This article contains spoilers for the original Final Fantasy VII, the Remake, Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
There’s no shortage of easter eggs and references in Final Fantasy VII Remake, ranging from nods to the criminally forgotten Crisis Core to the wonderfully obtuse Advent Children. Some of these aren’t really sneaky, but they’re great to see nonetheless. Without further ado, let’s mosey.
Dumbapples
A prevalent object in Crisis Core was the Banora White– a fruit from Angeal’s hometown that grow at random times throughout the year (thus the name “Dumbapples”.) Right at the start of Final Fantasy VII Remake, you can see advertisements for Banora White Apple Juice.
Kunsel Gets Name-Dropped
No one would ever blame you for not knowing who Kunsel is. Though he was a fun side-character, a 2nd Class Soldier, and a true friend to Zack Fair in Crisis Core, he’s not exactly a main character. Nonetheless, it was exciting to hear one of the Shinra Security Officers in the Shinra Building recognize Cloud from training, and say that he’s got to find Kunsel to tell him.
The Price of Freedom Sure is Steep
The scene of Zack defending Cloud from the pursuing Shinra troops isn’t an Easter Egg itself, as it plays out in the original game as well, but the dialogue will ring familiar to anyone who played Crisis Core. Zack’s dialogue and speech about “the price of freedom” is taken straight from the prequel, as is his mantra about honor. The honor part is taken directly from his mentor Angeal, which opens up the door to flashbacks of him (and possibly Genesis Rhapsodos) in future installments.
The One-Winged Angel
It’s fairly hard to miss this one throughout the story, but Sephiroth frequently leaves behind a black feather and, at one point, sports a full black wing. First seen as part of Sephiroth’s design in Kingdom Hearts (outside of its semi-appearance on Safer Sephiroth in the original game,) the black wing was canonized into Final Fantasy VII through Crisis Core. It’s explained that wings (black or white) are a result of Jenova cells being implanted into someone. Crisis Core and Advent Children show Sephiroth with his wing, and now the Remake of the main game itself completes the trifecta.
Save Point Benches
Since you can save pretty much anywhere, the save points from the original Final Fantasy VII would serve little use in Remake. As a neat homage to the original save system, the benches that fully heal you throughout Remake sometimes have a black-and-white pattern adorned with the Save Point symbol.
Cat’s Out of the Saucer
After the plate is dropped on Sector 7, a strange crown-adorned cat is seen watching from a distance and falling to its knees in defeat. This “cat” is Cait Sith, a robot cat controlled by Shinra’s Director of Urban Development, Reeve Tuesti. Cait Sith joins the party as a playable character after meeting him at the Gold Saucer in the original game, and presumably in the next Remake installment. Reeve is seen protesting the play drop in both the original game and Remake, so players should already be somewhat familiar with the man behind the cat. On a side note, Reeve is one of the best characters in Final Fantasy VII, and I wanted to air that out here.
Princess Jessie
While visiting Jessie’s parents’ house, you can find a letter from Jessie that says she got the role of the Princess in a play at the Gold Saucer. Later in the game, the party will head to the Gold Saucer and take part in this very play, so learning that Jessie was an actress and part of the play provides some fun foreshadowing while building on the game’s world.
Rude Love
While Tifa scales the pillar in hopes of stopping the Turks from dropping the plate, Reno aims at her with his helicopter’s railgun. Just as he’s about to shoot, Rude impulsively steers the helicopter away to make Reno miss the shot. While he claims that his hand slipped, this is foreshadowing Rude’s crush on Tifa, which he discusses later in the original game with Reno upon visiting Gongaga.
Rocketman
While exploring the Shinra Museum towards the end of Remake, you can hear a presentation from Shinra’s head of the Space Program, Palmer. Palmer states that the program has unfortunately been put on hold, as Gaia has plenty of Mako as-is. This is foreshadowing the backstory of future party member (and best character) Cid Highwind, who is deeply tied to the Space Program and its cancellation.
To Mosey
After escaping the Sector 5 church, Aerith points out an escape route and says “Shall we mosey on over?.” This is likely a reference to Cloud’s wonderfully goofy line from before the final area in Final Fantasy VII. To motivate the party into taking on the final battle against Sephiroth, Cloud simply says “let’s mosey,” much to the group’s surprise. This might be a retroactive explanation for Cloud saying it later in the Remake.
Victory Fanfarrett
Every now and then after winning a battle, Barrett will belt out his own cover of the iconic Final Fantasy victory fanfare. It’s a nice touch, as you rarely get to hear the theme throughout the Remake due to the seamless transition between battles and the rest of the game. To add to this, party members will perform their victory animations from the original Final Fantasy VII while fighting in the colosseum and Shinra Combat Simulator.
Revisiting The Promised Land
Fairly early into the game, Cloud finds himself in an alley as he escapes Shinra troops. At this point, you can hear a new version of “The Promised Land,” a song from the original game’s sequel film Advent Children. In the film, the song plays as Marlene summarizes the events of Final Fantasy VII, so it’s fitting to have the somber theme appear in this new take on the game.
Cloud’s Got a New Bike
The bike Cloud uses to escape the Shinra Building in the original Final Fantasy VII, the Hardy Daytona seems to have been tweaked a bit in Remake. While it retains some elements of its original design, it seems to have been reworked to look more like Cloud’s Fenrir motorcycle from Advent Children. Maybe this bike becomes the Fenrir, maybe it’s just for tonal consistency.
“The Future Should We Fail”
In the game’s somewhat confusing ending, Red XIII states that the visions the main characters are being subjected to are visions of the future if the main party is unable to change destiny. These clips are actually all from Advent Children— primarily from the aforementioned summary of Final Fantasy VII (Red XIII’s family, Cloud jumping towards Sephiroth, Aerith praying, and Cloud laying Aerith to rest in the water at the Forgotten City.)
And those are the Easter Eggs we noticed in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments, and stick around for more Final Fantasy VII Remake content.
