"One-Winged Angel" Was Inspired By "Purple Haze": If the series has a break-out hit song, it's the magnificent "One-Winged Angel" which serves as Sephiroth's final battle theme. It's basically the "Free Bird" of video game music, and Nobuo Uematsu wanted to add a bit of rock and roll to the tune. The distinctive opening was meant to sound like an orchestral version of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze", and if you listen to the back to back, you'll be kicking yourself for never catching it before.
See also: 10 Mario Games You've Probably Never Heard Of
It Has a Secret Cow Level: Diablo II has a secret level perfect for gaining experience points fighting Hell Bovines appropriately called Secret Cow Level. Since its discovery, Blizzard has left little homages to the level in other games, all the while flatly denying the level even exists. When Final Fantasy VII was finally ported to PC, they added an Easter Egg referencing it. By using the portable save crystal in a specific place in the Northern Crater, the area will be called Secret Cow Level.
The Hidden (Al)Most Powerful Attack: The classic enemy Tonberry can only be fought in the Golden Saucer Battle Square, however there it was also supposed to be encountered in the Northern Crater. However, the player can't be controlled in the one place the battle is programmed to appear. Hack the game to be able to fight there, you get not only a chance to fight the enemy, but also to see one of the most powerful attacks in the game. If you manage to hit the Tonberry three times in a row (Probably by Hasting your character and Slowing the Tonberry), then he will retaliate with "Time Damage."
It doesn't look like much in the video, but the damage formula for the attack is (100*hours played)+minutes played. That means that if it could be used by the payer late in the game it would be one of the most powerful attacks available under the legendary Knights of the Round.
How Does The Buster Sword Attach to Cloud's Back?: Cloud's Buster Sword is one of the most iconic (And stupid) video game weapons ever. When not in use Cloud wears it draped across his back, but how? There's no sheath. The answer is magnets. Early sketches of Cloud show a large magnet connected by straps on his back. It's the only sensible way he'd ever be able to draw the massive blade.
Aeris Was (Maybe) Supposed to Survive/Be Revived: No one could believe that when Sephiroth killed Aeries she would stay dead. The idea was unthinkable. Bringing dead characters back to life was a staple of the series. It had almost never been done before, and certainly not with so central a figure to the main story.
But died she did, and the only way that you could play her after Disc 1 was to hack the game, and it's not a good idea because her equipment never gets any better than after the point she dies. What's weird though is that if you do this, you find that Aeris has lines programmed in places that can only be visited after her death. This implies heavily that she wasn't always supposed to remain that way, or that possibly she would not have been killed at all.
The lines are nothing Earth-shattering, proving that they were probably just placeholders until the story was finalized. It's nice to believe though that in some alternate universe version of the game she made it.
Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.