Snow Game

Snow Game is a replay of the Snow Game minigame at Icicle Inn in Final Fantasy VII. It is located on the second floor of the Wonder Square. It lets the player ride one of three courses collecting balloons and avoiding obstacles. It costs 200 gil to play any of the three courses. The game is available after Gold Saucer reopens on disc 2.

is jump and / is brake. and make the snowboarder edge their snowboard, taking turns much faster than pressing. pauses the game and opens the menu, and also skips the intro.

This minigame has also appeared as a stand-alone game Final Fantasy VII: Snowboarding released for mobile phones in North America in 2005, and in Japan three years later in 2008.

Mechanics and prizes
At the end of the course the player is rated on how many balloons they collected, how long they took and how many obstacles they hit. The three categories add up for an overall score of 100 points, with Technique and Time both worth 30 points each, while Balloons are 40 of the total. Technique points can't be earned, but points are deducted whenever the player hits anything. Time points work the same and points are deducted for every 2 seconds slower the player is than the target time (1:30 for course A, 1:45 for course B and 2:00 for course C). Red balloons give 1 point each, blue 3 points each, and green give 5 points a piece.

At the end the player is given a rank based on their score.
 * Bad - 0-29
 * Awful - 30-69
 * Good - 70-99
 * Cool - 100 points

Scoring 70+ on the A (Beginner) Course opens the B (Expert) Course, and 70+ points on the B Course opens up the C (Crazy) Course. For a score of 90+ points, the player wins some GP and a one-time prize.


 * A Course - 30 GP, Safety Bit
 * B Course - 100 GP, All Materia
 * C Course - 300 GP, Crystal Bangle

Unlike the other minigames, snowboarding can be played by characters other than Cloud. Every so often (37.5% chance), Tifa or Cid will ask to play if they are in the party. Using them is optional, and has no effect on the game in any important fashion. If both characters are in the party, Tifa will take precedence.

Time Attack
Getting a "Good" score on all three opens the Time Attack mode for the player to race against their best time; a yellow balloon will appear at the start of each track to activate the mode. As long as the player stays on the snowboarding game a ghost Mog of the player's best time will race along with Cloud. Pressing the pause button opens an options menu to change the floor to a checkered grid, as well as an option to choose whether the Mog should ride a snowboard or a sleigh. Achieving a rank of "Good" on a track spawns a silver balloon that grants a speed up, while getting a rank of "Super" unlocks the option to have a running Cactuar replace the ghost Mog (listed as ? ? ? in the menu).

The Japanese versions have certain differences to the other releases. The ghost Cactuar, or the option to change the terrain into a checkered one, are not available in the original Japanese version, but has been added in the International version. In the original Japanese version, when toggling the cursor between the Mog on a snowboard and the Mog on a sleigh (without picking one), the figure on the screen does not change until the player picks one. In later versions the figure changes in real-time. The original Japanese version uses an incorrect Japanese symbol for getting 100 points on Course B; the symbol for the "Freak" rating in Time Attack is displayed, instead of the standard "Cool" rating.