key, (that's why a circular shape really helps!) stand in the place where they are all looking and select for them to dig. In the morning, open the chest and the Key is yours!
But if you want to know where it is now, then it's near the destroyed plane in the ground.

Now you can head in and out of Midgar anytime you want! So go back to Midgar, enter on foot and go through the door to Sector 7.
There are some valuable items in Midgar in Disc 2, so here's a list:

Tifa's Premium Heart: Go into Wall Market and enter the small building with the word Item on the top. Examine the screen, (the one that shot at you in Disc 1) and you'll receive the weapon!
Sneak Glove: Go back to the Weapon Shop and talk to the guy who sold you 'Batteries' before, he is selling the accessory for 129,000 GIL.
If you go back to the Church, you'll see a glimpse of a memory...

Turtle's Paradise Flyers

"Publicity Flyers! Notice!
Turtle's Paradise is now having a publicity flyer campaign.
They will be posted all over the world. So make sure you look for our flyers that say "Turtle's Paradise."
There's six in all. If you find them all, make sure to let the owner of Turtle's Paradise know. You can win a prize!
Just reading them's good enough, so please don't take them down or rip them up!!" -Owner, Turtle's Paradise

There are six Turtles' Paradise flyers that can be found all over the world, if you get them all you can receive a prize!
To find them just read them by pressing .

#1: Midgar, Sector 5: The south-eastern building, (the area before you each Aeris' house) go upstairs into the little boy's room and examine the papers on the wall.

#2: Shinra HQ: On the first floor, examine the board with lots of papers stuck to it at the back of the Entrance.
You can only read this when rescuing Aeris from Shinra in the beginning of Disc 1 or when you return to Midgar in late Disc 2.

#3: Gold Saucer: Go to the Ghost Square and enter the hotel. Read the sign that says "SHOP" next to the shop entrance.

#4: Cosmo Canyon: Examine the papers on the left side of the wooden frame of the Tigerlilly Arms shop, where there's a save point.

#5: Cosmo Canyon: The golden paper next to the desk on the second floor of the Inn.

#6: Wutai: In the basement of Yuffie's house, examine the scroll on the right of the doorway. You can only enter here if you've got Yuffie in your party and
she's 'confessed' to stealing your Materia and has taken you to her house in the Wutai sidequest.

Note that you don't have to find the flyers in order. When you have read all of them, go to the Turtles' Paradise restaurant in Wutai, (the building with the pot outside)
talk to the bartender and he'll give you a Power Source, Guard Source, Magic Source, Mind Source, Speed Source, Luck Source, and a Megalixir. Not too bad!

Costa Del Sol Mansion

In Costa Del Sol, there is a Mansion which you can buy for 300,000 GIL, when you talk to the man inside.
Although it costs a lot, you can rest there anytime, restoring your HP/MP, but keep in mind that there are other places where you can stay for free!

Rocket Huge Materia Passcode

While in the Rocket Town's Shinra No. 26 Rocket in Disc 2, during the Huge Materia mission, go into the Huge Materia room, (door to the right from the cockpit and up the ladder)
and input .

All 7 Fever

When a character has exactly 7,777 HP, that character, (in a battle) can only use normal attacks, (even if equipped with Double Cut)
each dealing exactly 7,777 damage which is good, but that is all that he/she will do, as you'll lose control of him/her.
But be warned, this effect will disappear as soon as your HP is increased or decreased!
Also, after the battle the 'Fevered' character will only have 1 HP...

Note: You can reach 7,777 HP, by either levelling up, equipping certain materia to raise or lower HP, or getting damaged in a battle.

GIL for GP

Sometimes, but very rare, you'll see a man standing in the background of the Gold Saucer entrance, just past the Save Point.
You can give him 100 GIL in exchange for 1 GP, a little pricey but worth it! Unfortunately the max you can buy from him at one time is 100GP.
If he never seems to show up, buy a Gold Ticket and exit the GS and enter again and just keep doing that until he shows up.

Fort Condor

Fort Condor is located in-between the Mythril Mines and Junon. The people of Fort Condor are protecting the Condor nesting atop the Fort, but Shinra want to get into the Reactor where the Condor is, which would disrupt the last Condor, causing it to leave it's young egg.
So obviously they need help, and where are they going to get it from? That's right, you have to help them out!

At Fort Condor you can fight battles against Shinra who invade Fort Condor.
To start the battle talk to the man at the top of Fort Condor, and choose to fight!
However you must have at least 4,000 GIL before you can start.
You can also donate GlL to Fort Condor but it doesn't seem to have an effect...

