Old strategy guide for FFVII "cheat" to start at level 99...

This happened when I was a kid during the initial PS1 release.

There was a strategy guide was called "Syrex Unofficial Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Strategy Guide " - it actually kind of sucked, especially considering the "cheat" at the start that didn't actually work. The cheat involved pressing some obscure Konami-code-esque sequence of button presses during the game's intro. The cheat was near the front of the strategy guide, if I recall correctly, and claimed that it would start all the characters at level 99.

Was it a joke? Did it only work on some versions of the game? Did I do it wrong?

The strategy guide also lacked a ton of information - Years later I got the "completely unauthorized" strategy guide that actually had valuable information in it and realized just how shitty the other strategy guide was.

Thanks for listening to an old person ramble incoherently. I guess sometimes at night, thinking about this cheat keeps me up at night.