Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring (Square Millennium Collection)

Cloud throwing hands with Sephiroth on Squaresoft's own fighting game? Yeah, that one. The Ehrgeiz Square Millennium Collection is the Japan-only PS1 reissue that turns one of Squaresoft's weirdest experiments into a proper collector's piece, complete with custom Ehrgeiz disc art, a Vincent vs. Vincent (Turks ver.) diorama figure, and a travel watch sporting the Ehrgeiz logo.

The disc art alone is worth the box. Cloud and Sephiroth artwork on the disc face, the kind of detail that gets you looking at the game before you even hit start. Then there's the diorama: two Vincent Valentines, one in his regular Final Fantasy VII attire and one in his Turks getup, frozen mid-confrontation. Both were playable in Ehrgeiz, which is the kind of crossover trivia that gets you respect in any collector chat.

Ehrgeiz was Square's bet on Tekken-style 3D fighters, with Final Fantasy VII guest characters bolted on to pull in the Square faithful. Tifa with her own move set. Cloud with the Buster Sword. Yuffie hopping around like a menace. It shouldn't have worked. It absolutely worked.

This was Series 2 of the Millennium Collection, released September 28, 2000. Japan only. Never localized. Sealed copies are real estate now. The Ehrgeiz disc art is unique to this release, the figures were never sold separately, and the travel watch is the kind of bonus you cannot replace if you lose it.

For FF7 completists, this is one of those quiet trophies. The piece that proves you collected the whole franchise, not just the headliners. The flex you don't need to explain.