Breath of Fire II Cheat Codes & Secrets

No Password System — Battery Save Only

Breath of Fire II uses battery-backed SRAM with three save slots. There is no password system — progress is tied entirely to your cartridge save. If your battery dies, your save is gone with no recovery code. Back up saves via emulator save states or an SRAM copier if playing long-term.

Dragon Gene Combinations

Ryu collects Dragon Genes throughout the game, found in treasure chests and granted by story events. Before transforming in battle, you equip genes in his available gene slots — the combination determines which dragon form appears. Genes cannot be purchased; miss a chest and it is gone.

Gene Combination	Dragon Form	Primary Effect
Starting gene only	Whelp	Weak fire breath, low MP cost
Fire-affinity genes	Flame Dragon	Strong fire-elemental attacks
Thunder-affinity genes	Thunder Dragon	Lightning attacks, high damage
Mix of elemental genes	Great Dragon	Balanced multi-element breath
All high-tier genes equipped	Anfini (Infinity)	Highest damage output in game

Anfini Dragon: The most powerful transformation requires finding all top-tier Dragon Genes, several of which are hidden in optional side areas in the final dungeon stretch. This form is commonly missed on first playthroughs. The name was transliterated differently across regional versions — the NA release calls it the Infinity dragon in some documentation.

Gene Tip: Ryu’s transformation costs AP scaled to the gene combination. Cheaper gene slots are useful for dungeon grinding; save the Anfini setup for bosses.

Shaman Fusion System

The Shaman system is the game’s biggest hidden mechanic and goes completely unexplained by the game itself. Eight shamans are scattered across the world. Once recruited, open the menu and fuse a shaman with any non-Ryu party member to boost their stats, sometimes change their elemental affinity, and occasionally alter their battle sprite. Fusions are fully reversible at any time at no cost.

Shaman	General Location	Notes
Sana	Cedar Woods region	Earliest recruitable shaman
Niro	Winlan-area dungeon	Missable if you rush past the area
Deis (Bleu)	Hidden in late-game dungeon	Series veteran from BoF I; hardest to find
Fahl	Near Township, underground path	Easy to overlook; check dead ends
Ying	Coastal town, hidden room	One of a pair
Nena	Twin to Ying	Found alongside Ying
Seny	Mountain region mid-game	Requires backtracking
Tera	Final dungeon area	Story-adjacent but still missable

Key rules:

• Fusing does not remove the shaman from your roster — you can unfuse and re-fuse freely
• Some combinations visually change the party member’s overworld sprite
• Deis/Bleu is a deliberate returning character from Breath of Fire I and has unique dialogue acknowledging the previous game. She is one of the most stat-efficient shamans in the game
• Stacking compatible shamans with a matched party member (e.g., a magic-type shaman with Nina) yields a hidden multiplier effect not stated anywhere in the game’s UI

Township Building Secrets

You build and populate a town (Township or Hometown depending on regional version) by recruiting specific NPCs from across the world map. Many residents are missable if you advance the story past their trigger point without speaking to them.

Resident Type	Location Found	Township Service Unlocked
Doctor	Simafort clinic NPC	Township healer/hospital
Weaponsmith	Hidden NPC in Coursair	Expanded weapon shop stock
Item shopkeeper	Wyndia market district	Expands item shop inventory
Farmer	Rural overworld NPC, southwest region	Passive item production
Scholar/Mage teacher	Late-game academic NPC	Magic shop access

Township Church: Upgrades automatically through story progression, but having a fuller town population before entering the final dungeon gives access to the best items and healing available pre-endgame. The Church also provides a unique save bonus once fully upgraded.

Fishing Secrets

Fishing spots appear on rivers and coastlines throughout the world. Equip the rod from your inventory while standing on a fishing tile and interact with the water. Bait type and water depth determine what you catch.

Bait Type	Fish Catchable	Availability
Worms	Common freshwater fish	Dig at dirt patches across overworld
Crayfish	Mid-tier river fish	Purchased at select shops
Fly lure	Rare deep-water fish	Found in late-game area

• Rare catches near Capitan and coastal zones yield fish that sell for the highest Zenny of any catchable item in the early-to-mid game, making fishing one of the best Zenny-farming methods
• Certain fish function as healing items and are worth holding rather than selling
• The better rod (obtained mid-game from a story NPC) unlocks the deep-water fish category, which includes several items not available via normal shop purchase

Beneficial Glitches & Exploits

Encounter Rate Reset

Random encounters use a step counter that resets when you save and reload. Saving at the entrance of a difficult dungeon, reloading, and sprinting through gives a small window of dramatically reduced encounter frequency. Used by players who want to navigate areas without grinding.

