Speed Square

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Speed Square
(スピードスクェア, Supīdo Sukuea?)
Background information
Type	Attraction
Region	Gold Saucer
Areas	Entrance Platform
Gameplay details
Quests	Participate in Shooting Coaster minigame

Speed Square is a section of the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII. The area's attraction is its Shooting Coaster (シューティングコースター, Shūtingu Kōsutā?) minigame, where the player must shoot targets to amass points. For a high enough score, prizes are handed out at the end of the ride.

Locations

Entrance

Entrance.

The entrance is where the other areas of the Gold Saucer link to. From the entrance one can go to the other attractions of the Gold Saucer, or go to the platform to play the minigame.

A boy and a girl run through this area being chased by security. People standing around here also discuss the minigame, one person makes comment when the prizes update when Gold Saucer reopens in Part 2, and another comments on memorizing the order of enemies.

On the player's first visit to the Gold Saucer Dio will be present here, and passing through the area triggers a scene where Dio discusses the Black Materia and a person matching Sephiroth's description with Cloud.

During the chase with Cait Sith and the Keystone, following Cait Sith's every move will take the player through here from the Battle Square, and from here Cait Sith will travel to the Wonder Square.

Platform

Platform.

At the platform the player can play the Shooting Coaster minigame, hear the rules, or view the Wall of Fame scoreboards that recalls the highest three previously achieved scores.

"This attraction is the Shooting Coaster."

"While your ride's going ZOOM, you're going BANG BANG, and things are going PHEW PHEW and you destroy them with a big BOOM. Pretty simple, isn't it?"

"Oh, to shoot, hit [OK]. The bar on the left side of the screen is your Power Meter."

"When it's full, it'll go BROOOOOM and when it's empty, it'll only go ...brm... and putter out. So be careful."

"If you make it to the Top 3, you'll get on the Wall of Fame."

Shooting Coaster minigame

The minigame.

This minigame costs 10 GP to play, and has the player controlling a moving turret which fires at a variety of objects to earn points. Prizes are awarded depending on how many points the player accumulates throughout the run, and the prizes change slightly depending on the point in the game the player is at.

The game's speed varies in two ways depending on the version. In the PlayStation versions, the crosshair moves slower than in the PC versions, meaning it is easier to aim but takes longer to get the crosshair from one side of the screen to the other. In the PC versions only a small tap of a direction moves roughly an eighty percent of the way across the screen, which makes it difficult to be precise. The versions also function at different speeds. The PAL version is slower than the NTSC version, making it easier. The PC version is fast. The PC versions last 3m23s to the nearest second, while the PAL PlayStation version lasts 4m4s to the nearest second.

Other version differences lie in the targets. In the original Japanese version the player could target the Zeppelin's propeller. This is not possible in the other versions, but was made possible again in the PC versions and the mobile and PlayStation 4 versions that are based on it. There is a water wheel which appears on a boat in all versions that can be shot for a stream of points, however, the original Japanese version the point-limit did not have a cap, where it is 285 in all future versions.

On the PlayStation Classic mini console, it is possible to pause the game and use save states to get a high score of over 5,000 points.

Prizes

Prizes are earned at 3,000 points and above, but none of the below 5,000 point prizes have a use. If the player has not yet earned the item for getting more than 5,000 points and they achieve a score 5000 points or greater, then they will get that prize.

The player can earn both the Umbrella and the Flayer, only before/after the player gets the airship. Selling the weapons earned will not allow the player to earn them again.

Score	Prize
3,000+	1/3: 1/35 Soldier 1/3: Super Sweeper 1/3: Masamune Blade
5,000+	Umbrella (only before the party has Highwind) Flayer (only after the party has Highwind)

Targets

Target	Value	Image
Ghost	40
Cactus	30
Cacti on rocks	50
Blue Plane	50-60 (Targets towards the end yield more points.)
White Plane	50-60 (Targets towards the end yield more points.)
Boulder*(In the desert area, on the canyon wall.)	200
Submarine	60
Water Wheel*(Shortly before the falling stars, on the boat.)	1-285 (Holding fire while moving away from the wheel yields more points; in the original Japanese version the water wheel could give infinite amount of points, but this is fixed for all other versions.)
Star	40
Spark	70
Icicle	40
Ice	50
Balloon	30
Rabbit Balloon	70
UFO	60
Blimp	50
Zeppelin Propeller*(PC and mobile versions only.)	4960
Lava	70
Helicopter	40-50 (Targets toward the end yield more points.)
Fast UFO	80
Boss UFO	1000
Light*(Before the final turn, on the bottom left just under the railway itself. To hit, the player should aim at either the bottom-left or bottom-right of the screen.)	200