To start off, you're protecting your base at the top of the mountain, while Shinra troups are trying to get to your base.
If they do, you're party will have to fight whoever reaches it. Your objective is to destroy all Shinra troups or kill their Captain.
The battle system is quite basic, you start off in a sort-of pause mode, where you can place your troups before the battle.
(You can only have up to 20 units at any one time.)
Use to select a soldier and again to place him on the mountain, there is a limit to how far down your troops can go. (This will be using up your GIL!)
When you're done, press to start the battle and select 'Yes'.

Most of it is automatic, but you've still got to move your troops around and tell them to attack!
If you're finding it a bit tough, use to slow down the battle speed and if you think it's too easy then press to speed it up again.
When you tell a soldier to move or attack, a message on the screen will tell you that they've reached the spot where they were sent.
You can then press to automatically go to where that soldier is, (to give another command or see how he's getting along) or to stay where you are.
If you're having trouble with the controls, you can press to see a description of the controls.

When you're attacking an enemy, the damage is done in turns, press when the cursor is over an ally and select an opponent to fight against by using again.
The selected ally will set out to reach the selected enemy. When he reaches the enemy, he will report that he has started to attack.
Press to move the screen to that particular battle. After the ally has attacked once and so has the enemy, you'll have the option to carry on fighting or stop and run away. (Deep: Wimp. xD)
If you select to carry on, the ally will keep fighting until either battler dies. If you choose to stop fighting, then I hope your ally is very fast!
You can run to higher ground or choose to attack someone else, or even the enemy you just ran away from!

Every enemy or ally has a strength and a weakness. For example, an Attacker would do well against a Beast, but lose drastically to a Barbarian.
So when you're battling remember the strengths and weaknesses to ensure victory!

Below is a list of all enemies and allies:

Enemies

Wyverns: Wyverns are flying type enemies who move quite fast.
Beasts: Beasts are very large, very slow and very strong.
Barbarians: Shinra mercenary with a good attack.
Commanders: The Shinra commander, beat this guy to win! Very powerful and with a good defense, surround this guy with every soldier you can manage!

Allies

Fighters: Very good overall stats, quite reliable for defending the base.
Attackers: Fast and reasonably strong, have a few of these on an enemy and it'll be down in no time!
Defenders: Very slow, very strong with a good defence, good for being just behind the attacking line to finish off anything that gets past!
Shooters: Shooters can fire at enemies from a good distance, but their attack is low.
Repairers: Your first-aiders for healing troups or repairing machines, they only heal 10HP to an ally though...
Workers: Workers are bad fighters, but they can use bombs! The bombs explode when an enemy touches them. (Bombs can only be used one at a time.)
Stoners: These send a rock rolling down the hill, but one at a time.
Tristoners: A stronger editon of Stoner and can send three rocks rolling at once!
Catapults: Catapults throw yet more rocks at the enemy. It's got a reasonable range, but not that powerful.
Fire Catapult: A flaming rock sent hurling at the enemy, what more could you ask for? Put a good few of these around the middle of the mountain.

So armed with this information, place Workers and Repairers towards the back, then a few Defenders to protect the base.
Put Catapults and Stoners around the middle with some Shooters and a few Defenders.
Then Fighters and Attackers and perhaps one Defender at the attack line.

Remember that surrounding an enemy gives you an incredible upper hand. So try not to reverse that and let them surround you!
Keep the enemy away from the base of catapults, as if a strong enemy gets to it, it's bye-bye catapult!
You can choose to take a defensive approach and have your line of soldiers further up the hill and have more Defenders than Attackers, with a lot of Catapults and Stoners.
A well-balanced approach with a bit of everything.
Or a offensive approach with more Attackers and Fighters with a couple of Defenders.
Whatever you pick, when their Captain comes on the field, focus every ally you have on him and he'll go down pretty easily.
Also, you can replenish any lost troops by pressing when the cursor is not selecting or hovering over anything, for the ally menu to come up.
(Replenishing troops will cost GIL!)

If a Shinra enemy reaches the base, you'll have to fight it and doing so will mean you won't get a prize for beating Shinra.
Below is a list of prizes that you can get for winning the battle:

The prizes are approximate and there could be many mistakes, if you find one, please point it out as all help is very much appreciated.

Gold Saucer - Battle Arena

The Battle Arena is at the Gold Saucer, (you might remember it from when Dio made you fight there) it's a place where you battle a series of 8 random battles against one or several random enemies. If you win a battle, you'll receive a small amount of Battle Points, (BP) which you can exchange for prizes at the machines outside the Arena.