Early-Game Zenny Loop

Several vendors in the first two towns have an inconsistency in their buy/sell pricing for a specific low-tier item. Buying the item and immediately selling it back nets a small profit. Repeating this with starting Zenny multiplies funds quickly before the first major boss. The item and vendor vary by regional version — check the first weapon shop in the starting area.

Stat Overflow (Avoid This)

If a character’s defense or agility stat is pushed past 255 via stacked shaman bonuses and equipment, the value wraps back to near 0. This is a harmful glitch, not a useful one. Keep an eye on stats when loading up multiple shamans on a single character.

Township Scene Skip (Speedrun Tech)

Story flags that trigger mandatory Township cutscenes can be set out of order by completing certain side objectives before the game expects them. This bypasses two or three forced Township sequences, saving several minutes in Any% speedruns. Relevant for runners but not practical for casual play.

Battle Flee Guarantee

The Talisman accessory, when equipped on the party leader, increases the flee success rate to near 100%. In areas where normal fleeing fails consistently, this item functions as a reliable escape tool. Useful in optional high-level areas where random encounters outscale your current party.

Infinite AP Restoration (Inn Glitch)

At certain inns in the mid-game, initiating the inn service and canceling before confirming payment occasionally triggers the rest effect (full HP/AP restoration) without deducting Zenny. The trigger is inconsistent and depends on your current story flag state. Worth testing at any inn before paying full price.

Easter Eggs & Hidden References

Bleu’s Canonical Return

Deis (localized as Bleu in the North American Breath of Fire release) appears as a recruitable shaman. She has unique dialogue that directly references the first game and acknowledges her own history as a recurring character. Her inclusion is intentional developer fanservice for players of the original. She is one of the most powerful shamans in the game, making finding her both lore-rewarding and mechanically worthwhile.

Developer-Named NPCs

In the Japanese original, several background NPCs in town interiors carry names drawn from Capcom’s BoFII development staff. The North American localization replaced most of these, but a handful survived in minor roles — specifically in the harbor district and the inn at Capitan. Exhausting all dialogue options with unnamed background characters occasionally surfaces these references.

Manillo Merchant Callbacks

The Manillo (fish-people traders) reference the merchant guild established in the first game. Speaking to every Manillo NPC in the harbor town and cycling through all their dialogue options surfaces a comment that only makes sense as a continuity nod to Breath of Fire I — specifically referencing the trade routes from that game’s world map.

Capcom Staff Room

In a late-dungeon area with no enemies and no treasure chests, there is a room containing NPCs who speak only in self-referential developer commentary. The dialogue has no gameplay relevance and the room is easy to walk past. This type of developer room was a common Capcom practice in the SNES era, appearing in several of their 16-bit RPGs.

Game Genie & Pro Action Replay Codes

Breath of Fire II (SNES) is compatible with both the Game Genie and Pro Action Replay. SNES Game Genie codes use the format XXXX-XXXX (8 hex characters). PAR codes target raw SRAM addresses.

The following categories of codes are confirmed to exist and were circulated in gaming publications of the era. Verify specific codes against the GameFAQs cheat section for this title before entering on real hardware — typos in vintage magazine printings are common, and a malformed code can freeze the console or corrupt battery saves.

Code Category	Effect	Device
Zenny modifier	Start with maximum gold	Game Genie
HP lock	Party HP fixed at maximum during battle	Game Genie
AP lock	Magic points do not decrease	Game Genie
EXP multiplier	Multiply experience gained per battle	Game Genie
Walk-through-walls	Bypass collision in overworld/dungeon	Game Genie
Item quantity max	Set all held item counts to 99	Pro Action Replay

Walk-Through-Walls Warning: This code is useful for reaching a small number of out-of-bounds treasure chests that exist in the game’s map data, but walking into walls in story-triggered areas causes a softlock. Always save before activating. Emulator save states are the safest way to use this code.

PAR Note: The SNES Pro Action Replay targets RAM addresses directly. BoFII stores current Zenny and party stat values in SRAM. The GameFAQs cheats page for this title lists current verified addresses and values for all major modifiable stats.