The Final Fantasy series is one of the longest-running game franchises out there and it is considered a giant in the gaming industry. With 15 main titles to its name already and numerous spin-off games, there are plenty of secrets and easter eggs that have been hidden in the games over the years.

There are some Final Fantasy secrets that took fans years to discover, while players believe other easter eggs might not be true secrets at all but that they are simply just glitches. Check out ten of the biggest secrets across all the Final Fantasy games just below.

10 Hidden Cutscene in Final Fantasy 7

There is a hidden cutscene in Final Fantasy 7 that many players miss as it is off the beaten path of the main plot. Once Cloud rejoins the party after being in the lifestream, players can find this secret cutscene by returning to the basement in the Shinra Mansion.

Players need to head towards the containers at the back of the room and this will prompt Cloud to have a flashback to memories of the time he spent with Zack Fair, including Zack’s untimely death.

9 Secret Cave

Final Fantasy 5 has a couple of secret locations, one of which is the Secret Cave (also referred to as the Unknown Cave). This top-secret location is not shown on the merged world map with a blinking indicator and can only be accessed by using both airship and submarine.

Inside there is an NPC called Mr. Clio and by speaking to him players can learn various stats relating to their game, such as the number of battles they have fought, the percentage of treasure looted, the number of monsters killed, the number of times the game has been saved, and more.

8 Zell’s Favorite Food

Any avid Final Fantasy 8 fan knows that Zell’s favorite food is hot dogs, as it’s referenced throughout the game multiple times. However, this isn’t actually strictly true and the end credits scene of him eating proves this.

Zell’s favorite food is actually flavored bread, and this is what is stated in the original Japanese version also. However, as flavored bread isn’t really a thing in America, during translation they changed it to hot dogs instead hoping that the end scene would look like him eating hot dog buns (but really it’s the flavored bread).

7 Nyx’s Corpse Cameo

Near the end of Final Fantasy 15 when players travel into the Citadel’s throne room, Ardyn has created an illusion of corpses hanging from the ceiling in a bid to deter Noctis. While players can easily identify the corpses of Luna and Regis, the other corpse was a stranger to many who were not familiar with the Kingsglaive feature film.

This last corpse is Nyx Ulric, the protagonist of Kingsglaive and he still bears his scarred crystalline arm from when he used the Ring of the Lucii. Additionally, there is a psychomancer in the city that will drop Nyx’s weapons when defeated. It’s little hidden details like this that really add to the fan service that the games offer.

6 Final Fantasy 9 References Past Titles

The majority of Final Fantasy titles reference past games in the series, and all share features of one another in the form of gameplay elements, character names, weapon names, enemies, summons, and more. However, some of the references to other titles are a little less obvious than others.

For example, Final Fantasy 9 has a rather awesome and often over-looked easter egg near the end of the game. During the end play scene, Marcus says “No cloud, nor squall shall hinder us!”, and while this line could be seen as talking about the weather, it’s actually a clever reference to the protagonists of the previous two titles.

5 Gilgamesh has Weapons from Past Titles

Gilgamesh is a recurring character within the Final Fantasy franchise and he appears in different roles, sometimes serving as an enemy, a summon, or even an ally. In Final Fantasy 12, the weapons that Gilgamesh uses are signature weapons from past Final Fantasy titles. These weapons include Cloud’s Buster Sword, Squall’s Gunblade, Tidus’s Brotherhood sword, and more, though they are apparently all counterfeits in this title.

This is a fitting idea as Gilgamesh is supposed to be the exact same character throughout all his appearances within the franchise, as he is known to be able to travel between worlds via rifts. Therefore, it is as if he has taken inspiration from some of the weapons that he has come across.

4 Emerald Weapon Cameo

The Emerald Weapon is a recurring boss within the Final Fantasy franchise and it first appeared as a super boss in Final Fantasy 7. However, unnoticed by many players is that the Emerald Weapon cameos in Crisis Core, which is set seven years before the events of Final Fantasy 7.

While traversing the Banora Underground as Zack, players can see the tell-tale shoulders of the Emerald Weapon as it still slumbers behind the crystals in the background. Players are not able to get any closer to the beast to inspect it, but it’s a nice little easter egg for those who have played Final Fantasy 7.

3 Final Fantasy 9 References Final Fantasy 10

In Final Fantasy 9, players can encounter a special enemy called the Ragtime Mouse at random while in forests on the world map. Ragtime Mouse will pose a true or false style quiz, and if players manage to answer all sixteen of his questions, then they are rewarded with a bunch of Gil.

Interestingly, in a first for the series, Final Fantasy 9 actually references a future title (Final Fantasy 10) during this strange event. The card that Ragtime Mouse is holding has a question in Japanese, which when translated reads as: “It’s a ’true or false’ quiz. FF10’s theme is GUTS! True or false?”

2 Aerith’s Ghost

There are a couple of instances where players can see Aerith in the church after she has died in Final Fantasy 7. First, there is an event-type scenario, where if players enter the church after Cloud has been saved from Mideel, Aerith can be seen tending to the flowers before disappearing. However, this will not occur if players asked the Nibelheim Innkeeper about the situation of the town in the flashback.

Additionally, there is a briefer appearance of Aerith where she will momentarily be stood in the middle of the church when it loads up, and this can be seen before defeating Jenova LIFE, as long as players spoke to the Nibelheim Innkeeper and chose to ask about the situation of the town. It is widely believed that Aerith tending the flowers is included on purpose, but that the second appearance is simply a glitch.

1 The Nero Family

There is a sidequest in Final Fantasy 9 that went undiscovered for over a decade, making it arguably the biggest secret in the series. During the endgame portion of Final Fantasy 9, players are able to visit the Tantalus hideout in Lindblum. Beginning with the Nero brothers Benero and Zenero, each time Zidane visits, a family member will state that the others aren’t there and will go look for them.

After each major event or battle in the final dungeon of Memoria, players need to re-visit the family to see the next family member. After the ninth visit, with Penera, players need to visit again after another event to find the whole family there and receive their reward of a Protect Ring. The last major event in Memoria is defeating Deathguise, so players need to visit ten times before this, but there are more than enough events/battles.

Next: Final Fantasy: The 10 Weirdest Enemies Found Throughout The Series