(Look below for Prize Table).

However if you leave the Battle Arena by going down the stairs, you'll LOSE all your BP!!! So you won't be able to Save any progress until you've finished.
When you want to battle talk to the lady at reception and choose to battle by paying 10 GP, (Gold Points, gained doing various activities at Gold Saucer) so you might want to get about 500 GP before you start! A good way to do this is racing Chocobos and if you win, taking the GP instead of the prize. Then select the Character you want and enter the Arena.

Once in the Arena, you'll fight a series of 8 battles, these battles will gradually get tougher as you progress, as, not only will the enemies get stronger, but before each battle some Handicap Slots will pop up (see below for Handicap Table). When they do, take your time picking a Handicap, I found that picking a Handicap that you're protected against is very effective.

Because if you pick to become a Frog for example, (it's a picture of a frog in the Slots) and you're equipped with a White Cape or Ribbon, (protection against Frog) then the Handicap will be cast, but it won't work because you're protected, so then the game thinks you're doing all these battles as a Frog and will give you more BP as a result!

Note: If you're having trouble selecting the Handicap you want in the Slots, tap Square continuously, to make the Slots disappear and reappear over and over.
Trust me, it really helps!

After winning a battle, you'll see the amount of BP you have, and an option to carry on, (Off Course!! - It really is spelt like that) and fight more battles, or quit, (No Way) and take the BP you have.
I recommend taking the BP you've got and quitting, but only if your HP is low, or you have a really bad Handicap, like No Sword, or All Materia Broken.

If you choose to carry on, and you die, then you'll return to reception, and any BP gained in that round will be lost, but any gained before that you get to keep. You'll also receive a Tissue, a completely useless Item.
If you fight all 8 battles, you'll return to reception, with a lot of BP if you played your Handicaps right!

What will I need?

To win all 8 battles and get truckloads of BP you'll need:

~ plenty of free time to get the battle points (a couple of hours).

~ a PlayStation that will NOT crash on you.

~ a reliable powersource that will not short out.

~ fair weather with small chance of thunderstroms.

~ a character with loads of HP/MP (a few thousand HP is best).

~ a good weapon (Ultimate weapon preffered, as you won't receive AP anyway (all Ultimate Weapons have a no AP ability , which is what makes your Materia level up!).

~ very good armor, with very high Defense (Imperial Guard is an excellent option as it has very high Defense, Magic Defense).

~ a Ribbon accessory (or Death, Slow, Poison, or Small/Frog Protection, if you don't have a Ribbon).

~ excellent Materia, (not too much though because you want to keep your HP up) such as Slash-All, HP-UP, Counter-Attack, Fire or Thunder, a couple of strong Summons, Time, Enemy Skill with Big Guard and Trine, and but you don't want to rely on Materia toomuch, as one bad Handicap such an All Materia Broken, would completely destroy any chance you've got!

Note: A good tactic is to have at least two types of Materia that you don't have, so when the Handicap Slots come up, you can safely select the types of Materia you don't have. For example you have all types of Materia equipped, except for Yellow, (Command) Materia. Then when the Slots come up, select to Brake Yellow Materia, which won't have an effect as you don't have any, and the game thinks you're winning battles without any Command Materia and gives you loads of BP!!!

~ being able to do 4,000+ damage a strike.

Notes - Tips

If you ever encounter a Master Tonberry in the Battle Arena, KILL IT AS FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!
Because if you leave it for more than about 4 turns, it'll get too close to you, (it moves around every turn) and will perform Kitchen Knife,
a deadly attack that kills you instantly! You may also encounter a Ghost Ship, you may want to kill this guy A.S.A.P. as well, as although his attacks aren't too bad,
he may use his oar to knock you out of the battle, causing you to lose, so watch out for this guy!
You won't gain any AP, GIL, Items or EXP for the battles, and HP, MP and Limits will return to normal after returning to reception, (Handicaps will also disappear) so you can really go for it!

Handicaps

After each battle, you are given an option to carry on or quit, if you carry on, a Handicap Slot Machine appears.
In the first round there is only one Slot, after the second battle two and so on...
In each Slot, there are 3 different Handicap options. When they start to spin, pressing Square continuously actually helps you select the Handicap you want.
Handicaps can be anything, Broken Materia, Broken Sword, Frog, Cure, or even Nothing! All Handicaps will return to normal after returning to reception.

Note: When you're battling, please remember that the worse the Handicap the more BP, and the better the Handicap the less BP you get!

