Final Fantasy VII

Key route points

• W-Item materia is farmed or stolen early to enable infinite item duplication in battle
• Specific battle sequences are manipulated to avoid random encounters or force quick kills
• The Highwind is acquired as quickly as possible to cut travel time
• The final boss sequence (Northern Crater → Sephiroth) is reached with minimal side content
• PC version runners may use the built-in battle speed boost

Why it's special

Any% often looks nothing like a "normal" playthrough. The route is dictated entirely by glitch and skip availability, making it the most technically demanding category to watch and to execute.

What changes vs Any%

• Healing items are limited to natural acquisition — drops, shops, and treasure chests
• More Gil must be earned to sustain supply costs
• Certain boss strategies that rely on stockpiled Elixirs or Megalixirs are impossible
• Alternative materia builds (Cure, Regen) become more viable
• The route through Midgar and early discs changes to prioritise resource collection

Community context

"No Slots" is sometimes used as an alternative name, referencing the slot-style cancel animation used in the W-Item dupe. The distinction matters: check the specific ruleset on speedrun.com, as naming conventions vary between categories and regional communities.

What counts as a "major skip"

• Bypassing an entire disc or act of the story via a movement or memory glitch
• Warping past mandatory plot triggers (e.g. skipping the entire Shinra HQ section)
• Teleporting out-of-bounds to access normally-locked areas early
• Rules are defined per-community; minor dialogue skips are generally allowed

Why run this category?

NMS offers a middle ground — the game is still recognisable and the story beats are hit in order, but highly optimised movement, battle strategies, and item routing keep the pace far above a casual run. Approachable for new runners who find Any% overwhelming.

Techniques unique to this category

• Experience points must be avoided — switching party members mid-battle or fleeing
• Enemy Skill materia (L4 Suicide, Matra Magic) is essential for damage output
• The Deathblow materia is heavily used for its guaranteed critical hit mechanic
• Status-effect infliction (Slow, Stop, Paralysed) compensates for low HP pools
• Specific bosses require carefully scripted turn sequences to survive

Note on definitions

Some variants define "Low Level" as minimising the final level of only Cloud (the mandatory party member), while others apply the restriction to all recruited characters. Confirm the ruleset before comparing run times.

What's required

• All story-mandatory bosses from Reactor 1 to Safer Sephiroth
• Optional bosses: Emerald Weapon (ocean), Ruby Weapon (Gold Saucer desert), Ultimate Weapon
• Ancient Forest and optional dungeon bosses (definitions vary by ruleset)
• Preparation for Emerald / Ruby Weapon requires the Underwater Materia or Knights of the Round

Strategic pivot vs Any%

The superboss fights (especially Ruby Weapon's extreme HP) push runners to acquire powerful materia combinations — Knights of the Round + W-Summon — which dictates a very different routing priority compared to Any%.

Typical 100% checklist

• All 9 characters recruited (including Yuffie and Vincent)
• All party members reach their final limit break (Level 4) — some require 80+ kills
• All unique materia obtained, including Enemy Skill (4 copies), Master Materia, and unique drops
• Chocobo breeding to Gold rank for Knights of the Round access
• All Weapons defeated; all PHS-accessible slots used
• Underwater Materia obtained (removes Emerald time limit)

Why 100% is a marathon

Chocobo breeding alone can require dozens of in-game race and breed cycles. Combined with farming kills for limit breaks and racing for materia, 100% is an endurance event more than a reflex test. Route order decisions compound over tens of hours.