Completion bonus
Successfully complete the game and save when prompted after the credits. You can resume the game using your cleared saved game file.
Easy gil
Minerva is the goddess of the planet that Genesis sees after his last defeat. She is also an optional Boss that you can fight. She is extremely difficult to defeat. She has 1,000,000 HP and can kill you with one hit if you are not careful. She is under the final "Great Cavern of Wonders" mission. You must have at least 70,000 HP because she has an attack that does damage of at least around 60,000 to 68,000 if you have Barrier and are guarding. You can steal 99 Phoenix Downs from her though. You can use these for unlimited gil and Soldier Points. Steal the Phoenix Downs, wait for her to attack (because you will die), then sell the Phoenix Downs. They are worth a lot of gil. For the Soldier Points, use the gil you got from selling them to buy Materia, then convert it to Soldier Points. Note: Minerva can eliminate Raise status with one of her attacks.
Gongaga mini-game
While in the Hills of Gongaga, after you start the scene with Genesis and Hollander, fight up to seven battles in the hills, then try to leave the area. Zack will notice a chest falling down the waterfall. Select the "I bet there will be more" option, and play the treasure chest mini-game. Monsters will come down as well as chests. The boxes and monsters will come down four times, repeating the same pattern:
Wave 1 (chest): Middle
Wave 2 (monsters): Left and right
Wave 3 (chest): Far left
Wave 4 (chest): Far right
These waves will repeat four times after the fourth wave. The more boxes you get, the better the prize. If you touch the monsters, Zack will become temporarily paralyzed. The best way to dodge them is to get out of the river, then go back in once they are gone.
Mission difficulty levels
The game automatically labels missions with a difficulty based on your level. However, it does not take into account stat bonuses from Materia or accessories, so you could actually play a very hard mission and find it to be about normal difficulty.
Navigating through the missions
When navigating through the missions, you can hug the walls or borders and avoid unnecessary conflicts and still get all the chests in the area (for example, places where it is narrow or on the rope bridge in the caves you cannot sneak by). All encounters are mostly activated in the center of the room or opening. Hug the wall if you are going through a very difficult mission and you know you can take the objective.
Stat boost
When you meet Hojo in the laboratory, talk to him once, then go to the glass pod near him and enter it. This is the pod in which Red XIII was trapped in Final Fantasy 7. Once you enter, Hojo will lock you up and ask a few questions. Based on your answers, you will be given a stat boost by Hojo.
Status Ward materia
Status Ward materia can be found in multiple missions. If you equip it, you will be immune to any status ailments that your equipped Materia can cause. Note: This works for the Dark and Hell Materia, such as Dark Blizzard or Hell Firaga. If you combine a Hell Materia with a Status Ward Materia, you will be immune to the following: Silence, Poison, Stop, and Death. It works very well in the latter missions.