Handicap Table

Prize List

After battling you will receive BP, which you can use at machines on either side of Reception.
Just whatever you do don't leave the Battle Arena, or all your BP will be gone!
Here's the list:

Disc 1

Phoenix Down - 100 BP
Remedy - 200 BP
Mimmet Greens - 400 BP
Enemy Lure - 800 BP
Bird Wing - 1600 BP
S Wing - 3200 BP
Pre-Emptive - 6400 BP
Speed Plus - 12800 BP
Championship Belt - 32000 BP
Omnislash - 64000 BP

Disc 2-3

Remedy - 100 BP
Enemy Lure - 250 BP
Right Arm - 500 BP
Pre-Emptive - 1000 BP
Regan Greens - 2000 BP
Speed Plus - 4000 BP
Stardust - 8000 BP
Championship Belt - 16000 BP
Omnislash (1) - 32000 BP
W-Summon (1) - 64000 BP

Good luck!

Round and Cactuar Islands

There are two islands that don't show up on the World Map, Cactuar Island and Round Island.
Cactuar Island is south-west of the Cosmo area. You can get there using the Highwind or a Gold Chocobo.
The Cactuar Island is home to many Cactuars, they have a special attack called '1000 Needles' which is good for getting Limit Breaks, they can also be morphed into a Tetra Elemental, a very good peice of armour.

Round Island is of course home to the Knights of the Round Summon Materia. But it can only be reached by a Gold Chocobo.
It's located at the north-eastern corner of the map. For help on Chocobos, have a look at our Chocobo Breeding Guide.

Materia Caves

These caves are home to some of the best Materia in the game!
And here's how to get them:

Yellow Materia Cave (Mime Materia)

Location: This Cave is found sticking out on the eastern side of the Wutai Continent, blocked by mountains.
Can be reached by using a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo to climb over the mountain. Enter the cave and examine the yellow stone to receive Mime.
For help on Chocobos, have a look at our Chocobo Breeding Guide.

Purple Materia Cave (HP<->MP Materia)

Location: Another Cave is north of Mt. Corel on a desert area, surrounded by mountains and a river.
Can be reached by using a Blue, Black, or Gold Chocobo to cross the river, (Or mountains) to access the cave.
Enter the frosty cave and examine the purple stone to receive the HP<->MP materia.
For help on Chocobos, have a look at our Chocobo Breeding Guide.

Blue Materia Cave (Quadra Magic Materia)

Location: A Cave at the very tip of the north-eastern Mideel area.
Either use a Blue Chocobo, by landing the Highwind on the patch of grass just below Mideel. Then run across many shallow areas and land areas to reach the very tip.
If you have a Black or Gold Chocobo, you can land the Highwind right next to Mideel if you want and take it from there, or travel across the sea using a Gold Chocobo.
Once you're there, enter the cave and examine the blue stone to receive the Quadra Magic Materia.
For help on Chocobos, have a look at our Chocobo Breeding Guide.

Red Materia Cave (Round Island)

Round Island is of course home to the Knights of the Round Summon Materia. But it can only be reached by a Gold Chocobo.
It's an island surrounded by mountains and filled by trees, (Which is why you can't just use the Highwind) located at the north-eastern corner of the map.
Once inside, examine the red stone to receive the best summon in the game; the Knights of the Round Summon.
For help on Chocobos, have a look at our Chocobo Breeding Guide.

The Ancient Forest

The Ancient Forest is in the Cosmo Canyon area, but can only be entered with a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo, or when you defeat Ultimate Weapon, which causes a crater in the ground near Cosmo Canyon, so that you can just walk up to the forest.
You'll need a good two hours to beat this place, it's full of difficult puzzles, but the prizes are definitely worth it!

The items that are hidden in the forest are a Supershot ST, (a weapon for Vincent) a Spring Gun Clip, (A weapon for Red XII) an Apocalypse, (A weapon for Cloud) a Minerva Band Accessory, a Slash-All Materia, a Typhoon Summon Materia, and an Elixir.

The puzzles to get through the forest, consist of putting insects and frogs in plants to access new areas. You can pick up a Fly or a Frog by pressing , but you can only hold one at a time. Also if you get stuck at any time and can't go on, press to go back to the beginning and start over.

The Flies can be put in Plant Bags, closing the lid of the plant so that you can stand on it, but the Plant Bag slowly eats the Fly so you can't use it again! When the fly is gone, the lid of the Plant Bag will open again, so that you can't stand on it, if you were standing on it when the lid opened you only fall to the ground (Don't worry, you wont die...yet. Muahahaha! Joke. XD).

