Map Analysis Part 3 -

Part 3 of an analysis of all the prerenders found in Final Fantasy VII. Some of the text is too small to be seen without zooming in and some of the pictures are larger than can be displayed on this page, so click here to download them for yourself or here to view them one by one in full.

The “WONDER SQUARE”, featuring such attractions as “ARM WRESTLING” and “SUPER DUNK”. Taking the number 2 exit will lead you to…

…another game room with attractions like “MOG HOUSE”, “TORPEDO ATTACK”, “SNOW BOARD”, “G-BIKE”, “CRYSTAL FORTUNE”, and “Proxy Catcher”.

Not only does the “WONDER” square boast tunnels to “CHOCOBO”, “EVENT”, “ROUND”, “SPEED”, “BATTLE”, “GHOST”, and “STATION”, the text underneath the “WELCOME” sign on the “TV station” urges you to take “CAUTION”, advertises “ACTION” that’s “Coming Soon”, and something about “group members” (隊員). Oddly, there’s also a close-up of a woman’s face on the side of the building above the glass tunnel.

“ChocoBo” is oddly capitalized, and thanks to Qhimm user Spoox, we know that in the original drawing of this background, the hotel is called “The Picman Hotel”.

The sign on the wall to the left and the mat on the ground read “SHOP”. That’s a scary demon face by the stairs.

BrutalAl says: You don’t normally see every door open on this field.

“WELCOME”, reads the map. Is that a frog in a box on “SALE”? And “JACK PUMPKIN” in a cage?

SpooX says: There is a plaque behind the cash register underneath the cabinet on the wall which depicts a skull with bones followed by “Poison”.

BrutalAl says: Notice how the 3 small caverns in the middle seem more recently cracked open than the 4th cavern, with sharper, brighter edges. The 4th one lacks animations, and is always open/revealed. In the final game, you must pull the correct lever in order to open the path to the next cavern. Choosing the wrong lever will result in a battle. However, the other 3 caverns possess unused “closed” animations that hide the levers and only one lever functions, contributing to the theory that the developers originally intended the player to run back and forth, cracking open one cavern at a time to reveal the next one, till the last lever was pulled and a path was opened to the next field.

Rawr.

Must be Shelob’s lair.

BrutalAl says: I’m fairly certain you never see these doors closed in-game, making this another unused animation.

The impressive hide of something or another. Is that a tiger?

BrutalAl says: One of the only places in the game where the developers used chests as part of the background, possibly eschewing 2D pickups in favor of 3D out of concern that players would overlook them.

A polar bear carpet. Don’t recall seeing any of those in the glacier.

ICE GATE
CLASS OF 1996
Top of the
MOUNTAIN
Elevation 717FT.
62°05 N. 12°25 W

I spent a long time when I was a kid staring at this screen and trying to figure out what it said. I managed to get the “CLASS OF 1996” part, how vindicating to know I was right!

That’s a tiny mountain, as well. Everest, in comparison, is 29,028 feet.

DLPB says: The coordinates on the Ice Gate sign point to here. Glub glub glub.

The dialogue on the map seems nonsensical, unfortunately. Strings of random English letters.

“ITEM SHOP”!

Seems like their armor hasn’t advanced much past the Middle Ages.

“Corel-21”, random numbers, and some graffiti reading “Puck”. The “Shin-RA” truck has “COREL-R24” written on the top, a texture that is mirrored on the crushed truck behind it. A dirty blue race car lies abandoned. That green plant sitting next to the houseplant seems to be growing awfully well despite the harsh environment.

SpooX says: That graffiti was censored, its original reading changed. You can see it if you zoom in… the “P” used to be an “F” and the “Y” should be an “U”. The “C” resembles an “E” due to the logo behind it.

BrutalAl says: This shot also features an unused animation, namely the open fence gate below the house at the bottom right. Normally this area is impossible to escape from. The door on the left side of the bottom house is open as well, another occurrence which never happens in-game. While it’s not visible in this picture, the cage-like structure to the top left also has an “open” animation, with the cage removed and the door ajar, likely leading to an elevator.

An odd assortment of cars, including a rather shiny race car in decent repair.

Captured in this shot is an unused animation depicting a mysterious character usually invisible to the player. An avatar left by the developers, perhaps? The map also includes some fossils at the bottom left.