The strongest weapon in Final Fantasy IX is the Excalibur II, a Knight Sword that can be equipped by Steiner. To get this sword, the player must beat Hades in the Gate to Space room in Memoria, the final area of the game, in less than 12 hours.
The Excalibur II side quest is the most difficult side quest in Final Fantasy IX and is often credited as the most difficult side quest in the entire Final Fantasy series. The side quest is also often ignored given that you’ll need to traverse through Gaia as quickly as possible, ignoring other quests and skipping through dialogue, which many players argue defeats the purpose of the game.
But what if there was a way to get the Excalibur II while still enjoying the entirety of the game? Thanks to the Overflow Glitch, you can.
Final Fantasy IX has an internal clock. The amount of time you’ve been playing can be found in the bottom-right corner of the menu screen. To get Excalibur II, you must beat Hades before the clock hits 12:00:00.
The clock will stop counting at 99:59:59 and then change colors. The clock will change colors every 100 hours: White, red, yellow, cyan, purple, and then green.
Once the clock has been green for 100 hours (600 hours total), the clock glitches for 1 hour and then reverts back to the green 99:59:59 version. After this, nothing will happen–at least not for another 25,000 hours.
After 2.92 years (1,067 days; 25,600 hours) in total passes, the game’s internal clock overflows and then resets back to the white 00:00:00. It’s at this point that you can take on Hades and acquire Excalibur II.
So, get it in under 12 hours and skip the majority of the game, or play the game for 2.92 years.