The Frogs can also be put in the Plant Bags, so it closes the lid, but they're not eaten, instead they are spat back out, causing the lid to fly open.
If you were standing on the lid at the time the Frog was spat out, you too will be catapulted, (in the direction you were facing) either into the air, or so that you can reach a new area higher up! (The Frog can still be used many times after this.) Also, Frogs can eat the Flies, so don't keep them too near to eachother!

The Beehive can be used to permanently close the Pink Flowers.

Plant Bags hang from the tree-tops and are a blue kind of colour. They can only be stood on when it's eating a Fly or trying to eat a Frog.
Pink Flowers will eat you if you get too close, so give it some Honey from a safe distance!
Springy Pink Vines jump you up to higher areas when you stand on them.

Area 1

Ok, the first thing to do here is gather three Flies from around the arch and place them near the three Plant Bags.
You can only pick up one Fly at a time, so it might take a bit of going back and forth!
Next, pick up one Fly that you placed near the Plant Bags and put it in the first Plant Bag, then take another Fly, hop onto the first Plant Bag and press to put the Fly you're holding into the second Plant Bag. Then pick up the last Fly hop onto the second Plant Bag and press again to put it in the third Plant Bag, then quickly hop across to the other side. Then go over to the right to enter Area 2...

To get the first two items, head over to the Pink Flower, but watch out! If you get too close you'll be eaten by it, causing damage to your party!
So edge as close as you can and press to get the Supershot ST for Vincent. Also, before you leave there's a Spring Gun Clip for Red XII just before the next area.

Well done, that's puzzle 1 finished, but it's not over yet!

Area 2

Pick up a Fly, (it should be quite close) and jump onto the Springy Vine, which will spring you onto a ledge.
Then put the Fly in the Plant Bag next to you and jump across the second Plant Bag, onto another Springy Vine which will land you on the ground on the other side of the Pink Flower.
Pick up the Frog and go to a small green ledge in-between two Plant Bags on the right. (If you want the Slash-All Materia, read on, if not put the Frog into the right Plant Bag and stand on it to catapult you over the right Pink Flower so you can proceed to Area 3...)
Put the Frog into the left Plant Bag and stand on the closed lid. It should then catapult you up to a higher ledge.
Grab the Beehive and jump down using the left ledge. Use the Beehive near, but not too close, to the Pink Flower to close it.
Then go around it to claim the Slash-All Materia!
Now go back around, pick up the Frog again and put it into the right Plant Bag and stand on it to catapult you over the right Pink Flower so you can proceed to Area 3...

Area 3

Gather two Flies and put them into the Plant Bags you can see on the far left, then hop across them and use the Springy Vine to go to a new area.

Treetops 1

Head left and down to enter Area 2 once again, only this time you'll be on the tree trunk you couldn't reach earlier. There's an Item here; the Minerva Band.
Pick it up and head down the tree. You'll need to pick up the Frog and put it in the right Plant Bag and hop back over to Area 3 again...

Area 3

Pick up two Flies and use in the Plant Bags again to get back up to the Treetops.

Treetops 2

Instead of going left and down, go right and up this time. Then jump around using the Springy Vines and when you reach the branch, use three more Vines to reach the Typhoon Materia.
Jump back across the three Springy Vines to go back to the branch, then go down to re-enter Area 3.

Area 3

Walk down the rope to enter the other half of Area 3. Pick up a Fly and put it in the Plant Bag on the far right. Hop onto it, then the Plant Bag on the right and onto the ledge. Pick up the Beehive and jump back down. Give it to the Pink Flower to close it. Pick up the last Fly in the area you're in and put it in the Plant Bag and jump across.
(You have to be really fast now!)
Pick up the very last Fly and put it near the hole in the tree, and a Frog will come out and eat it. Quickly pick up the Frog and jump back across the Plant Bag on the right. Phew! Hopefully you did it in time, but if you didn't you'll have to leave the area and enter again to reset the Flies...

Last bit now! Take the Frog you're holding and put it in the far right Plant Bag and stand on it, (facing to the right) to jump to the last ledge.
Enter the Cave and pick up your reward; an Elixir and the almighty Apocalypse!

If you haven't missed anything, head out through the exit at the back of the cave and you'll be back on the World Map
CONGRATULATIONS! Now you don't have to ever go back to that frustrating place again! ^^

(Deep: Woah. O.O She wrote a lot! And I had to check it for errors. ¬_¬)

Written by FFFreak, edited by Deep.